PAINKILLER
[Grand Hotel - Presidential Suite]
Vic wiped his eyes on his sleeve. The guilt still surged in his gut, but a distraction such as this caught new attention. He didn't really catch the context of the subtext, but he still realized there was something between Todd and Samuel. "Oh, I was thinking of bunking with one of you guys. Whatever's open, really."
Samuel wiped his face in a napkin and turned, staring at the bedroom door. "Heaven almighty. Can't believe that guy sometimes." He turned to the rest of the group. "After a day he's had, you'd think he'd have, like, tact? Oh, nevermind." He felt his cheeks get hot again, so he stood and crossed back over to the phone. He shouted from there, "I'll call for them to clean up your mess, and I hope you're not gonna really sell that cake. They go bad real quick."
[Town ~ Bed & Breakfast (Shared Room)](Connie, Irina)
Irina picked up another one. "When you buy them, they give you a sack. Usually it's assorted with flavors you ask for. This one has berry jams and honey." She took a bite of hers. The shell crackled a bit under her teeth. A blue-black mixture curled out. She licked it up off her lips. It was a warm and savory blackberry jam with just a pinch of sugar too. "You can't really tell what is in which."
"There are chocolate filled ones, but it's more of a luxury than a necessity. Taranles are for travelers who can't stop to eat meals, not people sitting in their homes eating sweets to fatten themselves," she said. "I know we're sitting here now, but we can make an exception." She grinned a bit.
Life is hard, that's why no one survives.
[Hotel-Room 204]
John blinked.
"Give me a second!" he said, going through his bag again, "Hmm...I know it's here...let me see-ah!" He pulled out another roll of bandages, "There we go. Here I come!"
He got off the bed and raced to the bathroom...and immediately saw Pancake trying to play with Joseph's bandages.
"Pancake, no." he said firmly, quickly scooping her up in his arms, "Don't touch that. That's not a toy."
Pancake meowed.
"You can play with him in a second. Right now, I have to patch up your friend's arm." He gently grabbed Joseph's arm and examined it. "Huh. Looks like it needed a little more time. Not to worry! John's got you covered."
He found the nearest, cleanest rag, and gently dapped it on his arm. As he did this, his thought from earlier came back, and he realized that he couldn't wait until morning. After all, he knew so little about him, other than he was far from home. It wouldn't hurt to try to learn more a little more about him. Right?
"Hey..." he then said, slowly re-wrapping Joseph's arm, "If you don't mind me asking...what's your home like?"
Attitude is prohibited
[Mountain Pass]
"Good idea!" Said Hoshi, enthusiastically. "You guys go scout. I'll hold down the fort."
Miyuki didn't react much, just frowning ever-so-slightly more than usual. "Fine." She said, and went off with Brin.
"Don't get into trouble without me!" Hoshi called after them, encouragingly.
Not entirely dead.
As I said before, here are two new characters.
[Railway Street-Sandstorm]
Sand, and more sand. How on earth could anyone stand it? It didn't look like there was an end in sight. And it was already dark outside. Fantastic.
Two girls were unfortunate enough to be caught up in this storm. The first girl, Maya, had light brown skin and dark brown eyes. Her long, black hair was wrapped in a ponytail, and she wore a white jacket with a black dress and black boots.
I told you to get here early. signed Maya, Now look! We're caught up in a sand storm!
The second girl, Amy, was white and had hazel eyes and short, dyed, pink hair. Unlike her friend, she wasn't skinny, and she wore a dark blue dress and white shoes.
"Look, I said I was sorry!" she said and signed, "But hey, I'm sure we'll find a town somewhere! We just need to-ACK!"
Some sand got in her mouth, and she immediately started spitting it out. Maya only sighed, and tried to see her way through the ever increasing raging storm, until she noticed something—or rather, someone—unusual. She tapped Amy shoulder, getting her attention.
There, they both saw Davey, wondering why someone had a sleeve for the back of their coat. What was so important back there?
Odd.
They walked over to him, with Amy being the first to speak.
"Kid," she said, "Why do you have an extra sleeve on the back of your coat? Don't you know this sandstorm is gonna blow it off?"
