Walking Along in the Desert Isn't That Fun

[Losi]

GO WILD.

IN THE DESERT.

[Losi]

It might seem strange, but four children were travelling through the desert. And it's true, walking along in the desert isn't that fun, so the children were riding a giraffe instead. It was the Giraffe who wasn't having the greatest time in the world.

"Are we there yet, Giraffy?" asked the oldest girl a bit impatiently.

"Not.... yet...." the poor giraffe panted.

"Maybe we should have chosen to walk through the jungle, Chryssa," suggested the bespectacled boy reasonably. "I mean, at least it would have been more fun."

"Nonsense!" she retorted. "The desert is much better."

"But why?"

"When we get to the other end of the desert, we'll be so relieved that it's not to hot anymore!"

"If we survive...." he grumbled.

The other two children certainly looked like they could pass out any minute. They were sweaty all over and their tongues were hanging out almost comically. Oh dear, poor little Sunshine had just fallen asleep.

Linus, the kid with the glasses, looked at them with concern, but Chryssa was as insufferable as always. Such a stubborn girl.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" asked a strange, monotone voice. All five of them (including Giraffy) turned to see who was talking to them.

As it turned out, it was a robot. It was looking at them blankly, and they looked blankly back.

"Who are you?" asked the other boy on the back of the giraffe. He was blinking rapidly, as if he didn't quite trust his eyes.

"TOBOR," he responded blandly. "I am a robot. May I help you?"

"Yeah," said Chryssa, who didn't seem terribly surprised. "Can I have a glass of water?"

"Me too, please," said Linus. The other boy nodded eagerly.

"No."

They stared at it.

"Can you lead us to a resevoir, then?" asked Linus.

"No."

They peered at it disappointedly.

"Why not?" asked Toshi. That was the name of the boy who wasn't Linus.

"I forgot my GPS at home."

They all stared at each other for just a little while longer.

"Let's go and search for one, then," said Giraffy resignedly, and trekked on. The strange little robot followed them.

A few more yards, and all of them were absolutely parched. This was dumb, they needed some water.

"WHAT, HO?" shouted Chryssa. "HELLO, OVER THERE!" she yelled.

The shouting woke up Sunshine with a start, and the other three children all leaned over to see what she had spotted.

They thought they could see a tiny little figure in the distance. Lovely. Maybe they knew where some water was.

ooc/ There. I went wild. Does someone else want to join me in the madness and impersonate the little figure in the distance? :D That would be lovely, thank you.

[Katie]

Sure, since I'm bored I will join you. And cause Harry Potter is getting crazy


"HELLO, OVER THERE!" I hear a voice say loudly. I look up to see a group of kids and a giraffe. What has the world gotten into? I smile a little and then walk toward them. They start running at me and speak franticly.
"Water? Water? Wheres' water?" I point toward a palm tree and they rush toward it franticly. The giraffe drags his head shaking it in desperation. "ITs all a mirage." he says

[Saki]

"Anything I can get for you, sir?" The young man watched as the lights in the robot's eyes blinked while he talked. They were distracting, the robot's eyes. He could almost swear that the voice he heard was coming from the eyes, rather than the mouth. Or...he assumed it was a mouth. Or supposed to be. To be perfectly honest the presence of the robot itself was unsettling enough for him to forget to care.
"No. Or...water. If you have it." He said, and watched the mechanical barkeep swiftly move to the shelves behind the counter. It grabbed a glass and was back in seconds, half-throwing it in front of him and filling it up with water from a nozzle.
"Will that be all, sir?" The barkeep asked, eyes blinking in different colors now.
"Uh. Yeah."
"Would you like to open up a tab?"
"..."
"Sir?"
"Sure."
"Name please, sir?"
"R...Ryo. Just put it under the name Ryo."
"Of course sir. Peanuts?" The robot gestured to a bowl of them. Ryo nodded in a sort of not-really bow, and took a couple, tossing them into his mouth. He watched the barkeep move away again, and began to think.
Ryo had arrived in the desert not long ago. Actually it was earlier in the morning that he got there. He woke up in the desert, sand in his hair and a frown on his face. He hated hot places. He had to walk through the desert until he came to a small canteen, in the middle of nowhere. He opened the swinging doors and was immediately surprised to see it was pretty crowded.
He stared at the wooden surface of the bar. He was trying to figure out what hit him harder, the desert part, or the part where all of a sudden it was filled with robots. He had to admit that even his expectations of the worst couldn't have prepared him for the population of robots in the canteen. I mean sure, there were other beings in the place, ones that didn't have to be plugged in, but no one he knew. The whole thing was pretty unsettling. He took a sip of his water and looked around for anyone that looked like they would be useful in telling him how to get out of the desert.

