The white sea gave its place to the noxious waters of a pond, the colorfully radiant islands were replaced with piles of garbage and rusty, thrown away machinery, The night sky with its bright stars came to replace the dark spots she was seeing back in the veil. The sight she beheld was that of a trash world, a string of worlds in the veil where everyone throws their garbage, big or small, no matter how dangerous or impactful they are. Snow White struggled to imagine what this place looked like before it was selected and turned into this dumpster. Nothing was organic or natural anymore, not even the water or the ground.
She went to take a step back from the railing, but her body gave up, her feet folded into themselves and she collapsed onto the ground, turning as pale as the veil was a few seconds ago. "Oh, dear, Can you park this thing and help me here? My friend appears to have had a bad trip" Warden called to the captain, taking the semi-conscious girl in his arms."Get 'er downstairs" Replied the captain with a tone softer than earlier. Following the standard procedure, Warden carried her as best as he could down to the second deck where he laid the girl on one of the tables. "Are you okay?" He asked, feeling dizzy himself, once he saw Snow White fluttered her eyelids.
"Y...yeah, what the hell was that?" Snow White muttered with a weak voice, "It didn't happen last time" She tried, but Warden shushed her with a quick motion and took her crossbow off her hands. Even while she fell, she had grabbed onto her weapon like her life depended on it. Interesting reaction, and useful, but had caused her to hit her head on the deck.
"I'll explain once we wake up, now close your eyes and take a good rest, I doubt tomorrow will be any less tiresome" Warden said, but before he finished his sentence, the girl had already shut her eyes and turned to face the wall.
"She okay?" Yelled the captain from upstairs.
"Yes, she's fine, she just had her first exposure to the Border on the wrong day" He replied, receiving a few understanding knocks on the floor from the deck above. He should have expected this reaction, really. Alas, he wasn't feeling well enough to go prancing around in a trash world, looking for that dumpster-fire of a con man he called his friend. He wasn't a bad person, not in a million years, but Warden remembers all of the plans he had made and all the plans that had horribly failed because of him.
The captain peeked his head from upstairs, checking in on them, "I'll leave in a few hours, cuz this piece of junk is barely workin'. Close yer eyes and rest it out, 'cause I'm not waiting on ye once we' ready" He said and went back upstairs, probably to watch the ship and take a nap.
So, Warden laid his backpack down on the side of his bed and threw himself on it, allowing the artificial exhaustion to take over for a few hours and sweep his mind away. Usually, he avoided sleeping directly after a travel through the veil, but the circumstances were rather different than his usual contracts. He hadn't escorted someone through worlds before, at least not in a boat of this condition and construction. Taking Snow White out in this world, of all places, would end their little adventure quite quickly.
Despite his training and months of meditation, he fell victim to the dreams caused by his exposure to the void and waking up to one of them was an unpleasant surprise. It's a moment of realization when you open your eyes and find yourself in a place far from where you last fell asleep, in an entirely foreign location, surrounded by pitch black darkness. Warden sat up, feeling the surface on which he sat with his fingers. He was still on a bed, though not that hard mattress the captain had on his ship.
The only light came through the slim opening of the door at the other side of the room, which shed its rays on nothing but the feet of the bed. It was a ranch, a metal ranch, barely holding together. A lone candle burnt outside the room in what seemed like a hallway.
The picture was familiar to Warden, everything in a place that he recalled perfectly. Even that damned wrinkle at the edge of the carpet on the hallway was still there, making kids trip and fall while holding their breakfast or their books. Everything was there, as it should be. Well, of course, everything but the color. The light was bright, yet felt weak in comparison to the burdening darkness that surrounded the room, the mattress and the foot of the bed were in fine condition, yet decrepit. It was lifeless, like a distant memory that nothing about it mattered.
A low thud came from behind, forcing him to jump out of the dream, with his fists ready to fight.
Around him, silence covered the second deck of the boat like a thick coat, making the distinct sound of Snow White's shoes feel like thunder. "Where are you going?" He asked, examining the girl. She hadn't packed, her backpack was still by the bed and all she had on her was a small handgun in the holster of her left thigh. The jacket she wore before was tied around her waist with the hood hanging down to the height of her ankles. "Upstairs… weren't you sleeping?" Snow White replied, giving him a confused look.
