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dru-plays-starbound · 1 year

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Tales of the Starbound: The Old-Timer's Tale

Universe: Starbound CW: Alcohol, Fantasy religion Words: 1,616 Context: This was written during NaNoWriMo 2015, part of a collection of short stories called "Tales of the Starbound". I decided to re-write each story individually. Note: I'm using "Deosil" (towards the sun) to mean the left-hand side of the screen, since cardinal directions don't work in-game. Or read on AO3

Warm sunlight filtered down from a lavender sky filled with puffy pale clouds. The old avian shook out his yellow plumage before settling onto the worn bench, listening to the market traders as they hawked their wares to passing customers. A bracing breeze caused the banners above him to flutter and snap, but the bench was a lovely little suntrap – warm and sheltered on this clear spring day. The avian gave a contented sigh, his eyes fluttering shut. Far better for his aching bones, he mused, than the wintry chill and drenching rain.

"Quihui! Warm greetingsss, birdman." The avian cracked an eye to see a floran grinning broadly down at him. He smiled back. "Wandangi. A pleasure to see you, dear. You're looking wonderfully bushy today." The floran crinkled xir eyes, preening at xir brown and blue leaves. "Thank you. Many floran in bloom right now. Is good season." "Indeed. The sun is kind to all of us today. Would you like to sit and photosynthesise a little?" Wandangi's grin faded, and xe shook xir head. "Ah! Floran too restless. Another day we will contemplate growth together, yes? Today, floran take Ulf on hunt – feel the wind in our leaves." Quihui cooed in disappointment. "Another day then. Good hunting." Wandangi stroked over xir head growth, collecting pollen on xir hand to smear on Quihui's beak. "Floran will ssstab many things in your honour!" xe crowed.

Quihui felt heat flood his feet as Wandangi wandered off, sing-songing, "Stabby, shabby, stabby!" Had Wandangi, Quihui wondered, discovered his feelings for xem? Was xe making xir intentions known by dedicating xir hunt to him? He ducked his head, preening at his arm feathers. No – it was too fanciful. There was no way Wandangi could know that painting an avian's beak was a declaration of intent… At the sound of more greetings being called, he pushed away his fancifulness, raising a hand to Minera, the barkeep of the Diamond and Pear, as the cyan novakid crossed paths with Chef Zyanitl.

The hustle and bustle of the market hardly slowed as the sun reached the zenith of its slow pendulum. Quihui rose and hobbled over to Devon Dyson's stall, selecting a bowl of curried beakseed and carrot juice as he chatted to Devon about her business. Over lunch, he was joined by the alpaca, Caden the Axe, and Nuttrace, one of Lord Brasscrank's guards. After the two guards had said their farewells, Quihui pulled out a book and relaxed back to read.

As the golden pendulum fell, turning lilac to mauve, the market traders began to pack up their stalls. The shouts and calls of the market folk nearly drowned out a soft cough, as a dark figure slid onto the bench next to Quihui. "What have your keen eyes seen this day, revered flightless?" "Good day, Aly," Quihui said to the red lenses glinting from under the shroud. "It's been busy. Lots of traders from 'Tahnt Rise, many browsing faces I don't recognise." "Indeed, exalted watcher. I have heard tell of more construction work happening deosil of Lady Caseswing's great home." Quihui stroked down his blue chest piece, gazing out at the softly rolling hills, dotted with sweet meadow flowers. "Her ladyship has been more planet-side of late. Perhaps she has grown weary of adventure and wishes to settle instead." "Mayhaps she is also making good on a promise; many of those newest to Virla come claiming her Ladyship offered them a home here. With such an offering, she needs must back it up with production." Quihui murmured in agreement. "Our Lady is gaining quite the generous reputation across the stars." The calls of the traders trailed off as they filtered away, back to their homes. "A pleasant eve to you, exalted watcher," Aly said when only a few traders lingered. The shadowed figure stood, brushing down their robes. "Light of Kluex guide your way," Quihui murmured as Aly disappeared into the encroaching darkness.

