[Bed and Breakfast (Dining Hall)]
Amy frowned. "Still..."
Once Samuel got to the part about explosive, her frown was still there. "Yeah...I hope so too. War is scary." She tapped Maya's shoulder, "Hey, can you hand me a napkin?"
Maya nodded.
"Don't know what story we could tell that could top something like this." she said, gently taking the napkin from Maya, "All I have is the story about the time me and Maya flew in a storm. But you're story is more epic. Did you have a memorial for those men? The ones that died?"
[Hotel (Lobby)]
Pancake tried to climb to Rin's lap.
"Rabbits are cute," John said, "I had a rabbit when I was a little boy. Poor thing ran away and I never saw it again."
Seeing how Rin couldn't leave, James turned to Daniel. "Well, I guess we'll be your transportation. Just tell us when you're ready to go and we'll be out."
"Wouldn't that be a little dangerous?" John asked.
"It could be, but hey, we've been in this rodeo before. I'll make sure nothing happens to any of us, ok? Just trust me."
edited 25th Apr '16 2:29:50 PM by Masterofchaos
PAINKILLER
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
Irina jerked up at Connie's gestures. She reached for the plate and moved it for her and Davey.
The ex-Colonel sighed. "Not many died in that battle, but all men were honored." He scratched the back of his head. "Ack, those two were... Jeffries and Byrne. Jeffries was the pilot—he was a mechanic before the draft. He had a real subtle humor, and a real bushy 'stache. Byrne was pretty young. Twenty-two I believe. He was a straight scared cat when I met him during basic training. He heard about Airborne and how ballsy it was, and he wanted to get more brave." Samuel's face turned to a bit of melancholy as he worked his jaw. "I like to think the two coordinated their landing in the best spot."
Still, Samuel went to finish his story.
Todd arrived with the brunt of the forces. Hell's fire was raining down from the hovering valkyries above. Many enemies were surrendering by then, and lined up outside the base with hands over their heads. They were mostly technicians and non-combatants working there. The ones with weapons still held up a fight.
Todd seemed the least bothered by it once he arrived into the captured hangar. He had an escort of two lieutenants, whose faces were full of ashes. He gestured for Samuel to follow him, and for the two at his side to stay in the hangar.
Samuel boarded Todd's craft and was taken back into the air. The Major shouted, "We got the upper hand now, a good portion got beat earlier. We gotta find the commander. Vinson's Group's at the main compound, and says it's General Isador. Not that High-Colonel like we thought."
Samuel made an eager grin. "Oh? I'd like to meet him."
Todd shook his head. "We destroyed the hell out of the front walls. I think we lost some men... We better just pull back now and come back later for the seizure."
The Colonel kept grinning, insinuating he wanted to know the General's whereabouts.
Todd rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me... Sam, I know that face. You better not. It's too damn dangerous. Let the Ocean take them..." But Sam's hand eclipsed Todd's. He leaned forward and kissed Todd then and there. A couple men on the craft chortled at the sight.
The blond Major gave up. "Don't do anything stupid. I don't wanna know why that just tasted like blood either." He wiped his lips on his armored sleeve.
The aircraft landed, and the Colonel hopped out onto the roof of the compound. Needless to say, he found a few heavily armed soldiers at the doors of the only escape from the massive centerpiece of a building. Lieutenant Vinson saluted and allowed for Samuel to take the lead from him.
The final capture went like clockwork. They destroyed the hole and dropped below. Samuel hung back behind them as they shuffled through the dark.
Samuel stood tall among his men, and said, "It's over, Mr. Isador. Put your hands up like a man who values his life and men."
The aged and tan General just sighed, and raised his hands. The operators around him followed suit.
The ex-Colonel burped. "Oh, thing was, I almost wanted the base to go un-captured. It was the best battle by far," he laughed. "I mean, even command was so goddamn impressed with how well it went. Later on, they realized we captured something real good in our favor—so they gave me a great blue 'n silver medal for it. But, after it all, we got time to remember our dead. Byrne and Jeffries... And I think Wakefield, Reeves, Jones, Holden, Polk, and..." He lost count and lost the names of the dead. "Shit, I know there were more. There had to be a bit more." He shook his head to remember, but he just cringed a bit. "I told myself I wouldn't forget my boys. My boys." He wiped his face.
Irina put a hand on his shoulder. He stopped squirming then. "The least fun part was losing my boys, of course. You're in command of them. Death's inevitable. A lot of my boys were afraid, so I told 'em I wouldn't forget them. They were afraid of being forgotten. They weren't."
She added, "Sam was well loved by his men. I know, I've met a couple of them."
Life is hard, that's why no one survives.
Crazy Kiwi
Southwestern Desert - Temple (East Corridor)
[Arthur, Sophia and Karl]Sophia and Karl studied the picture and read what Arthur had to say regarding turrets and humanoit robots.
Sophia looked thoughtful. "Your pistol may well disable a turret, but how well would a turret stand up against something like this rifle?" She lifted up the .30-30 lever action.
Karl had seen the ammunition Sophia had loaded into the rifle and was sure that his 7.92mm Mauser ammunition was at least comparable, if not more powerful. If Sophia's rifle could defeat a turret, so should his rifle.