"I was, you woke me up" He scratched the back of his head, sitting up.
"Sorry, I just needed some air" She said, pointing up. Her expression proved there was no lie leaving her mouth.
"It's okay, I wake up easily" Warden explained and Snow White nodded, turning to the staircase, "Do you want company?" He offered with a soothing tone, his eyes trying to pierce the shield she put up around her. She might just want to get some air, but Warden had experience with people hiding what they needed, especially his clients who God only knows what they've gone through to come to him.
"Sure" Snow White replied after a while, "I'll wait for you upstairs" She said, going up the stairs.
Warden stood and put on his coat and his backpack, carrying Snow White's luggage on each hand. Once the captain saw the waking, he'd tell them to leave and Warden did not like wasting time.
Outside, where trash fell from the sky and the water around the boat was as noxious as always, Snow White leaned against the side of the boat. "Hey" Warden said, dropping her things near her feet. "Did you sleep well?" He asked, following her gaze on the endless horizon of junk.
"Yup" She replied lazily.
"Huh, really? Because sleeping after going through the veil causes really vivid dreams" Warden said casually, bordering on sarcasm.
"So it's normal?" Snow White asked after a second of pondering.
"I was just having one of those too, but you woke me up" He chuckled, looking at the thick, red clouds covering the sky.
"But it didn't happen last time I went through," She said defensively.
"You weren't exposed to it, then, if you took the bus. Those things are closed tight. We were outside with a small sail protecting us"
Snow White nodded, but didn't respond. Asking about what she dreamt of would be pushing his luck a bit too far and he resisted the urge to state the obvious, that she had been affected by whatever she saw during their escape. Maybe after one or two more travels she will realize that it's just a memory, that you can dismiss it without much effort. The veil can't really affect someone when they're outside of it, only make them believe it can.
The captain, from the steering wheel, barked a few commands at his men, who were already finishing up with the repair work on the ship. It had been roughed up pretty badly by the guards that attempted to chase them through the veil, only to get lost.
Quickly after realizing they were done, the Captain signaled them to pack up and get off his boat. Unwilling to experience any more of whatever she might have dreamt of, Snow White took her things and made haste for the land with Warden following on her tail. "Thank you, kind sir!" He shouted at the captain, who honked the boat's horn as his vessel touched a string of the veil once more and vanished from sight in an instant. The two companions were left alone in the trash world, in the awkward noise and rumble of the trash being delivered to the piles scattered across the world. "So, why are we here?" She asked, fastening her backpack's straps.
"A friend of mine is here and he can help with…let's say he was our second choice on finding what we're looking for" Warden said.
"Oh, right... And how will he do that?" She asked, hesitantly looking around them, seeing nothing but mountains and valleys of trash and other filthy things even her imagination refuses to name. "What are we doing? Come on, I'm in this too, don't leave me in the dark" Snow White said exasperated and followed behind her companion, who had already started moving away from where the boat left them.
"I'll tell you once I have a solid plan. Currently all I have is a handful of maybes" He said, climbing up a rather mountainous pile of garbage, which consisted of enormous pieces of all sorts of metals.
Snow White didn't object, or at least she didn't voice it. Being a girl who had grown used to people hiding their plans from her, making surprises and in general acting without her participation in any process. That doesn't mean she's a pushover, dear Lord no, and she wasn't planning on letting Warden do whatever he wanted while she simply followed him. He is working for her and not the other way around.
"Hey! Triij, are you there?" Warden shouted, drawing Snow White's attention. He was standing somewhere in the middle of the way to the top of the trash-hill, yelling at the windshield of a rusty old car that was peeking out of the pile. "Triij!" He repeated, knocking on the windshield once more as if it was a door. Snow White remained silent once more, curious to see if Warden's friend actually lived inside a hill of garbage.