With a pained grunt, the old avian gained his feet and followed the general stream of traffic up the terraces, heading towards Minera's bar.

~~~

It was early still as Quihui shuffled into the Diamond and Pear, with only the regular barflies hovering around. Minera – stood behind the glossy chrome counter – raised a hand in greeting, her pale cyan glow winking in the glass of the old saloon cabinet behind her. From the back corridor, the heavy thud of workboots reverberated as the bouncer, Morgan, kept everything in check.

"Qui!" came a fluting coo from the corner of the bar. Quihui sighed as he approached the counter, nodding to the rotund human nursing a small tumbler of root liquor as he waited for Minera to finish up with another drink. "Hadley." "Mister Quihui," the man replied, running a hand over his bald pate. "Qui, don't ignore me." "C'mon now, Min," Minera said, as she poured fizzing cerise liquid into a crystal glass. "Give the man a chance to wet his throat, wontcha?" Quihui turned, dipping his head to greet the citrus-yellow avian behind him. "Good evening, Bloodsoother Minoch." The hen cooed again as she flitted onto the stool next to him. "It's rude to ignore people, you know." "Apologies," Quihui said, "You'll have to forgive me – my hearing is not as it was." "Pah." Minoch rolled her eyes with a smile. "You can't keep giving that excuse forever." Minera cocked her head at Quihui as she slid the glass over the counter. "There you go, Hadley. You can tell herself it's a 2744 vintage." "Thank you. Miss Ami will appreciate that." He slid off his stool and exchanged the glass for a handful of pixels, carrying both drinks carefully up to the mezzanine. Quihui followed Hadley's path as he made jet-trails for the sage and bubblegum-coloured hylotl drumming the pads of her fingers against the metal tabletop. "What'll it be?" Minera asked Quihui. "An OilSlick, if you'd be so kind." As Minera turned to the cabinet, Minoch slid some pixels on the counter. "Let me get this one, Qui." "I have the pix-" "I know. But I insist. Let a lady buy a gent a drink, huh? Could I get another glass of Cyanider, too?" "Sure thing, little miss," Minera said. She placed the bottle of OilSlick and a wide glass on the counter, then reached into a bucket of ice for the bottle of cerise bubbly.

Once the two had their drinks, they made trails to the corner that Minoch had already claimed. Quihui lent against the wall as he settled into the chair, only to have the wall squelch under his hand. "Ugh," he muttered, wiping his hand on the table. "You know, for such a recent addition, I do wonder why this place is, well," he lowered his voice, "rather a dump." Minoch cooed her disapproval. "That's not a nice thing to say, Qui." "It's true, though. The floors are mining girders, the walls are a mess of scrap and junk. I think that bit was radioactive…" "You're hardly one to talk, Quihui. I've seen your dusty, rickety furniture, all tied together with straw and hope." "I took what I was given when I came here, all those years ago. I happily accepted what the Princess could spare – which wasn't much at all!" Quihui ground his beak. "Nothing but trackless forests, wild pearlpeas, and monsters in those days. Not like it is now at all." "Metish says it is still like that. Outside the walls, anyway. She says the floran wouldn't have anything to hunt if it was all built up." "Maybe so, maybe so." Quihui sipped his beer. "And my house wasn't always so rickety, you know. Not back when the planet was empty of anyone but the six of us." "So ask the Princess to get you new furniture. I'm sure she could spare it." "Oh, but it's comfortable now. And Wandangi wouldn't come by so often if there wasn't something to repair." Minoch murmured; a disapproving sound, Quihui thought, as he sipped his drink.

"She does seem to be building a lot these days," he said. "Princess Caseswing, I mean. Aly said there's a new building going up on the deosil side." "Is that the tower?" "They didn't say." Minoch rested her chin on a hand, gazing into the middle distance with a wistful sigh. "Can you imagine? How amazing would it be to live in such a tower, so close to the heavens that you could reach out and touch Kluex as if you had wings." Quihui gave his drinking companion a slow blink. "Ah, maybe for you, young hen. My talons are firmly on the ground forever." He shuddered at the thought of being so far off the ground again, within reach of the god who'd wanted his mortal life. Minoch had no such qualms, having never been in such a position – she'd still been searching the stars for the erstwhile realm of the Winged when Caseswing found her.

"Maybe when it's built, and Minera's teleporter is working again, I'll go over and take a look." Minoch's eyes shone. "Meet all those new faces. Touch the stars." "New faces, new faces," Quihui said with humour. "Every day, more and more." "New stories too," Minoch grinned at him. "Don't tell me you're not curious." Quihui glanced out of the window at the last stains of sunlight. "Indeed I am. You should become a scribe, Mini. Write the stories down for me, write them down so they don't get lost." "Maybe I'll do that." Minoch raised her glass. "Good," Quihui said, tapping his own against it. "We all have our reasons for being here. And everyone deserves to have their story told."

#cw alcohol #starbound #starbound fanfic #starbound fanfiction #wandering words #oc Quihui #oc Wandangi Wilibind #oc Aly Shostak #oc Minera Lamine #oc Hadley Scobie #oc Bloodsoother Minoch

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