The only lasers he knew were low powered and therefore harmless - the small laser pointer Wolfe had on his key chain and the laser in Wolfe's range finder - but he had heard that more powerful ones could burn through steel with no effort and he presumed that any laser set to defend a place would be towards the steel-burning end of the scale rather than the other.
He had no desire to pick up anything they found; his sole concern was finding indicators that might point to the whereabouts of the one they had come to find.
For her part, Sophia was mostly interested in observing these "Mad Bastards" and assessing how much of a threat - if any - they were. It was interesting to note that Karl didn't ask what a "laser" was and didn't seem fazed by the mention of humanoid robots.
As they made their way down the East corridor, she periodically switched to thermal imaging mode to look for temperature differentials that might hint at something hidden.
Southwestern Desert - Temple (North Corridor —>West Corridor)
[Tsadro, Peggy and Finn]Peggy had no idea what species a "snowcat" was but a large feline with a mane sounded a lot like a lion to her and the comment about family riches rang a bell. "Hold on, this woman... young? Shorts, cowboy hat and boots and a big sword? Keeps bragging about being part of some family of treasure hunters?" If it turned out that Tsadro was indeed talking about the loud, drunk, belligerent and seriously underaged "treasure hunter" in the saloon, the coincidence would be amazing.
Finn watched Tsadro's preparations and makeshift direction markers with interest. It seemed like a more efficient use of string than merely trailing it behind until they eventually ran out.
"So, we've got flaming armoured lions and the possibility of hidden family fortunes and armed turrets," he said. "Good to know it's not going to be boring."
edited 24th Apr '16 9:27:44 PM by Wolf1066
Small Valley—>Valley of the Dead God
I’m not sure what question Brin is waiting for Blair to answer. If it’s whether she should tag along, he replied with “Excellent” here
.
As they crossed through the valley, Blair kept an arrow notched and drawn, just as one might carry a firearm low at one’s side while clearing an area. The creatures around them disturbed him on many levels; their existence or non-existence confused his nature-magic-inclined mind. But he said nothing, just moved forward with the rest of the group.
Roscoe remained behind Blair most of the way, partly because he was armed and she wasn’t, and partly so she would be near if her particular function became necessary. She really, really hoped it would not. The last two times had almost been too much for her.
Miyuki stopped them all just beyond a hill, and explained what to expect. Roscoe was glad the soldiers couldn’t see them but also nervous that she wouldn’t be able to see Blair. You’ll keep in contact, right?
Considering I need you to save my life if things go awry, yes, you can be certain I will be in contact.
She sighed, but let his hand go. Blair returned the arrow to its makeshift quiver and shouldered the bow; he saw no need to go in armed. He was still working on his plan to get what he needed from the Dead God - he lacked pertinent information there - but he did have a fair idea regarding the soldiers. It was flexible, of course.
“We won’t keep you waiting for long,” Blair remarked to the others. Then, nodding to Brin, he said, “Shall we?”
As they crested the hill, it became fairly clear that Blair and Brin had been good choices for an additional reason. At six foot three, Blair would have the easiest time talking to the soldiers, who were that tall and more. “You must be this tall to guard the Valley, apparently,” Blair remarked. “Constant movement until they stop us. Let’s hope they’re talkers. I’m really hoping for no violence here.”
[temple, west T-intersection - Tsadro, Peggy, Finn]
Tsadro tilt-lowered his head in a sort of nod. "That much is true." The three began to walk. "An older woman around her thirties was the one hiding treasures in this temple. That girl from the bar claimed to have stolen the sword and some other objects from this temple, thinking they were abandoned, not hidden by the woman. The woman agreed to let her keep what she stole as a reward for finding a hole in the security, because that makes sense, and now they're friends who are travelling together... I suppose. Strange day."
As they walked, the occasional glint of dropped coins caught his palm and arm-lights. Perhaps Chloe dropped some as she left the first time with the sword. They didn't seem to have fallen in any pattern that implied they had come out of the doorways that were on either side of the hall up ahead.
"In more industrialized societies, it seems young people do not grow up quite as fast. Hearing the girl was belligerent earlier doesn't surprise me. I can't help thinking if she was Tefurean, she's probably at the age where she'd be expected to marry and run a household."
edited 26th Apr '16 6:52:34 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Drummer Boy
[East Temple Corridor (Karl, Sophia, Arthur)]
<i'm not 100% how that'll do against the turret's armor, but it's worth a shot. aim for the middle so it has a better chance of hitting a crucial component. then it'll shut down for at least a minute to try to figure out what's going on. oh, and /if/ an android turns out to be hostile, try not to aim for the head and torso, i can disable them once they're damaged enough but we only have one tech person on the team and she's got enough on her plate without having to repair robots>
Wait
Fuck.
Arthur began typing rapidly again
<i didn't notice that pun i'm sorry. so is this... something you guys do a lot? exploring potentially dangerous places i mean>
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
Connie shot Irina a thumbs up as she received the tray, plucking a cheese and sausage omelette off for herself before sending it Davey's way. It wasn't chorizo, but she was sure it'd hit close enough to the mark.
