paixaorpg | Gallantly he ran away.... [Completed]

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Gallantly he ran away.... [Completed]

Character(s): Sir Sword Knight, Vala
Content: Sword running ~~with his tail between his legs~~ from some Nobodies and into Vala.
Setting: St. Destino Hospital, [I8]
Time: Early evening
Warnings: Potential violence?

Not running from a fight was, to Sword, a matter of pride. Having the good sense to run from a pointless fight to keep himself from getting killed, however, was a matter of necessity. And so it was that Sword fled, yowling in alarm and terror, from a trio of Nobodies. He couldn't even take on one by himself, if the last battle was any indication--there was no proof he could take on three and live! This was absolutely ridiculous! He wasn't sure where Isaac, Mina, or Soma had gotten off to; he'd been cut off from them by a fleeing townsfolk getting in the way, and in turn, had had to bolt as the pursuing Nobodies had gone after him instead. Where were they when he needed them?! Soma could have cut them in half with a few strokes!

Sword's only real advantage was in his size; he was squeezing through any small openings he could, bolting for the first building he saw--a rundown but still serviceable looking hospital. Thankfully, it looked like people were in there; even more thankfully, the door was push, not pull. He put his shoulder into his mad rush, and slammed into the door as hard as his size and momentum would let him. The door flew open with a satisfying crash, and he made a quick pivot to push it closed to keep the Nobodies from coming in after him. Ohhhh, this wasn't good at all! He rather doubted this place had much in the way of defense, and he'd just drawn those three to try and get in here....

Well, hopefully there were other combat-worthy people in here to help him face these monsters; he wouldn't want innocent people to get hurt from his misfortunes. And if there weren't? ....well, he supposed he'd just be forced to face them himself anyway.... but at least he'd be inside, right? There was more to use to his advantage here.

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"All right, that's far enough," a voice announced from behind him, coming from behind the receptionist's desk. Vala Mal Doran stood up from behind the makeshift cover, her weapon trained on the being that had just hurtled into the hospital.

Vala had managed to make her way to the hospital after a few more minor incidents with the gray creatures that were swarming around everywhere. She had finally decided to make a stand when she found that there were a handful of injured people in the building. There were one or two other defenders guarding the other entrances, but she wasn't sure how long they could hold out if too many more of the creatures attacked. While on the run, she had found it to be a little more difficult to fend them off when more and more just kept showing up. So far, she had managed to pick off the one or two that had made it inside, but if they realized that there were people in the hospital, Vala expected that the battle might get a lot more difficult.

She wasn't sure what this thing was, though. It didn't look like one of the other creatures, but it certainly wasn't human. It was an odd little armor-covered thing, though. The former thief wasn't sure if it would be hostile or not, but given the circumstances, she wasn't about to take any chances. "Who are you, what are you, and what are your intentions?"

Sword stopped up short as he heard the voice, hand tightening on the hilt of his sword and looking around for who was speaking. The woman--another Too-Tall--showed herself soon after, with something pointed at him.... It looked rather like a gun, and Sword fluffed up with the sudden intimidation, though it couldn't be seen; if he weren't wearing armor, he would have looked a little something like a mobile Kooshball. After all, why shouldn't he? Guns, guns were scary! Especially when the other person looked like they were only giving you one chance to answer right before they opened fire. He didn't know if his armor could stand up against bullets....

He let go of his sword to try and dispel whatever look of hostility he had, and thought for a moment as he offered her a salute ans formal greeting, crisp British accent showing through. "Sir Sword Knight, royal Meta-Knight of Dreamland, at your service." Soma had seemed to think he was cute.... Not that Sword liked to encourage that thought--he was a knight, he was supposed to be brave and gallant, not cute!--but generally, cute things were considered less scary, weren't they? With that thought in mind, he removed his hemlet, revealing a round furry face that looked something like a cat's, with long, quivering whiskers and tall rabbit-like ears that perked as they were freed from captivity. "I am a Flopsem, and I intended to take cover here--my sword can do little against so many of those infernal beasts outside."