"Young sir. Peanuts?" Asked the barkeep, back already and gesturing to the same bowl of peanuts from earlier, it was only missing the ones he had taken before.
"No. Thank you." He said, eyeing the robot suspiciously. Weird place.
"Very well then." The barkeep said, sliding off once again. It came back in a matter of seconds. "You know, young sir. Ryo."
"...What?" He asked, kind of annoyed.
"I do believe that soon enough we'll get more visitors."
"Whoopee." Ryo lifted his hand in the air to feign enthusiasm. He looked down at his black jacket. Covered in sand. He sighed, it was his favorite jacket.

/yeah so basically canteen=water for anyone who's interested

[Losi]

They managed to find a canteen and looked inside. The Giraffe poked its head in through one of the windows and the children walked in with the useless but strangely clingy robot in tow. A grin of wild pleasure crossed Chryssa's face, and she walked right up to the nearest man at the bar.

She hopped up on a chair, slammed her palms down on the table, and looked him square in the face.

"This town ain't big enough for the two of us," she said in her best Western accent.

"...Huh?" the man blinked.

"I said. This town. Ain't big enough! For the two of us."

The man looked blankly at her. "...Okay? Who the heck are you? ...And where are your parents?"

Chryssa narrowed her eyes at him. "Were are your parents, buster?"

"Really Chryssa, stop harrassing the man who's minding his own business," pleaded Linus.

"Wai-wai-wait. 'Buster?' Did you really just call me 'buster?' What century are you from, kid?"

"Uh."

"The twentieth," Linus replied. "But strangely we seem to be in a different one...now."

Toshi was looking around wondering why there were so many robots. Sunshine was holding tightly onto Linus' hand.

The man perked up at that. "Wait. What do you mean, 'different century?' Don't tell me you just showed up here. And...parentless. Oh gosh, tell me your parents are around. Please tell me your parents are around."

He looked around trying to find adults that could possibly be their parents.

"Oh, they're not here with us," Chryssa said airily. "They're never with us when we go places. It wouldn't be any fun if they did."

Linus had to nod at that one, it wouldn't. "But we've got Giraffy and TOBOR." He gestured to them, the sight of which only gave the confused man more confusion.

"Where did you guys grow up? The farm? You couldn't come from the city, your parents would have you on a leash."

"We're from a suburb. Ish. Place," said Linus. "Oakland, California. Near San Francisco. You might have heard of it. It's a friendly neighborhood, we mostly just wander off on our own when we go to the park. And end up in really strange places. Yeah."

"No, never heard of it. I've never been to California, though, so....I grew up in New York."

The barkeep came up to him again.

"Young sir. Peanuts?" It gestured to them yet again.

He was quite annoyed now. "No. Thank you."

"Very well then, sir." And the robot slid off to attend to other business.

[Saki]

Ryo looked at the kids. "So uh..." He looked down and massaged his temples. "You guys said that you're in a different century or something. Explain." He ordered, not bothering to look up until he heard sound come out of their mouths.

"Well, I don't think there would be this many robots in a canteen when we're from," reasoned one of them. "So I suspect we're in the future or something."

"The future." Ryo mockingly repeated. "Fine. I'll give. So what time are you from? And while you're explaining gimme your names. I don't have variations of "hey you" for each of you." He watched them sit down at the bar and waited for them to speak.

One of the girls spoke first. "We're from the year 1991. Hello from the past. I'm Chryssa."

"I'm Cor--" The one that suggested they were from the future was cut off by Chryssa.

"He's Linus."

"Sato Toshi." Another said while attempting a bow in his seat.

Chryssa gestured to the smallest one. "And this is my baby sister, Sunshine. Say hello from the past, Sunny." And Sunshine gave a small wave. At least, Ryo figured it was meant to be a wave. It was more of a quick opening and closing of her hand, filled with hesitation and shyness.

Ryo stared at the kids in front of him. "...I see. Well...'sup. I'm Ryo. But as long as you're talking to me it's Sir." He pointed to each of them. "You're kids. No talking to me like I'm your age. And '91, huh? No kidding. That was a good year. I'm from...well I want to say the present but New York doesn't have robots like that," He pointed to the barkeep that was polishing glasses and probably plotting the most inconvenient time to come again and shove peanuts at him. "So fine. I'm from your future and their past... Or something." He held his head in his hands.

Chryssa looked around, as if already bored. Ryo caught that, and felt a little annoyed that she was no longer paying attention.

"Hey robot dude!" Chryssa called out to the robot that she had brought with her into the canteen. It looked towards her. "Yeah you! What's a GPS?"