Davey offered both Connie and Irina a polite smile before returning to work on his personal breakfast platter in silence. He was either unwilling to look or uninterested in looking at anyone else. Connie wondered what had his thoughts stirring now. A while back, Davey had taken to casually confiding his thoughts to her, but there hadn't been a private moment between them that entire morning, and he didn't seem eager to seek one out. For a moment she considered saying something to start some kind of dialogue, but Samuel had resumed the telling of his story before she could come up with anything.
She ate her breakfast and listened, raising her eyebrows once or twice at the details Samuel chose to include, and at his little mid-story belch. She noticed Davey—in the midst of adding some cucumber slices to his plate—wrinkling his nose, despite his self-induced social remoteness. Given his position and keen senses, he was probably able to hear and smell it better than anyone else at the table.
As Samuel came to the end of his story, and as he started to waver in recounting the names of his fallen 'boys', Connie grew a little concerned. She was the one who had brought up the war stories idea in the first place, and if Samuel was going to be overcome by grief in telling them, she was going to feel a little very responsible. Fortunately, Irina seemed to have a fix on what was happening and a simple touch was able to calm him.
Before she could say anything, Davey spoke up. He was sawing through his stacked pair of blueberry jam smothered pancakes, and didn't look up to talk. "That's quite a story," he said, "and quite a position to be in. Very impressive, leading your men through so close to death and pulling through with, as I understand it, many of them coming away safe as houses." He finished dicing up his pancakes into fours and—rather than eating them straight away—set on to do something similar with his omelette. "It takes a special sort of someone to take up a station so demanding and not crack under all of the pressure. To have your men look up to and admire you." He finally set down his utensils and looked up. There was something very odd about his voice. It lacked energy, enthusiasm. It sounded very measured; very calculated, but not as though he didn't believe what he was saying. He believed it well enough, it just didn't make him particularly happy. He turned his eyes to meet the ex-Colonel and finished his set of remarks with, "I salute that."
every little word and every little step
[Bed and Breakfast (Dining Hall)]
When Samuel finished his story, Amy frowned. It was a remarkable story, but it was also very sad. To have people he grew so close with just die like that...it obviously struck a heavy cord with Samuel, especially since he knew half of the men on his team.
This was another reason why she hated war; on both sides, someone's child, sibling, parent, or lover is never coming home again. It was heartbreaking to think about.
"Do you need Amy's greatest-wonderful-excellent solution to sadness again?" she asked, before her eyes lit up, "Oh! That's right! Davey probably doesn't know what that is. It's this!"
She pulled Connie into a hug.
"One hug," she said, "And you'll feel better!"
Maya smirked, before facing Samuel again. That's an incredible story. Thank you for telling us. That probably wasn't easy to do. Do you need a moment, or should I send Amy your way? That last part was a half-joke, just to slightly lighten the mood.
edited 27th Apr '16 7:18:00 AM by Masterofchaos
Crazy Kiwi
South-western Desert - Temple, West Corridor
[Tsadro, Peggy, Finn]Finn scooped up one of the coins scattered on the floor, inspected it briefly and then dropped it. He had no idea of its value but it seemed to have none to Tsadro so it probably wasn't important. It certainly wasn't any coin he recognised.
Peggy's description of the young girl rang a bell. He was sure she had been amongst those in The Tipsy Toad the previous evening before he and Kaitlyn had headed off to the fort to investigate the shooting. Probably an unimportant coincidence.
Peggy was astounded to hear Tsadro's assessment of the girl's age. "Where I come from - well, both Earth of my time and Terra Nova, actually - she would barely be old enough to smoke, and certainly wouldn't be allowed to drink in a pub, never mind get married and run a household. Though I would say that both of those places are fairly well industrialised."
Finn picked up on what Peggy said. "And what would 'Earth of your time' be, exactly?"
"Mid nineteen-fifties," said Peggy candidly. "I left Earth and wound up on Terra Nova in 1955. I was twelve at the time."
"You left Earth? In nineteen-fifty-five? How didja manage that?"
Peggy shrugged. "Dunno. Best guess is some sort of dimensional rift that swallows up people and other things and dumps them on Terra Nova. It's quite an uncomfortable experience - unlike any of the other dimensional travelling I've done since - you come 'round giddy and disorientated. Some even throw up.
"It's also quite scary when you're only twelve and suddenly find yourself in a strange place with no family or friends. One minute I'm walking to school; the next I'm lying on the ground in a strange place, feeling like shit."
Finn was impressed and it showed in his facial expression and voice. "You seem to have survived admirably well."
"I got lucky. I was found by a lovely woman who took me in and looked after me like I was her own daughter. Later, she got married and her new husband treated me like his own as well. Taught me to ride and shoot and all manner of farm duties."
Peggy looked around then continued. "Then I met Karl and the others, also relocated from Earth."
South-western Desert - Temple, East Corridor
[Arthur, Sophia and Karl]Karl pursed his lips thoughtfully as he read Arthur's first message. He had used up all of his full metal jacket rounds ages back and was now using semi-jacketed soft-point hunting rounds. How well they would cope with armour, he had no idea, but he surmised that they wouldn't be as effective at penetrating hard armour as his old Wehrmacht-issue ammunition.
Sophia wondered who, and where, this "team" was. Evidently, Arthur wasn't here alone - which begged the question: why aren't his companions accompanying him as well?
