[X] Head to Chicago
Trip to Chicago: 19
Mind made up to head to Chicago, you head out, making sure to stick to the road. Your main concern at the moment is being followed. You don't know the first thing about stealth, and even if you try to walk quietly (you don't) you don't know the first thing about walking without leaving a trace of your presence. That always seemed like something that Ninjas do.
Aaaand, now you want to be a ninja again. Maybe later, once you weren't being hunted down.
Gained Skill: Stealth: 0
The road is decently quiet, and you manage a good pace for the first couple of hours. Before you know it, the sun is blazing brightly above you and your stomach is telling you it's lunchtime.
You find a nice tree for shade next to the road and you've just sat down when a truck comes to a rolling stop next to you. The window rolls down to let the driver stick his head out.
He's big in the kind of stereotypically American way, and his tattoos are intimidating. But as he taps his cigarette against his door he gives you a big smile, tilting down his sunglasses so that he can make direct eye contact with you.
With the window rolled down as it is you can barely make out the hints of a beer belly. Or at least, what you'd think was a beer belly if not for the obviously bulging muscles on his arms. Maybe he just worked out and only worked on his arms? He doesn't really look like a fighter, but in this world you can never be too sure…
Aha! You have it! With the tattoos on his arms, he had to have been in the mafia! Working his way up, he eventually got to the top where he decided that the underworld wasn't worth it anymore! There was probably this really climactic final battle and everything. Sounds like something out of those radio shows you would catch if you were lucky enough to be with other wanderers that just so happened to have one.
"Ahem," he coughs. You jolt a little bit, looking away as you realize that you've been staring at him. "You, uh- you just travelling alone, or did you lose your parents? Run away maybe?"
"No, nothing like that, I promise!" Why, you oughta be offended! Seriously, what kind of people actually run away from their homes? A bed, food, and a place to come back to? You've almost considered killing for that in the past. "I… don't know who my parents are though."
The man considers you for a moment. You think you can see the thought rolling around in his mind, not that you know what it is. It bounces back and forth, going from idea to idea. There's an uneasy silence, the kind where the both of you are considering things. You know that you're trying to figure him out, but what exactly is he thinking about?
He tilts his head and hums, a low thing. It's familiar. You do it sometimes too, usually when you're thinking really really hard about something. Is he… is he trying to figure you out too? The thought is a little jarring, although flattering too.
"This world," he starts and pauses, trying to piece the words together, "isn't exactly the kind of place where you see little girls like yourself all alone in the wilderness. Chances are, they're either evil souls or witches. Now, I didn't get where I am now by being afraid, so I'm just going to ask. Why are you here?"
Oh. He thought you were… Oh. You wince at the thought, "I'm not one of those, I swear!" You wave your hands in the air to emphasize your point. "Ah, my corn!" You lunge to the side, managing to catch a stray kernel that got flung off in your enthusiasm. Hurriedly, you stuff it into your mouth to make sure it can't get lost again.
"I just need to get to Chicago, so here I am, walking to Chicago. That's not so weird. Right…?"
His head sags a little, and you think he's whispering something under his breath. "Alright, as it so happens to turn out, I'm heading to Chicago right now on a delivery," he points back with his thumb towards his truck. "I can take you there, if you want."
"Girl, is your head ok? I think you're going to break your neck if you keep that up," he says. Belatedly you realize that you had already started nodding before he even finished his sentence. You throw your corn into your back and walk over, getting in the passenger seat.
A pout makes its way on your face as you finish buckling up. Your feet aren't touching the floor. It wasn't exactly a surprise that you were short. The stress of constant travelling and the occasional struggle for any food, let alone healthy food, hasn't done wonders for your growth. But that would change soon!
Your legs swing, almost kicks really as you try to somehow get them to touch the floor.
"So you're not afraid huh?" the man asks, "I could also be an evil soul, or just a bad person you know?"
You freeze. "Ah." Robotically you turn your head to face him, eyes locking with his sunglasses. "But you aren't, right?" Nervously you laugh.