Now then, just who was this? She had the gun right now, so he didn't feel like provoking her by asking questions just yet.... but still, it would be nice to know who was ready to put a few holes through him.

Vala blinked as the creature - or rather, Flopsem - removed his helmet. Then her serious expression melted into a large smile as she took in the sight. Sure, it was entirely possible that the little guy was some kind of flesh-eating monster that just happened to be completely adorable... But that probably wasn't the case, and at the very least, the little thing knew how to be polite. Vala let the gun drop slightly so it wasn't pointed directly at the newcomer as she replied. "Nice ears... And you aren't one of those gray creatures, at least, so that works in your favor..." she admitted, considering the situation for a moment before she beckoned him closer.

"Well, I suppose you'd better come in here," she told him. "Before one of our friends out there decides to come looking for you. We've managed to keep them out of here for now, so you should be fairly safe..."

Sword smiled back, showing a set of sharp little teeth--certainly those of a carnivore, though not anything a flesh-eating monster might have. They looked closer to something a pet dog might sport. What ruffled fur there was smoothed considerably as the gun was lowered a bit, and his ears wiggled a little before curling back so he could replace the helmet. Better safe than sorry, after all.... "Thank you. Certainly not!" The compliment was appreciated--he rather did like his ears, after all, and thought they were much nicer than the ones all the Too-Talls sported--as was the disassociation with the monsters outside. Who wanted to be thought of as one of THOSE things? What a despicable notion!

"My thanks again." He thought for a moment about hopping up onto the desk, then thought better of it; she would take the running jump as hostile, most likely. After all, nervousness contributed to a readiness to strike the first blow. And he could always just go around.... So that was what he did, trotting over to join Vala behind the desk as quickly as he dared. Such an obedient little Flopsem, coming when called.... Maybe Vala could teach him to roll over next. "Three of them were pursuing me; you and your comrades have my blade beside you." Strength in numbers.... maybe with people to fight alongside, he could manage more damage. "....Just who are you, if I may ask?"

"That would be appreciated," Vala told the Flopsem, although part of her was trying not to laugh at the thought of the little guy taking down those monsters out there with his sword. He didn't exactly look big enough or strong enough to put up that much of a fight. She leaned down and offered her hand to the knight. "I'm Vala, part of the SG-1 team from Earth." She wasn't sure whether or not he might have heard of them. SG-1 had become very well known around the galaxy in the ten years since it had been created. This little guy looked like some kind of alien... It was possible he might have some idea where the planet's stargate was... or even just a spaceship with a working hyperdrive.

It was probably fortunate that Sword put his helmet back on. If he hadn't, it was likely that Vala would have run her fingers through that soft-looking fur instead of offering her hand to shake. The little Flopsem just looked like somebody's pet, and while Vala wasn't about to insult his intelligence, she couldn't help but think he would probably be enticingly huggable without that armor on.

Oh, he offered up a fight alright.... but he was used to offering it up to smaller creatures than Dusks and Too-Talls. Everything was so ridiculously out of scale here! He was used to being a decent height for his world, after all. His sword wouldn't have been taken lightly at home, either; after all, not everyone could afford guns. Or even swords, for that matter. And he was a highly trained knight, too! He didn't know anyone better than Sir Meta Knight when it came to armed fighting.

Sword accepted her hand as well as he could, closing it around her fingers instead to give her a brisk shake. "A pleasure to meet you. What does your team do?" He considered for a moment, tilting his head curiously. "And I've never heard of Earth. What planet is it on?" Or was it a planet? It could be, for all he knew. Or a country, or even just a town.... He felt it safe to assume a town or country, thuogh. After all, he told people he hailed from Dreamland, and that was the country he lived in.... then again, living among royalty did lead you to think on the national level.

Vala grinned at the questions and shook her head. It was pretty obvious now that he'd never heard of SG-1... But at least the concept of other inhabited planets wasn't foreign to him... It was still possible that he might know some way for her to get back home.