Just so you know, Maya speaks through ASL.
edited 23rd Dec '15 5:33:54 PM by Masterofchaos
Mountain Pass
Having Kito join the investigating party seemed a good plan, given his telepathic bond to Cyrus, at least as far as Blair could guess. They would have up-to-the-minute news on whatever was found. Blair had not picked up anything yet, but he was at a distance still. He decided not to mention to anyone that he did not get a particularly positive feeling from that direction.
Meanwhile, Roscoe was trying to understand the significance of Hoshi’s “title.” As in, her rank, or whatever it was supposed to denote. Birth order counted, she supposed. And oh, did that mean Hoshi had wings? Roscoe did not get a chance to ask. As the others discussed investigating the weirdness, Suela explained more about the Valley. So people could live in those landscapes. Okay. Having to pass through one did not seem quite as daunting.
After Suela commented on useful “tricks,” there was a fairly telling pause as Roscoe took a moment to confirm her answer. You didn’t happen to bring your bow and quiver, did you? she asked Blair.
No, but I can ma-
Blair’s head spun very suddenly; any faster and he could have given himself whiplash. Now he was looking in the direction of Brin, as she and the others left camp. Is no one here what they seem?
Roscoe blinked. What?
Our detective is giving off her own magic aura.
Oh! Right. Suela did say something about earth powers. How do you feel about swarms of flesh-eating insects?
That is rhetorical, yes?
“I think we might be able to help,” Roscoe said, while giving Suela and Hoshi a smile. “Are you tired? We could all probably use some rest while we can get it.” She glanced for a moment out at the pass. “Assuming that thing at the doorstep is friendly.”
Coming out of a facepalm now, Blair nodded to Cyrus as the other man charged up his weapon. “It seems we’re going to need a few good archers. Would you care to join me as I search for a suitable sapling? Unless you have anything similar in your own arsenal?”
edited 23rd Dec '15 5:23:08 PM by savlamar
[Town ~ Bed & Breakfast (Shared Room)](Connie, Irina)
"Right, right," Connie nodded, smiling slightly herself, "there's always the exception."
Suddenly, the taranle held between her fingers cracked, though rather than splitting the shell in two as she had intended, her thumbs broke through the shell's surface and shot straight into the gooey innards.
"Shit. Whoops." she muttered, pulling her thumbs back out. They were covered in something golden and syrupy. "I think I got a honey one here." she said, then stuck her free thumb into her mouth. She nodded thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged. "That or some seriously tasty sap."
Connie cleaned off her other thumb and popped the rest of the sorry-looking taranle in her mouth, smiling and nodding her approval. Then she scooted back on her bed, sitting up against the back wall and sighing, seemingly growing bored again.
"So..." she began, her eyes shifting to focus on Irina while the rest of her head remained stationary, "you travel a lot, I take it? I mean, what with the traveler's snacks and the..." she waved a hand lazily in Irina's direction, "well, all the other stuff you've mentioned. Where are you from, originally? If you don't mind my asking, that is. Just..." she shrugged, "just curious."
this place needs me here
Laugh and grow dank!
[Mountain Pass]
The pass opened up to overlook a rocky valley dotted with sparse brush. The land sloped down quite steeply, and it would be quite the task for a normal person to pick their way down the wending, craggy pathways that ran like a spider's web to the bottom of the mountain.
In the valley were two vehicles parked along a dirt road. One was a four-wheel scout car, taking point at the front of the formation, and the other was a chunky MRAP. Only the car appeared to be armed- a remote weapons system sat perched atop the vehicle's chassis. Both vehicles were painted a stark white, highly visible against the arid reds and dusty browns of the mountainous desert around them, and adorning their hulls were two bold black letters: UN
Several figures clambered out of the back of the MRAP, their armor and uniforms a mix of light blue and the same stark white of their vehicles. A couple more emerged from the car, dressed similarly.
edited 29th Dec '15 11:36:48 PM by Gault
yey
[Town ~ Grand Hotel (Room 204)](Joseph, James, John, Pancake)
"Yeah, thanks." Joseph nodded, then pointed a claw at his shoulder, "I think that- uh... color is supposed to be good though. Like all that gunk is healing gunk and not, well, y'know..." he waved it off.
