you can bury my body, but I'll never die

[eumenis]

Furiosa enters the Nexus on the second day of Autumn, flanked by three War Boys. One remains by the gate with a motorbike, but the other two follow her on a trade negotiation with a third party. They're being offered technology that will increase the fuel efficiency of their vehicles, but they need to make sure the cost isn't too high. In the end, the negotiations go well, and Furiosa has a written proposal to take back to the council. She and her men will make a brief stop for medical supplies and a meal for themselves before returning home.

Nexus trips are largely business these days. That's just how things are, but she's also not above buying herself an enormous peach and strawberry boba tea and letting her War Boys get smoothies. And that takes them through the Plaza, past the central area where new arrivals often find themselves dropped, dazed and puzzled from the last thing they experienced before arriving here.

Comments

[missursaminor]

For all the place was so commonly the arrival point for newcomers, the newest one seemed to be getting something of an uneasy reaction from those passing through the Plaza, for all she was small.

Perhaps it was the armor, or the mess of gore and greasy ash she was marred with. Perhaps it was the sharpness of her tone as she was swearing raggedly, tugging at the straps of the breastplate that had been crumpled around her, the dents reminiscent of large fingers. A frustrated snarl slipping from her as one of the buckles, too twisted from damage refused to give, the girl snatching the obsidian knife from her belt to slice through the leather instead, yanking the breastplate off like it had personally offended her, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the pavement as she found herself finally able to take a proper breath again as her gaze skipped around the area.

She kept hold of the armor, knowing that even if it was wrecked for it's current use, the metal was still viable for other things. Waste not want not.

[eumenis]

Furiosa and her boys notice the injured girl at roughly the same moment. Maybe it's the blood smell, maybe it's the swearing and the spitting, which seems to be as much borne of contemptuous ferocity as it does from pain or illness. The clothing on this strange girl is far too heavy for the Wasteland; hell, it's pretty heavy for the weather in the Nexus at this time, and armor is not something often utilized in the Citadel. It doesn't really help if your car crashes and goes up in flames. For all that, though, it's obvious they're looking at someone who's been in a fight.

"Boss?" Crux is at her right; he's around 6'5", dark skin unstained with War Boy white today. Both men are shirtless but wearing green shoulder-wraps with hoods, lined with elaborate stitching. He nods toward the girl unnecessarily, since she's already spotted her, but Furiosa makes a humming sound of acknowledgement. "Probably a new arrival. Eyes on in case she's been followed, but I wouldn't fret."

She takes a sip of her drink and then hands it to her other companion, Spanner, who is smaller and paler, though still heavily muscled. He smiles at her and holds it obediently, and Furiosa advances toward the girl alone, although it's pretty clear her bodyguards aren't far off. She holds both hands out to her sides to show she's unarmed, then rests the metal one on her hip. "Did you win, and are you injured?" She asks wryly, by way of greeting.

[missursaminor]

She was certainly better off than she had been. She could still feel the ache of bruises, the likely cracked ribs where the giant's first swing had launched her off her feet like nothing more than a toy, the blood prickling along her scalp. But she'd live through it. What had come after was worse, and while her nerves still tingled with the remembered agony of her last moments, it seemed she was spared that here.

She spotted the stranger as she was wiping the blood from her mouth, brows drawing slightly as she noted the men waiting a distance back, the way the woman carried herself, the alien-looking prosthesis she wore. Warriors all of them, and while Lyanna was suspicious, she didn't look afraid.

"I'm dead is what I am," Matter-of-factly as she wiped the gore from her dagger on the already ruined fabric of her gambeson before slipping it into her belt for the moment. "But so's the giant so I would call it a draw."

[eumenis]

Furiosa is used to analyzing a stranger's capabilities at a glance, at least where violence is concerned. She's seen children come into the Nexus before, and young teens, and few have struck her as quite so competent.

"That happens here," she says. "Not everyone's died to get to this place, but enough have that it's not a shock to hear. Just arrived, I take it?"

There's a faint smile on her lips and in her voice. She's never seen a giant, herself, but she doesn't disbelieve the tale. Rather, she's fascinated. "I'm not sure if I should offer congratulations or sympathy."