"No, I'm not…" he sighs again, "Anyways, the name's Billy Anderson, truck driver."
You gingerly take his extended hand, "My name's Bethany Olson. Nice to meet you Mr. Billy."
The truck ride lasts for all of two hours. In general the two of you are lucky with traffic, and although you never tell Billy that you're being chased, you get the feeling that he knows at least a little bit. It's a nice feeling, being able to just relax with somebody else that cares even a little bit.
The trip is filled with the occasional small chatter between the two. You learn about Billy, his stint in the army and how he's a truck driver because of how much he loves being able to just travel. In turn, you talk to him about some of the other wanderers you've met, the places you've been, and the stories that you've heard.
In all honesty he probably already knows most of them. But he tells you new ones that you certainly haven't heard, and you treasure those.
Before you know it, you're pulling up to the truck stop where he'll be letting you off. The time had been filled up with chatter, songs, and even games, up to the point where there had just been too much and the two hours had burst, finishing before the experience fully sunk in for you.
It's a shame.
"Well, we're here now. Downtown is that way," he points further down the street, "Just go towards the giant tower there. That's the Sears Tower, and pretty much everyone knows where it is." You nod, staring furiously at the pointed out skyscraper to etch it into your memory.
"And whatever you do, the city is different from what you've experienced so far. People can be nice, but they can be really… really mean too. Okay?" "Mn," you acknowledge.
"Finally… Here's my business card. I'm part of a Union, and if you ever need to just talk or need to get a ride somewhere I'll see what I can do," he pushes the card into your hand. You take it and put it all the way in the bottom of your sack, right with the Skull Badge.
Item Gained: Billy Anderson's Card- Roll 1d20. With a 5 and over, he'll pick up. You can then either talk with him or ask for a ride somewhere. Roll 1d20 with modifiers depending on current location and destination. Depending on the result, he may be able to arrange a ride either part of the way or all the way there. If you have a phone of course.
You ignore the fact that you don't have a phone and wipe the sweat that's dripped into your eyes. With a battle cry that's totally a battle cry you crash into Billy, hugging him as hard as you can.
"Alright kid, better get going before it gets dark," Billy hugs you back and then walks away to go inside.
Now you're in Chicago, and it's time for the next step of your plan. Which is, uh…
Hm.
You didn't think this through. Or rather, you figured that your best option was to go to Chicago. Of course, now you have to figure out how to make your way to help.
The obvious option would be to find the DWMA branch here. And the obvious problem would actually be twofold. One, you had no idea where it was, and Chicago is a big enough city that attempts to get directions probably wouldn't help. Two, going straight to the DWMA would be obvious to your pursuers as well.
The next solution that you've thought of would be to find a place to bunker down and familiarize yourself with the city first. Once you did, you'd be able to try and get to the DWMA in a roundabout enough fashion that you wouldn't be found out immediately. There are tons of little girls in Chicago right? If you just put on some different clothes, you'd probably look entirely different!
But if you did this, you'd also need to worry about getting food in the long-run and making sure that any of the bad guys looking literally anywhere else in the city won't find you. You're pretty sure that they'll station most of their people around the DWMA branch here. But that assumes that they only have that many people. There could be more of them…
[] Rush towards the DWMA
[] Find a place and turtle up
Just as I thought, dialogue and other characters really help spruce up the update.
In any case, you guys could view this as both a tactical choice as well as a playstyle choice. The playstyle thing is between the narrative (DWMA rush) or the more turn-based (turtling) although both of these are temporary, and I'll let you guys switch between them most probably between story arcs and such. Still thinking that through.
So having tried out both styles, I think that while I like narrative better, the turn-based is kind of needed for you guys to build up your stats and skills. Might try adding in a kind of level-up thing where you train stats and skills by using them, we'll see.
Anyways, as always feedback is very much appreciated. I'm trying to strike this weird balance narratively between the ten year old child Bethany, and the wanderer in this insane world Bethany. It's interesting to play with, but hard to write without coming off as too disjointed.