"Earth is the planet's name, actually. If you're wondering what the country is, it's known as the United States of America... I'm guessing you haven't heard of it, though..." She almost asked him if he might have heard the term "Tau'ri" mentioned, but decided not to even bother. Nobody else seemed to know anything about the stargate program or Earth... At least, not ~her~ Earth. She hadn't dismissed the whole alternate reality idea yet. It made a lot of sense.

She set her zat'nik'tel on the desk beside her and sat down in the receptionist's chair. "Anyway, since you asked, SG-1 is a military team dedicated to galactic exploration and the defense of Earth and other allied planets against hostiles such as the Goa'uld and the Ori. There's multiple SG teams, but we're the frontline unit that goes on all the most dangerous and important missions. Unfortunately, I seem to be the only one from my team who ended up here. I've been looking for the others, but it doesn't seem like they were trapped here like I was."

"Ahhh.... interesting name, I guess...." Why did someone name their planet after dirt? That was odd.... He would have thought they would name it something more important "No, I'm afraid I haven't." He was glad to see the gun leave her hands, and with that thought, took a quick running start, scampering toward the desk. Yes, actually scampering now; he bent down onto all fours for just a moment to better push off the ground, springing a fair height to grasp the edge and scramble on top. He plopped down where he was at the edge, swinging his legs and making himself comfortable.

There was a quiet thump as both ears tried to perk, but smacked against the top of the helmet; Sword winced behind his helmet, but had straightened immediately upon hearing what Vala did. "Is SG-1 a subunit of the Galaxy Soldier Army? Are you a Star Warrior?" By the sound of it, he would be quite pleased to hear a yes; wouldn't it be exciting, to find another one for his lord? He hadn't known so many of them had survived! "That's unfortunate.... my lord and comrade didn't come here with me, either. I'm not sure if they're even still alive, the way I left."

Vala's hand moved towards the gun again at Sword's sudden leap, but she caught herself before actually grabbing it. The Flopsem was fast, considering how much armor he was wearing. Fortunately, he didn't seem to actually intend her any harm. She did wish he had given her a little warning before deciding to go jumping for the desktop the moment she set down her weapon. Still, Vala adapted quickly to strange situations, and she figured she could handle a little fluffball without too much trouble even if he wasn't as friendly as he seemed.

"No, SG-1 is part of Stargate Command," she informed the diminutive knight. "I've never heard of any Galaxy Soldier Army... It must not have any significant influence on our corner of the universe."

Vala leaned back in the chair, making herself more comfortable, although she kept an eye on the door just in case there was another attack. "I suppose you were brought here under mysterious circumstances as well? It seems to be the latest craze in this city, from what I've heard."

The only harm Sword intended to anyone was those white things outside, frankly, and he couldn't do very well against them. He wasn't a little fluffball either, or cute; he was a brave, talented, highly-skilled knight who had helped battle fearsome monsters and protected those he cared about. And in his opinion--or at least, if he was thinking about it, it would be--if it were a sword instead of a gun that Vala had, he might be able to take her on. He definitely would, if Blade and/or Meta were around....

"They aren't together anymore." Sword shook his head. "They used to be, though.... They used to span the galaxy, maybe even the universe, to push Nightmare back and keep everything from being plunged into darkness." He gestured animatedly as he spoke. "My lord is trying to find any remaining ones that he can--we want Star Warriors most of all, but anyone from the Galaxy Soldier Army that's still alive would be nice--to help meet the new threat."

"I'm not sure how mysterious, actually...." Sword frowned thoughtfully beneath his helmet, seeming almost to droop a little at the thoughts. "I was fighting a Wolfwrath, see, with my lord and cmrade--a terrible huge beast, with claws longer than swords, and a paralyzing bite, that can breathe torrents of fire. It had just engulfed me in flames, but it didn't hurt like I thought it would.... by the time the smoke cleared, I found myself here. So it could have been mysterious, or maybe I died, or.... I don't know...." He shook his head, glancing a trifle nervously back at the door himself. "How did you get here?"

