wicked_west | Escape [PSL]

"A beach?" she asked. "You mean a beach with water?" She was Elphie. The green woman was sure she was Elphie. But maybe her water allergy was back now that she wasn't at the hotel. And that made her nervous.

Chistery took the opportunity to fly up to them. He settled on the back of Ford's chair and began picking through his hair murmuring random words to himself. Elphie looked back out the windows. Actually, a beach with water would be preferable to all this black. "I like the sound of a beach," she said as she settled back and tried not to think of the oppressiveness of space.

Ford looked over at her. "Maybe you should test things out before we do... stuff," he told her. "If you go to that panel on the wall, it'll make whatever you ask it for. Ask it for water."

Elphie glanced at him as though he were nuts, but made her way to the panel like he said.

"Um... hello? I'd... I want some water?"

She jumped back as the water appeared, but grabbed the glass after a second. Elphie stared at it for a long moment before taking a deep breath and dipping the very tip of her pinky finger in the clear liquid.

Ford looked wildly over his shoulder after he heard the machine work.

"Well? What? What? What's the verdict?"

Elphie shook her hand and let a droplet of water arc it's way to Ford. "I'm alive and not burning. So I guess we can do a beach." She drank the rest of the water without incident.

"We have to find some swimwear first!" he said gleefully. "Though we might have to beat some froods off of you with a stick if they catch sight of you in a bikini..." he mused.

Elphie frowned. "A bikini?" Oz was far enough behind 20th century earth that they still wore swimwear akin to the early 1900s. Good luck getting her into a bikini Ford.

"Why would we have to beat them off me? Are they going to attack?"

"What? No. Well. I don't think so. It's a figure of speech. Mostly they'd just be really, really interested in getting your attention." He looked back at her. "Because you're so pretty."

"Because I'm so pretty?" Elphie blushed purple and sat down in the copilot's seat. No matter how many times he told her she was pretty, Elphie still didn't believe him. But she knew better than to question it.

"Chistery will be happy to beat them off. He doesn't like people bothering me."

"I noticed," Ford said, rubbing his head like he could still feel the pain from his hair being pulled months later.

Chistery moved over to Elphie's chair and started picking through her hair. "It's clean Little One... you won't find anything in there," she murmured, reaching up to scratch the monkey's head.

"I'm glad you thought to bring me with you Ford," she added. She hadn't been sure he would considering she'd left him and the monkey for a while so she could hopefully dewitchify.

"You said you didn't want to go back to your home," Ford pointed out reasonably. "You said it was dangerous; that people were mean to you."

Elphie nodded. "I just thought you would leave me since I was... not myself." She stared out the window, ever uncomfortable with being open.

Though she was still scared and still curious, the last hour's events began to catch up with her. It wasn't long before she fell asleep as they flew looking for something.

He landed the shuttle with more of a bump than he'd intended, but he was rusty. The spaceport didn't exactly have a beach. Or... a sky. It was dingy metal hallways and bad coffee. But they could get a ride somewhere in a ship made for interstellar travel.

Chistery screeched and Elphie woke with a start, grabbing at the arm rests as the pod shuddered to a standstill.

"Awake. I'm awake and alive and in a ship," she reminded herself out loud as she examined her person to make sure she was in one piece. Nodding when she saw she was, she looked out the window at... a lot of metal. "It's... dingy," she finally breathed.

"It's a space port," Ford said, as though that explained everything, and led them happily into the crowded base.

"Right," she agreed, because what else was she supposed to do. Elphie followed him through the door and along the hallway, pushing herself through the crowd. It took a moment and then she was back in Emerald City, moving just how she needed to to stay relatively unnoticed.

Chistery was not so unnoticeable. He kept flying up to the ceiling and screeching with delight at every new face.

Ford glanced up at the monkey, who wasn't all that out of place in the spaceport, as nobody seemed to take too much notice of it screeching in their faces. It was one more thing they hadn't seen wandering around harassing them. No big deal. He looked at Elphie next. In fact, when he turned around, it took him a moment to spot her.

He frowned.

"Why are you slouching around like that?"

She immediately straightened up. "Slouching? Who's slouching? Is there food nearby?"

Deny and distract... she wasn't going to explain her psychoses at the moment.

"Food?" Ford said, glancing up at the monkey. "Of course there's food, it's a waystation. For travelers. Food, toilets, hypervodka, those little u-shaped travel pillows you can put around your neck: they have everything you need."

"Right. Good. Food."

She straightened further and caught up to him. "And now we find a ship? Right?"

Elphie thought about it. "What sort of ship are we looking for?"

"Something interstellar that's flown by someone who doesn't kill hitchhikers," Ford said reasonably. "Preferably going somewhere warm."

"Right." Because she'd be a big help with that. "And the fish thing? Is there one of those here?" At the moment, all she heard was a lot of gibberish. And someone was just at this moment asking her a question that she couldn't answer.

"Well, yes. They're pretty widely available. I used to carry a spare in my satchel, but it disappeared at the hotel." He looked around. "We'll find one after lunch." He waved off the man trying to ask Elphie a question with a annoyed "No, she does NOT want to pose for you."

"Pose for him? Is he an artist? But I'm just a witch. A human. A... thing. I'm green. Where's the damn fish?"

She's slightly overwhelmed and hungry. And there are too many languages she doesn't know.

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Oh dear... Elphie in a bikini. I have to go bleach my eyes now...

Hey, HE thinks she's hot.

Well, we all know Ford's a little different!

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