Hello Sunshine

"That's the macro, the wide-angle looks kind of a little flared at the end? Yeah, thanks. And put this one where it was, all right?" She's smiling almost beatifically. This place is so great. "And then we can see if there's a suitably shiny one lying around."

 

He nods, beaming, and puts the lens into place, returning with the correct one. "Yeah! A big shiny one!"

 

Corrie had been thinking more on the "pebble" side of things, but... "Eh, as long as it's easy to carry." The lens clicks into place easily, and she goes to work.

 

Eirik beams, watching curiously and clambering a little closer when he gets a little bored, trying to see how far down the river is.

 

Out of the darker recesses of the cave comes a voice . It sounds deep and loud and somewhat synthesized, but the cave's natural acoustics could account for any of that. "Where, are you taking them?!"

 

Eirik stiffens, bolting back to Corrie in alarm.

 

Where is who taking who? This clearly means something to Eirik, but Corrie is just as out of her area of expertise as she has been ever since she started seeing things.

"...is he talking to us?" she asks.

 

The same voice rings out as a figure emerges from the darkness of the cave " Give him back! My son, my property!" The figure walks steadily forward and it's features become apparent in the glow of the cave's interior. He is a man, roughly six feet in heigh and athletic of body. His skin is.. painted? A pure white color and faint skeletal marks in ebony on top of that. His hair is gold and falls past his shoulders but his age is hard to discern. A mask covers the lower half of his face: ivory , dagger like teeth fill a snarling maw protruding from a base of dark brown. A hose protrudes from either side and loops back around the shoulder, coming out again as a horn-like protrusion from behind each shoulder.

 

Corrie's finger is still on the shutter button, and she indulges the impulse to press it before this impressively Gothy individual's actual words have even been processed. Once they have, a considerable amount of indignation on Eirik's behalf starts to develop. She calls out "I'm not taking him anywhere, he goes where he wants!"

 

Eirik backs into Corrie's knees, then blinks, puffing up and shooting up in height by a good half-foot as he grows more lizardlike. "You jerk! You scared Corrie!" Eirik yells defensively.

"Why are you wearing Shok's speakers, that isn't fair, I didn't know it was you! I'm not coming home yet, you can't make me." He stomps one foot, hissing slightly. "I'm going to live in the desert forever!"

 

"I'm not scared," Corrie begins, before realizing that this probably isn't the most important thing to establish.

 

Eirik gives her a stricken look. "Uh. No. No, you were totally scared and I wasn't.'

 

"So. Uh. I'm. Protecting you? From. ...the monster. Which is I guess dad."

 

Oh. Well, in that case, fair enough? "Right, right."

Sunshine is practically vibrating with indignation, and Corrie can't tell if it's at the implication that he can't do a good enough job of protecting her himself, or at their new friend being called home by his dad. Once again, she wonders how her life has turned into this.

 

As the man approaches the finer details of his appearance come into sharper focus,the 'horns' on his back becoming obviously disguised speakers the straps holding the contraption on him, bone white of course, becoming distinguishable from his painted (yes, it is paint) skin . He blinks at the pair then reaches up inside his mask. A 'click' later and he slowly pulls upwards and off his face. revealing a man no older then twenty-seven with the lower part of his face painted in the same macabre skeletal style as the upper. He cradles the mask in his left hand and speaks, a voice now much more recognizably human and noticeably higher then it was before. " Sorry, I couldn't resist quoting the movie, and I can't believe you didn't recognize me you scamp!" He points at Erik with his index finger. "It's totally not like we have been doing this costume for the entire tour or anything!" He shakes his head and faces Corrie extending a hand "Anyways, sorry about the mama- drama, I'm Baldur"

 

"I didn't see your face!" Eirik squeaks indignantly. "I don't recognize your robo-voice, you don't even use them on stage!"

 

Baldur squints at Erik "Dude. You know Shok wears it, you've seen him put it on, and I don't even sing on stage this tour why would I need a microphone?"

 

"...I'm Corrie Macpherson. I can't say I've ever met a sun god before." And, if asked to speculate, she probably would not have expected one to be such a Mad Max dork. It's a point in his favor, but Eirik does seem fairly determined to just live in the desert forever. She'd be willing to believe he was just being a teenager, or to believe otherwise.

 

"Pleased to meet you" Baldur smiles then goes a little glassy eyed as she says the word 'sun' he chuckles and adds "most people call me a rock god. So what do you do?"

 

Corrie looks down at her hand, which is literally still resting on her camera. (Actually, that should probably change, shouldn't it? She moves to accept the offered hand, somewhat belatedly.) "Uh, wilderness photography. That's what brings me down here, actually."