Well, it's about time I got back to writing; been busy with Dark Souls 2, and I had to take the PSAT two days back. God that sucked; I did well, but I felt like a freaking zombie for the rest of the day.
[X] Ask Roland some more questions.
"Actually, I have some more questions, if you wouldn't mind, Mr.Roland." you say politely.
Roland nods, taking out a block of wood and a knife. "Hope you don't mind me whittling while you ask 'em; I've been meaning to practice a bit."
"Not at all. Firstly—"
[X] "What can you tell me about the outsiders at Neb?"
Roland frowns, carefully making the first cut in his block.
"Hmm…that's odd. Now I think about it, for all the fuss people were throwing up about the outsiders, I only ever met two of 'em. They looked a lot like you, actually; twins with white hair and strange eyes. The boy was pretty rowdy, and the girl had a good head on her shoulders. They caught the vamps attention somehow. But, that can't be all; I've seen a lot of things in my time, but I ain't never seen a war break out just over two kids with a run of bad luck."
You nod, pondering the information for a second as Roland continues to make small adjustments to his carving.
"Well, moving on—"
[X] "Why did you help me earlier?"
Roland seems a bit surprised by your question, his knife dragging to a halt. He frowns, and turns to give you a contemplative look.
"Hmm…if I had to say, it's because you remind me of Hester."
You blink in confusion. "Hester? I've heard the name, but I don't know who that is…"
Roland nods. "I'm not surprised. Hester mostly keeps to himself, unless trouble starts up. Man, you should have seen him when he found out Oga got away with killing a coworker. It was art, I tell you. But, uh, anyways, he's something like the Sheriff around these parts; he's ridiculously good with his guns, and faster than he has any right to be. Most folk round here know not to mess with him, and he's not really inclined to get involved unless he's really needed. It works out well for this town, considering the, uh, 'colorful' backgrounds they have."
You tilt your head slightly. "But, how am I like Mr.Hester? I've never shot a gun, and I don't think I'm exceptionally fast."
Roland scratches at his beard, looking thoughtful.
"Well, that's true. If we're talking physically, the only thing you really have in common with Hester is that you're both kind of young, and even then he's a good bit older than you. But, finding you out in the wasteland…it was weird. I got a feeling, the kind of feeling I never got before seeing Hester fight. It was like…I could feel that you were someone important. Someone worth helping. Well, that, and I wasn't about to let a young girl die of dehydration right in front of me." He says, giving you a crooked smile.
You give him a grateful smile. "Thank you very much, Mr.Roland. I'd be in deep trouble if it wasn't for you."
Roland scratches his head. "Girl, I watched you gulp down half my water tank in thirty seconds. I think we're on a first name basis, Nia."
With that, the two of you fall into a comfortable silence for a bit, Roland continuing his whittling. However, one last question pops into your head…
[X] "How long has the Capital been dangerous?"
Roland glances at you, looking up from his near complete project.
"…Hmm. That's tough to say. I'm an old-timer, but even I wasn't around before the vamps, y'know? But, I do remember one old story."
You lean in as Roland's voice lowers a bit, growing somber.
"My father was mayor of this town. He dealt with outsiders, vamp raids, got everyone fed, the usual. So, of course, he also had a lot of contact with frontier towns, asking for help in repelling the vampires. He dealt with them as best he could; he helped the ones that could be saved, tried to help out the towns on their last legs, and advised those beyond hope to evacuate their homes. But, there was one case that was odd. I remember it pretty clearly, cause it was the only time he ever actually talked about his work in detail with our family. He tried to keep us from worrying, you see."
"Anyways, the story goes that one night, he was working late when his assistant gave him a letter from a new frontier town called Fortitude. Fortitude was starting out rough, as frontier towns go; they lost around half their provisions to wolves, and some of them were getting sick from some kind of fever. They were about two weeks travel on wagon from Wilpur, so he had to act fast. He got a wagon ready, filled it with what the town could spare, and set off for Fortitude with a couple men."
