2017-03-08: A Fei-ted Encounter
- Log: A Fei-ted Encounter
- Cast: Xantia, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: Adelyn Ranchlands
- Date: March 8th, 2017
- Summary: After engaging in some casual violence, two amnesiacs bond over their similarities. Sort of. In the end, Fei provides Xantia with an important lead on her past.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Wandering travellers are not uncommon in the Adlehyde environs. Usually people head straight to or from the town proper, across the roads meant for such purposes. The fields on either side of the road, not so much, most would have no business there.
Having no business somewhere has never stopped Xantia from going anywhere before. But this time, she's really taking the cake - the proverbial one, she only wishes she had actual cake. What started as a simple stroll out in the middle of nowhere for no obvious reason abruptly came to a halt, and the girl just remained there, standing motionless, her fiery mane standing out like a beacon among all the green.
This has attracted some attention. The unwelcome kind of attention. A group of three outlaws couldn't let a solitary traveller standing out in the middle of nowhere pass. They trip every small-time outlaw stereotype: burly, scarred, tattered clothing, armed with big knives, uncivilized-looking, and able to be smelled a mile away. One signals to his fellows to surround their quarry, heading off expected escape routes. For surely no one would still keep standing there while obvious trouble is approaching.
Xantia just keeps standing there. Somehow, she must be really oblivious to the danger she's in. She's not even looking at the trio, bearing down on her from three different angles with drawn knives. This is because her eyes are closed. Is she meditating? Or did she actually fall asleep standing up? Not that anybody who knows her at all should be surprised if that were the case.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
LAST TIME ON YOU'RE A FUGITIVE FEI FONG BROWN
KENT: You blockhead, Fei Fong BROWN! you walked straight into our trap!
KAHM: You were supposed to play baseball not destroy the village, Fei!
ELLY: *Holding a blanket marked drive* here have some money for food.
NICK WOLFWOOD: *as snoopy, steals it and makes noises*
NOW
Fei Fong Wong has bundled up his possessions into backpack along with his painting supplies (and his RPS badge which he is strangely attached to). He has hit the road! And while on the road, he spots three outlaws approaching a redhead (why is it always redheads and trouble). He thinks this through. Does he really want to commit another felony? He already has a bounty on his head. Then again, maybe this counts as a good deed. Saving one person is worth something right?
And so he leaps into action, jump kicking one in the back of his head. And when one says jumpkick we really mean footstomp like five times.
"Stop that." He says. "Please?"
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
To say that man was Not Prepared to get his head kicked in would be a serious understatement. Without even managing to make a noise of displeasure at this development, he instantly crumples like a cheap suit. Perhaps not as satisfying as it would've been had he tumbled backwards and flown through the air going AUUUUUGH, but it'll have to do this time.
Naturally, this draws the attention of the other two would-be muggers. "What in the sam hill tarnation?" questions the local tautology expert, brandishing his knife in Fei's direction with unwarrented confidence. "How dare ya sneak up on folks, ain't you got no manners? Why I got half a mind ta--"
"Shh."
Somehow managing audibility over the chatty thug, Xantia emits a sudden shushing sound. The man blinks, shakes his head, and continues, "As I was sayin', I got half a mind ta shove this here blade right up yer--"
"SHH! Quiet!"
Finally provoked, and a little exasperated, the man turns to Xantia, starting, "Now you look here--"
It's as far as he gets, before Xantia's left fist flies out, striking the man in the solar plexus, causing him to double over, and setting him up for the follow-up uppercut from Xantia's right first, sending him flying through the air. It takes a couple of seconds before he hits the ground, out cold. Still no AUUUUUGH, though. This series has really gone downhill.
Only now does Xantia actually open her eyes, turning to Fei and the third man, looking mildly annoyed. "Aw, now you ruined it." The last remaining thug doesn't stick around to find out what he allegedly ruined, running the heck away from these crazy violent people.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Look I'm sorry about surprising you but--" Fei begins.
Wait a minute. No he's not. He's totally okay with sneaking up on them. They were sneaking up on someone else! With knives! Fei doesn't even have any knives!
And then Xantia totally punks a guy herself. Fei is ......not actually that surprised. Everybody outside of Lahan seems to be incredibly violent. Geeze.
