2017-04-27: The Apple of Destiny
- Log: The Apple of Destiny
- Cast: Xantia, Vash the Stampede
- Where: Adlehyde - Town Center
- Date: April 27th, 2017
- Summary: In this world, a single apple can be a source of great conflict. This day is no different.
=========================<* Adlehyde - Town Center *>========================= The centre of Adlehyde marks the intersection between the east-west and north-south roads that carve the city into near-quarters. Large shops are packed along both roads, offering goods and services of a variety rivaled only by the merchant republics of Aquvy. The intersection between the two roads is actually a large circle nearly a quarter-mile across, allowing wagons and other traffic to move with a minimum of collisions and profanity both. The area in the centre of the circle plays host to an informal gathering of food and drink vendors and other barkers, who ply their wares to merchants and wagoneers too busy to stop and rest. As a result of the considerable merchant traffic, the Circle and the major avenues are absolutely lousy with wagons from mid-morning into the early evening. The buildings throughout the rest of Adlehyde are built of stone and tile roofs, and are generally well kept; as one moves away from the major routes toward the walls, however, poorer and seedier enclaves have developed over time. Still, even the poorest resident of Adlehyde has an easier time of it than all but the nobility of Nortune or Bledavik, though only Drifters and other travelers would be able to make the comparison. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MQRL7xws7w
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Is there ever a day where the streets of Adlehyde aren't jam-packed with traffic? If there is, today is not that day. People mill about on foot, on horseback, pulling and riding wagons with various goods... some might feel choked by the crowd, others might feel a comfortable level of anonymity. Those like Xantia prefer to be anything but anonymous - she likes a crowd, but if it gets so big she gets lost in it, she'll likely seek to avoid it. Thus she is not visible in the crowd today.
What is visible is a wagon full of juicy, delicious red apples. King of fruits, able to still hunger and thirst at the same time. A merchant walks beside the horse that pulls the wagon, glancing about nervously, overcome with that nagging feeling of being watched. There doesn't seem to be anyone looking in his direction... is this paranoia, or a premonition?
The man is so distracted by these uncomfortable feelings, he feels to steer the wagon away from a pot hole in the road. A small obstacle, one which only causes the wagon to jostle a bit when a wheel passes through it, but this is enough to dislodge a single, solitary apple from the cargo. It briefly sails through the air, before landing on the path the wagon previously traversed, rolling in the opposite direction. Unnoticed by the merchant, it continues on its path for some time, until finally coming to a stop on impact with a boot. The boot of a certain red-coated, blond-haired man.
The fruit's powerful allure immediately seeks to enforce its charms. Despite its perilous journey, its shine remains resplendent, having barely picked up any dirt at all. Who could resist this beautiful specimen?
Certainly not Xantia, who's been watching the whole thing from a nearby rooftop. One could almost hear the glint in her eyes when she spies the apple, which, having lost its owner, now counts as free food. She must have it. She will have it. She leaps downward, straight towards her prize. And if someone were to attempt to beat her to the punch, well...
To make a long story short, anyone standing in that spot and looking up would see this exact scene: https://dreamchasers.space/images/0/09/Xantia.jpg
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
Adlehyde. It is certainly bustling, putting to shame many of even the larger Seed Cities that dot the western coast of Ignas -- and while it can't compare to the grandiose likes of Bledavik and Nortune, it has a thriving, country culture that's simply lost in those desolate deserts. Truly, there are things you can find in this city that you can't find anywhere else in the sun-scorched swaths of sand to the west. Things like--
--like apples.
Like delicious apples.
Like delicious red apples.
Like delicious red apples that just roll off a cart because of how -many- there are, bouncing once, twice, and rolling a leisurely, fate-spun path, until--
"Huh?"
... it bumps against a boot. A boot... of DESTINY.
"Uhh. What the heck's this thing doin' here?"