He stood there, a loose smile on his face, doing his best to be a patient patient. When John asked about his home, his smile flipped into a loose frown. "My home..." he repeated, his lizardy brow furrowing uncertainly, "my home like my house, or like... the way I live, or what?"
[Town ~ Railway Street —> Main Street (Sandstorm)](Davey, Amy, Maya)
Halfway through crossing Main Street, the din of the storm nearly suffocated all other sounds within it, and Davey's heavy hood which lay over his ears certainly wasn't aiding his hearing. Still, that hearing in and of itself was strong enough to pick up a faint voice and the words it carried. But the words were of the least interest to Davey.
He turned around carefully, hood hung low, surprised to see not one but two sets of feet, right below two dresses, belonging to two of what he had least expected to encounter trekking through the sandstorm in the town.
"What are you two doing out here?" he yelled. Even in through the storm, his voice was clearly not a child's, or even a teenager's. "You two need to get indoors! You need to-" his mind turned to thoughts of the great sandstorm beast that Irina had spoken of. He paused, quickly rerouting his mental map. They had driven in from the south... so the best open shelter would be...
Davey turned a bit to the left and, keeping his hands up to shield his face, raised his hood to peer out down the sand-clouded length of Main Street. Barely, just barely, he thought he could see the lights of a building that towered slightly above the others, almost exactly where he had pictured it.
He swiftly lowered his hood, then beckoned to the two pairs of feet. "Follow me! And be quick about it!" he shouted, then pressed forward down Main Street, aiming for the overhanging balconies of the buildings that lined both sides of the street and the cover—though slim—that they provided.
this place needs me here
Paladin of Light
[[Rail Siding - Kaito, Trinity, Gray Guy, Jeanette and Crew, Chisa]]
Kaito gritted his teeth as he kept on firing at the giant beast, but for all his effort it seemed like the creature was not going to falter any time soon. What's worse was that it now had more ways to attack anyone who came near it with all of the wildly flailing tendrils that had sprouted from its back.
The agent tried his hardest to back up Trinity with cover fire so she could get up closer to the beast; but he felt head to switch up tactics again—the bullets were only doing so much, they needed to take this thing down before it decided to rampage any further than by the rail siding.
Lowering his assault rifle, Kaito took a few moments to analyze the beast with his sensors, he had to find a weak spot somewhere—there HAD to be one! He had to find it and get that info to Trinity so the both of them could try and kill this beast. "Trinity! Keep it occupied! I'm scanning it to try and find a weakness!"
edited 24th Dec '15 2:55:56 PM by Gold_Paladin
Eat my dust!
The grey man yanked the tank out of the way like the armored vehicle was a plastic toy. The beast's attack missed by a hairsbreadth.
"If you guys are looking for a weakness, try its eyes!" he shouted over the storm. "It keeps opening and shutting them like its trying to protect them!"
He shifted his focus to the beast itself. Although he couldn't see it, the sandstorm told the grey man about the beast's transformation.
"That thing's back legs turned into a tail! Not sure what its trying to do with it, but be careful!" he hollered to Trinity and Kaito.
edited 24th Dec '15 3:53:40 PM by gameknight102xx
"SAID CLOUD TO THE CARTOON PONIES AND UNICORNS WITH PICTURES OF FLOWERS ON THEIR ASSES. A DURR HURR HURR." ~Game Spazzer
[Hotel-Room 204]
"I mean..." John said, looking up, "Before you left...what was your home like? Like, what was it like being around your family? Is it...was it nice?"
He paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before he shook his head and tried his best to smile.
"Ah, ignore me. I'm just...your wound is healing, but you need to leave this on until tomorrow morning." With Joseph's wound now re wrapped, he gave him another quick scan. "There. That should do it. How do you feel?"
Pancake climbed onto John's shoulder.
[Railway Street (Sandstorm)]
So this wasn't a kid; it was a grown man. But now was not the time to to be shocked at that. They needed to find some sort of shelter. He seemed to have an idea of where to go, so they quickly trailed behind him.
"What are we in the middle of a sandstorm?" Amy yelled, "We should be asking you that! Why are you out here? Don't you know how dangerous it is?"
