Thyme does (eventually) help me up without knocking me over and leads me back to civilization. Civilization is a highly sophisticated hunter-gatherer type of camp, guarded by relatively small women with relatively large guns. Where are we? I have no fucking clue. The best I can give you is 'not Europe' but you know what I could be wrong about that. It's a desert biome let's go there and stay there. In retrospect I do NOT think that we were supporting whatever government was in control of that territory so I'm just gonna leave it there.
It takes me a solid minute to realize that he and I are the only apparent men in the entire camp. I mean, some of them could be small effeminate men with traditionally female facial features I don't know. But let's leave it at that they all appeared to be identifying as women. Most had headscarves, though not all (don't know if that was practicality due to sand/sun or religious reasons. No I did not ask, shut up. "So why do ya'll wear headscarves" in NOT the sort of phrase a half-way smart white dude just throws into a conversation). They were mostly dark haired, with medium to dark skin tones. The little girls were much the same, though most didn't have their heads wrapped, instead with short or braided black hair.
As we progress through the camp, more little girls run out to gawk. They are fascinated with my presence, and thrilled with my brother's. They beg, either in English or another language I do not recognize, for piggy-back rides and attention. Thyme immediately obliges, with a rotating three or four children on his shoulders at all times. He is delighted with them in general, and despite looking like an actual war-machine to everyone else, is a golden retriever for them, dispensing bear hugs and occasionally giving some of the littler ones a weapon to borrow if they ask. It gives entirely the image of a set of ducklings following a wolf loyally. The wolf is, unmistakably, benign to them. Not to me I get tripped at least twice much to the amusement of the little girls.
One of the girls mostly sticks with us, an older one, and after a moment I realize she's almost definitely his daughter. She has a darker complexion, but her eyes have the same light mist to them. And her smile, it's identical to his. Unmistakably cruel. Lips just a bit too red as if stained with blood. That odd set of the cheeks, as though used to smiling only at other's pain. Oh, also at one point or another on the walk Thyme says, "Pippa this is your Uncle Hugh—" and then he gets distracted from the introduction by a dog.
There are a lot of stray dogs, and a pack of them winds up following us, along with the little girls. Not like, American looking stray dogs either. These look like one evolutionary tier away from hyena's, stray dogs. They play with the children placidly, growl at me, and lick his fingers as we walk.
"I'll come see you in a bit, all right?" Thyme says to the girls then repeats it in another language (I don't know which. Don't fucking look at me like that. You get eaten by a goddamn lion. Attacked by murder-birds. Crushed by gravity. Kidnapped. Gored by a bull. Gored by a boar. And I don't remember what the fuck else. You do all that and then you fucking tell ME if you can identify some language you've never heard before on some continent you never plan on returning to. It wasn't English. It probably wasn't Spanish. That is the sum total of the information I have on the subject).
"Are you from America?" Pippa asks me. She's the only one who's really spoken English this whole time, though others tried out 'hellos' with me, hers seems fluent, even if she was mostly talking to her father.
"Yes," I say, nodding.
"Have you seen my brothers?"
"Thank god no," I reply.
"You've met them I think---they're still in school like you but I'll bring Phin next break, yeah?" he asks, wrapping a thick arm around her little shoulders. We've reached one of the more sophisticated building structures. Kind of a hut sort of thing but more on the tent side of things. Looks like appropriated scraps mostly, but even so, it has an actual generator.
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This Never Happened (Olympus Drive Chronicles)
AdventureThe twelve labors of Heracles, written as though they were a blog post written by Heracles. Set in the Olympus Drive Universe. Chronologically after Book 3: According to Plan and just before Book 4: Almost There Content Warning: some violence, larg...