This is the wondering musings of the tall, blonde-haired man as that apple nudges against the toes of his foot as if to demand acknowledgment of its existence. Behind orange-tinted shades, the spikey-haired young (?) man looks down at the fruit with the furrow of his brows. The purse of his lips. He shoulders the sack slung on his shoulder. He looks left. Then right. Then right some more and left. A frown creases his lips.
"You're OBVIOUSLY an OBVIOUS trap!" he declares, accusingly, jabbing a finger at that apple. The apple remains stationary. Seconds pass. "REVEAL YOURSELF, TRAPPLE!"
The apple does nothing. People, however, stare, and give the man a wide berth. Seconds pass. His lips purse.
"... are you not a trapple--?"
And here, the red-coated man crouches, glaring at the fruit as if he was engaging in a staring contest. He reaches out. He pokes it, tentatively. It budges, but little else. Another second passes.
"... Alright! Free apple! GAHA!"
And so, he snatches up his prize, glittering splendidly with a look of smug satisfaction. Buffing the red fruit on his equally red coat, he shuts his eyes, grinning like a damn fool. A damn fool who's shutting his eyes to tight to see the girl leaping in the distance.
"Things are finally going my way! Alright! I feel like I could look up to the heavens and see the Fates smiling down on me! Heh heh!"
And so, he does just that. He turns his head. He looks up. He opens his eyes.
"SHOW ME YOUR BEAUTIFUL SMILE, FAUGHHFLGK"
And this is the sound of the poor blonde vagabond getting kneed right in the face the very second he looks up, with such force that he is launched off his feet and sent flying through the air, screaming,
"TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
the entire way until he lands on the hushed Adlehyde streets a few feet a way. Twitching. Lifelessly.
Apple clutched in a deathgrip, raised to the heavens.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia was just leaping down to collect the apple, honest! It's not her fault someone got in the way! And that she kneed him in the face. It's a perfectly logical reaction to the circumstances! That's her story and she's sticking with it.
Or she would be, if anybody demanded an explanation at this time. As it is, she bounces right off Vash's face, executes a backflip, and lands neatly on her feet. As if she planned it that way all along, which she totally didn't. It's obvious from the look of complete confusion on her face afterwards. Where'd the apple go? The fact that there was a person also there somehow fails to register as anything but an afterthought. There's a very simple reason for this: she's hungry. Now everything makes sense.
Luckily, it doesn't take too long to locate that beautiful, perfect apple in the distance. Yes, she's a coinnaisseur, she knows perfection when she sees it. Mood instantly cleared up, Xantia hums a happy tune as she skips moreso than walks over to her juicy delight. She can already imagine the taste. Which is far more notable than the fact that there is a hand still clutched around the apple, apparently.
She does notice this, eventually, once she gets close. Walking normally for the last few steps, she circles the... person? It takes her a moment to be certain. She didn't know people could bend like that. Finally, at long last, she does ask the obvious question: "Are you okay?"
And then proceeds to immediately try to take the apple, because that's still a priority. She frowns at the resistance, deducing, "Yeah, you're fine." Xantia isn't familiar with the concept of a deathgrip - if people can hold on that tightly, they must be doing it on purpose. And so she abandons concern for the man, instead demanding, "Let go of my apple!"
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
Are you okay?
"grhurmph i can see through tiiiime"
Yes, clearly he's fine.
"blorf."
Clearly.
Still, that doesn't make his grip any less like someone in the throes of rigor mortis when Xantia approaches to try to casually wrest that apple from the man who may or may not be dead. For as nimble as Xantia is, the spikey-haired man (victim) looks positively ungainly for how impossibly he seems to be bend. Did he break something? He must have broken something.
Maybe it was his pride.
And yet, even shattered pride can't let Xantia get that apple she covers so dearly. She tugs. It doesn't budge. There's no response from the man at her insistant demands besides an ominous and quite final-sounding death rattle.
But if she keeps going, it'll just be the same result. Tug. Nothing. Tug. Nothing. And so on and so forth, as if the unstoppable force had just met the immovable object, until--
"AH AIRBORNE GREMLIN!"