The sand was kept getting into Maya's eyes, to her dismay. Her only response was a deep, heavy sigh. This why she hated flying.
[hotel room 106 (Tsadro, Arthur)]
Unit Psi wasn't getting along and he was too tired to do anything about it right now? You don't say, Arthur. Understandable for the moment, he supposed, nodding as that first sentence read itself into his implants.
<A human-livable wage for Rivari? There's no practical need to ever pay us. We don't require physical nourishment, we appear to be unaffected by bodily ailments and environmental exposure, and we can sleep anywhere. However, it is illegal in most places for our oath-holders to deny us access to lodgings, whether they do not allow us to sleep in their home or place of work, or do not pay us enough to afford rent. The politicians say forcing employed Rivari to sleep in the streets is 'unsightly', contributes to human homelessness, and crowds the shelters.>
Tsadro stretched his legs for a moment. <I am sure you're wondering why we haven't replaced the world's labor force.> With only a second for that to sink in for Arthur, he continued without waiting. <There exist around five thousand Rivari in the world. Our own biology forcibly limits our ability to reproduce. Remember- for the most part, we cannot die.>
I've retconned something about Rivari invulnerability- they can now permanently die under exactly one circumstance known to science. I've already edited the character sheet to reflect this- just so it doesn't come out of left field.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Drummer Boy
[Mountain Pass]
No, don't bother. Who cares if he sees your bows and arrows later and wants to know why you made him do things the hard way? If he wants to argue with us about cultural tradition, he's going to lose.
Cyrus gave Blair a weak smile. "I doubt that a five-second crash course is sufficient time to learn how to use my other machines, but I'll be glad to help you however else I can."
So what's happening over there, Kito?
Strange vehicles. Military-looking folk. I don't like it.
[Hotel Room 106]
... they were technically a slave race, weren't they? Tsadro kept saying "servant" all the time, though.
No, a semantics argument really wasn't worth it. Best to move on. Arthur was admittedly pretty curious about Rivari reproduction, but wasn't sure if he should be asking. Wouldn't that be kind of weird? Did Tsadro even care? Ehhh...
<for the most part? so what can kill you? this might be important, if we go out looking for stuff in the desert tomorrow we could run into something dangerous>
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
[Town ~ Grand Hotel (Room 204)](Joseph, James, John, Pancake)
"Better than before." Joseph said, eyeing his shoulder while he moved it up down and around. It still ached, but not so severely that it would make him wince just from moving it a bit. Satisfied, he let his shoulder rest then stuck his thumb under one of the bandages wrapped around his head and lifted it slightly. "I think this can probably come off; my head wasn't cut so bad."
He raised the tip of his thumb, poking the fabric of the bandages with his claw and tearing them apart. With a tip of his head, they slid off, thankfully not sticking to any gunk.
"Anyways..." he continued, tipping his head up slightly and examining his neck in the bathroom mirror, "about my home; my family and all that... it's all right, I don't mind you asking or anything, it's just, I don't know how much there is to say about it." There remained a few bruise marks around the base and some small, scabbed over cuts just below his jaw, but nothing dripping or festering. That was always a relief.
"I mean, it's... nice yeah." he said, running a bit of water into his hands, "At least in some ways. Peaceful, I guess you could call it. Just my mom and myself at home, plus her boyfriend Rick, but he doesn't, like, live with us, he's just around a lot and he happens to know about my... thing. Watch out." Joseph leaned towards the sink, raising his cupped hands full of water over his head and releasing it. "Pbhbhbhbhbh" he shivered, blinking a few times before continuing, "and speaking of which, I can't really go out or make my presence known because of, well... being as I am. I guess that's where things aren't so nice. Can't answer the phone, definitely can't answer the door, can't contact anyone... I've even gotta be careful if I ever go downstairs or move around open windows. It's like being my own jailkeeper, shit." he paused, glancing slightly in John's direction. "...sorry."
Joseph grabbed a nearby hand-towel and dried his head. The end result was noticeably cleaner, if not for the few remaining cuts and bruises. He stared at his face in the mirror. The big, beat up, lizardy face that he couldn't show people. The one he'd looked at months before with fear and wonderment, and now just looked at tiredly as he'd done so often with his old face.
