Dialogue Hesvar #151 - Time to Kill (Or Incapacitate)

Hesvar #151 - Time to Kill (Or Incapacitate)
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New and a little lost? Read from the beginning over at BJD Stories.
Or Read a summary of the first 149 episodes in Episode 150 - Recap.

We join Star as she heads to Singard having left Sam and Lucius to be alone.

(Cloudy day while taking these photos, so the light changed a lot. Obviously a cloudy day in Singard too.)



Star arrives at the outskirts of Singard and suddenly realizes she has no idea what to do. She has money and clothing and inns are plentiful in the city so she has no need to seek out the necessities of survival, and she is not performing any assigned tasks. She is free to do as she wishes yet she has no wishes to fulfill.



So she goes farther into town until she comes across a bench suitable for someone her size and sits on it.



She watches and listens as random people pass by.

Tall passerby: "I'm hungry. Let's get pasta."

Short passerby: "We had pasta yesterday."

Tall passerby: "But it's soooo good!"



She pays special attention to people discussing what seems to be a hot topic that day.

Woman in pink: "Do you really think that minister's death could lead to war?"

Woman in black: "I doubt it. I mean this whole rumor sounds made up to me. I thought that minister was supposed to be immortal or something."

Woman in pink: "I've heard that too, but that seems like any even sillier rumor to me."

Woman in black: "Now that you mention it that's true. Immortal. Whatever."



Just then Star's attention is pulled to someone talking to her.

Tiny fox: "Hey! You need to leave this area. I've seen you sitting there watching after people for hours. This is a good neighborhood so I'm not going to let you just sit there and pick out your marks."

Star: "Marks?"

Tiny fox: "Don't play dumb with me. Hiding under your cloak like that in broad daylight. You're obviously a mugger, or a pickpocket, or some other kind of ne'er-do-well."

Star: "I am not."

Tiny-fox: "Then what are you hiding? Show me or I'll call the city guards."



*Star quietly and slowly opens her cloak.*

*The tiny fox jumps back and tosses up his arms.* "Yikes! What a freak! And so much metal. Are you what Vespi plans to force on us???"



Tiny fox: "Hey everyone! Over here! Look at the kind of freaks we'll have to put up with if Vespi takes over! It's disgusting!"

*Star pulls up her cloak as she quickly gets up and leaves the area.*



Star moves away from the larger streets and into a seedier part of town where the buildings are much closer together where she finally slows down.



*A man comes out of another narrow alley and speaks to Star.* "Heeeey, that's a mighty fine cloak you's wearin'. I's bet you's got some more fine stuff 'neath it too. Well guess whats, there's a tax for ya rich folks to use this part a town. So's ya gonna pay easy or is I's gonna have to take it from ya?"

*Star speaks in a steady monotone voice not her own.* "Weak knees, easily incapacitated with moderate strike to either one. Skull and spine reinforced for frontal impact but highly vulnerable to strikes from behind, easily killed with blow to rear base of skull."



Man: "Hey. Hey. It's cools. Like just a misunderstandin' ya knows? I'll be sure ta let's everyones knows ya's not owe nothin'." *The man moves back around the corner and then rapidly leaves.*

Star: "...."

 

Indeed. And she just minding her own business, and a little bit of those that passed by.

 

Agreed, but sadly I feel it's a fragile confidence at best.

Maybe it was part of her "preparation". I mean sure Lucius could have taught her to see the weaknesses, but he doesn't speak in monotone and she does tend to mimic.

 

Well, we know he can throw knives well, but clearly he's not particularly interested in fighting. Happy to let others handle such mundane tasks.

Interesting thought. It would be a handy ability to be able to "mimic" movements. Seriously cut down on all that physical training time to get good at things.

Now imagine if she'd called out a 6 digit catalogue code before she gave her answer. (Like on their collars.) I wonder how people would have responded to that.

 

He has mentioned it and he threw two knives with excellent precision at the start of his failed exam with Sam. In terms of actual battle we just know that he certainly doesn't panic.

Yes it would. Many would be jealous of such a person. At least unless they're a six-armed freak it seems. Sigh.

 

It was in the same Episode where Captain Kirk opened the safe. You don't remember the combo? (Old SNL skit reference.) Actually it was in the episode "Performance Anxiety".

And she keeps having bad experiences. Clearly she's much more of an oddity than Sam.

 

The skit was making fun of overly-obsessive fans who remembered every little minor detail. So I was jokingly saying, 'What, you're not an overly obsessed fan who remembers EVERY detail?'

I'm imagine Lucius in a fight mainly consists of him complaining about how it's all a waste of his time and this opponent is beneath him.

 

Well as he complained to Star when we first met them, never any interesting ones. Same old boring races every time.

 

Interesting how different aspects of things stand out more to different people. You're absolutely right about Star's menace especially compared to Sam, but for some reason I tend to think of Star as being less approachable than Sam more because of her shy wallflower nature than her menacing presence. Two sides to the coin that is Star. Situational of course too. Obviously in a dark alley the menace comes out more than the wallflower.

The shady guy definitely made the right decision. You're right he'll never know just how lucky he really was, but I think his street smarts or maybe just intuition told him that the risk wasn't worth the possible reward.

Heh. The little fox sure didn't win many friends amongst the audience. Fortunately for him Star doesn't seem inclined to react with violence to people's poor reaction to her.

 

Thanks. The mini-shoji have been a really helpful investment for these stories.