Midas is king and he holds me so tight and turns me to gold in the sunlight

[jackiewashere]

Who| Maglev, Karkat, Luna
What| One-handed joy rides, Alternia exploration, survival & separation
Where| The desert and Alternia sections
When| Week one
Warnings/Notes| limb loss mention, Alternian horribleness, hungry gamers

Joyriding

She walks close to Luna. It's hard not to feel miserable. It's hard not to cry from the pain and the hopelessness. Somehow, she manages, and she feels that Luna must have something to do with it. She's warm and kind and Maglev just doesn't want to be alone. It's bad enough that she doesn't question whether it's good judgement or not.

Her parents must have seen all that. Cable too. She wonders what they're thinking and then abruptly stops wondering.

The sun is bright above them and she squints upward at it anyway. The heat is intense here, but familiar in some way. Of all places she'd rather test her luck with, it's the desert. And then, there out in the distance...

"Oh my god, it's a car! Luna, it's a car!"

Exploration

The chaos of the day's drive actually settles to something bearable. Perhaps even nice, depending on one's outlook and their current situation. The zombie things stop showing up after a while and she manages not to drive into anything worse. Somehow. The sun has set but she's not afraid of the dark while within the safety of the car.

She doesn't want to use up all the gas on this thing when it's been so useful, so as the sky starts getting more and more colorful around the starry spotlights and two moons are seen in the sky, she pulls to a stop and shuts it down.

Separation!

After stay the day and managing to survive, Maglev has started feeling a little better about her luck. Troll houses are weird, but kind of neat, she determines. The creatures, while frightening, are incredible to look at when out of sight. And the sky, as Karkat promised her, is unlike anything she's ever seen. She finds herself still muttering a breathy wow every now and again. The injury has her exhausted and the pain is horrible. But how can she sleep with that above her?

That strange tent thing in the distance is also an oddity, but they haven't come quite close enough to investigate that yet. Maybe later.

Comments

[didnothing]

"A car?" Luna doesn't understand Maglev's excitement, although it's good to see her mood lifted even if just briefly. It takes her a moment to remember that Maglev must be more familiar with them, given that District 6 is supposedly related to transportation. It's obviously very significant, so Luna peers ahead through the desert at her direction. That's...yes, that's a car. It doesn't seem to be alone, either, because she can see other shapes in the distance even if she can't make them out exactly.

Luna doesn't really know what to do with cars in a practical sense (it's not like she can drive; do they have any use for parts?), but from the sounds of things it seems like Maglev might. Better to defer to her on this. "What do you want to do? Can we use it somehow?"

exploration; lemme know when you and Luna-mun are ready for me to pop into the car thread

[crabmunicator]

Holy crap. Holy crap. They've made it across the desert, or deserts plural; that latter section was distinctly more Alternian than what they first ran through, and the daywalkers were proof enough. But now they're in the city, actual Alternian-style city, and they're alive. Not well, perhaps, especially not Maglev, but they've survived.

Karkat opens up the door on his side, and half-climbs, half-flops out to sprawl face-down against the street. "Bury me here. I am on stationary ground and the night air is cool, and I cannot want for anything else. I'm never getting in a car again. If something comes after us, tell it to fuck off, because I'm too busy renouncing the act of movement to care."

Someone ought to tell him to look up at the sky, really, but sometimes a troll needs a moment to reunite with a friend. (So what if that friend is literal dirt?)

[jackiewashere]

"Yes! A car!" She's never considered a world where people wouldn't use cars. She's only slightly sensitive to otherworldliness thanks to Karkat. Luna's confusion takes her a minute to sort through, but she can at least begin to infer that Luna's not as familiar as her. But then, who would be? "There's so many ways we can use this, Luna." She says, compromising the pain in her arm with the urge to run by going at a fast walk. "It can be shelter, or full of parts we have use as weapons! Or some other thing. But most of all, if there's cars, and if there's gas, then we can drive!" She glances back at Luna with a sly mischievous grin. "You're in luck, I know how to hot wire."

[didnothing]

"Hot wire?" It's only just barely in Luna's vocabulary, but she remembers enough to understand the meaning as she hurries to catch up. "So...we need to check if there's gas, right? I guess you must know how to do that." Luna knows only the basics about cars since they were never really relevant in the Rhizome, but Maglev clearly knows what she's talking about and it makes sense to let her take control in this matter.

She can't help but smile back at Maglev's grin in the meantime. The whole time they've been together Maglev's been in pain from her injury and Luna's been feeling rather protective of her, but she seems to be more in her element now. And Luna has to admit, she is a little curious to see what Maglev can rig up if they can get a car running...

[jackiewashere]

"Kind of!" She ammends. "It may be tricky depending on the make or if the gas gauge works. If there is one." She was amazed there was even a car in the arena, if there was no gas gauge, as shocking it might be anywhere else, she wouldn't be too bothered. "If there's no gauge, we might have to crawl underneath." She slows down suddenly, her enthusiasm tapering. "I may need your help. I'm not sure I can do this..." She raises her one hand to demonstrate. She joked once about using her teeth but she doesn't think that would a good idea while trying to hot wire. "...on my own."

[didnothing]

"Oh. Of course!" Luna nods quickly and matches Maglev's pace, trying to consider the best way to keep her spirits high. "Just tell me what to do. Your knowledge and my...hands." Not the best of situations, but it's what they have to work with. It'll have to do. "I'm sure that we'll be able to do this together. It might be fun. Is it usually?"

Frankly she's starting to feel a little guilty for knowing as little as she does about District 6 and its trade. Roland's mentioned that their success or failure affects how their districts do, and - well, Luna doesn't see herself winning the Games but she could stand to learn a bit more all the same. Learning more from Maglev now might be a good start.