"Anyway, it's peaceful. Don't have a lot of responsibilities except not existing."
He let out a short sigh, then shrugged and turned away from the mirror. "Okay, I think I'm ready."
[Town ~ Main Street (Sandstorm)](Davey, Amy, Maya)
"Of course I do!" Davey barked in return, though more out of exasperation and so that his voice could be heard through the storm than from anger. "That's why I came prepared! Now do yourselves a favor and hush up! Keep your mouth shut and cover your nose if it isn't already! You don't want to dry up!"
By that point, they had made it under one of the overhanging balconies, though it did little to stem the sands blowing in seemingly every direction. Still it gave Davey some guidance; an assurance that they were headed in the right direction. He felt around the air with his hand, and, when that wasn't working, he swung his sleeved tail out to find the wall of the building. Once he made contact, he stepped over and continued as he had before, walking with one hand against the building. He didn't necessarily need it, but the sensation still flooded him with relief, and staved off any dark thoughts of becoming lost in the storm. Even with his hood on, his own wettish nose felt unusually dry and his eyes were full of water, blurring his vision. He silently cursed himself for not properly covering his face before leaving.
Without too much further blindly marching along, they had reached their destination, signed by the shinier glimmer seeping out through the windows. Davey let his hand slide along until he found a long bar handle, then seized hold of it with both hands and pulled it open, quickly waving the trailing pairs of feet inside before following them in and letting the door close. Once all was said and done, they would find themselves standing in a small room with a set of double doors at either end; one set leading back outside, and the other opening into the lobby of the Grand Hotel.
"So, again, may I ask," Davey said, his voice suddenly sounding very loud to his ears, "how on earth did you two end up wandering around town in the middle of a sandstorm?" he reached up and pulled his hood off, rubbing his eyes for a moment before properly looking up at the 'pair of feet'. "Or, don't tell me you wanted to be out there?"
edited 25th Dec '15 12:35:41 AM by Ryuhza
this place needs me here
[Hotel-Room 204]
"I...see." John said, looking away. "I was just curious." He twisted his lip slightly. Jealousy still lingered, but very less so. Aside from the fact that Joseph was still a kid, it wasn't like he had any freedom. He was still a talking lizard, and not everyone was going to react kindly to that. Still, to have such an accepting family...
After clearing his throat, he refaced Joseph and smiled.
"Let's get a move on, then!" he said cheerfully. He moved out the way, so Joseph could leave first. "James, we're ready to eat!"
"Oh, good." James said, getting off the bed, "I was wondering when we were gonna get out of here. Arm's feeling better, Joe?"
Pancake meowed.
[Town-Main Street]
Once they were in some sort of shelter, Amy rubbed all the sand off her dress and shook her hair, getting sand out of there.
"No need to be so loud." she said, "Anyway, it's a weird story. We weren't actually supposed to be here. We flew, and we got caught up by the storm, so we were trying to find a place to stay until it died off." She giggled, "By the way, that's a really cute costume you're wearing!" She began to rub Davey's ears. "It looks so real!"
Maya was shaking the sand off her jacket when she noticed Davey's "costume". She quirked her eyebrow.
You going to a furry convention? she signed, Why are you wearing that in a place like this? It looks weird.
[hotel room 106 (Tsadro, Arthur)]
<Iron inside my body and beheading will leave me in a coma lasting several hours to weeks- for our purposes, as good as dead. The only Rivari who can fully die are under three years old. Why? Don't know, not a pediatrician. I feel comfortable telling you this only because the parents will kill you if you try.>
It was because of breastmilk, Tsadro knew Arthur would ask what would happen if a human infant drank Rivari breastmilk, why the milk had such a specific effect on Rivari children, and so on. Reproduction in general was something he didn't care for. If Arthur asked, he'd volunteer his experience with the matter, but the topic was tedious, hard to explain, and involved too much biology for his part-time hobby as a Rivari philosopher.