Indeed, after a few minutes of Warden knocking on the 'entrance' with his fist, the windshield opened and the head of a man popped up. "Warden… of course it's warden, why wouldn't it be Warden!! Fuck you!" He screamed and went back inside, kicking the 'door' of his home more open than anyone though it could. "Come one, he doesn't bite," Warden said to Snow White calmly and crouched through the windshield.
Unwillingly, as one can imagine, Snow White crawled through, albeit with greater ease than Warden, to find herself inside a workshop. In great contrast to the outside, Warden's friend had made sure to have fine wooden boards act as a floor, covered by thin (and somewhat dirty) carpets. It did remind her of a home of some sort, but the overwhelming amount of filthy books scattered on every piece of furniture and surface, along with the many benches hosting pieces of metal or incomplete machinery created an atmosphere better suited to a garage.
"And who would that be?" A rough female voice drew her attention to the back of the room, where a few stools near the corner were occupied by a pair of a woman and a boy. "My client" Warden replied, who immediately helped Snow White pick herself up from the floor. The look of the woman was rather hostile, but if there was a better way to describe her, she'd go with venomous. She was tall, with blonde hair tied into a ponytail, gracing a similar outfit as Warden, including a ring on her middle finger. "Oh, poor girl" She chuckled, leaning against the wall. The boy beside her seemed highly uncomfortable, with bags under his eyes and a look of utter exhaustion.
"I suppose you're here for Triij's help, too?" Warden asked the woman, with whom he seemed incredibly familiar with, since he turned his back to her in order to pull up a chair and set it behind Snow White, signaling her to sit. "Yes, dear, I'm in desperate need of Scissors and our friend here definitely has some'' She explained, finishing that sentence in a rather aggressive manner.
"For the last time, no! I only have one and there's no fucking way I'm letting your sorry ass take it!" The man who Snow White assumed to be Triij yelled from another room, then appeared from a door near her. He was as short as his voice made him sound like, with a curly bunch of hair on his head that resembled a wig, which was somehow covered in more grease than the rest of his body. From Snow White perspective he seemed like a school-kid who desperately wants to grow up.
"Aren't you supposed to help us?" The woman asked, impatiently tapping the long nails of her right hand against the stool she sat on.
"My deal with you guys is about information or small scrap, not scissors" Trijj objected, pushing a large, for his size, box near a small counter. With a grumpy expression, he sat on the box and started tinkering with a tiny mechanism. "But let's see what the other ass in the room wants" He said, pointing behind his back towards the general direction Warden and Snow White before immediately returning to his tinkering.
"I need a map, or two tickets to Winter's Deep. Either of those will suffice" Warden replied in an utmost professional manner, standing next to Snow White with his arms crossed over his chest. From where she sat, Snow White noticed something when he spoke, a glimmer of hazel-blue coming from his hand, where a ring rested on his middle finger. It wasn't difficult to realize that both the woman's ring and his were similar in color and design.
"You see?! That is a reasonable request, with alternatives! Learn from this guy" Triij laughed, turning around on his box to face Warden, while the woman mumbled a string of curses and death threats. "What map do you want, buddy?" He asked with a smile on his face, probably because he wouldn't have to bother with anything impossible that time around. Providing a map was a much easier task than giving out scissors to a stranger, especially with the price these things carry these days. Snow White didn't know much about them or how they worked, but from what little her father had said, scissors are used to travel through the veil without boats or other vehicles, making it inconceivably easy to weasel around worlds and their borders. The rest was blurry information she didn't have the energy to remember.
"A map of the veil, full if possible. If not then I'd prefer the tickets" Warden answered, donning the smile of a man who knew was asking too much.
"A what?!" Trijj shrieked, hopping off his box. "You're more insane than the lady!" He continued, trotting off into another room, different than the one before, where he vanished for a mere second before showing up with his sleeves drawn all the way up to his elbows and his fingers curled into two hairy fists. "I don't have any tickets… or that stupid map. What else?" Triijs said, ignoring the silent attempts of the woman to get his attention.
"Is there any way I can use those scissors of yours?" Warden responded, sounding somewhat hopeful for a positive response.
"What's with all of your and those damned scissors?! No, I'm not letting you take them, they're mine and I need them!" Triij objected once more, throwing another tantrum at both him and the woman.