This is suddenly hollared, like a delayed response, as Vash the Stampede -launches- back up onto his feet, apple still in hand (and still held high aloft above his head regardless of whether someone might be clinging to it or not), his other hand held up at the ready to karate chop -- the air? He blinks. He looks around him. He squints.
Oh right. He already got kicked.
As evidence by the knee-shaped wedge of red imprinted right on the front of his face. And the blood. Or the fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. Take your pick.
And yet still, he looks as vigorous and fine as someone in perfect health as he looks around him, scanning with a steadily increasing frown as he looks from one side... to the other... to...
"Oh."
... Xantia. Clearly, he's going to put two and two together now--
"Hello, little tiny girl person, I wasn't really paying attention to you but you didn't happen to see the ravenous red gremlin that accosted me, did you?? I think there might be an infestation!"
--or not. Nope. Sure.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Vash is super fine. Xantia doesn't see any reason at all to doubt this. After all, he's holding onto that apple like his life depended on it. By definition, that's not something you could do if you were already dead. It's all so simple.
Simple, but a problem. He won't let go of the apple, he won't respond to her demands... what's a girl to do? She can't just break his hand. Well, she might be able to, but she doesn't actually want to hurt anybody. In spite of earlier evidence to the contrary. It was an accident!!
Her repeated attempts to yank the apple continue to fail again and again, but Xantia keeps trying, being the kind to believe that nothing is impossible as long as you don't give up. She'll come out on top in the end!
And so she does. Literally, as she's abruptly hefted up when Vash jumps to his feet all of a sudden during her latest attempt to pull the apple away with both hands. She only manages a "Wah!" of surprise, after which she just sort of... dangles there. She stubbornly refuses to let go, or possibly has failed to consider the possibility of doing so, only flailing in protest while her 'opponent' is getting his bearings.
She stops flailing and just sort of stares at Vash when she finally looks in her direction, still hanging on as if her life depended on it. See, two can play at that game!
She's not sure what she was expecting, but it was not to be asked that question. She blinks, before shaking her head, calmly responding, "I didn't see any gremlins. But it looks like they got you good. You're bleeding." Xantia being Xantia, it's entirely possible that she too has completely failed to put two and two together.
But that isn't important right now, what's important is, "Can you let go of my apple now?" Maybe asking nicely will work. There cannot be any doubt about her ownership of the fruit, she has a very good argument in her favor. "I saw it first."
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
With a girl dangling off his apple like a cat caught by the scruff of their neck, Vash just... frowns. Very... slowly.
"Huh," he utters, scratching the side of his head with his free hand, as if completely oblivious to the state Xantia is currently in. "Yeah they did, didn't they?? HA HA HA--h-hey wait! No!"
One defiant shake of Vash's head later, and he thrusts that apple-claimed hand higher into the air, inducing brief turbulence for the tenacious (non-gremlin) girl still clinging defiantly to it.
"I had them right where I wanted them! This blood is just ketchup! Clever ruse, eh??" It's not. On either count. "But they clearly wisely got frightened off by my terrifying wrath and fled! Yeah! Good job, me!!"
And here, that hand moves, as if intending to pat himself on the back with it...
... and then he notices Xantia moving along with it. He blinks. His lips purse.
He moves his hand to the right. Xantia moves along. To the left. The same. Forwards. Backwards.
Eventually he just tries to shake like someone desperately trying to make a carbonated beverage burst from their enthusiasm.
"WHY ARE YOU ATTACHED TO ME?!!?! GET OOOOFF--"
But this wailing comes to an ABRUPT end when Xantia makes that request. He blinks. He looks at the apple. "Oh. Right. My lucky apple!" -His-. This bodes well.
"Sorry, tiny short miniature gremlin-like girl with strangely powerful jump kicks--" wait what "-- but this apple is mine. It chose me! By destiny! And it saved my life from a trap it sprung on me!" wait what "So you see, I can't let you have this apple." He smiles good-naturedly. Wisely. "It wouldn't be fair to the apple."
