The Messengers of Sanctuary

48 - River

River lifted the side of the weird gazebo thing, growling in annoyance as Pedro and Jose dropped their side, having failed to lift it.

He'd been gathering things like this, figuring that if they had some type of more permanent shelter, things would turn out better when the Viviendo decided to inevitably come knocking.

From what River could tell, that particular group had been bothering the 'remains of the horde' for a very long time, trying to get them to leave in more ways than one. They'd tried everything from negotiations to flat out attacks, and according to Pedro, they'd been due for another one about the time that Chicory had showed up.

Which explained their assumption that the Viviendo had sent her.

River wasn't sure which side was right in their claims to the land, and he didn't particularly care. All he knew was that they'd decided to ally themselves with the pyros on this one.

Those backup messengers weren't due to arrive for another month though, so it wasn't like Sanctuary could send help in a timely manner.

According to Chicory they'd eventually set up a radio tower, and probably a few more to act as a relay. If only to make sure the new base could contact Sanctuary in an emergency. That didn't mean anything though if the emergency was looming just beyond the horizon. In fact, River wouldn't be surprised if the Viviendo did something in the next few days.

I should try to set up a meeting with their leader, shouldn't I... River sighed, picking up the gazebo again, this time counting verbally to three so that the pyros on the other end could lift with him.

---

River folded his arms, staring down the 'emissaries.'

They seemed to have an annoying habit of slipping back into Spanish, even though they knew that River didn't speak the language.

If River had any regrets from before the outbreak, it was that he'd never learned Spanish. Hells, his mom had been from somewhere down here, she'd spoken Spanish better than English! And yet somehow he only knew a couple of phrases.

River growled in annoyance as one of the emissaries once more shifted into Spanish.

She rolled her eyes at his display, but switched back, "-just to let you know, that if you haven't left the area within a week, we have decided to finally brute force the subject. The Viviendo are very courteous neighbors, but our patience only extends so far."

Jose scoffed, "like you were patient at all. You're just weak idiots who are scared of really getting the horde mad!"

The woman gave him a flat look, clearly annoyed, "Uh huh. Well, your tactics of annoying us are certainly very brute-like. But we still need to request you leave."

Jose stepped forward, a low growl building in his throat, "Make us."

River frowned, noting the increasing tension in the air, if he didn't do something then they would end up attacking each other... "Why do they need to leave anyway? They're not harming you as far as I can tell."

The woman glanced at River with confusion, "You aren't with these idiots?"

River shrugged, "Well I'm just a traveling nightstalker that would much rather be asleep right about now. I'm just the closest thing to a neutral party that you're ever going to get."

The woman snorted, "Well you're clearly on their side, so the fact that you think I would believe that is adorable."

River growled slightly, "At least humor me, why is it such a big deal that they're living on your border?"

She rolled her eyes, "Because they're pyros, obviously. Sometimes they attack livestock in the middle of the night, and none of our bases are set up to defend against that."

Jose had the decency to look embarrassed at that fact, "Hey, it could have been one of the lost ones..."

"And that's the problem, they don't even remember what they did, so how are we supposed to put them on trial for stealing from us? We can't, because nobody knows what actually happened!" the woman folded her arms crossly.

It was rather amazing to River that a human was standing up so well to several who were clearly undead. But she did have several good points.

"You don't have the right to kick us out of our home just because of that! Besides, if you can't handle a couple of pyros, how do you expect to deal with a tunneler if one decides to haunt the area!"

"I assure you! We are very capable of dealing with our own problems! Unlike some people."

"Oh? So we're one of those problems you have to 'deal with?' Maybe if you'd been good neighbors from the beginning we wouldn't have had our supply of lights destroyed by someone in particular."

"You're still blaming that on us? Honestly, how petty can you get?"

"Not nearly as petty as the living are being. That name is offensive and inaccurate!"

River clamped his hands down on his ears, trying to figure out what to do to diffuse the situation, he just had to-

A loud crack rang through the crisp morning air. The man who had until now stood silently beside the other emissary held a terribly familiar object pointed toward the sky. The faint scent of gunpowder finally reached River's nose, a fact that made him wish he hadn't been standing upwind.

Several beats of silence enveloped the area, finally, the man with the gun flipped it over and put it back inside his coat. "You are leaving, one way or another. You have a week until we come and make you vacate the premises. Don't tempt me to shoot one of you right now."

He nodded toward the woman beside him, who was currently glaring at his way of salvaging the situation, "I had that covered."

"Well yeah, but it's just a terrible idea not to let them know we have firearms to spare. Don't want to have to clean up a huge mess over here."

River and Jose stared uncomprehendingly as the two emissaries vacated the area, heading back the way they'd come.

Yes, they were wonderful emissaries.

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