after the event

[hoponpop]

[ Hopper looks kind of desperate when he appears on the network mirrors. ]

Someone tell me someone has some cigarettes. I need one. Or a dozen.

Comments

[wheyoftheadept]

[Saturday waves a pack in his general direction]

I got about half left. You got a light?

[hoponpop]

Oh, thank god. The rest of mine fell out of my pocket and into a creek.

I still have my lighter, it stayed dry.

[wheyoftheadept]

Well, let's not waste 'em. I brought some tobacco at the faire, but I think I lost the pouch in all this shit.

[she pours them out, and divide them equally. Five for her, and five for him]

[hoponpop]

[ He locates her among the camp after a few moments of looking around. ]

Thanks so much. That's really generous of you.

[wheyoftheadept]

[Saturday waves him off]

Generous, hell. I don't have a damn lighter. Fair trade 'n all.

[hoponpop]

Well...

[ He sits down alongside her and pulls the lighter out. ]

Want to have a smoke?

[wheyoftheadept]

Fuck, yeah.

[she lights up, and inhales with deep satisfaction]

Oh, I needed that.

[hoponpop]

Tell me about it.

[ He also lights up, inhaling the smoke and blowing it out after a long pause. ]

All I could think while we were making our way to the camp was how bad I wanted one.

[wheyoftheadept]

[Saturday stretches out, finally starting to relax.]

I dunno where exactly that goes in the rankings yet but it is definitely in my person top ten hairiest situations where I got out alive.

[hoponpop]

Top ten?

[ He considers it, puffing indulgently on the cigarette. ]

Yeah, I think that makes that ranking for me.

[wheyoftheadept]

Maybe top five, I dunno... bet you half a dollar we're gonna see those fuckers again, though.

[She looks him over]

Hey, I saw you before, right? At the archery butts.

[hoponpop]

That's right. You're a good teacher.

Would have been good if I'd held on to that bow, seems like.

[wheyoftheadept]

Not really. Normal weapons don't seem t' do much. My blade, here - [she pats her metal right arm, where Elder Brother sleeps] - 's magic, so it could make a dent, but it might as well have been potmetal for all the good it did. Those bastards are tough.

[hoponpop]

Ah.

[ Hopper's been puffing away at this cigarette and it's swiftly burning down to the filter. He looks at his other four with longing. ]

Bad time and place to have been a chain smoker before.

[wheyoftheadept]

At least there's decent odds of finding someplace that sells tobacco an' a pipe around here. Last place I was stuck in was basically a prison.

[hoponpop]

Guess I'll become a pipe smoker, then.

How'd you end up in a place like that?

[wheyoftheadept]

Same way I ended up here. Was minding my own business, there was a lightshow, then I was somewhere else.

[hoponpop]

That's how I ended up here, too. I thought it was because El was shutting the gate between worlds at the time, though.

[wheyoftheadept]

Could be. The first time I got yeeted through dimensions, it was cause of a real big magical explosion. Your thing sounds kinda like that?

[hoponpop]

Yup. Except, it would have been more like an implosion than an explosion.

[wheyoftheadept]

So long as it was generating enough magical force to pierce the barrier between worlds, it coulda served as transport. I am completely bullshitting right now, 'cause I ain't even a mage, just best friends with one, but maybe you got caught in the shockwave? Thrown back, only through realities instead regular space.

[hoponpop]

Yeah. Makes sense to me.

I hope El got out of there okay. Since I wasn't there when she finished it.

[wheyoftheadept]

I don't know if my people back home are okay, either. It's hard. Not knowing.

[hoponpop]

You're right, it is.

[ He frowns to himself, and with the prospect of a future pipe in mind, decides to grab up another cigarette. ]

[wheyoftheadept]

[Saturday smokes with him in peace for a while, savoring her cigarette. then she asks what may be an awkward question, in an apologetic tone.]

So who's El? If you wanna talk about it.