In truth, this was something he would have preferred to not volunteer at all. Everything that he just said. He hadn't yet mentioned who can give orders to a Rivari, or, hell, that the urge to serve goes away after a certain point. Best not to mention Queen Iesukre. Unit Psi claimed to have disconnected from the military, so who knew if someone else could see these logs, or what they'd find in the lab. There was still that thought, however unlikely, that Unit Psi's disorder could be a front and they'd try to take him prisoner. That was getting more unlikely as the night went on, but the military problem was still there. Iron made him quite a target, but he could sense it nearby.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Crazy Kiwi
Grand Hotel - Presidential Suite
Wolfe and Teri exchanged glances and turned back to Vic. "Well, I guess Wolfe and I can double up in one bed to make room for you in our room," said Teri.Wolfe grinned and looked at Teri. "You'd better behave yourself, though."
Teri laughed. "I'll try to curb my animal instincts, and somehow force myself to behave."
James turned to Samuel. "Of course we're not really going to sell cake, but if we did, we'd have an eager market for it. 'Twould be more sensible if we were to locate a source of viable cocoa beans and take them back to Terra Nova."
"We'd have to take them a lot further south than anyone's settled so far," said Peggy, "just so they'd grow."
so it's so late and so little. Things have been hectic around here and it's been hard to get the creative juices flowing and get in character.
[Town ~ Grand Hotel (Room 204)](Joseph, James, John, Pancake)
"Yeah, yeah man, it's cool- it's cool." Joseph said, shrugging as he stepped out of the bathroom. "It's not like you're the first person to ask, and I'm sure I'd be curious too if I didn't already have the inside scoop."
He smiled at James and waved his damaged arm—though keeping a hand on his shoulder so it wouldn't move so much.
"Good as almost halfway new!" he said, then paused, and shrugged again, adding, "Or at least new-ish." He let his arm fall back to his side, then moseyed over to the door and opened it up for John and James, giving them a polite bellhop's bow. He was doing a pretty good job of forgetting that anything was wrong.
[Town ~ Grand Hotel (Entrance)](Davey, Amy, Maya)
Davey folded his arms, staring, unenthused, up at Amy.
"Do you always greet a guy by massaging his ears?" he asked half-seriously. His own ears twitched in response to her touch. He held up one small hand-like paw, "that's lovely, but for dignity's sake I would urge you to, as they say, knock it off please."
Maya's gestures caught Davey's eye, though he had missed most of it due to his ear surprise. For that moment, all he did was eye the girl, blinking curiously, before speaking again to address them as a pair.
"Flying..." he repeated, though he figured it was best not to question it too much, "well Wright sisters, I brought you two to the town hotel. At the very least, it should provide you shelter until the storm blows over." He glanced over to the second set of double doors and the hotel lobby beyond. "It might not be all smiles and sunshine, especially if you aren't planning on getting a room, but I don't think they'd get away with throwing you out into the storm, so you ought to be set."
edited 27th Dec '15 1:12:00 PM by Ryuhza
this place needs me here
Mountain Pass
From the direction of the foot of the pass came the sense of life forms as they emerged from the MRAP. At his distance, Blair’s senses could only register that there were life forms; he could not identify the species or distinguish how many there were, and the vehicles and their armaments fell completely outside of his perception, as they were not of nature. Blair glanced at Cyrus. He could tell the man what he was sensing, in order for him to warn Kito, but that would give away Blair’s own magic, when he was currently posing as a perfectly normal human. Besides, Blair figured that at their own distance Kito and the others were already within perception of the life forms. They would be fine.
At Cyrus’ response, Blair nodded passively; dwelling on it might have led to him taking it as an insult. But, once again, he was supposedly a run-of-the-mill human. “You can shoot anything that doesn’t look friendly.” He glanced out toward the thicker foliage. “We won’t be going out far. My options are limited enough regardless.” He doubted he was going to find much in the way of hardwoods in this environment, so he wasn’t going to try. Besides, he needed to stay in range of Roscoe. “Shall we?” he said, leading the way out nonetheless.
[Hotel-Room 204-Elevator]
John chuckled.
"Aww, that's adorable!" he said.
"Aren't you a gentlemen?" James said, before patting Joesph's head, "Thank you, kid."
Once they all got to the elevator, John, once again, held Pancake in his arms and rubbed her chin. "What do you think they even have down there? Most hotel foods I had aren't that fancy."