(OOC: It would help if my internet connection would hold so I could actually post as the person I mean to post as and not reload the page under the wrong one. :P)

"You're probably not dead," Vala told him in a knowing tone. "Being burned alive hurts a lot, I can assure you..." Still, he was the second one that thought he might have died. It wasn't exactly the most reassuring trend.

"My journey here was rather unexpected as well, though. I was stepping through the stargate, and instead of turning up on the planet I meant to, I ended up here... With no stargate in sight on this end, I might add... I don't know if you've seen them, but they're big rings created by the Ancients that create wormholes to stargates on other planets. And you need two of them to get it to work. You can't just appear somewhere where there isn't one, but here I am anyway."

"I know." Sword smiled ruefully, though the expression was hidden, at both the memories and reassurance. "Very much not something to regret missing. What I don't know is whether my friends are here, or what state they ended up in." And that, really, was what he needed to know--he could care less if he had died. He was still somehow existing and aware to care about it, so it wasn't like it mattered, right? As long as Meta and Blade were okay, he could deal with whatever came up, even if he was something weird like a ghost.

"I've never heard of a stargate before, or the Ancients." He shook his head, but listened with considerable interest. "That is odd, though..... maybe it would have happened whether you'd been going through a stargate or not?" That seemed like the most reasonable explanation to him, than something established like a stargate suddenly defying the principles it had worked with for so long, for no good reason. "The closest thing I've ever seen are the Halberd and the Warpstar.... I don't think you could really call the Warpstar a spaceship, though." It served as one for Kirby, he supposed, but he doubted he'd last long in space just standing on a little star like that. He and Blade had done just fine on the Halberd, though....

"So...." Sword adjusted his helmet, seeming to droop a little where he sat. "Now that we're here, however we got here, just what are we supposed to do?" He didn't know what Earth looked like, but this place definitely wasn't Popstar. He wasn't sure how to get back either, or what he should do while here--Tiff was the only one who could call the Warpstar, and he didn't have any way to reach her, or Meta Knight to get access to the Halberd.... hell, he'd have been a lot happier with Meta and Blade here, even without a means to get back home. The little knight felt lost without his best friend and commander there to support and guide him. Depressing....

Vala sighed at the question. "Beats me," she admitted. "I've done little more than fight those creatures since I got here. I don't know anything about what this place is, or why I was brought here, but what I do know is that they have a serious pest-control issue here. It's a pity that I have no way of getting back home at the moment, or I'd try to capture one of them and bring it back so we could study it... And maybe sell it to some zoo for a whole lot of money. Shouldn't be that hard to do... The things don't seem to have any resistance to my zat'nik'tel, unlike ~some~ bloodthirsty monsters I've faced."

The former con artist propped her feet up on the desk, seeming to forget the threat that had existed outside a short time before. "I think my friend Daniel would be more interested in the design of this city, though... He'd probably want to go through whatever passes for an archive here and find out everything he could about the place. Not that I think that's a bad idea, mind you... It might just be where we need to go next, to find out how we got here and more importantly... how we can leave."

"I tried to fight them.... my blade doesn't seem to be of much use, though." Sword sounded exasperated at the thought. "I'm about as well-informed as you are, though." He blinked, straightening a little at the comment. "Bring it home? Wouldn't that be dangerous? They looked like they could probably slip through bars. What's a zanik-tail?" Whatever it was, it sounded useful, maybe even against Dreamland monsters.... maybe he'd ask about getting one for himself, and possibly Meta and Blade, if it were possible.

He gave Vala's feet a faintly disgruntled look, not so much at having to share the desk--there was plenty of room, after all--but at their sheer size. It was.... really kind of demeaning having his height so blatantly pointed out to him; he wasn't more than an inch or two taller than her feet, give or take. That.... that really wasn't good for self-esteem, honestly. "I haven't paid much attention to the style of the buildings.... is it really so unique?"

He considered the suggestion--and wondered why someone like Daniel (or at least, what he'd heard of Daniel, which was barely anything) would be so interested in architecture--thoughtfully, wrinkling his nose and wiggling his whiskers beneath his helmet. It would have been almost disturbingly cute, if it was seen. "I guess that's a good idea.... better than any I've had yet. I wonder if everyone in the city was pulled here like this, or do most of the people just live here?" That brought to mind another question. "Just where can we find archives, anyway?"

