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rainbowfic2022-09-17 09:10 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote in rainbowfic2022-09-17 09:10 pm
Colour of the Day 17/09/22 [Starfall]
Name: Steadfast and True
Story: Starfall
Colors: Colour of the Day – 17/9/22 (doughty)
Supplies and Styles: Canvas, Seed beads
Word Count: 886
Rating: PG
Warnings: Mild descriptions of blood/injury.
Notes: c.1319 (I haven’t dated this event absolutely exactly yet), Norhyria; Pio Caffsley. Flash fic.
Summary: Pio Caffsley knows what duty looks like, even if other people don’t.
“Soldier Caffsley, where do you think you are going?”
Pio turned. “Captain. I saw someone fall – over there. Think they must need help.”
Captain Vennis frowned first over at the point where the grassy mountain slope started to rise more sharply into rock, and then at Pio. “I see no one. Back in line, soldier!”
“All respect, Captain,” said Pio, “but I saw them.”
“Don’t talk back to me like that, Caffsley! There’s no one else out here – and if it is, probably only an outlaw who’d cut your throat if you were fool enough to go looking. Back in line!”
Pio nodded. “Captain,” he said. There was no point in explaining the obvious a third time. He picked up his feet and walked, but slowed as soon as Vennis had taken his eyes off him, letting himself fall back through the ranks, to the complaints and prods of some of his fellow soldiers, and then stopped, bending down as if he needed to get a stone out of his boot.
Orders were orders, but they always just shouted about something whatever you did. Pio knew what you did when injured people fell out of nowhere on the mountainside. You couldn’t just march on past. The Captain could do whatever he pleased afterwards. Pio had taken it before and would again.
Pio picked up his pace, trotting over the gentler slope towards the long grass by the rocks where he’d seen the man land. He was there, all right, a long streak of nothing much, dressed in some sort of uniform, but not Norhyrian military. Winter padded coat, by the looks of it, which was odd at this time of year, even up here. The brown of the coat was stained by blood and his trousers were torn. Pio crouched down beside him. He was lying on his side, but even from that angle, Pio could see his face was a mess.
“Not an outlaw, are you?” he asked, tapping the stranger’s shoulder.
The man turned, slowly and painfully, but he blinked and managed to focus on Pio out of his battered face. “What?” he croaked.
“Oh,” Pio said, and hastily reached for his flask. He held it out. “Water?”
The man pulled himself up slightly against the rock, wincing at the movement, and reached out for it. There were marks on his wrists, like he’d been tied at some point, but if he had, he’d got out of it.
“I can get you back to base,” Pio told him. “We’ve got a physician there. Used to soldiers getting themselves into a mess. They’ll patch you up all right.” But, he thought at the same time, what if Captain Vennis insisted on treating the man like an enemy?
His injured stranger swallowed and put up a hand to brush hair from his face and then stopped almost in puzzlement when he met resistance from dried blood. “Where am I?”
“Norhyria, in the borderlands,” Pio said. “How did you get here?”
The man looked up, past Pio, upwards to the mountains. “The Paths. I was injured – didn’t know what I was doing. You have to get me back up there.”
“You’re not fit to go clambering over mountains!”
He shook his head and put a hand up to it, closing his eyes. “No, no. Not that far. Only a little further up – I can get back onto the Paths – and home.” He paused. “Just need to catch my breath – do you have any food?”
Pio sat down on the grass beside him. “The Paths. You mean what they call the Boundary Paths? Are you one of those Star Beings?”
The man cracked a laugh and then stopped himself, wincing again. “Look at me – could I be anything other than human?”
“You could still be dangerous,” said Pio. He passed him the flask again. “My Captain was very worried about that possibility.”
The man took the flask, and before he drank again, grimaced. “Dangerous? You should see my attackers – not a mark on them!”
“Shame,” said Pio, eyeing the bloody state of him again. “Whoever did this could have used one of our Colonel’s special treatments, if you ask me.”
He laid back down and closed his eyes. “I don’t want to – be a nuisance – but do you have any food?”
“Dry stuff,” said Pio. “But there ought to be something I can find round here to make it so’s you can manage it – and then I’ll see if I can help you up there before someone comes looking for me.”
“I don’t want to get you into trouble.”
Pio grinned. “I’m always in trouble. Just didn’t know the Paths came out here – never heard of it before.” He shivered at the sudden advance of the uncanny.
“It’s complicated,” said the man. “They don’t – but they do. And I was confused – forgot one of the first rules. I was only thinking of finding help.”
“And you wound up here?” Pio shook his head. “Well, whatever your name is –”
“Osmer.”
“Well, then, don’t worry. I’ll find you something you can eat and get you back where you belong. Just keep your head down while I’m gone. Don’t know what my Captain’d do if he saw you – you know the type.”
“Yes,” said Osmer dryly; and then: “Thank you.”
Story: Starfall
Colors: Colour of the Day – 17/9/22 (doughty)
Supplies and Styles: Canvas, Seed beads
Word Count: 886
Rating: PG
Warnings: Mild descriptions of blood/injury.
Notes: c.1319 (I haven’t dated this event absolutely exactly yet), Norhyria; Pio Caffsley. Flash fic.
Summary: Pio Caffsley knows what duty looks like, even if other people don’t.
“Soldier Caffsley, where do you think you are going?”