FLASHBACK
Fei kicking the guy in the head with no warning repeatedly
NOW
Fei ducks down to rifle through the man's pocket and remove his knife from him because knife fights are dangerous and people could get hurt. And also because he's broke.
"Sorry, miss. They were gonna attack you."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Score, the collapsed thugs have some pocket change on them in addition to their knives. It's not much, but gift horse, mouth, etc.
Xantia doesn't appear interested in looting, or bothered by Fei doing it. She just continues this sudden conversation as if nothing out of the ordinary happened or is happening.
By questioning, simply, "Are you sure?" If they didn't actually get to do it, you can't actually be sure, right? Unless Fei can... SEE THE FUTURE??
She doesn't wait for an answer, placing her hands behind her head and letting out a sigh. "Well, too late now, I lost it. Really thought I had something there. I could almost remember..."
Her wistful expression suddenly turns doubtful, as she bends down so she can take a closer look at Fei's face. "Wait a second, do I know you?" With barely a pause, she immediately asks, in a more hopeful tone, "Do you know /me/?" Because that question is never weird to ask random people you happen to encounter in the middle of nowhere.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei isn't THAT easy to get collapsing inward in self doubt. "Well they were slowly approaching you while your back was turned with knives," He says. "So I'm pretty sure. Unless they were gonna sell you knives." He pauses. "Do you want to buy a knife?"
He stands himself up, dusting himself off. He is asked a strange question. Does she know him? Does he know her? Fei is about to say 'no' when he remembers, well, that's not exactly 100 percent true now is iti?
"Er," He says. "I don't know." He shrugs his shoulders. "I don't remember anything past 3 or so years ago. Why--do you remember me from somewhere?"
Oh wait she's probably remembering the bounty poster. He decides to not bring that up.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia doesn't respond to the question about buying knives, because she's not entirely sure. Does she need a knife? It might be practical, she can recall a few instances where it would have been useful to cut a thing. But it might also give people the wrong idea. Like, they might think she wants to sell them knives.
That train of thought doesn't go anywhere before her attention shifts to other matters. The matter of Knowing People, which is of far greater importance. So far, the answer has always been disappointing. This is the first time it's been... unusual.
"Wha, I asked you first," she blurts out, before she puts two and two together. "Oh, ha, then I've got you beat, I don't remember anything past..." She tries counting in her head, and fails. "...a few months ago, definitely not even year!"
After looking way too proud of that for a moment, she /properly/ puts two and two together. "So... we both lost our memory? What a funny coincidence!" Her smile quickly fades. "Well... it's not really that funny, is it?"
Lucky for Fei, Xantia has been distracted from the fact that yes, she has indeed seen his wanted posters around.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"And I answered first!" Fei protests. It actually IS kind of funny or, at least, funny in the way that Fei understands humor which is usually 'At Fei's expense' and performed by 'the universe', but he does sober up a bit because this poor woman is missing even more memory than he is. A few months is practically nothing! For him, he had a wonderful village that he didn't even thnk about it until he--
until he....
Fei says, "I remember things sometimes. They're never happy. Maybe it's for the best."
There we go. Now he is collapsing inward in self doubt. Whew!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia blinks blankly at Fei. She was expecting to have found somebody who's just like her, but this is... almost the exact opposite. Admittedly, she'd not considered before that her memories might not be happy. But now that she does consider it... it makes her a little upset. Not at that possibility, but at Fei's attitude. And she gets right up in his face for it, tapping his chest with an accusing finger.
"How can you say that?! Even if your memories are unhappy, isn't it still better to know? Who you are? Where you're from? Who your family is? What you liked to do, what you liked to eat, what you were interested in?"
She catches herself then, and averts her eyes. "I just... I don't understand how you could think that way. It's like... like..." She can't find the words. "...hang on."
Xantia's hand slips into the pocket on the inside of her travelling cloak, fishing out a book that she starts quickly leafing through. 'Guide to Dungeoneering', the cover proudly proclaims in big bold letters. It's more of a phrasebook than anything else, which actually comes in handy at times like this. Xantia's sure she remembers reading an appropriate analogy in there recently.
"Here it is," she proclaims, tapping a finger on the page in question. "You can't convince a man dying of thirst that there is such a thing as too much water." She claps the book shut, concluding with a nod, "That's how it is."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
What about his family?
It was you :D
Fei Fong Wong shakes his head. No. Stay down. Stay.
