Hidden Holiday: Furiosa ~ Monday 12/25/4175

The snow fell gently from the wall of grey clouds. Far above the cracked pavement and the remains of this dead metropolis the Skycity loomed, blotted out by the winter storm. Furiosa gazed skywards. Trying to spot a glimpse of the lumbering behemoth above the ruined skyscrapers and the tendrils of massive creeping vines that reached for them hungrily. She wondered what it was like up there. So high above the clouds, where the only plants were made of plastic and the smell of flowers came from bottles and diffusers. Did they know about the plight of those down here on the surface? Did they care? The wind blew harsh against her back, nearly claiming her scarf had she not caught it in her teeth. She tucked it back in around her neck and continued deeper into the bones of the human’s abandoned homeland. Chuckling to herself as she read the weathered sign that dangled on one of its last hinges: ‘Welcome to the Windy City!’ An appropriate name for the place, indeed.

The cold was starting to creep into her bones in a dull ache, so she squeezed through a hole in a chain-link fence and scurried into a building for a break from the elements. She shook her withers, sending half melted dollops of snow raining down on the dusty floors. Her hooves and claws ticked along the tiles as she padded deeper into the cavernous space. It looked like an old-world bank, now gutted of all its former value and left to rot as vines and plantlife burst its windows and wormed its tendrils through its core. It was still pretty though. 

There was a unique pattern of shapes running across the ceiling, an octagon with 4 branching paths and beams with a square pattern that sorta looked like waves? Furiosa wasn’t sure what to call it or make of it. But she liked the look of the tall ceilings, held aloft by strong pillars and surrounded by rows of windows and skylights. She couldn’t grasp their context or what anything meant, but she could appreciate that somebody had taken the time to build all of this somewhere in human history. It made her ponder what her grandparents’ homeworld was like. She’d grown up hearing all those stories of Ttatkor and could never conjure an image of the place in her mind.

She climbed the stairs to the lofted second floor and made herself a perch beside a window, surprisingly left intact and spared from the destruction its siblings were dealt by the consuming plantlife. She was careful not to touch it, or even get too close to the vines and their nettles. She’d already heard of the curses that had been cropping up because of them. Ever since the traitor’s arrived, cursed ‘bucks had been found the world over. Some donned the ferocious strength of these things called dinosaurs that she’d been told had roamed this planet before the humans did. Others were draconic, with wingspans longer than she was tall and with jaws that could snap a dire in two. She’d been thankful to have not encountered one yet, but she knew that if she kept traveling that fortune would change. She just hoped it wasn’t one of the moon-monsters… or the multi-eyed ones. The stories of them still sent shivers down her spine. Furiosa wasn’t one to scare easily. But the idea of these poor lives, bodies bent and broken under the corruption of the Kaeraa’s tainted magic had burrowed into the layers of her mind and had planted themselves like a dark root that she hadn’t been able to shake.

She sat at the window, watching the distance when a subtle motion caught her eyes. At first, she thought it was a trick of the light, the sun reflecting off the falling snow like it did in the rain. But as she squinted, she saw it more clearly. A distant glow barely visible in the snow. Her interest piqued, she backed her gear and headed off in its direction. Her mothers words followed her as she went. Cover your tracks, dear. You can’t let them know we're here. So she let the fluffy black tip of her tail sweep back and forth, disrupting her tracks in the shallow snow. Her dainty hooves glided silently over the ground, and her clawed paws gently treading. She kept her pace slow and nimble, trying to allow herself to blend in with her movements, knowing her colors would give her away.

The lights grew brighter as she crept closer to the wreckage of a train station. Despite the damage and years of disrepair, it remained breathtaking. It looked so out of place here, in the middle of this corpse of a city. Sneaking through the halls, Furiosa caught herself stopping to stare at the architecture. It felt so alien to all of the clean, barren human domiciles she’d entered in the past. Where everything there was sleek, plain and always in these sad beige hues. Here there was an air of grandeur and opulence in every stone, despite the cracks and the weather beaten facade. The glass ceiling of the grand hall was shattered, and snow drifted down from the  open skylight. The shards below her hooves crunched under the layers of snow. Her eyes traced the filigree at the top of the columns. 

A soft bleat pulled her from her concentration. She turned to see a soft brown shape floating in the corner of the room, blending in with the warm toned walls. Another tiny noise escaped the tiny creature as it realized Furiosa had seen it and ducked behind an overturned trash bin. The thing shivered on its small cloud, covering its face with an even tinier white hoof.