Pio turned. “Captain. I saw someone fall – over there. Think they must need help.”
Captain Vennis frowned first over at the point where the grassy mountain slope started to rise more sharply into rock, and then at Pio. “I see no one. Back in line, soldier!”
“All respect, Captain,” said Pio, “but I saw them.”
“Don’t talk back to me like that, Caffsley! There’s no one else out here – and if it is, probably only an outlaw who’d cut your throat if you were fool enough to go looking. Back in line!”
Pio nodded. “Captain,” he said. There was no point in explaining the obvious a third time. He picked up his feet and walked, but slowed as soon as Vennis had taken his eyes off him, letting himself fall back through the ranks, to the complaints and prods of some of his fellow soldiers, and then stopped, bending down as if he needed to get a stone out of his boot.
Orders were orders, but they always just shouted about something whatever you did. Pio knew what you did when injured people fell out of nowhere on the mountainside. You couldn’t just march on past. The Captain could do whatever he pleased afterwards. Pio had taken it before and would again.
Pio picked up his pace, trotting over the gentler slope towards the long grass by the rocks where he’d seen the man land. He was there, all right, a long streak of nothing much, dressed in some sort of uniform, but not Norhyrian military. Winter padded coat, by the looks of it, which was odd at this time of year, even up here. The brown of the coat was stained by blood and his trousers were torn. Pio crouched down beside him. He was lying on his side, but even from that angle, Pio could see his face was a mess.
“Not an outlaw, are you?” he asked, tapping the stranger’s shoulder.
The man turned, slowly and painfully, but he blinked and managed to focus on Pio out of his battered face. “What?” he croaked.
“Oh,” Pio said, and hastily reached for his flask. He held it out. “Water?”
The man pulled himself up slightly against the rock, wincing at the movement, and reached out for it. There were marks on his wrists, like he’d been tied at some point, but if he had, he’d got out of it.
“I can get you back to base,” Pio told him. “We’ve got a physician there. Used to soldiers getting themselves into a mess. They’ll patch you up all right.” But, he thought at the same time, what if Captain Vennis insisted on treating the man like an enemy?
His injured stranger swallowed and put up a hand to brush hair from his face and then stopped almost in puzzlement when he met resistance from dried blood. “Where am I?”
“Norhyria, in the borderlands,” Pio said. “How did you get here?”
The man looked up, past Pio, upwards to the mountains. “The Paths. I was injured – didn’t know what I was doing. You have to get me back up there.”
“You’re not fit to go clambering over mountains!”
He shook his head and put a hand up to it, closing his eyes. “No, no. Not that far. Only a little further up – I can get back onto the Paths – and home.” He paused. “Just need to catch my breath – do you have any food?”
Pio sat down on the grass beside him. “The Paths. You mean what they call the Boundary Paths? Are you one of those Star Beings?”
The man cracked a laugh and then stopped himself, wincing again. “Look at me – could I be anything other than human?”
“You could still be dangerous,” said Pio. He passed him the flask again. “My Captain was very worried about that possibility.”
The man took the flask, and before he drank again, grimaced. “Dangerous? You should see my attackers – not a mark on them!”
“Shame,” said Pio, eyeing the bloody state of him again. “Whoever did this could have used one of our Colonel’s special treatments, if you ask me.”
He laid back down and closed his eyes. “I don’t want to – be a nuisance – but do you have any food?”
“Dry stuff,” said Pio. “But there ought to be something I can find round here to make it so’s you can manage it – and then I’ll see if I can help you up there before someone comes looking for me.”
“I don’t want to get you into trouble.”
Pio grinned. “I’m always in trouble. Just didn’t know the Paths came out here – never heard of it before.” He shivered at the sudden advance of the uncanny.
“It’s complicated,” said the man. “They don’t – but they do. And I was confused – forgot one of the first rules. I was only thinking of finding help.”
“And you wound up here?” Pio shook his head. “Well, whatever your name is –”
“Osmer.”
“Well, then, don’t worry. I’ll find you something you can eat and get you back where you belong. Just keep your head down while I’m gone. Don’t know what my Captain’d do if he saw you – you know the type.”
“Yes,” said Osmer dryly; and then: “Thank you.”
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It's not spoilery, though, but basically the thing with the Paths, and what Osmer's doing in this: The Paths are more accessible via what is a sort of physical circle (what people call the Boundary , or the Boundary Paths) where the divide is weaker, for reasons, and that's located in a circular area around a couple of mountain ranges (mostly), hence the going up in the mountains, but the Paths aren't really physically in this world at all. And if you aren't a Pathwalker and can't control them, it's very dangerous - you can fall out and emerge anywhere at all. Theoretically, you could get onto the Paths from anywhere, but in practice that's not easy, even for a Pathwalker, and not very safe anyway. What happened to Osmer will come back properly from his pov at some point, but he managed to get onto the Paths from miles away to escape being attacked, but being injured, he just fell out in a different country and nearly 2 years after he went in, in real time, but he's still a good enough pathwalker that he managed to come out somewhere in the vicinity of the Boundary Circle. (So he sort of appeared and then fell over, maybe tumbled a little way, but nevertheless, he needs to get further back up the mountain to the Boundary Circle itself to get home again properly.)
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And I like both Pio and Osmer and their meet-cute... or is that meet-ugly? XD
<3