Fallout Equestria: Blood and Pancakes (IC)

[Pokonic]

"That's Black Dust!" Stellar announces at the sight of the drug bags. The drug is well known locally for granting unicorns both great power and great paranoia, though she's tactful enough not to say so.

"I'm very sorry about your friend," she tells Addawsa, reaching up with a wing to touch his shoulder. "Of course I'll accompany you. And I wouldn't dream of taking any of her possessions. We should turn them over to her family. Will you need help moving her?"

The camel looked unnerved by the touch of the wing, but said nothing regarding that.

"Oh, no, I wouldn't ask you to carry her body. Also, I wouldn't ask you to carry it anyway; I myself will bear it to where she will be buried."

He gives a quick, distrustful look in Supply Route's direction.

Chiseled nodded
"It was my suggestion that brought conflict between us. I feel I am partly at blame and will personally burn her corpse for the light to receive."

The camel stared at Chiseled blankly.

"You would be quite welcome to burn any goats you come across, I would think, but I would imagine that she would prefer to be buried, like every other individual pony in her line has been."

Doc looked at the bag inquisitively. "Oookay then," he muttered, being a little more careful with it now. He put the bag and book in a better pocket to keep it safe. "So, if we're to attend the funeral, where may that be at?"

The camel raised his head a bit higher than before when the doctor raised his question, as if to look down at him easier.

"That is a thing of importance." Addawsa admitted, "Olive Leaf's mistress was the Sultana Sari, and she was here for the reasons I have already stated. However, her sister would be highly interested in being present at the funeral, and would presumably wish to hold it near her own dwelling."

The camel lowered his head.

"Luckily, they are quite close together and are little more then a day's travel from here."

[RCgothic]

Stellar hastily withdraws her wing, chastened Addawsa's reaction and suddenly remembering her griffin-blood coated wingblades, although luckily most of it has dripped off by now. She nods in acquiescence to the camel's wishes before hanging her head slightly and trotting over to stand next to Joyous Noise.

[Forum Explorer]

Supply Route gives Addawsa a pained smile, one that says how sorry she is for his loss and that she understands if Addawsa hates her.

[DigoDragon]

"Just over a day eh? I reckon that shouldn't be difficult." He let off a yawn. "Though I'd like to ask if we could start looking for a bit of shelter. Going without rest is sorta like being drunk without the enjoyment."

[Pokonic]

"Just over a day eh? I reckon that shouldn't be difficult." He let off a yawn. "Though I'd like to ask if we could start looking for a bit of shelter. Going without rest is sorta like being drunk without the enjoyment."

Attawasa stared at the doctor for a few moments, seemingly baffled.

"You talk of drinking as if it is a...Oh, nevermind."

The camel shakes his big furry head disapprovingly, before gazing down at Olive Leaf's body.

"Oh, I would think it would be prudent for you all to get you're things out of the bar." the camel said slowly, as if he was thinking about something else, "I know of a shelter a quarter-hour's walk from here that would suit our needs without risking death from the violence nearby."

[DigoDragon]

"A fine idea Addawsa," Doc said. He went to get his stuff.

[Forum Explorer]

Very well. Supply Route had most of her stuff, and just needed her bedroll.

[Ravian]

Chiseled appeared confused "How will she receive blessing if her body is tied here?" he wondered aloud, before shaking his head at these strange customs and going to retrieve his meager belongings.

[Colonel Fedora]

Noise's head shot up at the mention of belongings, and she realized how close her friends' gifts had been to destruction. She quickly broke away from Stellar and swooped over to make certain they were unharmed.

When she returned, she merely stood quietly, waiting for the others to finish getting their things.

[RCgothic]

Having collected her possessions earlier, Stellar merely waits for the others to be ready.

[Pokonic]

Nearby, the sounds of battle slowly died, and not a single glimmer of magic could be seen or the slightest sound of a bullet could be heard coming in their direction.

