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"-So, lahk Ah was sayin, we were preparin' to do a test run on a new part we made fer our engine. Bein' stuck in a backwater world, and us without our tools, the hard part was pullin' enough useful stuff outta the ground fer our needs, but the rest was all hard parts, too, cuz we also had ta refine it inta somethin' useful, and that meant more heat'n we had. Felt like th'stone age, Ah tell ya!"
The brunette shook her head, then paused as she saw the story was lost on the youngsters gathered around the fire with her. A quick glance around revealed that they themselves were only barely in the age of iron. Probably had no idea what she was going on about.
She had to make this exciting, or she'd not get that offered meal.
A slow squint as she looked around drew the kids back in.
"Th'stone age, it's a time when monsters were bigger'n meaner, and there wasn't any iron or brass ta use 'gainst 'em. Just imagine, monsters bigger'n the tallest trees, roamin' around..."
She veered drastically from fact now, and her story went from testing a new engine to being ambushed by great predators, fifteen feet tall, "And those're just the babies!" she stage-whispered.
The children leaned in, eyes wide. She could see their imaginations hard at work. Good.
She acted out fight scenes for them, and then, as they were holding her breath as a monster's mouth shot towards Sin, she knew she had them. In the story, she was bleeding from when claws sliced open her back.
Time for the final delivery.
"Ah found th'strength to rise. I ran at the monster and pulled out mah gun!"
"Oh no! It's broken!" one of the kids gasped.
She'd made a point of trying to shoot the gun several times before in the story, but it never worked.
Time for the delivery.
"Ah pulled the trigger...!"
The kids whimpered, convinced that if a miracle didn't happen, the woman currently telling the story would die, as would her friend.
She let the silence drag for just a moment.
"Nothin' happened!"
"Nooo!" One of the children wailed.
"The monster, it got closer an' closer to Sin, and Ah called his name. Mah gun was th'only weapon we had left. He looked at me, an' lightnin' burst from his fingers and into mah gun!"
Gasps from all around, even a nearby adult.
"Ah pulled the trigger again!"
Any more tension, and she was sure one of the kids would pop a hernia. She had herself pretty breathless from this, too as she stood, fingers shaped like a gun as she struck a cool pose, aiming at an imaginary monster with both hands.
"Zap!" She jerked her arms back, as though the imaginary gun had terrible recoil. A spin, and the woman collapsed.
"Did you hit her!?" The kids surged forward, and as she sat back up slowly and silently, she kept her face hidden behind her bangs. This was proving way too fun!
She lifted her head with a ferocious grin. "I hit 'er! Right in the eye, an' she ran away!" She kept her voice low so they had to strain to hear.
Their cheers and celebration were deafening, and she let herself laugh as she slowly pushed herself up onto her feet while the children played finger guns with each other and argued over who got to be Sin, who got to be the woman, and who had to be the monsters.
The old man who invited her to the camp's fire with the promise of a meal for a story walked to her and thumped her on the back. "Not bad. Go fill your bowl," he urged as he shoved a wooden dish into her hands.
"Thank ya," she grinned.
He watched her, then chuckled. "What was your name, again?"
"Huh?" She paused mid-step toward the stew pot and barely caught herself. "Oh. It's Ozymandias. Y'can call me Ozy."
"Any of that true?" he asked after a moment.
"Hm?" She blinked, then grinned and winked. "Ah ain't tellin."
The old man nodded his approval. "Go, eat," he repeated, and she gave him a brief salute on her way to the food.