Post by Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK) on Nov 19, 2020 16:27:37 GMT -8
Traveling from SOUTHERN ISLANDS to SOUTHLANDS
1 STEP
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1 STEP
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How long had he been in Pilaf Land? Had it been weeks now? He had spent every other day helping the park with whatever vegetable based problem they had; from carrot shaped asteroids that had actually been a spaceship, to mutant mushrooms, to farmers somehow trapped within carrot shaped capsules or some other strange nonsense. But, in between their vegetable based misadventures and assignments, Vidar had attempted to find a scientist, any scientist, that he could entrust with fixing his arm. But, he had no such luck. He had been there for weeks, and he hadn't found a single scientist that could help him. Any scientist he found, whom he spoke to, and told about his situation, usually responded to him with a shake of the head and a generic, 'I'm sorry, I can't help you for X, Y, and Z reasons.'
The reasoning behind their inability to help was logical. He was an android (technically cyborg) and his design was different than any they had seen before. His construction was both amazing yet dated somewhat. He wasn't a relic but he was in need of an upgrade across multiple systems. His arms needed to be upgraded or replaced entirely with new cybernetic limbs. But, they were unaware of how to fix him, how to upgrade him, with little to no knowledge of how he worked.
The day he overheard the rumor began as any other day. He had begun to wander the park in search of any other dilemma he could help them out of, when he overheard two workers speaking to one another. Their conversation sounded innocuous; they were sharing stories among themselves of creepy rumors they overheard. While this would not interest him, something that one of them said caught his attention.
'A buddy of mine told me a rumor; supposedly, a bunch of people down in the Southlands, reported seeing a bunch of weird looking robots. They had the Red Ribbon Logo on them; or, at least, they had the imprint of where a logo used to be. It looked like someone took the logo off? Something like that. Rumor is, they were keeping people away from a certain area. No one knows what's over there, no one will get near the robots in case they turn hostile and attack them.'
'That's pretty crazy. I mean, I know about the Red Ribbon Army. I think everyone does. Or at least, they know rumors. But, to think that there may still be robots of theirs wandering around. Wonder what they could be protecting?'
A lab? Could that be it? Could that be what the androids in this rumor were guarding? Keeping any lookie-looks away from the lab? And if it were a lab, would it be one belonging to Doctor Kringle? According to the tale, the robots had the marking of the Red Ribbon, or at least the outline of the Red Ribbon logo, much like how Vidar's shirt - the one he had been wearing when he was awoken in his lab - had the mark of where a Red Ribbon patch had been.
And that is how and why Vidar wound up on the road. The sky shone high above, and the wind was still. Anyone else would have found the trip to be both slow going, dull, and hot. They would complain about the heat. But, he had felt hotter, and had walked far longer. He always found ways to entertain himself.
For example, as he walked along, his HUD was working in the background, attempting to decipher more of the good doctor's encrypted files he had in his data banks. He was hoping he would, through the use of those files, find the location of any lab, if there was one, in the Southlands.
A car drove by. It was the first car he had seen in quite some time. As it drove by, he allowed his eyes to turn and follow it and much to his surprise the car stopped up ahead then reversed.
It was an old jalopy of a car. The car sputtered and creaked and the brakes squealed as the car came to a stop beside the blonde cyborg. The driver peering at him from the driver's seat, tilting their hat up with one finger, "Woo-wee, boy, what are you doing way out here in the middle of nowhere like that?"
"I am traveling to the Southlands," His bright yellow eyes scanned over the face of the man driving; an older man, with a thick handlebar moustache. In fact, it almost resembled a walrus mustache. It was thick and greying but there was still enough darkness to it that gave off the impression that he had at one point dyed his beard. Yet, while he dyed his beard, he did not appear to extend that courtesy to the hair atop his head as his hair was fully white. It was pulled back in a ponytail. Atop his head, the old man wore a big hat.
"You're walking all the way to the Southlands?" The man sounded shocked at what Vidar had told him.
"Yes, I do not own a vehicle. Walking is also a good way for me to enjoy the scenery," He peered around. Not like there was much to look at out there. The green grass had disappeared a long time ago and had been replaced with parched arid desert. The wind was blowing hot now and a tumbleweed bounced by on the road.
"It's almost 105 degrees out here. For how long have you been walking? Where did you leave from?" The old man was flabbergasted, staring at the blonde man standing there.
"I left Pilaf some time ago. I have not been keeping tabs on how long I have traveled, but I am assuming it has been several hours since I began on my journey."
"You're either very brave or very stupid," The old man laughed, "Look, I'm heading down there, get in and I'll drive you."
WC: 1,000