She considered asking but decided against it. If she didn't know anything about them, she couldn't divulge it if pressed for information.
At Arthur's question, she shook her head. "I don't generally go exploring, but I live in a time and place that has numerous dangers and my usual line of work can get quite dangerous as well, so I'm no stranger to risk."
Karl was puzzled. Sophia, in his mind, was a contemporary of Finn - identified by Kris as being from around her own time - and was, like Kris, from New Zealand, but Sophia's description of her world sounded more dangerous than what Kris had described about New Zealand of her own time. Could this be another case of alternative timelines, such as they had encountered on their previous travels?
"I certainly get a lot of dangerous places," said Karl. "We hunt and forage in the wilderness on Terra Nova. There are many dangers in the woods, including bears and venomous snakes. We don't often explore places like this, but we do get asked to take journeys through unfamiliar parts of the wilderness to help people and get sent to worlds like this if there is a need. We do it because we like to help and because we get paid - which means we can get things we need to buy - and because perhaps we're the only ones crazy enough to take the job. This is why my friends and I are called 'Mad Bastards'. "
He looked at Arthur. "And you? Do you often visit or explore dangerous places?"
Edit: sorry, accidentally said "Arthur" when I meant "Karl" - corrected.
edited 27th Apr '16 12:09:15 AM by Wolf1066
Attitude is prohibited
[Hotel] (Lobby)
Unwilling to return to being bored stiff and still disappointed that she wasn't able to go with Gwion and the others when they'd left, Rin scooped Pancake up off her lap and gently put her aside before standing up. "Just a minute!" she said, and dashed over to Hana and Maya, who were both still sitting on a near-by couch reading magazines. After a brief conversation - very surprisingly short, from Rin's perspective - she came back to John, James and Daniel. "I'd like to come with you, if you don't mind," she said, a bright smile on her face.
Not entirely dead.
PAINKILLER
[Grand Hotel (Lobby)]
Daniel smiled. "Sounds like a plan. So uh, collect your things—if you have 'em—and we can head out."
In a spur-of-the-moment second, Daniel reached down and picked up pancake in his hand. He saw the cat fit perfectly in his arms. He stroked the cat's back. "Such a good kitty." He then handed it off to John, who the cat probably loved more.
Danny tied his jacket's arms around his waist, but adjusted his concealed carry for easy access. If this town was akin to the Wild West movies he'd seen, he would need it dearly.
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
"Eh, maybe I made it seem less fun. Nowadays, I realize more how much we'd lost in that war. At the time, I kept looking forward, y'know? Now that I have time to remember... It's hard to grasp, really." Samuel put another piece of food in his mouth. "I'll forego the hug maneuver. The delicious food is quite enough!"
Irina noticed some disconnect between Samuel and Davey—she guessed it had to do with Sam thinking less of the "cute, furry creature in human clothes" who was more than that. Irina decided to add, "I hate war as well. In fact, when I first heard of Sam's finest moment, I scoffed at his name. The news people loved telling his story of great valor and strategy, but not of the doctors or caretakers..."
Samuel shrugged dismissively. "Not as fun to talk about. Oh, and uh, thanks for listening. No a lot of young guys like listening to old dogs like me."
The girl rolled her eyes. She corrected in her mind, You're only 40, old man. It was in small moments like these which reminded her that the Colonel and her were vastly different physically, and in views. She turned her focus on the one sitting next to her. "So, Davey, is it normal for Margaret to run out on us? Is she nervous we wouldn't like her food? Because, obviously, it's horrendous." Her eyes darted to Samuel's near-empty plate and growing belly.
edited 29th Apr '16 6:15:35 AM by electronic-tragedy
Life is hard, that's why no one survives.
Crazy Kiwi
Northern Desert
[Kaitlyn, Kris and James]As they approached the vehicle, Kaitlyn kept switching to telescopic mode to get a better look at who or what was there.
"Bugger me days!"
Kaitlyn's sudden exclamation caused Kris and James to look at her in surprise.
"There's some sort of creature there that doesn't look right at all. It looks like it should be dead, but it's standing up and moving."
James extracted a brass telescope from his haversack and sighted at the distant truck. He gave a low whistle and passed the telescope to Kris.
Kris focused the telescope and looked at the creature standing a few metres from the truck. "Dear Goddess!" She shifted her aim and quickly spotted the two... well, they looked human... people nearby; one leaning against the truck, the other inspecting something on the ground.
They were close enough now for the telescope to clearly show that the one by the truck was a man - middle-aged from the look of him - and the one on the ground was a woman wearing a modern armoured vest and helmet and carrying some sort of rifle that looked, to Kris, like the ones carried by American soldiers in movies she had seen.
The fact that the woman was visibly armed and armoured didn't bother Kris in the least - after all, she was also armed. It made sense to be armed in this place.
Neither seemed to have spotted the approaching trio yet - or if they had, they gave no sign of it.
They weren't far off, now, a couple of minutes' riding at the most.
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
"Whoa- hey," Connie put her hands up as best she could from her restrained position, "I'm cured, I'm cured."
Davey looked up from his plate of food, happy enough to be given anything that could be used to drive a wedge between himself and his smoldering envy. He glanced at Irina, then at the kitchen door.
