Washed Ashore

[Jasmine]

A long line of footprints in the sand lead off into the distance. The young woman who made them was starting to get very bored with being on the beach. She had not yet seen any paths that would lead to any town or village which surprised her. Having grown up on an island nation, she had surmised that she would have come across some fishing village by now.

The young woman had long black hair that was worn in a braid. It came down to the middle of her thighs. Tiny wisps of hair had come loose and framed her pretty face nicely. Her eyes were the deepest sapphire blue and framed by thick black lashed. Her frame was slim and her arms somewhat muscled, though you would more likely describe it as well-toned.

She wore a dark blue dress with a silver band at the hem. The dress had no sleeves and fit her like a glove, accenting her curves nicely. Hanging between her perfect breasts were two identical silver lockets on a single silver chain. One held the pictures of her family, the other was still empty, but she already knew what pictures it would hold one day. On her tired feet were black, knee high boots of good stout leather. Around her waist hung a silver colored sword belt and from that hung one of her four most prized possessions: her sword.

The sword was at first glance an ordinary steel sword. However, hers was made of the finest elven steel money could buy. The handle was just long enough to be used as a two-handed sword, yet it was still balanced well enough to be wielded with only one hand. The hilt was bound with good black leather with silver thread woven into it, the mark of nobility in her homeland. The sword was one of her only connections with her lost parents and she cherished it as much as the lockets around her neck.

She still had not figured out where she her little boat had come ashore. She knew only that she was out of the clutches of the pirate, Captain Lucky, and would not yet have to return home. She was not ready to face that yet, but neither the captain nor most of his crew had been willing to listen to her pleas. She was free now though, due to the help of one mysterious crew member, to Jasmine that was all that mattered.

She hummed softly to herself as she walked along, hoping that she’d come across someone who could direct her to the nearest town or city. However, she was enjoying the warmth of the day and was in no particular hurry to get to any place in particular.

[Ter-Thok]

Since the very early morning, the demon Ter-Thok had been fishing. Starting when the sun cast little more than a red haze onto the world and remaining until the orb was high overhead, the demon was enjoying the relaxation. He grinned, reclining on a well-warmed rock that sat, for now, right on the tideline. An improvised fishing rod was clutched by his barbed tail, and the cork tethered to it by a length of string bobbed in the water, waiting for a fish to take the bait.

The bright red, plastic cooler at the demon's side was already filled with fish, which swam awkwardly back and forth in the water-filled container, accompanied by schools of prawns culled from surrounding tide pools. Ter-Thok had a feast in mind when he got back to the ship; his recently acquired henchman Hans was probably still hunting for onions out in the forest. The cork plopped underwater, inciting the demon to lazily open one eye. With a jerk, the entire fishing pole was yanked from his tail's grip and disappeared into the water, trailing behind a large, jagged fin. Ter-Thok stared quizzically at the vanishing tool, then shrugged.

"I'm guessin' there's enough fish in...hello, who's this now?" As Ter-Thok peered along the coastline, he spied a figure approaching. Since the demon wasn't quite prepared to enter the nearby urban centers just yet, this would be first contact with a resident of this planet. Well, unless one counted Hans, but he was an employee now; and if you started including employees in things, well, you might as well just set fire to the Senate, take down three policeman in a bare-knuckle brawl, and call yourself an anarchist right now. He stood up, stretched his arms, then formed his four-fingered (if you count the thumb) hands around his mouth and began speaking.

"Hey! You there, in the clothes! Yes, with the hair! I offer greetings from the worlds beyond your world!" He took his hands down from around his mouth, then hopped down to the sand from his comfortable rock. "My name is Ter-Thok, I'm a demon! I come from another planet. Uh...you wouldn't happen to be a high-ranking politician, would you? 'Cause that'd really speed up the take-over. Did I say take-over? I meant pudding party. Yeah, pudding party. Anyways, uh...what was I...gods, I knew I should've written a speech. Um. Hm. Take me to...uh...your...leader?"

Ter-Thok reflected on this statement for a moment, before swearing silently.