"Probably some old turkey or whatever." James said, "Don't expect anything too great. Still, food's food. Besides, I don't think either of us had eaten since we got there."
As if on cue, a low growl could be heard. At first, both men jumped...until they realized it was coming from John's stomach.
"...Yeah..." he said, awkwardly looking away.
[Main Street-Sandstorm]
Amy put her hands away.
"S-Sorry." she said, "I couldn't help it; your costume is just really cute! And thanks for helping us out." She cleared her throat. "I'm Amy, by the way, and that's my friend Maya."
Hey. Maya signed.
"She's deaf and mute, so she uses sign language. I'll translate anything she says if you don't understand." Amy smiled, then slowly got inside, "By the way, you haven't answered my question; why were you out in the sandstorm? With how strong it was, I'm surprised it didn't take us to Oz or bury us."
Were you out for a stroll or something? Maya signed again, Lovely! A great time to enjoy the great outdoors.
Amy sighed. "Of course, you had to be a smartass..."
[Mountain Pass — Near UN Group]
Brin stared down at the vehicles. Advanced, moreso than anything on her own world, but recognizable in general form and function. "Slug-throwers, and us without a metalbender who'd make them all obsolete. Those things are dangerous." She looked towards the mountains. "I don't want to attack them without reason, but I think I could cause a small rock slide to distract them before they spot us."
[Mountain Pass Campsite]
Suela had nothing to add, aside from muttering, "wait, did I remember... oh, of course!" She stood and found, in one of Cloudsplitter's packs, a number of components to an arbalest, which she began assembling, as well as a number of bolts. "I'm not very accurate," she said, "so don't expect me to fire into a melee. But better than me trying to beat them with a staff."
Laugh and grow dank!
[Mountain Pass]
The soldiers- five in all, wearing blue helmets, white plate carriers and carrying polymer rifles- loitered near their vehicles. Two of them seemed to be speaking with one-another, pointing around at the landscape and trying to get their bearings. Another one hauled a heavy-looking briefcase up onto the hood of the scout car. They popped the clasps, opening it to reveal a screen and keyboard, and began fiddling with the device.
The remaining two took up sentry positions on either side of the column, pulling security, scanning the mountains for signs of movement.
edited 27th Dec '15 12:50:07 PM by Gault
yey
[Town ~ Grand Hotel (Room 204)](Joseph, James, John, Pancake)
"Hey, no tip!?" Joseph called after the two men in faux-outrage. He followed quickly behind, propping the door open with his tail until all of him was out of the way. "I'll have you written up in the papers! Denying a crippled lizard... uh, orphan, door-boy his tip on his birthday and the same day that his puppy dog died? Does your callousness know no bounds!?" He stepped into the elevator with a big dumb toothy grin on his face. It had been a while since he'd had one of those.
His giddiness faded bit by bit, though he still seemed to be in a better mood than he'd been in all day, oddly enough. But again, he had a purpose; nothing difficult, nothing terrifying, they were just going to go downstairs and get some food.
"Anything sounds good to me, so long as it doesn't taste like dirt." he said, crossing his arms and leaning against one wall of the elevator. "I kinda got my fill riding the river in Willy Wonka's dirt factory. Wasn't all it's chalked up to be."
He looked away as well when John's stomach growled, doing his best not to snicker, though there was no hiding the scarcely-suppressed smile on his face.
[Town ~ Grand Hotel (Entrance)](Davey, Amy, Maya)
Davey's eyes seemed to glaze over every time Amy used the word 'cute' with regards to him. Beyond that, he made no comment; not even bothering to correct her misconceptions about his so-called costume.
"David Harkness," he introduced himself, offering the girls a little smile, "a pleasure to meet you two, though, surprisingly enough, the middle of a sandstorm isn't my preferred venue for meet and greets."
Upon learning of her condition, Davey's dark eyes focused on her with renewed interest. "Aha," he nodded slowly, "so that's what that was; I thought it looked familiar. In another life, I knew a good number of signs myself. I was young and I... well, I wanted to impress a girl I liked—she was much like your friend." he gestured at Maya. "But I'm afraid I've forgotten all but a few solitary letters. I know 'O'... 'J'... uh... 'A', 'B'-" some slow and slightly messy signs, not helped along by his paw-like hands, accompanied each letter, "see, it's still in there somewhere; I'm just out of practice."