"She left?" he asked, turning his eyes back to Irina and frowning in confusion.
"Oh yeah, she left some while ago." Connie informed him. "While you were manicuring your nails, we sitting around in here waiting for her. That got old pretty fast, so I checked the kitchen, and what do you know? No Margaret. All the food was there, but no sign of the cook."
Davey reclined a bit further back into his seat, laying his hands on his legs. "No, that doesn't sound much like Margaret at all. She's not the nervous type." he shook his head, "Oh no, she's very open about her feelings. If she left, it must have been for a different reason." He paused for a moment, his eyes running thoughtfully around the ring of his plate. "She didn't leave a note or any other handy contrivance for keeping your guests up to speed?"
Connie shrugged, glancing around at the others for confirmation before saying, "Didn't see one."
Davey let out a short, indignant huff and ran a hand over his whiskers. "Of course not. That would be too easy. Too sensible. Too convenient." He fell silent for a moment, then sighed and picked up his fork again. "Well, hopefully she'll show back up before we all finish. I think she deserves a hearty thanks for preparing all this food." His eyes caught sight of two pitchers of milk. Her and Duncan, he thought. She did seem ever so fond...
every little word and every little step
[Bed and Breakfast (Dining Hall)]
Amy quickly let go. "I was just demonstrating; sorry, Connie."
She finally took a bite of her food, before blinking. It wasn't bad in the slightest, but it tasted like how her grandmother made breakfast. Now she suddenly felt a little homesick, but decided to keep that to herself.
"Sad that Margaret isn't here; I would really like to meet her!" she said, "Meeting new people is fun! Then, the next step is making friends, which is also fun!"
Maya had already finished her drink, and was now taking a bite of her fench toast. She then turned to David and signed, Why do you talk like that? You talk like you're from another century.
Amy blinked. "He doesn't speak that weird..."
Yeah, he does. Compare how he talks with Connie. At least Connie speaks like a modern citizen. Davey talks like he's from the 1800's.
Amy gave Maya a quick glare. "Maybe he just likes to talk like that! Why are you judging him?"
Maya rolled her eyes and returned her attention to her phone. Whatever.
Amy gave an apologetic glance to David. "Sorry about that! Anyway, would you guys like to hear a story? Since Sammy gave his, maybe I can share one too! Maybe several! Tons! Hundreds!"
[Hotel (Lobby)]
John smiled. "Good! The more the merrier! Don't worry, there will be enough room for the both of you. If you guys have any other questions, let us know."
As he walked outside, James quirked an eyebrow and Danny. "Uh...are you sure you want to hold Pancake that close to you, buddy? Especially since...you know..."
Pancake purred in Daniel's hand.
Ah, it probably wasn't too much of a big deal. Besides, with Rin with them, maybe she could hold her throughout most of the trip.
edited 29th Apr '16 4:54:17 PM by Masterofchaos
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Desert Trail - Wagon (Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Teri, Wolfe, Gwion, Iraal, Scents, Katya)
Nemaforte seemed puzzled for a few seconds at all the concern about the psychics (particularly Yamiko), but was soon distracted by the smell of an odd sort of smoke. It smelled a bit like burning herbs, but it did irritate her throat a bit. She let out a cough before turning to face Teri and Wolfe. They appeared to be sucking on little cylindrical sticks that were burning at one end.
"What is making all that smoke?" she asked. "Is it an herb only found on Earth? What does it do?"
But before they could answer, Iraal asked her to explain what just happened, sounding very serious about it. Turning to face her, Nemaforte tilted the brim of her hat down so that her face was in shadow.
"Troubled you do seem," she replied calmly. "Fearful even. As I said, the shadows seem to be evil spirits targeted at them, holding a curse or somelike, targeted at them. It is strange that the students do not seem..."
"Oh just forget about it, will ya?" blurted a female voice behind her. "She obviously knows nothing about how magic works. In a nutshell, we're fine. I think."
Nemaforte narrowed her eyes (as if her eyes weren't narrow enough already) and turned around to see a red-haired woman in a frilly black dress before her. She flinched a tiny bit before speaking, but otherwise her facial expression remained unchanged. "Yamiko. Chin kata-mino. You are awake."
"As are the others," Yamiko mentioned with a shrug, gesturing over to her right. There, Zuri was sitting up and stretching her arms out. Vicky was doing the same nearby, although she still seemed to have a bit of a headache. Lupin never got the chance - Yamiko made a dive right for him and pulled him into a sitting hug, even though he was still a bit disoriented (glasses askew and all).
"What happened?" Zuri wondered, looking all around the wagon. "It feels as if I had a very bad dream." She was looking now at Yamiko, who merely shrugged in reply. "Also, Vicky, please put me down." She had just risen a few inches above the floor.
"Oh, I was just checking to make sure my powers still worked," Vicky replied, straightening out her dark grey hair. "I was getting worried a bit because of this headache. But I hope this has nothing to do with those odd dream entities, or the Dead God or something."
"Hmm," Yamiko contemplated, letting go of a very lost-in-thought Lupin and crawling forward to face the other two girls. "You know, I could swear I heard Amanda speaking to me somewhere during that time." Zuri and Vicky blinked, looking concerned; Yamiko held up a half-gloved palm before her and inspected it, flexing her black fingernails against it. Then she put on a small smile. "It's weird though. It feels as if she's... with us, somehow."