[Jasmine]

Jasmine looked around for the source of the voice and was surprised to find it was a very short person with horns atop his head. How very peculiar... She kept her usual smile on her face as she came closer, slightly puzzled by the creature’s barrage of greetings and questions.

“Woah, woah, woah!! Slow down, Ter-Thok was it? My name is Jasmine. I’m not a politician of any rank and I can’t take you to any leader. I don’t even know where exactly on Althanas I am right now. I’ve just come ashore in a rowboat and I don’t know where I am.”

Glad to have found another person at last, even if they weren’t what she would’ve expected, she took a seat on the sand, letting her tired legs and feet take a break. She smiled warmly at her new acquaintance.

“Now what was this about a take over? Or a pudding party? There are many different nations here on Althanas, so you’d be hard pressed to take it completely over or to have everyone at any kind of party. How is it that you came here from another planet? I didn’t know travel to and from other planets was even possible.”

She was absolutely fascinated by the idea that this demon claimed to be from another world. She was also not afraid of him. He had not yet given her a reason not to trust him somewhat and she was content to have someone to talk to at last, even if it was only answering questions with answers she didn’t he’d like to hear. She looked around and noticed the bright red box for holding fish, though she didn’t know that it held anything at all.

“What’s that red box for?”

[Ter-Thok]

A vacant stare came over Ter-Thok's small, noseless face for a moment as he mentally connected each of the newcomer's answers to his own diatribe of questions. "Yes," he started cautiously, "Ter-Thok it was. My name, I mean. Nice to meet you, Jazzercise." He dug absently at the sand with his hooves for a moment, then examined the female, now that she was sedentary. "Well, let's see. The cooler's for the fish. If you keep 'em live before bringing 'em home to cook, they taste fresher. Almost like you'd just bitten their raw, wriggling heads off, if you're good. Only less squirmy, as you might imagine."

Ter-Thok thought that the newcomer had inquired as to the extraplaneteray nature of his greeting, but seeing as how she had identified herself as not being of much importance, he figured he should explain it. She's bound to understand the fundamentals of galactic society, since she's not a politician. "So, intrigued about the whole...'other planets' thing, huh? Well, lemme put it like this. Sometimes, when people need to go from one planet to another, they get inside a 'star-boat', which we call a 'ship'. This is because, somewhat like the ocean, if you go outside, your eyes explode and the blood shooting from them instantly freezes into a ghastly, sparkly latticework in the hateful vacuum." Ter-Thok, having grabbed a lying at his side, sketched several diagrams in the moist sand, taking particular care on the exploding eyes.

"Anyways, I used one of these 'ships' to get here from my planet, to, uh, throw a pudding party. Like I said. Earlier. That's my bit. So why're you on this sunny little beach, Miss Jasmotron?"

[Jasmine]

“It’s Jasmine, like the flower,” she said, automatically correcting his pronunciation of her name. “I don’t like fish very much, especially not raw.” She listened with a small smile on her face as he explained about space travel. It sounded very interesting; all except the part about your eyeballs exploding. That’s kinda disgusting...

“I recently escaped a pirate ship, with the help of one of its crew members. He put me in a rowboat and used magic, I guess, to send the boat to land. When it landed, I got out and started walking. I still don’t know what part of Althanas I’m on. I don’t suppose this ship of yours was able to tell you where you are other than the name of the planet?”

Jasmine thought the little person had been out in the sun too long. Everyone knew you couldn’t travel to the stars or the other planets. She personally doubted if there actually were people living on other planets, but she played along anyway to keep Ter-Thok happy. A sudden thought popped into her head and she decided to ask about it before she forgot, “If you’re a demon, do you know any of the other demons that live here on Althanas?”

While she waited for an answer, she pulled out another apple and began munching. The seabirds weren’t bothering them for some reason, but Jasmine assumed it was because they were afraid of the demon. Whatever the reason, she was glad that she only had to hear them, instead of shooing them away. The sounds of the waves lapping against the beach were soothing to her ears and made her a bit homesick. She had always loved going to Hamasha, the port city of her homeland, to walk along the beach and listen to the waves. Some day...