He glanced up at Maya again, then, realizing that he'd been idly signing, tried to clarify, "Oh, I wasn't actually spelling anything out there, I was just demonstrating that- that I don't know many..." he tried to act it out, making a number of fake signs with his hand, then pointing at himself, shrugging and shaking his head. Then he glanced back at Amy for a moment, "I don't suppose lip reading will work all too well in my case. If so, would you be so kind as to pass along my greeting?"
He returned his eyes to Maya and smiled, bowing his head politely before finally answering Amy's question. "As for why I was outside in this weather, I was really just trying to get to a bar—or a saloon I suppose—The Washington, I believe it's called. It's a little further to the east side of town, and... well, I remember wanting to go the last time I was here, but never had the chance. Just seems like a place where I could spend a pleasant evening, and if a pleasant evening isn't worth braving a hopped-up dust storm, well then," he held his arms out in a loose shrug and grinned a small weaselly grin, "what is?"
edited 17th Mar '16 10:25:18 PM by Ryuhza
this place needs me here
Drummer Boy
[Hotel Room 106]
Maybe it took about three years for whatever caused their near-invulnerability to develop for some reason? But that kind of made sense, it'd have to be pretty complex, right? Merlin could probably come up with a better theory. <i see. i doubt you'll have anything to worry about tomorrow. most of the lab security systems have broken down by now and if they're still active nymue can hack them through my tablet. it's really not going to be that exciting>
It bothered him slightly how reading Tsadro was mostly impossible. Arthur had a hard time reading people in general, which didn't help, but at least he was used to the feeling of... what was it, helplessness? Anxiety? He'd never known a time without it, honestly.
He held a finger over the keyboard. Holy shit, that finger was shaking really bad. Did that just start, or had it already been doing that and he only just noticed? When was the last time he ate anything? This morning? Fuck. He didn't actually feel that hungry, though, so maybe it was okay. All he had to do was eat a big breakfast before heading out and everything would be fine. He'd gone for much longer without a decent meal before. Or... any food at all. Yeah, this was nothing.
<with your memories getting wiped every time you make a new oath and all, do rivari ever have a lot of time to philosophize or anything?>
[Mountain Pass Campsite]
Cyrus followed Blair into the foliage. His rifle was maintaining a steady charge, ready to blast anything unfriendly that might approach them. The opening of the muzzle was glowing blue. "If you need me to, I can use magic to light things up around here so you can see what you're doing." He was half-tempted to just do it anyway. Wearing tinted goggles in the dark was not ideal, but he was a long way from trusting any of these people to see his face for more then a few seconds at a time. "Oh, what other weapons do you know how to use?"
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
[Hotel Room 106]
<okay>
His hand hovered over his tablet, as if he was searching for the words to say something that he didn't really want to.
Team bonds had been shaky even before the unit cut itself off from the military, thanks to all the clashing personalities, but things went straight to the shitter afterwards. There were no longer any consequences for disobeying him or Gwen, so the other four members had been testing them lately, and getting bolder by the day. Every grievance they hadn't been able to express before the cutoff was being aired now. Arthur didn't think they were purposely uniting to put others in his and Gwen's places—no way those four would ever agree on anything long enough to come even close—but he did feel that the final ounces of respect the team had for them was only due to the fact they were the best mediators. And God knew they needed those.
I dunno about you, Gwen, but I'm pretty fucking sick of it.
She had to be doing even worse than him, even if she never showed it. A sixteen-year-old trying to keep people three to five years older than her in line—how was she still hanging in there at all, honestly?
Suddenly, he felt very tired again.
<so as you can probably tell, my unit's a giant mess and i don't think worrying is going to do much good at this point. i made a list of questions i have about your people. but first, can you tell me what incentives there are to pay rivari a living wage? unless i forgot something from earlier i'm not really seeing any. though it may be my fault, i didn't do well in economics in school>
edited 24th Dec '15 10:15:31 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!