"Yamiko..." It was the distinctively whispery and British-accented voice of Lupin, who was giving her a very worried look. "Why it's... erm... somehow I see... your aura..."
"Oh? You do?" Nemaforte was interested in this all of a sudden and rushed over to him. For a moment she took an aside glance at Gwion. "See, I told you they'd be all right." She turned back to Lupin, placing her head right next to his and gazing at the out-of-place gothic lolita girl. "What does it look like?"
"Dark," Lupin quickly replied. "...To be honest, I don't quite know how to describe it. My good friend Merlin—one of our classmates—is very good at reading auras, but this is my first time seeing it firsthand. Yours by comparison looks more... erm... gray?"
Nemaforte muttered a quiet giggle. "Teach you much about the aura I can, yesnote ."
Yamiko, meanwhile, was more focused on Gwion, for she had read something rather disturbing in his thoughts. Scowling, she confronted him. "By the way, I heard you mentioning keeping me in confinement. I wouldn't be much opposed to the idea myself, but I doubt it'd do you any good. Just sayin'." There was an odd sort of desire behind her eyes as she looked into his red one, as if entertaining the idea of keeping him captive, like a trapped wolf.
As Lupin watched Yamiko talk to Gwion, he felt very lost. Why am I suddenly able to see auras? He turned to Zuri and Vicky for answers, but they seemed just as confused as he was.
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
Drummer Boy
[East Temple Corridor (Karl, Sophia, Arthur)]
<this kind of stuff was part of my job as a soldier and now my team and i are stranded in a wasteland. so it was never really a choice, but yeah. guess i'm pretty used to this by now. uh... what's terra nova? are you from there too, sophia?>
They both sounded like they could handle themselves pretty well. Good to know. Arthur was pretty sure that "terra" meant Earth so maybe it was a shitty hellhole kind of Earth like the one he was stuck on for the foreseeable future. But "nova" was a term used to describe a star phenomenon, so he wasn't really sure what the two things together were supposed to convey.
edited 30th Apr '16 1:15:31 AM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
Crazy Kiwi
Desert Trail - Wagon
(Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Iraal, Scents, Katya, Teri, Wolfe and Gwion)Gwion looked around at the students seemingly recovering from their period of unconsciousness. They seemed to be fine but there were nagging questions in his mind like 'who was in control in there?' and 'why was the young pommy bloke suddenly able to see auras?'
Yamiko scowled at him and said that it wouldn't have done any good to try to restrain her. There was something in the way that she met his gaze that triggered his warning sense and the wolf, always just below the surface, was instantly alert.
He gave her a humourless smile and took a leisurely drag on his cigarette. "It wouldn't be my first choice, but I just watched four dark shadowy figures crawl into the bodies of yourself and your friends, so you can understand my concern that you may be a danger to yourselves or others. Can you assure me that you're in complete control?"
Wolfe waited until Nemaforte was through talking with the others and then gave her a smile. "This herb grows on both Earth and Terra Nova. I find it helps calm me down after having the shit scared out of me by strange shadow creatures."
Teri gave a curt laugh.
Then Wolfe remembered that Nemaforte had earlier asked a question about how the rifles worked. He reached into his ammunition pouch and extracted a loose .243 calibre round and held it up for Nemaforte to see.
It was one of his own reloads, finely tuned to suit the harmonics of his rifle's barrel for improved accuracy and consistency. The projectile had been reverse-engineered from one of his Nosler Ballistic Silvertips by a skilled Terra Novan artisan who had learned his metalcraft when Queen Anne was on the throne. The brass case, primer and nitrocellulose propellant were also of Terra Novan manufacture.
"Our weapons don't use magic - it's just chemistry..." he proceeded to explain how the explosive charge in the brass case supplied the motive force for the projectile which, lacking stabilising fins like a dart, was spin-stabilised by grooves inside the rifle's barrel.
Teri briefly removed the magazine from her ASh-78 to show Nemaforte how the rounds were held ready to be chambered when the rifle was fired. There was a clear contrast between Wolfe's ammunition and Teri's 7.62x39mm ammunition, with its smaller case but noticeably larger projectile.
"We don't use any magic where we come from," said Teri. "Things don't work that way on Terra Nova - or Earth for that matter."
Southwestern Desert - Temple (East Corridor)
[Arthur, Sophia and Karl]Ach so! Another former soldier, thought Karl.
Sophia shook her head at Arthur's question. "No, I'm from Earth." She remembered what Gwion had said based on his experiences in Capital City. "Well, one of the many versions of Earth, anyway. I never heard of Terra Nova until today."
Karl gave a wry smile. "I was originally from Earth - one of them. Terra Nova is a planet which is very much like Earth in many ways but very different in so many other ways. We don't know how we got there - my friends and I just woke up in the middle of a forest with no idea of where we were or how we got there. We later learned that many people have had this happen to them and that the place had been named Terra Nova, which is Latin for 'New Earth'.
"It's a strange place, there are many things about it that are good and many that are bad, but I think it is better than the Earth I left, anyway."
He turned to Sophia. "You are a Kiwi. Have you ever been to England?"