[missursaminor]

It was the way of things on Bear Island. And even if it wasn't, between the drive of both Lyanna and her late mother, there was no way she would allow herself to be anything but competent. She couldn't run her house, rule her people, or expect the soldiers to follow her otherwise. And beside that, her own pride simply would allow nothing else.

"Aye," It was a strange idea, but then not too long ago so had the armies of dead. Dragons. Reality truly was stranger than fiction. "I don't need either though. It was tearing through my men and I wasn't about to let it continue."

[eumenis]

"Your men," Furiosa repeats thoughtfully. "You were in command? That's remarkable, if you're as young as you look."

At her age, a War Boy would only just have taken on paint and be working with the Blackthumbs, refueling and repairing vehicles, attending to the older fighters and hoping to earn Lancer training as soon as possible. Hoping to go out chrome, in a burst of flame. She glances back at her men, and while they're watching for her reaction to this, they both look suitably impressed.

Of course, the Vuvalini were different. Everything was very cooperative, there was no one commander, but a girl this age would have been Initiated or close to it, and could easily have been defending their borders. Valkyrie sure as hell was. She was a sharpshooter from a young age.

She tugs her canteen off her belt, opens it and takes a sip to show it's safe, and offers it over. "Clean water. What's your name? I'm Furiosa, of the Green Towers. The tall one back there is Crux, the other is Spanner."

[missursaminor]

"I was the only Mormont left," She replied with a faint shrug. "I'd been raised and trained to lead, and if I didn't, who knew what sort of moron would be set in my place."

And there were quite a few morons in Westeros, in her humble opinion. Her people deserved better than that.

The canteen was accepted with a small nod, and she was more than willing to take a couple swallows of water to ease her throat from how parched the cold, the blood, the ash had left it. "Lyanna Mormont, Lady of Bear Island."

[eumenis]

"Sounds like you took to it admirably. Some leaders forget that you should never ask anything of your men that you won't risk, yourself."

Under the ash and blood, Furiosa thinks, this girl is a creature of chrome and steel. A valuable find, a potential ally despite her youth and the fact that she is alone. Her world needs teachers.

"Welcome to the Nexus, Lyanna Mormont," she says, with the blended V8 and Vuvalini salute the Towers use nowadays. The men promptly imitate her, though they have to set down the drinks to do so.

"We were here trading," she adds. "We come from a harsh world. A lot of the things we need for our people can't be obtained there, so we come here for medicine, technology, books and the like. We were going to eat before returning home. Will you join us?"

[missursaminor]

"Southern lordlings might lead like that, but no Northerner would ever follow a leader who wasn't on the lines with them." Some Southerners had proven to be decent people, brave and honorable, but as a whole, Lyanna still couldn't help but feel scorn for their ways. "Especially not those of Bear Island."

She has no such salute, but returns the gesture with a short, but respectful sort of nod. She can tell that this woman and her companions are cut from a similar sort of steel to her people, can respect the determination it takes to survive, especially in a harsh place.

"Aye," It was always smart to take one's rest when the chance arose, to eat and more importantly learn of the place she was in, the places connected to it. And to make allies. If she was alone here, allies would be key, and this small group seemed the sort of people she could get along with. "Not about to turn down a chance to take a meal."

[eumenis]

"What's an island?" One of the men whispers to the other, only to get gently shushed. There's a flicker of a smile on Furiosa's face for a moment, but she doesn't embarrass the man by explaining. Later, perhaps.

"See, that's what I always say," she says with a sparkle in her eye. "Eat while you can."

Beckoning her men over, she takes the drink she was enjoying from Spanner. "Somewhere with outdoor seating, I think," she says. "Hey, Crux, are you feeling brave? Let's have fish."

The looks on the men's faces suggest they've never actually eaten fish before.

[missursaminor]

Some small bit of sternness seemed to bleed out of Lyanna's expression ever so slightly. It was doubtful the girl smiled often, but it was what it was. And for all these people were strangers, the light muttering and teasing reminded her enough of her own people to let her relax a scant fraction.