“It’s ok little, uh, guy?” Furiosa spoke softly.

The critter looked up at her pitifully and let out a quiet baa.

“I’m not gonna hurt ya, little fella. Why are you hiding?” She looked around, wondering if what had scared it had been herself, or another danger she had yet perceived. The goat-like creature continued peering up at her, blinking slowly. When she returned its gaze, it let out a more at ease bleat. She spooked like a cat, her tail frizzing and her ears standing on edge. Finding nothing else out of place, she decided to leave the creature be and continue her investigation.

Unfortunately, the tiny goat-sheep-cloud thing had decided it too was coming along too. It let out a tiny cry of alarm as if to say wait! Jumping from its cloud and trotting to her side.

“No, no. Stay.” Furiosa attempted to tell the thing.

It tipped its tiny head to the side. Trying to compromise would get her nowhere. So she relented to letting the creature follow her. It did its best to keep up with her, stopping every so often to yawn, then jumping up and scampering after her. A time or to when Furiosa stopped to look at something it stopped with her, and gazed up at her, large green eyes full of her reflection.

“Whatcha’ starring at, pipsqueak?”

Baa!

Figures.

The subtle murmur of voices, and the smallest hint of warmth drew her deeper into the station. The halls had immense walls with curved ceilings, and up ahead, covering a doorway, was a quilt of impossible size, hung from wall to wall and flapping gently from the chilly breeze that swept in from the broken windows. She would have loved to stop and look at it for a while, but with no alcoves to hide in, stopping to stare in an exposed place was a death wish for a sitting duck.

She was turning to find another way around when a blue blur flashed over the ground at the entrance to the hall. She sank low to the ground and sneaked down the hall after it. Poking around the corner she could see the other creature. It was something that looked like a fox made out of snow with a peculiar split tail. It sat a few feet away, it’s back to her cleaning its thin paw. When the little brown goat looked out, it saw the animal and backed up with another alarmed baa. The fox-looking thing jumped up, but before it could run, Furiosa had pounced. She was almost upon it when an even larger blue shape barreled into her.

Tumbling over and over, snarling and beating hooved feet against each other’s ribs and sides they came to a stop with Furiosa pinning the other ‘buck. She flattened her ears at the doe and snarled. She snarled back, the golden spines on the bridge of her nose rising.

“Who are you?!” They barked in unison.

The blue doe kicked Furiosa off and righted herself, arching her back taking a defensive stance. “I live here.” She hissed.

Furiosa shook herself off and tried to step forward, only to find the tiny brown creature in her way. It’s nubby brown tail wagging excitedly as it looked up at her.

The blue doe let out an exasperated sigh. “Ugh, it likes you? Great. There goes that idea.” She rolled her red eyes and pouted in the direction of the fox-like creature. It sniffed before bounding away over some of the rubble.

“What do you mean? This thing?” Furiosa nudged the brown goat-like thing with her paw.

“It's a shoon.” The ascendant doe stretched. “Did they not teach you that in bio one?” She stalked around Furiosa and the shoon, giving her a once over.

Furiosa set her jaw. “No. My past is none of your concern.” She repeated the line she’d taught herself flawlessly.

The doe laughed. “Jeeze, lighten up, buttercup! You act that serious around everybody?”

Furiosa flushed, scrunching her muzzle tighter as the other doe grinned. “It pays to be cautious. Safety first.”

The blue dow circled her again. “Yeah? What’s the paycheck for that?” When Furiosa refused to rise to the bait she shrugged and continued. “Name’s Maeve by the way. You got one of those? Or ‘Is your name none of my concern’ too?” She poorly imitated Furiorsa, shaking her shoulders as she spoke.

“Furiosa.” She said flatly. “And yes, it is.” She pushed past Maeve, knocking their shoulders together and holding her head aloft.

Maeve bounded after her. “That’s one heck of a name, where’s it from?”

“Me.” Furiosa refrained from looking back at her but could feel the grin Maeve wore. “I gave myself the name.”

“Uh huh. Sure you didn’t read it on an old human media piece? Wastelander.” 

Furiosa rounded on the other doe, her face flushed. “Will you give it a rest? Why are you even still here? Shouldn’t you be allerting your entire-” she fumbled for the word, her fur ruffling in annoyance, “Camp or group or whatever?”