The barrage of questions slam into Fei Fong Wong. It really is just the redheads isn't it, Fei? Always making you crumble. Poking Fei in the chest is like poking a slab of stone but he still is pushed back like nobody's business.
"I think I was interested...in painting. I remember painting." He pauses. "As for the rest...I don't really have a family. I was left in a village. That village--as far as I care--was my family."
His hands start shaking. He clenches them and releases to keep the trauma at bay. This suffering is nothing compared to what he did to them.
"Sometimes when I see them, people get hurt." He pauses. "But if I can help you with yours, I'd be happy to." He pauses again, realizing. "You hungry?"
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia initially shakes her head at what Fei says. The village, the family he's talking about, that's stuff that came after. It hasn't been years for her, and most of her current memories are of wandering - she doesn't see how the memories she's made since then matter as much as the memories that were before, the ones that keep eluding her no matter how much she tries.
But, she's not so dense that she completely fails to understand. There's... something there. She doesn't know what it is, but it's plain to see that Fei's managed to find something of value. It doesn't feel right to argue the point any further. She wishes she could think of another appropriate helpful phrase to quote, but nothing comes to mind here. She runs her left hand past the bracer-like adornment strapped to her right arm.
"Well... I'm probably not the right person to tell you what to do. Just about the only thing I do well is breaking things." Maybe they have more in common than she realized, after all.
However, then the magic word is dropped. Instantly, Xantia perks up, with the cheerful declaration, "I'm always hungry!" Not even a little bit of an exaggeration.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Nah, I mean..." Fei says. "I understand where you're coming from. I think if we met a couple months ago, maybe I'd've agreed with you. I hope you find what you're looking for and--it makes you happy."
He actually finds himself kind liking Xantia. Maybe it's her prodding nature. Fei sometimes needs to get prodded. He sets his pack down and opens it up, revealing some Baskar Jerky and assorted field rations. "Take what you'd like." He says.
He finds himself glancing at the bracer. Has he seen something like that before? It's not the first unusual adornment he's seen.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia already looks like she's been made extremely happy just by the mere possibility of food happening. Memory loss does have a unique way of creating a lack of cares in the world. Perhaps the day will come where she'll look back at this moment and feel foolish for wanting more.
For the moment, the biggest trouble she has is keeping saliva from leaking out of the corner of her mouth, looking at all those tasty things Fei has. There's a notable absence of a pack on her end - hopefully that just means that she wasn't about to travel for far, otherwise she would be woefully underprepared. Either way, unless that cloak has more pockets than normal, she probably isn't carrying any provisions of her own at all.
When Fei makes his generous offer... she looks dubious. She double-checks, "Are you sure?" This may be the last chance to avert a dark fate...!
She also realizes, "Oh, I completely forgot to say! My name is Xantia! X-A-N-T-I-A!" She keeps feeling the need to spell it, since it sounds like it starts with a Z. "...well, I think that's what my name is, anyway," she adds shortly after, for obvious reasons. What is it about amnesia and remembering nothing but your name?
Fei may have seen something similar to Xantia's bracer before. Though it doesn't appear functional, it's actually a piece of technology. A piece of technology that bears some similarity to the technology used in certain Gears. Gears such as the one he piloted that one time.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Well sure," Fei says because his player purchased DARK FATE during character creation. "The jerky was a gift by some nice Baskar fellah anyway." He pauses. "I'm Fei. With, uh, an F." instead of ph? He doesn't recognize Xantia's name since rpg amnesia only lets you remember your own name.
His eyes widen slightly as he recalls seeing something like that in Weltall. He did, right? SHIT FOR ONCE HE ACTUALLY WANTS TO SEE IT. But why would she be missing her memories. not even a year...
"Hey, I know I said I wasn't interested in looking into my past..." He says. "But I've seen something like your bracer in a gear." He pauses. "Do you remember what the first thing you remember is? I know there was a fight between 'em a couple months back..." Dear god please do not be related to Lahan. "And it sounds like you're missing longer than that..."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"Well, in that case!"
There isn't a whole lot of time to process the possible ominousness of the situation, because Xantia eats all of the food so fast, it doesn't leave much time for anything but regret, after the fact, when everything is already gone. Did she even chew, or have time to taste any of it? Whatever the case, she wastes nothing, and leaves nothing, possibly including any parts there may have been that most people wouldn't have eaten. Well... she must have been starving, so that probably was a good deed... right?