"Well, I'd just send it to a zoo that uses force fields... That ought to hold the things... But you're right, it's probably pointless..." Vala leaned forward, shifting her feet off the desk as she reached for her weapon. "This is a zat'nik'tel," she explained to Sword. Pointing it at the door, she fired off one bolt, which crackled for a second and dissipated harmlessly. "It's an electric-based weapon. One shot stuns, two shots kills. So in case you were wondering, I probably wouldn't have killed you if I had actually shot you... But you wouldn't want to try it out, either. It doesn't exactly tickle."

Vala placed the weapon back into its holster at her hip, deciding she didn't need to keep it out for the moment. She hadn't heard anything from those creatures for a while, and Sword wasn't about to hurt her. "I'm not sure what Daniel would have thought of the architecture itself... He tends to get very interested over just about anything, but it looks like just another village to me... I still don't know where to actually find any sort of archive or library... Maybe one of the locals would know. I haven't exactly had the time to acquaint myself with the city. Mostly I just ran and hid in here after being swarmed by an army of those monsters."

"Wow, force fields?" He'd never seen one, but from the name, he could guess what it did. Sounded pretty high-tech for something a zoo would use.... but then again, maybe it was a zoo specifically for rare and dangerous creatures. Who knew? Heck, maybe if she did bring any of those creatures back, she'd take two so they could breed in captivity.... if they even did breed. They didn't look normal, so who knew?

Sword jumped at the sudden crackle of electricity, nearly falling off the edge of the desk as he skittered away from the weapon's muzzle. The bolt had earned a very feline-sounding hiss, and had he not been wearing his armor, she would have gotten to see him fluff up significantly. "I'd rather not." He agreed dryly, gingerly settling himself back into a sitting position as he saw she wasn't about to go psychotic on him for no good reason, or anything fun like that. "I'd rather be on the trigger end of one, personally--there are some things in Dreamland that just aren't nice to get up close to when you fight them."

"Me too." He agreed. "More uniform than Cappy Town is, and of course a lot bigger--and I think it looks nicer than this place, actually--but this Paixao looks pretty normal." He tilted his head thoughtfully at the agreement of being lost as to where to start. "Well, they did give me a few brochures and some journal thing I haven't gotten a chance to look at yet, when I came in this morning...." Finding them still strapped to his back, Sword pulled the brochures and shiny gold journal off to look at them, again disgruntled at being not too much bigger than the journal itself.

"Oh really? Let me look at those..." Vala reached over and snatched one of the brochures away from Sword without waiting for a reply and briskly skimmed over it, raising her eyebrows a little when she discovered exactly what the little journals were for. "Hm... It appears these little paperweights have some use after all," she said, pulling out the item she had been given earlier. She hadn't yet bothered to find out what all the little green device was capable of, and now that she had seen some of the features in the brochure, she decided that might have been a slight mistake.

She explained what she had found to Sword as she tried to access the various features. "Apparently they ~can~ contact other people, which I had already assumed might be the case... And they even have a map of the city and various places of importance... Hotels, restaurants, shops... All the usual tourist information. Here we are at the St. Destino Hotel..." Vala held the journal down in front of Sword and pointed at the screen. "So all we have to do is find somewhere useful to go."

Sword didn't comment on that, ignoring the mild slight and just watching to see what she gained from reading. "Really? That should be helpful...." He watched the journal intently as she demonstrated the features, grateful she'd had the foresight to keep him from needing to climb onto her shoulder or something to see the screen. "I guess the booth that gave them to us was about the closest thing to an information center they have.... I guess the next closest thing would be a library, if they have one, or a castle; people working for the central government are usually pretty well-informed."