...
"Plus finders keepers so you knooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww......."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia doesn't much appreciate getting forcily swung around like that, making this known by means of tiny yelps and starting to offer more protest before getting constantly interrupted by more movement. But she's not letting go. No sir. Never. She needs that apple.
She's a little dizzy by the end of it. And actually a little glad her stomach is empty, or she might be in trouble after all that shaking. The polite request really seemed like the best approach at this point to end this quickly.
Except it doesn't have the effect that she was expecting. Instead, Vash goes on about it being his lucky apple, and she... actually looks like she might be convinced? She certainly looks like she's giving the matter much more consideration than that story has any right to be given. She looks pensive, then frowns in deep thought, and... uh-oh, that frown is getting deeper...
Finally tired of getting swung around like a rag doll, the fiery-haired gremlin(?) releases the apple, only to immediately thrust an accusing finger at Vash's face once on solid ground.
"You can't fool me, you're trying to trick me!"
The fact that even Xantia is capable of realizing this possibility speaks volumes of the flimsiness of the presented excuses. And now that she's realized this, she's going to assume that she's being tricked about every single thing.
"You're lying! There wasn't any apple destiny, there probably wasn't even any traps or gremlims, and that definitely doesn't smell like ketchup!" After a short pause, she adds one more thing: "And I'm not that short!"
Now that she's made clear that she can't be fooled, her bracer-bearing arm turns about, her hand going from aggressive pointing to a beckoning open palm. "So give me that apple! I need it more than you!" Obviously. Nobody could ever be more hungry than she is at any given time.
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
And so, Xantia releases the apple. And so, Vash looks terribly smug, eyes shutting and nostrils flaring just before Xantia's tirade begins.
"Yes, that's right! You finally understand! Fate chose this apple for me! It's my fapple--" no Vash that's not a thing-- "and I was definitely trying to trick you! You understand perfectly!"
...
"Wait what."
And there comes that finger being jabbed right at his face. Vash goes cross-eyed just trying to stare at it, blinking in abject confusion as Xantia, having discovered his ruse (?) just goes off on an angry, gremliny (?) rant on him, deconstructing all his claims, even the true ones, in short, brutal order.
He blinks. A stiff wind blows through in the tense end of that argument; one could just picture a tumbleweed rolling past if this wasn't the pleasantly dwindling countryside.
"... but you kinda are that short..."
Yes, that's exactly what he decides to pick up on and run with.
"W-wait! How dare you!" There you go. This time, it's HIS turn to jab an accusing finger at HER. "Listen, you! Don't you know it's rude to contradict your elders?? I might only be sgmherwenty years old but that's still older than some little twerpy ten year old!!" Vash -- really great with judging ages. His free hand on his hips, snorting derisively, he has all the fiery smugness of someone ten times as crotchety as he holds that apple high in the air like the valued prize it is.
"Adults have a lot more maturity and common sense than youngsters do, and that's why we can say whatever we want and it's the truth! So there!" Is he serious he sounds serious. "... But as a sign of how mature I am, I guess I can give you this apple." He closes his eyes. Smiles smugly. The apple lowers it.
And then, in a sign of the absolute maturity only an elder of sgmherwenty years young--
--Vash the Stampede licks that apple.
With a long, exaggerated 'BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH' sound to accompany it.
"There! All yours! Ho ho ho!"
Truly. Truly mature.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia is victorious! At least, she certainly feels like she is, hearing the admission of trickery. Managing to figure that out... this is the smartest she's ever felt! And that's the greatest tragedy of all.
Her brief moment of elation is immediately ruined by Vash doubling down on the size thing. Deep frowning is resumed, though before she can verbally protest, the tables are turned, and suddenly she's the one getting admonished?! She's momentarily taken aback by this, but thankfully the presented arguments aren't things she's terribly concerned with. Who cares about rudeness? Besides, he's being very rude himself!