The camel, while the ponies were going in and out of the bar for their things, had placed the body of Olive Leaf in what looked curiously like a sleeping bag and placed it on his back, looking like just another part of the camel's wares.

"Follow me; the way we will be going shall be safe to sleep, but it is not in a place often patrolled by those who would think to be the law." the camel said amiably.

[DigoDragon]

"Sure thing," Doc said as he followed along.

[RCgothic]

Stellar follows quietly, a little shaken by the melancholy turn taken by a promising evening.

[Forum Explorer]

Supply Route follows along of course, keeping her blade out and eyes peeled for any danger.

[Pokonic]

The route the camel took was an admittedly unconventional one; one through the dirty and dark streets that were not immediately adjacent to the moderately cleared path leading to Humble. It was a dirty and garbage-streaked route, but one that led away from the fighting good enough.

Eventually, the look of the old buildings in the dark changed from smaller singular houses to larger, more spaced-apart ones closer to the street. With the roads getting smaller, it wasn't hard to tell that this used to be some sort of business area.

All throughout the walk, the camel said nothing.

[Colonel Fedora]

Joyous Noise quietly followed along, hoping that this resting spot would not be attacked.

[DigoDragon]

Doc kept an eye and ear out in case something was watching them as they moved along.

Spoiler

Show

Perception: 2 out of 7.

[Pokonic]

Doc kept an eye and ear out in case something was watching them as they moved along.

Spoiler

Show

Perception: 2 out of 7.

The buildings they were passing by we just as abandoned as any other pre-war building aught to be, with broken glass and stained wood being the running themes. The streets, while dirty, didn't seem to harbor anything suspicious, and the only noises around were coming from the sound of hooves hitting the ground.

[RCgothic]

Stellar continues to hover along at shoulder height in silence.

[Forum Explorer]

There's a good solid silence going and Supply Route is not the pony to break it as she walks along.

[Mechanix]

It had been one hell of a night. And all Jinx had been doing was staying inside the shack, not knowing what to do, hoping that things would solve themselves. Truth was, she had been too afraid to go out - not afraid to be hurt, but afraid to make things even worse. She was born lucky, and she didn't really believe she could come to any lasting harm; but around her things went wrong, shots went astray, things blasted. And now someone was dead and she had done nothing to help. It was terribly sad; so much it even put a damper on her eternally cheerful mood.

So now it came to reason that it was her duty to break the silence and keep everyone from wallowing forever in their own sorrow. At first she wanted to distract everyone by talking about some random, harmless subject in their surroundings, but the whole place turned out to be pretty dull indeed. So she choose a different approach.

"Where I come from," she said with a warm cheerful voice at odds with the subject of her speech, "we cannot bury the dead; there is not enough room in the Stable. Instead we have a great machine, a furnace of sorts, into which we place our lost, and it turns them into sparks and cinders; some say that their souls remain in the fire as flame-spirits, and that they forever bring warmth and energy to our stable so that we may live. Up north, in other lands where I couldn't stay long because it was too cold, they do not have enough wood to burn and the ground is too hard to plow, so they carry their lost ones up, up the stairs of the mountain, onto these barren peaks, and there the vultures come to take them away; they respect the vultures very much, as they are their morticians and undertakers, and because they ward off the Windigos who sometimes try to steal the lost ones and do... who knows what with them."

"I don't know how people bury the dead here, or why; but if we knew and understood that, perhaps we would know and understand the people here better as well! What will happen to your friend, Atta? And what will happen to you someday?"

[Pokonic]

It had been one hell of a night. And all Jinx had been doing was staying inside the shack, not knowing what to do, hoping that things would solve themselves. Truth was, she had been too afraid to go out - not afraid to be hurt, but afraid to make things even worse. She was born lucky, and she didn't really believe she could come to any lasting harm; but around her things went wrong, shots went astray, things blasted. And now someone was dead and she had done nothing to help. It was terribly sad; so much it even put a damper on her eternally cheerful mood.