Sophia shook her head.
"I see. Much of the plants and animals on Terra Nova seem to have come from England, as have most of the people. Kris, Wolfe and myself are deemed 'anomalies' because we came from somewhere other than England.
Sophia shook her head in disbelief. "But there are no bears in England."
"Not any more, no. But there were - and wolves, once. They were made extinct in England, but bears and wolves still survive on Terra Nova and there are people who arrived on Terra Nova only thirty years ago that were born on Earth in the eighteenth century. Our oldest inhabitants left Earth during the late fifteenth century."
Sophia looked at Karl, hardly able to believe a word of what he said but he sounded so sincere she was forced to take him at his word. She turned to Arthur. "You communicate in English. Are you from some version of Earth, too?"
[temple, west T-intersection - Tsadro, Peggy, Finn]
Goodness gracious, Tefurean youth weren't permitted to drink until they were eighteen, outside of wine at ceremonies. They weren't barbarians, the doctors won that battle.
Tsadro checked the doorways as he spoke. "So many coincidences today. Sometimes, people claiming to be from Earth appear in Aitherion. Unlike what seems to have happened to you," he turned and looked at Peggy, "they all say they thought they were dead, or dying."
The doorways on the right were in fact alcoves for little sandstone statues on pedestals. The figures were vaguely human, about four head-heights tall with cube-like faces and large, grotesque features that an Earthling might associate with Hopi kachina dolls. Some of the statues still had suggestions of paint, or turquoise ornamentations that hadn't been stolen yet.
"I can conjure a portal to send these people home, but they never stay there. Inevitably, they fall asleep somewhere on Earth and find themselves back in Aitherion when they awaken. I would try going there and seeing why that happens, but the planet seems to be full of iron." He half-frowned.
The doorways on the other side were spaced much more closely, and were in fact doorways that all lead to a much larger room, one that ran the length of the hallway. Shining his palm-lights into the room revealed that there might have, at one time, been thin windows set in the far wall- the mortar and bricks used to close them up looked a bit newer than the rest of the wall. As for the purpose of the room... it resembled some temple sanctuaries he's seen, but it could have also been a dining hall. He couldn't tell if there was anything of note along the other walls or not, they'd have to enter.
edited 30th Apr '16 9:05:26 AM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Valley of the Dead God]
The guards took notice of the newcomers, guns ready but not lowered. "Let the fauna sniff 'em out first," the Acting Commissar advised.
And the fauna were eager to oblige... a small pack of dark, snarling hyena-like creatures. about a half-dozen, approached. Soulless as anything else here, they were starved-looking, mangy creatures, filled with both desperation and an uncanny nastiness not known to the natural world. They didn't quite attack yet, measuring the group, looking for weakness.
A flock of starlings descended on a nearby tree to watch.
"Think we can scare 'em off?" Brin said, though she didn't sound hopeful.
[Trail to Mountains - Wagon (Teri, Wolfe, Gwion, Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Iraal, Scents, Katya)] Is Katya still present?
She had stopped swearing, even under her breath, but Follows-Many-Scents felt older with stress by the minute. She could almost feel her fur desaturating. Action was one thing; she was security, not military, but she'd still seen her six. But this weird supernatural shit...
She touched the Spear decal on her armor again, and wished she'd paid more attention to the one or two sessions in temple that had talked about shadow forces. Of course, they might not mean anything to a totally different universe, but the One was supposed to be everywhere, yeah?
As Gwion had guessed, she had the means to subdue the human students non-lethally - both short-term in her armor and longer-term inside Lament. Storage fields were pretty adaptable things. But she was reluctant to even prepare for them, or even just, for instance, to deploy her helmet. Any aggressive action might set off the students or whatever might be inside them.
Or rather, Yamiko. Despite her laughable appearance, the red-haired human had always worried her the most out of the group, with the mind-reading thing. And now she was acting the most suspicious as well. Lupin could see 'auras' now, but until she had any idea what that meant she wouldn't worry about it. But she'd caught those nervous glances the others had given when she mentioned hearing 'Amanda', and then there was how she'd reacted to Gwion.
Walking closer, Scents looked at Gwion with one eye. She could pick up another hint of that funny smell, more... agitated? then a normal human. Wish we had a communications link set up. I'd like to be able to speak quietly. With the Mad Bastards, too.
Thrusting her snout in the direction of Yamiko - not bothering to hide what she was doing given what Yamiko could do - she sniffed at the young human, trying to tease out anything unusual. Probably wasn't worth it, but hey, maybe weird shadow specter things did leave a physical residue. How would she know?
Meanwhile, Iraal was also feeling heavily stressed, but her feelings now ran more to frustration than fright. The very instant she had begun to get an explanation for something completely outside-context, Yamiko had interrupted. That human is becoming increasingly intolerable.
And, of course, she was also posing a potential danger. She set the yellow vial down and stood up, folding her arms across her chest. "Magic also does not exist in my reality," she said after Teri finished speaking, before turning to glare at Yamiko in uniquely orl fashion. "Which is part of the reason why I am finding it very annoying that it keeps intruding upon this expedition. If you're correct that we cannot put you in containment, that presents a serious problem, because I am not certain I like the idea of doing research while being concerned that my companions are under the influence of an external force I don't even understand. Nemaforte seemed particularly concerned about your aura. So - if I may ask - what would you do in my place?"