[Ter-Thok]

"Other demons, Jazz Mole? There's no other demons here yet. Don't be-...oh, just a second." Ter-Thok's looked sidelong at the cooler. A large pelican had landed on the plastic lid, picking at the latch with it's enormous beak. The demon crept closer towards the feral bird, which so far had not turned it's beady yellow eyes at him. With a shout, Ter-Thok leapt for it, both hooves slamming heavily into the creature's skull. It squawked loudly, then collapsed. The hooves came down on it's neck with a snapping sound, and it lay still. Ter-Thok grinned, and tossed the bird on the top of the cooler.

"Heh, first time I actually managed to catch one of the bastards. Nasty pieces of work, birds. Eugh. All covered with mites an' stuff. Anyways, what were we talkin' about? Eh, whatever. Oh, right, you dunno where you are. Hm...well, I do have some map data, but it's not like we know the names of places or whatever. I know I landed in a big tree forest, and I did find a path down to this beach. Other than that, all I know is that this is some kinda island. Some kinda STUPID island. Here, lemme show ya." The demon made a face of intense concentration as he rooted around in his pocket, eventually producing a flattened, transparent plastic square connected to a large metal plug.

Ter-Thok tapped it a few times, and the square lit up with angular glyphs. These, too, were tapped, eventually producing something very much like an orbital photograph of the island of Corone. "There, see?" The demon waved it in his new companion's face, "You recognize this lump of soil?"

[Jasmine]

Jasmine sighed as he mispronounced her name yet again, “Look, why don’t you just call me ‘Jas’ since you obviously can’t pronounce ‘Jasmine’ correct-“ she stopped in mid-sentence as she watched him stalk the large bird on the cooler. Unconsciously, the young woman held her breath, waiting to see how this demon would shoo the bird away. She nearly jumped when he shouted and landed on the bird. She didn’t particularly like the sound of the bird’s neck snapping but she said nothing about it.

The demon was speaking again and she watched, fascinated once again as he pulled out the strange looking square. She was about to ask what it was, but decided to wait and let him show her. She had never seen something like it before and had been hoping he would have a map that she would understand. She stared at the picture intently, then realized that it was almost a perfect replica of Corone.

“Yeah, yeah I do recognize it. We, my friend, are on the island nation of Corone. The forest you were referring to is the forest of Concordia. You said you found a path that came down to this beach, right? I don’t suppose you remember where it is do you? I’ve been away from civilization for a while now and I’d like to get some more food.”

She scrambled to her feet and slung her bag over her shoulder again, eager to be on her way. Her eyes and smile were once again quite bright now that she was fully rested from her long morning of walking in sand. The sunlight glinted off her two lockets and armband, but she didn’t notice. She was far more interested in finding this path of Ter-Thok’s and start heading for civilization. If there was a path to the beach, then it was probable that it was used at least somewhat often.

[Ter-Thok]

The demon scrutinized the device in his hands for a moment longer, before tapping the island; a box appeared over it, and Ter-Thok pulled a pen out of the top of the little machine, and scrawled some incomprehensible, blocky glyphs on the screen. With another tap, the glyphs reappeared as a label at the bottom of the island. "There we go. Island of Corone. Not bad, if a little bland. Now, what else were we...oh yeah, the path...weeell...I say path. It's really more an...animal trail, sort of thing. A bear or something. But, eh, it's not any big deal; it only really leads to my ship, honestly, but I'm sure with a couple of quick scans, I could get 'er into the air and find a city to drop you off at or something." Ter-Thok grinned, stuffing the device back in his pocket.

With a gesture barely more complicated than a casual wave, the cooler lifted off the rock and drifted towards him, beginning to slowly float in a circle around the demon, rocking slightly as the water sloshed back and forth. Ter-Thok stood and made his way along the beach until he spotted a portion of the thick, golden grass that appeared to have been stamped flat. "Here, this is the path. Come on, we don't have all day, y'know. Time is money, and money makes fish go bad before they hit the fire. Or...something like that. Move it, Gestation!"

And with that, he was off into the grass, nothing but rustling stalks and an orbiting cooler to indicate his presence.

[Letho]

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