So now it came to reason that it was her duty to break the silence and keep everyone from wallowing forever in their own sorrow. At first she wanted to distract everyone by talking about some random, harmless subject in their surroundings, but the whole place turned out to be pretty dull indeed. So she choose a different approach.

"Where I come from," she said with a warm cheerful voice at odds with the subject of her speech, "we cannot bury the dead; there is not enough room in the Stable. Instead we have a great machine, a furnace of sorts, into which we place our lost, and it turns them into sparks and cinders; some say that their souls remain in the fire as flame-spirits, and that they forever bring warmth and energy to our stable so that we may live. Up north, in other lands where I couldn't stay long because it was too cold, they do not have enough wood to burn and the ground is too hard to plow, so they carry their lost ones up, up the stairs of the mountain, onto these barren peaks, and there the vultures come to take them away; they respect the vultures very much, as they are their morticians and undertakers, and because they ward off the Windigos who sometimes try to steal the lost ones and do... who knows what with them."

"I don't know how people bury the dead here, or why; but if we knew and understood that, perhaps we would know and understand the people here better as well! What will happen to your friend, Atta? And what will happen to you someday?"

The camel slowed his pace down ever so slightly until he was moving at a leisurely speed.

"Oh, it is a matter of who wishes to bury her, but the method will be the same. She will be cleaned to a respectable condition, so there will be no wounds on her body, or blood or dust or dirt. The wound will be sealed shut, and she will be wrapped in clean cloth, and then be buried in a place where the sun will touch the grave. After it is confirmed that she is in the ground, then the mourning will begin. It is how I would be buried, and how most of the individuals I know would be buried as well, lest they or I die in some forgotten place where none can do the rites. "

The camel increased his pace.

"The only ones I do not believe that would do so are the goats and their kind. Oh, they practice something like your kin do; they build great pyres to place their dead to roast, after removing them of their hide and fur and skulls, to make trophies and tokens and trade goods. I have absolutely no idea why they do this. Perhaps they like to watch fire burn."

The camel paused, and kept his pace evenly.

"Please do not call me Atta."

[RCgothic]

"Personally I'm all for cremation or magical disintegration," Stellar mutters. Then she speaks up as she clarifies, hoping she hadn't caused any offense: "It's just more hygenic, and doesn't leave any opportunity for the the wasteland to tamper with the body. Even in death the wasteland can be cruel."

[Ravian]

Chiseled nodded at these statements, finally some sense!
"Exactly, to be free of these attachments of the wastes and be consumed by radiant flame is to grow closer to the Light. To keep them among you buried from splendor, it almost seems cruel."

[Pokonic]

The camel seemed to shrug, but it was hard to tell giving the amount of things on his back.

"That seems like a wasteful thing. There is nothing wrong with a proper burial, in one does it properly. Perhaps others might take comfort in a burning, but I would rather not be a pile of ash."

The camel paused, yet again.

"We are quite close now."

[Colonel Fedora]

"It really doesn't matter what you do with the body, so long as you keep their memory alive."

Noise had been thinking about this a lot, lately.

[RCgothic]

Stellar gives Joyous Noise the first genuine smile she's felt since before the stealthed intruder. "I think that's very wise."

[Colonel Fedora]

Noise would have blushed right then, had her blood still been moving around. As it was, she simply gave an appreciative smile.

The smile faded from her face as it turned toward the newest addition to the camel's cargo.

I wonder what memories she'll leave behind, Noise thought.

[Mechanix]

"We're close? Sweet!" The little red pony started hopping, as if she couldn't contain herself with impatience. Indeed, the road had been long and dull, and the only topic of conversation much too serious, though that was her own fault. She darted ahead of the group, impatient to see what laid ahead of them.

[DigoDragon]

"It really doesn't matter what you do with the body, so long as you keep their memory alive."

"Organ donation is a viable option. Giving the gift of life in death."