"Fei!" She repeats cheerfully after that, "Thanks for the food!" That innocent expression... either she is an extremely good actress, or she genuinely has no idea that she may have just done something to add to Fei's misery. "And the guy with the jerky, I bet his name was Vin!" At this point, it should be zero surprise that she's already met a Baskar tribesman who happens to be particularly generous about sharing his jerky.
Any levity is duly put aside however, when Fei starts to discuss that sounds like it might be related to her past. Xantia glances at her bracer, before questioning, "In a... Gear? What do you mean, what's a--"
Her right hand shoots up to the side of her head. "...I know what a Gear is," she suddenly realizes. "How do I know what a Gear is? I'm pretty sure I've never seen one... have I?" She lowers her hand, sitting motionless for a moment, looking a little shell-shocked.
Eventually, she turns her head to Fei, answering his question still in somewhat of a daze. "The first thing I remember is waking up in a bed. I was in a Baskar village, they said they found me collapsed in the desert. I can't remember anything from before... nothing about a fight between Gears or anything."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei looks back. It's gone. It's all gone.
"oh." He says. He can't even get mad. Well he could. But nobody likes Fei when he's angry. Fei was prepared to fight wolves for food. All this means he better hurry up and find some wolves.
He still somehow is inclined to help. He is a do gooder by heart he's just not very good at do goodering. Indeed, he is no good at it.
He is giving Xantia a much closer examination than before. He sees the shackle now. A prisoner of some kind? But the gloves and boots seem like a uniform. Scavenged? or some kind of conscript? And the way she thought. it wasn't too disimilar from the way /he/ fights. Maybe there is some kind of connection after all beyond amnesia.
"I know Vin. That's right." He knows of one person...two people...who might be able to help Xantia but one of them...
"I don't know much myself..." Fei admits. "But I know gears are bad news. I know someone. His name is Citan Uzuki. He knows a lot about stuff like your bracer. And gears. He might be able to help you...though I haven't seen him in a while. I can give you a sketch of him though."
Just don't ask him to remove the shackle or it might explode.
"Anyway I'm glad I could spark a memory for you at least." Fei adds. "I need to get goin' cause some folks are after me, but I'll look into this too. If I find anything I'll find you in...Adelhyde or...actually, you remember where that Baskar Village was? I might head there."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia seems almost like a statue. Poor girl must still be overwhelmed. But she is hearing what Fei says, as evidenced by her repeating, "Citan... Uzuki". She'll remember that name. She then raises her arm, regarding her bracer again, looking at it in an entirely new light. "I was wearing this when they found me. I thought people might recognize me by it, so I kept it on... I wasn't expecting it might be more than decoration..."
Then, abruptly, everything changes, when she suddenly balls her fists, and gives them an energetic shake. "All right! I feel really motivated now!" And just like that, she's back to her old self, all smiles and full of optimism. She doesn't neglect the one responsible though, turning to Fei and whether he likes it or not, taking both of his hands into hers. She has a mighty strong grip on her, those are definitely the hands of a fighter.
"Thank you, Fei! Really, thank you so much! This is the best lead I've had so far! I'm gonna get going too, I've got to find Citan, or somebody else who can tell me more about this thing!"
Letting Fei have his hands back, she begins to reach for the back pocket of her makeshift shorts, but stops midway, awkwardly pulling back her hand. "Oh, that's right... I don't have any money right now, I lost it." More like, some jerk stole it, but she still hasn't figured that out. Which leaves her only able to provide a verbal IOU: "But, I'll repay you for this one day, I promise! The village is... a little far out from here, but I've got to stay around here for a while longer anyway. I'm sure we'll run into each other again!"
Aaaand after delivering that waterfall of words, off she goes. Fast runner, too. Was she too optimistic for her own good? Time will tell.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei is manhandled for a bit by Xantia but he doesn't really resist anyway. Truth be told, it makes him feel a little more optimistic about the world. He doesn't feel like he's just being told these things to cheer up. Xantia doesn't seem like she has a deceptive bone in her body. More importantly, he thinks this actually is helpful.
He says, "See you later then!" and waves after her. Yep, he did something good for a change.
Unless those memories lead her somewhere awful.
And she dies.
Or goes crazy.
Fei slowly lowers his head before heading off as well. It was nice while it lasted.