"It's silly to go hungry if you don't have to." She agreed with Furiosa, watching the wary expressions on the men's faces at the suggestion of fish.

"If you're wary of fish, wait until someone offers you octopus. Then you'll really have something to blanch at."

[eumenis]

"Ah, see, that I haven't tried yet. Octopus," Furiosa looks thoughtful. She has yet to meet anything she absolutely wouldn't eat, though.

She moves off slowly, watching to see if the girl is steady enough to walk on her own and keep pace. The men fall in line at her side, leaving space for Lyanna. "Which one's the octopus, Boss?" Spanner asks. "That's the one with all the legs, right?"

"That's right," Furiosa nods.

"Wait, what's a squid, then?" Crux blinks. "I thought that had all the legs."

"We come from a desert world," Furiosa explains to Lyanna. "If there's any ocean near us at all, it's too far away for us to travel to."

[missursaminor]

"It can be chewy, but sliced and fried with the right seasonings it's rather good." Whatever injuries she has, she'll be dipped in Hell No before she admits she can't keep up. So it's likely a good thing that she seems able to keep pace with the small group without any trouble.

"I've heard about deserts. Across the Narrow Seas there's a large one, it's apparently a hard place to live," She considered Spanner and Crux, with a faint shrug. "Octopus and squid both have lots of legs. The most immediate difference is that squid tend to have a longer, narrower sort of head, whereas an octopus looks more round and soft."

[eumenis]

"Hard not to like anything that's fried," Spanner cracks a grin. He looks like he's had severe burns on his neck and torso, which have healed to thick ropy scars, and he moves stiffly, but there's warmth in his smile.

"Right?" Crux chuckles softly. "Fry it and serve it with butter? I'm in."

"Oh, you'll like the place we're going to, then," Furiosa says to the men.

To Lyanna she nods. "The place you're in now is a sort of crossroads where thousands of worlds meet. The history of our world and yours are probably very different. We had oceans once, but wars destroyed most of our world."

[missursaminor]

"That's what wars do," She pointed out, mulling over the information given. "And I'd think you mad, but then the idea of what might be real has been rather violently expanded of late, what with the dragons, and the Night King with his armies."

A soft huff, considering the idea of the oceans simply being gone. "We've oceans still, but winter had just begun. I've heard tales that the oceans around Bear Island all but froze solid in the last winter... there's whispers that with the Night King's influence removed that the season might not be so terrible but with as little as we know about him it's hard to say for sure."

[eumenis]

"Mm." Furiosa nods. "Usually not on the scale our world has seen, from what I understand, but you're not wrong."

"Dragons, and Night Kings, and giants?" Crux has a deep voice, and it sounds gentle when he asks, but there's no particular condescension in it. "We don't have any of those."

"That we know of," Furiosa says darkly. "Anything's possible. But nasty, degenerate, violent humans are enough to worry about."

She turns down an alley, glancing over her shoulder at Lyanna. "It was like that here last winter. Snowdrifts so deep buildings were lost in them. I'm sure any waters that were here were frozen deep. I'd say I hope you're braced for winter, but if you're dead already you probably won't be going back to where you came from."

"Don't want to rush you, since you just came off of it, but when you have an idea of what you want to do now that you're here, you're welcome to let us know. I'd like to help."

[missursaminor]

"Undead giants and dragons, as if the normal sort weren't trouble enough." She huffed, brows drawing. "And Westeros has plenty of awful people, especially the farther south one goes."

She grimaced, but nodded in agreement. "Aye, as much as I can be having never seen winter. It snows, we lose buildings to it, but actual winter is something else entirely from what reports I've heard. As for what to do..."

Lyanna frowned thoughtfully. "I can't say. I expected to be caring for Bear Island for years assuming we didn't all die to the undead armies. I don't suppose there's a militia here?"

[eumenis]

"I'll bet you have some shine stories, though," Crux raises an eyebrow, thoroughly impressed.

"You're taking all of this quite well," Furiosa tells her. "I've seen soldiers come in shell-shocked after dying before. Struggling to process what's happened."

It's probably because she's a girl, she thinks, but opts not to voice this in front of her men. "But just so you know, if you do hit the point where you need a chance to rest and recover, that's not wrong or weak."