Maeve blinked at her, a confident smile and tipped her head to the side. “Nah. You seem cool.”

Furiosa squinted in bewilderment. “You'll just let anybody walk right into your camp?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s stupid. You’re going to get everyone killed.”

“Haven’t yet.” Maeve shrugged. 

“You’re seriously relying on luck? Do you know how many camps have been wiped out by the Kaeraa already?” She said the name in a hushed tone, glancing over her shoulder.

Maeve blew a raspberry and returned the shoulder bump from earlier as she passed her, heading back down the call with the quilt. “Ooohhh~ someone’s superstitious.” she teased.

Furiosa stamped her hoof and spun around, once again face to face with Maeve. “You’re reckless.”

“I’m a guard, cupcake. And I’m pretty good at my job- else I wouldn’t be. And if you were here for a fight, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Maeve bit at the air between them with her extended canines. Her tail swept playfully behind her. “Besides, the shoon seems to like you too. They’re shy. And that one in particular is the worst, if you’ve managed to get him to follow you around like a lost puppy, you can’ be all that bad.”

Furiosa tried to come up with a rebuttal but dismissed all the ones that came to mind. She relented and sighed. She looked down at the shoon, who gazed back up at her, eyes alight and tail still wagging. 

Maeve looked her up and down, her expression softening. “You hungry? We’ve got space. Besides, can’t exactly turn a poor wayfaring stranger away on Christmas can we?”

Furiosa perked a brow. “I don’t know what that is.”

Maeve gaped. “You don’t- ok so, like, you don’t celebrate or have you literally never heard of Christmas?”

Furiosa slowly shook her head.

Mave made a long whistle note. “Wow. Uptight and sheltered, what a combo.”

Furiosa’s frown returned and she pinned her ears.

“C’mon. Lemme show ya the camp. We’ve got it all decked out.” She turned and loped towards the hall with the quilt.

Furiosa hesitantly followed, the shoon springing  up beside her with a happy baa. Maeve lifted the quilted partition and Furiosa allowed herself a second to look up at all the tiny squares.

“Cool right? Been weaving it for years now, since before Hunter and all that. Families makeone and add to it every new generation. Every new milestone.” Mave looked up at them too and then nodded her head, encouraging Furiosa to go through.

Beyond the hill lay the Grand Hall of what once was Union Station. The brown tile floors were still a little glossy and the walls were littered with murals painted by the ‘bucks that had taken up residency over the years. All around, small homes were built out of scavenged materials, and in the center of the hall a large round structure sat. It looked similar to a stage and on it sat a towering fake pine tree, small lights of every shade and color sparkled. ‘Bucks of every shape and size sat around the hall talking quietly, their voices merging into a comforting murmur like the sound of rain. 

Many of them waved as they passed, saying their hellos to Maeve and wishing her a ‘merry christmas; that she barked back. The camp was nothing like Sanctuary, where everyone stayed quiet till they went underground. Here, these ‘bucks revelled in the companionship of one another and talked over drinks. Pups ran about, chasing small flying critters Furiosa had never seen before, and decorating small baubles and threading ropes of sparkling grass-like stuff over the limbs of the giant fake pine.

“It’s a Christmas Tree.” Maeve enlightened her.

“That’s great. What’s a Christmas?” Furiosa asked, eliciting another snarky laugh out of Maeve.

“Its a human holiday, kinda morphed with a lot of other things over the years. But now it’s mostly about family, togetherness and not being cold and alone. Like you.” She shot her a devious grin.

Furiosa rolled her eyes. “And the tree is for?”

“Oh, we all get together to decorate it. We make ornaments and garland and stuff, and every year somebody’s name gets pulled out of the bucket to make the star that goes on top.”

Furiosa gazed at the bar top of the tree and looked around. “Why a star?”

Maeve shrugged “Old humanism that stuck around. Oh! Look, there goes Sygil! Come on!” 

They hurried after a passing ‘buck, a night plague with a dark purple coat and darker spots running down his legs. He stopped and took in Furiosa quizzically. 

“Hello, Maeve. And… stranger? I thought you were off trying to get that vulpip to be your friend, or did you get confused along the way?”