Vala scanned through the list of notable places, and then pointed out one in particular, "Here's a manor... Whoever lives there must be important. And probably rich. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he's one of those scheming control-freak types, that has a stargate tucked away in his basement and has the villagers worshipping him over some minor use of technology... On the other hand, he might just be a completely normal rich person. I've heard those do exist, but I never do have very good luck with rich people..." Of course, that was probably because for a long time she had stolen from the rich people in the name of redistributing to the poor -- namely herself. Rich people didn't tend to look favorably upon their wealth being removed unlawfully.

She continued down the list of locations, exclaiming suddenly as she spotted what she had been looking for. "Oh, there ~is~ a library here!" She had missed it when she was glancing at names, but had finally noticed it upon looking through some of the descriptions. "An... Os Dias Sao a Noite? There's a mouthful... Someone must think they're really clever coming up with a name like that."

"I bet...." Sword nodded attentively. "I don't know, though; not all rich people are mean like that...." After all, he could be nice like Sir Ebrum. Maybe Vala had just had trouble and run into all the wrong ones? "But.... why would someone have a stargate in their basement? Wouldn't ships coming through destroy their manor?" That made no sense! Who would want their basement (and probably whole house) destroyed like that? And once you were there, how would the ships get out from under the house if they wanted to still stay in the area? He peered at the map, considering. "That manor has the same name as all those cafes.... Maybe he's just recently rich from starting them up?"

He perked as she spotted the library, frowning at the name; bit hard to pronounce, wasn't it? Much less remember all of that.... "Maybe there's another language commonly spoken here? It could mean something simple in that. The library would probably have what we're looking for, but it might be simpler to just ask someone who would know, like the person who lives at the manor.... Which do you think we should do?"

"Oh, a stargate isn't large enough for most ships to pass through," Vala tried to explain. "It's a large ring that opens wormholes to other worlds, but it's not quite that large... Some specially designed ships are small enough to fit through it, but most of the time, it's just people that use it. You step through on one planet and walk out onto another. At least, that's how it works most of the time. We've found primitive cultures that find them and put them in all sorts of weird places because they don't know what they are or what they're for. Shocks the hell out of them when an SG team comes out of one of their museum pieces to greet them in the name of another world."

Vala sighed and stood up, deciding it was time to make a choice on where to go, one way or the other. "I don't really care where we head," she admitted. "For all I know, just talking to random people might provide us with more information than either of those options... First things first. I say we go find something to eat if there's anywhere that hasn't been completely torn apart in the recent mayhem. There's nothing here but hospital food, and not very good hospital food at that."

"Oh...." Well, that was good to know. If it was big enough for specially-designed too-tall ships to go through, then ships from Dreamland would have no problem! Popstar didn't have primitives, that he knew of.... he would feel sorry for them if one of those teams tried using one of those..... er, hard to pronounce electricity guns on them. After all, he doubted they would realize what they were up against, if they were so primitive. Why, he hadn't even known fully what that thing was, except that it was some sort of gun. And guns, of course, were something most civilized people came to view as dangerous and Just Not Good.

"Could be." Agreed Sword. ~~Who was entirely unaware of the fact that talking to random people was the ONLY way you got information in most games.~~ He gathered the brochures and his journal back up, taking a moment to strap the bundle onto his back again, and leapt from the desk to stand beside her. "From what I saw--which wasn't that much, I suppose--they were targeting people, not buildings." Unless they could tell there were people IN the buildings, of course.... But hopefully most of the buildings and their occupants had been spared. "At least we can always come back here if there isn't anything in good enough condition to be still open for business." Hospital food wasn't much to look forward to, but he was willing to take what he could get.

"Or there's always some good old combat rations," Vala added dryly. She had come with all her usual gear, and that included enough ration bars to keep her fed for a day or two if she really needed something to eat. However, they weren't the best tasting things she'd ever had, so finding an actual restaurant that was still open was definitely preferable... or even just a shop with food. Vala wasn't inclined to be overly picky at the moment. Just so long as what they found was better than what they had... That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

"Well, I suppose we'd better get going, then... Let's see what we can find. Maybe we'll even dig up some information about this place while we're at it. That would be nice, wouldn't it?" Vala started towards the door as she spoke, then turned around to wait for Sword as she reached it.

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Gallantly he ran away.... [Completed]

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