chaos_precip | Hollywood

Hollywood - Hadana, Beau

After hearing about the fight happening in New York, Hadana had suggested they head somewhere in southern California. She knew the war likely wouldn't spread so far west, but she'd still rather be as far away as possible. The little Olia had been curiously quiet, too. Not melancholy or sad, just quiet.

Currently she was walking beside the caravan as they went up the side of a mountain. They'd heard rumors from the city along the way that there were ruins up here. She had bets that it was already picked clean if a city knew about it, but it could be worth investigating anyway. Besides, being up high always gave someone a new perspective.

"You think Xaldin would be mad I said we weren't friends?" she asks mama, jogging to catch up to the seat of the caravan. Then, hauling herself up onto its seat next to Beau. A pause as she looks up at the sky, "It's getting dark really quick tonight. Think there will be a storm?"

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Beau shifts easily to allow Hadana to climb up next to her, and looks skyward at the question, regarding the sky seriously.

"I'm not sure," she admits. "Though we should find a place to hole up for the night."

"Which one aren't you sure about?" she asks, because her mother can be pretty vague are some of the worst of times. And teen is honestly a little troubled about the whole 'war' business.

"Alright, uhm. There's a patch of trees up over there," she suggests. "Good canopy to hide under."

Which would be a good place, because the sky looks down right angry. It opens a few minutes later with a roil of thunder and the smell of ozone. Before either could blink, there was rain slamming down under them, turning all the dirt quickly to mud.

"The fact that there might be a storm," she replies. "Let's head for the trees and hope it doesn't rain too hard on us."

It's very shortly after that, that they're getting rained on particularly hard, and they're schlorping through the growing amount of mud until...

SNAP

The wagon jerks to a sudden stop, and lists to one side. Beau swears.

Hadana sighs. She's not going to get an answer from Beau now, not while they're trying to escape a storm.

The Olia jumps from the wagon as the wagon begins to slow, trying to help push it along. But she's not very strong, and the weight that's sinking in the mud strains the caravan too much. When her mama swears, she reappears with a slightly scolding look.

"I thought you said you were going to stop saying things like that in front of your young, impressionable daughter." Hadana grabs a jacket from inside and hauls it on. She doesn't mind the rain, but she sure as heck doesn't want to get sick!

"What do you think is wrong?"

The scolding recieves a flat look, and Beau scrambles down to try and assess the situation while Hadana is pulling on a coat.

"I'm not sure just yet. I think something's broken, on top of us being stuck."

Bah. Her mama had no sense of humor! Then again, their situation wasn't exactly the best for jokes.

She sighs, and heads over to Apollo to pet the wet mastiff while waiting for Beau to figure out what's wrong. If she tried to help, she'd probably get underfoot.

As Hadana waited, she wandered a few steps in each direction. Pacing to keep warm. That was, until she saw a light through the trees. Hm. Not firelight? Was that electricity?

The little Olia disappears through the trees, curious.

Beau doesn't notice her going, having crawled mostly under the muddy wagon with a torch to see what's going on there.

If something's snapped, she can fix it well enough with some metal from the ground, but it will take some time.

Minutes pass. Hadana doesn't return.

Apollo, who had been keeping an eye over Hadana when she wandered off, begins to whine and pace. Barking a bit at Beau, trying to get her attention, to show her something's wrong.

With a grunt, Beau wriggles out from under the wagon as the dog begins to whine.

"Hey," she says softly. "What is it, boy?"

Apollo gets scritched gently as she looks around. When she doesn't see Hadana, she frowns. "Where did Hadana go?"

Apollo leans heavily against Beau, still whining softly. The mastiff did not like having his ward out of sight. At the question he just looks towards a cluster of trees too thick for him to go through.

Hadana was currently mud-caked and rain-soaked, standing stark still on the lawn of a house. A big house. A really, really big house. Big enough for a whole town of people to live in, really. She was currently wondering why anyone would want a house so big.

At least she found the source of the light. Maybe she ought to go back to mom to tell her. But Hadana was curious and lights within darkness were a good thing, a signal of homesteads and kind people.

Monsters did not huddle around the light, after all.

Beau is swearing again, and rushing through the mud and underbrush as quick as the weather allows.

As she goes, the dogs at her heels, she is muttering things about being over knee and grounded.

Both dogs are barking when they break from the trees and onto the lawn. They keep heeled to Beau, trained well despite all the growling.

At hearing the dogs barking, the door opens and Hadana is there. A towel around her shoulders and mug of tea in hand. "Mama! I met some real nice folk!" she calls, putting the mug aside and handing the towel to someone out of sight.

Then Hadana is walking out to greet her mom, grin big and obviously not seeing the problem.

Wet, muddy, and scowling, Beau crosses her arms to settle her daughter with a stern Look.

"HADANA CALDWELL, just what were you thinking, wandering off like that."

Hadana Caldwell stops at that Look. Dead stops. Stops so quick her toes squish into the mud (her boots are off in the house, by the fireplace).

"I saw a light..." she muttered lamely. "I wanted to see if they could help. And they will, mama. Just - you gotta meet them they're super friendly and nice."

Hadana half-turns to the house, a smile beginning to spread until she sees that Look again and it dies where it began. "I mean uhm. Let me get my stuff so we can go."

Beau nods sharply, stepping forward so she's standing in the doorway of the house, dogs just behind her.

"Good," she says to Hadana. "Go get your things."

Next, she turns to the house occupants.

"So sorry for the intrusion."

Hadana wipes her feet off on the towel they loaned her and apologises while running about and fetching her things.

A man who stood by the door just smiled at Beau and shrugged. He seemed easy-going, though with an air of authority and control. "It's no problem, really. Just saw this young thing stumbling out of the wood. Why shouldn't we help?"

The little Olia paused as she was about to go back to Beau, noticing something missing. "My jacket..."

"I think I saw Jackson take off with it," a young Katzu girl offers. "C'mon, I'll show you where he went." Hadana nods and follows after her, deeper into the mansion without so much as a thought.

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Hollywood - Hadana, Beau

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