"Ten-year old?! I'm not... I mean... I have to be at least..." That's odd. She suddenly looks lost. Sad, more than anything else.
It doesn't last long. The indignant expression quickly returns as she decides to refocus on what's most important. She attempts to jump for the apple, but her grasp barely missing its mark. Getting toyed with... so frustrating. "Grr! Just give it!"
Wait, what? He's... actually decided to give it now? Xantia has no idea what she did differently, but she's happy Vash changed his mind, her frown quick to turn upside-down. "...oh! Oh, thank you! I mean, I admit that I don't understand everything. Everything's fine, as long as..."
And then Vash takes a nice, long lick of that apple. Xantia freezes. She must be in shock. Horrified at such a terrible fate. Now the apple is ruined, she'll have no choice but to give up on it.
Ooor, she could just snatch the apple from Vash's hand now that she has the chance, and take a big bite out of it. Right where Vash licked it, too. She... doesn't care. She doesn't appear to be even the slightest bit disgusted. She can't be human, maybe she really is a gremlin.
The only question she has about this is, "Why couldn't you have done that in the first place?" Give the apple, presumably, not lick it.
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
I'm not... I mean... I have to be at least...
There's uncertainty there, in her voice, and sadness in her eyes. And for a brief flicker of a moment, Vash the Stampede's expression softens from his manic torment -- thoughtfulness replacing foolishness, and understanding replacing blithe indifference. He knows that look.
The look of someone who doesn't know their place in the world.
But it's there and gone in a heartbeat before Vash is back to just guffawing heartily and swinging that apple back and forth with perfectly timed movements to keep it -just- out of Xantia's grasp. He even laughs. An evil, diabolical, hammy laugh, up there with the greatest of mustache-twirlers. One could practically picture the hot air balloon he plans on escaping this situation in.
But instead, he licks that apple. Just... licks it. Not even subtle about it. Nor is he subtle about that cocky and victorious look on his face as Xantia freezes, horrified, obviously defeated--
--and taking that apple and biting it in her futile hopelessness and--
--wait.
"Huh?" A second passes where Xantia takes a chomp of that apple in defiance of all that is sanitary.
"Huh??"
RIGHT WHERE HE LICKED IT.
"HUH???"
And instantly, in lieu of answering that question, Vash is lashing out with both hands to try to make a grab for that big red partially eaten apple, to try to pry it from Xantia's grasp in a true reversal of fortunes.
... that some people are walking by, shaking their heads at the adult man picking a fight with a teenaged kid, completely escapes his notice.
"What is WRONG WITH YOU don't you know how unsanitary that is?? GAH!! You could have -- you could have -- metaldemonisosis!! Or-- or-- dengue fever!!" What? "STOP EATING IT, YOU FOOLISH FOOL! DON'T THEY TEACH KIDS ABOUT COOTIES ANYMORE?! AND GET SOME MANNERS!!"
Says the man getting into a tantrum over an apple.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia, for her part, completely fails to notice anything ever changed in Vash's demeanor. She can be like Vash in that regard, making one wonder how observant she really is. The conclusion would usually be 'not observant at all', but there are times...
Other times than right now, when she's been fully focused on getting her hands on that apple, aside from some brief distractions. Phew, she's sure glad that's over.
...why is he looking at her like that? She didn't do anything weird. He held the apple out to her just like he said he would, so she took it. What was confusing about that? Unless... oh no, is he having second thoughts? He's having second thoughts, isn't he.
Just as she thinks this, she appears to be proven entirely correct, as Vash comes at her with clear intent to try and retrieve the apple. Not this time. Now that she has it, she's not letting it go. Treating this just like she would a fight, she instinctively judges what the next 'attack' will be, and endeavors to dance out of the way. And instead of taking the opportunity to counterattack, she takes the opportunity to take another bite of the apple.
"I don't believe you," she may have tried to say. It's hard to understand with her mouth full. Definitely zero manners.