"No, no… not take them, Triij. I just need to use them once and I'll be gone" Warden rushed to explain apologetically to the furious dwarf, who for a moment stood silent, casting a frustrated look at him. It still didn't make it an easier request, but it did, at the very least, make it feasible. "So?" He asked, squinting his eyes defensively once the words had come out of his mouth.
"Fine, but you'll do me a solid first" Triij proposed, if not demanded, eyeing both Warden and the woman, who had not stopped giggling mischievously for a few straight seconds.
"Triij, you know I can't leave my client alone" Warden objected, but received no compassion from Triij, who even without speaking, seemed adamant to his suggestion. Only considering what Snow White knew about the fragility of scissors and how unpredictable the number of times you could use it before they had no value anymore, the deal seemed fair. What worried her, however, was what sort of job he wanted Warden to do. Anything that would put him in danger meant that she, in turn, was at risk of being stranded there for more than she was hoping to.
"I will obviously not be leaving for a while, Warden, the girl can stay with me until you come back" The woman in the corner interjected, stroking the ring on her finger with slow, methodical motions. Her grass-green eyes jumped from Warden to Snow White and then back gently, as if her gaze was following a snake that slithered silently between them.
"Thank you, Vi-"
"Granted that I get a ride with the scissors, too, that is" She interrupted before Warden could finish thanking her, flashing a devilish smile as she did. Warden's expression said nothing, no frustration or concern about the mysterious woman's intentions. It was clear to Snow White that they knew each other, but that too, meant little to her when all she could think when she looked at her was to run away. Silently, Warden looked at Triij for approval.
The dwarf sighed and nodded, unbuckling the belt around his waist, which was filled with tools that Snow White had no idea what their function was, and throwing it at Warden, "Site 78, there's a wreck from an old freighter, big one, can't miss it. Get me whatever you can carry and don't stay too long, they're scraping it tonight" He said with little to no interest about anything concerning this conversation and making sure to express disinterest as he retreated to one of the rooms he had vanished before, this time disappearing permanently.
Warden just stood there for a moment, belt in hand, staring at it. "This doesn't sound safe" Snow White pointed out, albeit a bit obvious, the danger of the operation. She had no idea how far the said site 78 was, but a freighter was huge and any important parts that would warrant scavenging were around the engines or the bridge. Whether or not Warden would even have time to reach those parts and extract whatever Triij implied that he needed depended on how fast he could get to the abandoned ship in the first place.
"Yeah, I know" Warden replied and tied the belt around his waist, adding a bit more dirt and leather to his outfit. "Just know that when I'm back we're going to have a talk about how this trip is going forward from then on" He said, turning his head ever so slightly to the direction of the woman and the boy, who had not moved a single centimeter from his spot. "And you, keep her safe, you know what happens if someone touches her" He said menacingly, in a tone deeper and much more threatening than what Snow White expected that man could possibly produce.
The woman nodded, still wearing that smug expression on her face, "Don't worry, Warden… oh, who am I kidding, that's impossible" She chuckled and winked at him, dismissing him with a quick motion of her wrist, "She'll be fine" Was all the woman finished with.
"Just because I trust her, that doesn't mean you should" Warden said to Snow White and turned on the spot, crawling out of the windshield they had entered a few moments ago.
Snow White sighed, wanting to reply with some witty one-liner to Warden's obvious shift in tone, but kept it to herself and sank deeper into her chair. The sudden silence was what had struck her the most, however, feeling the squeaking of underneath her as she moved around in the chair drill into her ears. She never had a moment of silence back home, and this, for a reason unknown to Snow White made her feel uncomfortable. Crossing her arms around herself and her crossbow, almost hugging it, she remained as still as possible and decided to wait.
With a quick snap of her fingers, the woman drew her attention once more. By the time Snow White had turned her head towards the sound, she was already standing in front of her, hands tucked inside the pockets of her coat and the smile now almost completely vanished from her face, leaving behind a blank expression of conflicted emotions. "So… mind telling me how the hell did you find Warden?"