Maeve snickered and flashed her fangs at him playfully. “Haaah, yeah yeah have your fun, Dweeb. She foiled my plans so now she’s the replacement. Besides, she had nowhere to go and it’s her first Christmas.”

Sygil nodded. “I see. Does your new friend have a name?” His red eyes looked up at the wasteland doe beside Maeve.

“Furiosa.” She introduced herself before Maeve could. 

He smirked. “Hmm. Good choice, I rather liked Mad Max. Welcome to Rest. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Furiosa. I assume Maeve is in the process of giving you the tour?”

“Yup.” Maeve nibbled at an itch on her leg. “On it, chief.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then. Enjoy yourselves and don’t cause too much trouble, Maeve.” He turned to leave but Maeve chomped onto one of his long pointed ears.

“Ftay! Com vif!” Maeve said through a mouthful of his ear.

Sygil shook her off and allowed her to bully him into joining them as they wandered through the camp. Maeve did most of the talking, explaining their traditions and introducing her to about a dozen or more ‘bucks. They came to the humble shack that Maeve called home, and it was clear that it pretty much was just a palace for her to sleep and that was about it. Furiosa was surprised it hadn’t fallen on her. But, like all the others, it was decorated with a string of lights, a wreath and a few ‘holiday’ themed blankets all stuffed ontop a makeshift bed that consisted of a mattress and a few couch cushions shoved in the corner of the space.

They meandered through the narrow ‘streets’ and finally came to a stop at a communal eating area, where a ‘buck in humanoid form served up a dish of meat and spices. They grabbed their servings and took their seats at a table. Furiosa trying to make sense of what was happening. Rest was open and accommodating, the ‘bucks here regarded her with an obvious newness one would expect of a stranger, Sanctuary would have been impossible to find, or would have imprisoned an infiltrator before ‘conditioning’ them. They’d never be allowed to leave. But the people of Rest seemed more at ease and used to travelers. It was a place where many came, some stayed, but just as many left to continue adventuring on.

“So, Fury, whatcha do for a living?” Maeve asked. 

Furiosa broke her focus on the tree and returned to the conversation at the table. “I’m a mechanic, same as my father. I do work where I can for those fighting the war. And I scrap for parts and useful things.”

“Oh neat. Buddy of mine did that for a while. Lost his hand in a freak accident once and haven’t seen him since. Miss that guy.” Maeve had all the cadence of a brick falling through a glass table.

“Have you traveled far?” Sygil asked.

Furiosa debated on how truthful to be, knowing the answer could lead back to Sanctuary. In the end, she aired on the side of truthfulness. “No, not really. Just a few days out.”

“Oh really? I didn’t think there were any other camps around here?” Maeve asked, licking her bowl clean.

Furiosa shifted uncomfortably. “We don’t take kindly to strangers.” That settled the conversation.

“What do you think of Rest so far?” Sygil changed the topic smoothly.

“It’s pretty.”

“You’re welcome to stay for a while if you like. With the impending Blizzard, it may be safer but I understand if you’d rather get on your way.”

Furiosa looked around, the lights and smiling faces adding to the warmth of the camp. Camps were dangerous places to live, the threat of attack was a daily worry. Many of the ‘bucks she’d met so far were without homes, having abandoned their camps after raids. She wondered if any of them had been like this.

“At least stay for the night, Christmas is a two-parter. You can’t leave half way through.” Maeve said, without missing a beat.

Furiosa looked back at her and offered a soft smile. “I think I’d like that, if it’s not too much to ask. I can earn my keep.”

Sygil chuckled, “None to worry. We’d be happy to have you, if even for a night. But should you wish to stay longer, we could use a mechanic in our midst.”

“Heck yeah! If you need a place to crash till we get your place built you can stay with me!” Meave stepped on her tail to hide the wagging it did.

“Be warned, she’s a sorer. That’s why we keep her away from everyone else.” Sygil leaned over to joke.

Maeve bit him in response. The two began to bicker back and forth. Furiosa looked around again, watching the pups of the camp settling down with their parents, listening to elders tell stories. A motion beside her caught her attention and she looked down to see the little shoon yawning. As he circled about and settled down, his little cloud ford under him and he began to snooze with his head resting on her leg. Christmas seemed like a wonderful thing to get to experience. She couldn't exactly say no, not to such kind and welcoming folks. The more she listened to Sygil and Maeve, the more she began to realize why Rest felt so different from Sanctuary. It felt like home.