But she can't avoid Vash forever. After a few attempts, he manages to grasp the apple. Xantia's grasp slips, leaving the 'adult' in the possession of... an apple core. Girl didn't waste any time, she's a fast eater. And yet, this doesn't make her any less indignant.
"Hey! You said you'd give it to me, so give it back!" And back she goes to trying to get what's left of the apple back again, lunging at Vash to get at it. Why does she still want it? Why, to eat the core, of course. Why would you waste any part of an apple?
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
"H-hey! C'mon!! You little -- gremlin!! You have suspiciously powerful knees!!"
This would be the sound of the great and terrible and notorious Mister the Stampede trying his hardest to get that apple, lunging and swiping in between each and every one of Xantia's bites to no avail and increasing frustration. Frustrated, but dedicated, to the -very- -end-.
"C'monnnnnnnnnnnnn give it back alreadyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy--!"
Kind of.
But then, by some miracle (?) he manages to grasp onto it, instantly yanking it back and away from Xantia with a decisive "YOINK!" He looks quite proud of himself for stealing his apple back from a kid after offering it to her in the first place, holding it up like a point of pride -- like a trophy of his hard-earned victory.
"Look, if you're gonna eat it like that, you gotta shine it first to get the germs off! You could spontaneously combust!" No she couldn't. "Now watch as I teach you a valuable lesson by showing you how to clean an apple and then eating it in front of you so you learn! BWA HA HA! YES! THIS WHOLE, DELICIOUS, APPLE--"
And then he looks.
"--CORE?!"
There is a brief moment where he stares, flabbergasted, at the dwindled remnants of that apple. His jaw hangs. He looks utterly at a loss. "What are you, part piranha gremlin--WAGH DON'T HURT ME"
And lunge Xantia does, and Vash bravely -- flails his way just out of reach, like his entire body was made of pool noodles. "HAH! You'll never get it back! Behold, my greatest trick--!!"
And here, Vash just kind of--
--hurls that sack he had been carrying, right at Xantia.
"DISTRACTION!"
... yep.
He just chucks the sack at her. With remarkably pinpoint accuracy aimed right for her hands.
... and then he just kind of starts hoofing it at high speeds like he was the roadrunner.
"AND GET CHECKED OUT FOR DISEASES AT A DOOOOOOOOOCTOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr--"
And that sack that he tossed, if Xantia catches it, or pays any attention to it whatsoever?
... is stuffed full of heal berries. Straight from Berry Cave.
Who the hell uses an entire bag of (valuable) fruit as a distraction just to try to run away with the pathetic carcass of a slain apple??
Clearly, only a fool of the highest caliber.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia has failed to understand a lot of what has happened today. One of those things is Vash's dismay at finding the apple's mass significantly diminished. For it is still an apple... at its core. (get it???)
Naturally that means that the piece of fruit is still as valuable as before. Of course she's going to want to take pains to get it back. And she was pretty certain of her success, when Vash suddenly... dodges. That was a lot faster than she gave him credit for. But no matter, surely the next attempt will...
...be intercepted by a bag suddenly hurled in her direction. With an "Oof!" she catches the sack, not noticing any intent behind this, providing Vash with the ample distraction he sought to beat a hasty retreat. "Hey! Wait! Come back with my apple!" Yes, she's still on about that.
With a sigh, she has to conclude that the mysterious red-coated man has too big of a head start on her to catch up with easily. Plus there's another reason why she can't give chase. She'd have to leave that bag behind, so as to not get weighed down by it. And she's far too curious to see what's in there.
"Oooh, berries!" She immediately grabs some and stuffs them in her mouth, allowing her to refine her initial statement: "Tasty berries!" Satisfied with this development, she throws the sack over her shoulder and saunters off. Maybe if she's lucky, someone will point out the value of what she has until she eats all of it.
However, Xantia has made a solemn vow that she would never forget anything ever again. As such, this incident will not be forgotten. If ever she should meet this man again... there must be a reckoning.