"There's no militia right now. We did have a raiding party in the winter, but I'd love to not have to deal with that shit again," she says, pauses a second like she's about to apologize for swearing, then dismisses that because the girl already demonstrated her ability to curse like a sailor. "But if you can bear dry heat...we can always use more teachers at the Green Towers."

Her men say nothing, but the way they look at her suggests this is an unusual invitation.

[missursaminor]

"I knew I was dead the moment I charged the giant," Lyanna responded in a matter-of-fact matter. "No surprise to process there."

She'd cope in her own way, but it would remain to be seen how well that would work in this new place. The looks cast Furiosa's way are certainly noticed and interpreted, her own shifting to something appraising at the offer.

"What sort of teaching?" She knew she needed to keep busy or go stir crazy, and something practical like training others might be just the ticket. Depending on what they were expecting, that was.

[eumenis]

Furiosa has been known to fall in a kind of maternal love with children, on occasion. In the Nexus, she doesn't always get to see the little ones she tries to take under her wing again. She feels she's been lucky with Kippa, getting to see her now and again. There have been others she's tried to embrace who vanished back to their own worlds--and that's a good thing, at least she can hope it is, but it's a little bittersweet, too.

This girl, though. No matter how competent and strong she is, she will do better with company, backup and care than she would alone. Furiosa sees something of herself in the fierce child, and something of Valkyrie, and more than that, she sees someone who comes from a harsh enough world that coming to the Wasteland might not be a downgrade. At least they don't have fucking undead giants and dragons.

"Surprise, no, but battle-fatigue happens even to the bravest and most ruthless," she says with a smile.

"I'm not quite sure what your age is, at a glance, but I think I was about there when I started riding with the War Boys, learning how to throw a lance, new ways to fight. I could shoot before that, and fix engines, and tussle like an angry cat, but I remember being tested against boys my own age, and learning quick that the biggest ones had the most trouble facing off against me."

"I heard you laid Rictus out twice," Crux says with a smirk.

"...well. That was later on." Furiosa looks sheepishly pleased. "And he was unarmed. Ask me later. Anyway, I'm on the tall side now, but small people need to learn they can take out enemies twice their size if they're smart, and big people need to learn not to underestimate small ones."

"And all of us could use some instruction with swords, if I'm being honest. Me included. Most of our fighting has been done from vehicles up until now, but that doesn't mean it always will be." She can fake it with a sword, swing and guard with it like any large object, like she did with the boltcutters way back when. That doesn't mean it's elegant, or that she couldn't improve.

[missursaminor]

"True enough I suppose." She'd seen it happen often enough, in men and women alike, no matter how old or skilled they were. She knew that for as tough as she was, she wasn't immune to this but accepting it would be a different story entirely.

"I'm thirteen," Lyanna informed them, well aware that she likely still looked younger than that. Annoying, but being underestimated was a useful tactic at times. "I've trained with a sword since I could hold one though, other weapons too. If it's martial training you need, I don't see why I couldn't provide it."

A tart twist of her mouth, arms crossed. "The first one to complain about my age in the process gets a club between the eyes, though."

[eumenis]

Furiosa suspects if battle fatigue doesn't ruffle her, homesickness eventually will. Even a girl of chrome has a heart somewhere. But trying to convince her of it prematurely would be offputting, stifling. Best they get to know one another first.

She nods at the age. She does look young, but Wasteland children tend to look young and be malnourished, so really she's as fine a figure of a thirteen-year-old as Furiosa would expect from a harsh world. "I was Initiated at about that age."

Crux and Spanner break into smiles of varying degrees of amusement at the threat. "I'm gonna ask the Ace if you ever said that," Spanner tells Furiosa.

"I don't remember," she muses. "But I think I mostly went for the crotch when I was angry, back then. Either way, fair enough."

They're coming up on a cafe with picnic tables, umbrellas open over each to cast a pleasant shade. Furiosa selects a table and sits, catching the eye of the waiter. She and the men still have their drinks, but she says, "Don't worry, we're here for food, and plenty of it."