Day 70: Bus 2

[gald_digger]

As usual, night had ended too damn early. Anise really wanted to see what was at the end of that tunnel! But on the bright side, it sounded like she and her friends could get back there easily.

Actually, maybe it was a good thing that they got interrupted when they did. Today was a field trip day; it'd give them a chance to stock up on any tools or supplies they might need for their venture into the unknown. Anise just hoped the Head Doctor wasn't going to interfere with them going back, now that they were so close...

The outfit selected for Anise that day was a little colorless for her tastes, but the style was cute enough to satisfy her. There was a long, striped sweater with a hood. Two long flaps dangled down from the hood, resembling the floppy ears of a rappig. She fidgeted with them as she was led aboard one of the buses. It looked like she was the first on this bus, so she went ahead and sat down in a window seat.

With little else to do at the moment, she took the blueberry muffin from her paper bag and started breaking off tiny bits with her fingers to eat.

[Free!]

Comments

[his_legacy]

Link nodded as well, watching outside the window. He was silent for a moment before speaking, almost embarrassed.

"Have... you seen a machine like this before?" It was like an enormous metal wagon without horses. Perhaps it ran on that elektrisitee stuff that Alphonse had mentioned before. It certainly moved much faster than a horsedrawn buggy could.

[armoredsoul]

Al nodded. "Yeah, though not one this big before. Well, I guess some of the military's trucks came close, but those weren't designed to hold passengers like this."

[his_legacy]

"I see..." It was strange, the vibrations at his feet, the way the world flew past them.

"We have nothing like this in my home, if that wasn't already obvious."

[armoredsoul]

Al chuckled. "I kind of figured. What is your world like, by the way? I don't think I ever asked before."

[his_legacy]

"Nothing like this one, that is for certain..." Link said with a slightly laugh. It was difficult to describe his own world. It was his home. He took the simplicities of it for granted, the ways of life.

"I suppose the technology isn't nearly what it is, here. We use fire for light, not electricity." Once again, he had to sound out the word. "And we travel on foot or on horseback."

[armoredsoul]

"Sounds like how it is out in the country back home," Al said with a smile. "The only thing really linking my hometown to the bigger world is a train line that goes past us, and that's only there because we produce a lot of wool from the sheep herds!"

[his_legacy]

"Train?" Link tipped his head questioningly. He had never heard of such a devise. Sheeps, though, he knew. Ordon was known for its goats, predominantly, but the two were similar enough.

[armoredsoul]

"Trains are a kind of locomotive, the same as this bus," Al explained, "but instead of being able to drive around freely on a road, their wheels are designed to run on tracks that are laid out across the land you're traveling over. They're split up into different vehicles, technically, with the front one being the engine that pulls the rest. Sort of like a wagon train, but able to go much faster and pull a lot more weight."

[his_legacy]

Link wasn't even going to try to remember the word 'locomotive.'

"I see..." Sort of. He felt very foolish in a place like this, coming from Hyrule where people traveled in covered wagons and on foot. The idea of an 'engine' wasn't even a distant thought.

[armoredsoul]

Al could tell Link was feeling out of his depth and changed the subject to something that should be more comfortable for him. "Where did you live before? In a village or farm, or one of the larger towns?"

[his_legacy]

"The farming village of Ordon. South of Hyrule." That would have been enough back home. Not anymore, though.

"...It's a very small place, compared to the rest of the country. I worked on the ranch, lived in a tree house." It was nothing out of the ordinary, as far as he was concerned.

[armoredsoul]

It was familiar to Alphonse as well, and he grinned. "In a tree house? That's pretty cool! Is that common for your people?"

[his_legacy]

Link frowned a moment.

"Come to think of it... not really, no." He gave a slight laugh. "People used to live in trees ages ago, but it isn't so common, now."

[armoredsoul]

Al chuckled as well. "Well, if it worked it worked, right? What herds were there at the ranch?"

[his_legacy]

"It's a small one. My village is known for its dairy products; we have many goats." And... not really anything else. They got loose a lot, too.

"What sort of place do you come from?"

[armoredsoul]

"My home village is out in the middle of the country, like I said. We mostly raise sheep for the wool, though our family didn't have any herds. Dad left a decent inheritance for us, so Mom was able to focus on raising me and my brother." A bittersweet smile came to his face. "It's a quiet place, and I missed it a lot while Brother and I were traveling."

[his_legacy]

Link listened, nodding quietly.

"I missed my home a lot, as well. I became a traveler, after spending most of my life at my village."

[armoredsoul]

Al glanced over, curious. "Why did you leave?"

[his_legacy]

Link was silent a moment, lips slightly parted as he watched the trees zoom by.

"It's quite complicated. I suppose the best way to put it is that it was my duty." The fact that he was the last descendant of the Hero of Time hadn't properly sunk in, yet. Too much happened too quickly.

[armoredsoul]

Al nodded. "Okay. I understand complicated stories--I have plenty of those myself," he said with a small laugh.

[his_legacy]

"That seems to be quite common in this place," Link commented thoughtfully. He had hardly met an 'average' soul since arriving. Interesting.