His voice grows a bit lower. "So, now the weird stuff starts. Two weeks pass, and the wagon gets to Fortitude. When the group gets there, they find the place is almost lifeless; the settlers are barely responding to questions, there's a bad feeling spread through the air, and everyone looks like death warmed over. Pa worked quick, ordering his men to give out the medicine, while he went looking for someone who could tell him what was going on."
"He finds someone. Or rather, someone finds him; a young-looking guy, blonde-hair, red eyes, and an easy-going smile, according to my dad. He starts asking him if he's healthy, what happened, who's in charge, and so on. The boy ignores him, but finally answers when he asks his name."
"Dio."
"So, seeing as the kid's finally started talking, Pa starts asking more questions. The kid goes right back to ignoring him, muttering some strange stuff under his breath or something. So he tries grabbing the kid to get his attention. Now then, my father never liked talking about this next part, so it's pretty vague. He said that, for just an instant, when he grabbed the boy, this Dio, he remembered things differently."
You blink. "What do you mean? He got things mixed up, or forgot things?"
Roland shakes his head. "No, I'm talking full-scale history here. He said he saw a world where there was no great war, where humans lived in huge buildings, there was food for everyone, and you could hardly walk two feet without running into some metal. Then he saw a world where the world was almost worse than it is now, where great machines forced humans to live underground. He saw a lot more, some more dangerous than others."
"After that moment, he woke up with a broken arm next to a fully stocked wagon. He looked around, but the men were nowhere in sight. So, he eventually was forced to take the wagon back to Wilpur, hoping to organize a search party after getting his arm fixed up. On the way back, more strange things happened; he saw settlements and landmarks where there used to be none, and animals that he had never seen before. The strangest thing, though, was that the two-week return trip…was now only a five day trip."
You frown. "So, everything was changed?"
Roland wags his finger at you. "Not done yet. When he got back, he found that the men he was looking for were already back, and couldn't remember leaving. In fact, the entire town vouched for seeing them around for the entire duration of the trip. They said that my father was the one who had been missing, for a couple of days now. And, most oddly of all, they mentioned trouble brewing on the horizon in the Capital City; Teppelin."
Your eyes widen in realization. "He didn't recognize any of those things, but they're what's actually present in the world?"
Roland nods. "Bingo. Among the things my Pa didn't recognize were Red Rifles, Red Stones, the Speedwagon Foundation, the other methods of fighting vamps, the capital city, and a lot of the major cities. He was amazed at how good some towns were doing, too. In his head, Teppelin had only been dangerous for around fifty years; before that, it didn't even exist. But, look at any of the Foundation's records, and you can find hard proof that Teppelin has been around for at least three hundred."
Your expression turns contemplative. "So, you're saying that it's possible Teppelin hasn't been around as long as people say it's been? Or that it was different in the past?"
Roland goes back to whittling while answering. "I'm sayin' it's best to keep an open mind out here, Nia. This place is damned crazy, sometimes. It might be there are no concrete answers, or at the very least they aren't easy to get. In any case, it's getting a bit dark."
You blink in surprise, turning to note that the sun is now setting.
"Ah, sorry, Mr.Roland! I have to go now!"
Roland waves goodbye as you run back towards the inn.
"Good luck on your trip, Nia! Come by in the morning, I might have something I can give you!"
A frantic sprint later.
Oh, wait, you don't have a bedtime anymore.
…Odd. You've gotten used to having to adhere to rules strictly, so going to bed around this time feels most natural to you. But, you do have quite some time before it gets unreasonably late…
You decide to:
[X] Wander town a bit.
-[X] Specific goals or people to visit?
[X] Turn in for the night, you have a long trip ahead of you.
Ugh, I'm watching the sunrise from my window. This is not a good thing. Must sleep…
In any case, I'll mention that you can always feel free to use Shooting Star unless some kind of unique circumstances limit or otherwise affect usage of your Stand. Doubtless I've forgotten something important, but I'm rather tired, so good night.