She decided not to say anything else out loud, but she opened up communications channels to both Scents and Lament, just in case: 1) Yamiko really was mind-controlled and 2) the controller decided to react very poorly to confrontation.
I believe this is over a dozen times now that some kind of danger has developed on one of my expeditions. The reasons remain beyond me.
Crazy Kiwi
Southwestern Desert - Temple, West Corridor
[Tsadro, Peggy, Finn]Peggy was astounded to hear that humans from Earth appeared elsewhere as well and what Tsadro said about them being unable to be permanently returned to Earth raised all sorts of interesting questions.
She nodded. "Quite a few new arrivals on Terra Nova have thought that they must have died - it's very confusing to be somewhere one minute and somewhere completely different the next and people tend to think the worst - at least until they got a good look around and realised that no heaven or hell would be like Terra Nova."
As she spoke, in the back of her mind she was mulling over some of the other things he had said about conjuring portals and not visiting the Earth because it seemed to be "full of iron". What was he? That last sounded like the folktales her old Gran had told her about the "Fair Folk".
It seemed strange to her that one moment he was talking of light-emitting chemicals and machines and using something that looked like Wolfe's phone to communicate with Arthur's technology and the next talking of "conjuring" and being thwarted by iron.
To Finn, the statues looked vaguely "tribal" - crude and with grotesque exaggerated features - but he had no idea what culture created them.
The place certainly had a long-abandoned look about it - the vestiges of paint on the statues hinted at a former glory that had long since passed, signs of looting over the years and the general state of the place all gave the impression that no one had cared for this place in a very long time.
He could see, by the light of Tsadro's palm light and his own high-powered torch, that the room Tsadro opened had once had windows and someone had seen the need - and taken the time - to seal them up. Why was that? Was it done by those who built the temple to protect their holy place or by later arrivals who felt the need to seal the temple off from the outside world?
Tsadro's comment about Earth being full of iron had him puzzled as well. Did the iron somehow interfere with his technology?
Will wait until Slysheen or ladytanuki posts before posting again for the wagoneers.
PAINKILLER
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
Samuel sat back and asked, "Who's Margaret?"
Irina replied, "She's the woman who runs this place. I think a friend of—Rip's? Well, I had a good sleep, and the food's good, so she knows how to keep a place together. Seemed nice enough."
The Colonel nodded a bit as he picked at the last bits of his meal. He eyed the young girls who were talking—and signing up a storm. At least it was to him, when he was telling a story and barely anyone talked. In the defense of certain ways people talk, he said, "I think Davey speaks very dignified. I've heard old words and men who I swear memorized dictionaries. He's normal, pretty good. Maybe a bit like he went to school, which is good."
"My, my. If I knew this was story time, I would've brought my own snacks," Irina said in jest. "I doubt we have time to tell hundreds of stories if we plan to have a broken plane to get fixed today."
"Oh geez, I totally forgot about that," Sam said. His eyes shifted to the two girls, and remembered. They were his travel companions before he wanted to have a quick breakfast with Irina. How situations can change... He shook his head. "Nah, we can probably head home on your bike, since you know the way back. I doubt military's gonna care about losing one stupid jet."
edited 1st May '16 5:57:56 PM by electronic-tragedy
Life is hard, that's why no one survives.
Attitude is prohibited
[Valley of the Dead God] (Mid-Air)
Those dog-creatures hadn't been there a few minutes ago, and neither had those birds, thought Miyuki. She would have seen them while she'd been scouting... Nevertheless, the threat didn't seem great enough for them to intervene quite yet. Miyuki motioned for Hoshi to hold off, and so they waited. Wating, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
Not entirely dead.
Professional Recluse
She gave a grunt of affirmation and kept the TT-30 in hand. Out of everyone she least expected to agree with the most alien of the expedition members. The Furry one seemed understandably suspicious and the Green one earned great respect from her with the notion of abhorring interference from spooky stuff. She gunted again at the notion of influenced companions.
"The Green One is right." she said before readying the runes again as both aliens seemed to stiffen in their own version of anticipation. And from their own language and former ease they seemed to know their way around trouble. Regardless preparation only decreased supply efficiency where carelessness lead to death.
Stoned hippie without the stoned. Or the hippie. My AO3 Page, grab a chair and relax.
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
Connie let her head roll to the side, fixing Amy with an incredulous stare. After a moment, she offered, "It's a harsh story." then shrugged and left it at that.
Davey, conversely, gave a polite nod to Amy as she passed him the tray of pancakes. He took the cloth napkin that was set next to his and every other plate, unfolding it and tucking it into the collar of his shirt before setting to work. While he plopped two pancakes onto to his plate and began sweetening them with jam, he tried thinking of something to say of the latest turns in Samuel's story. He found himself hung up imagining the numerous soldiers all following the command of this one man. Samuel the Colonel. On one of several great wartime exploits. Leading a troop of men through a deadly situation with no significant insubordination and no second guessing. Just trust. Trust and...
He set the jar of blueberry jam to the side, staring silently at his plate for a few seconds.
"Connie, will you pass me those omelettes?" he asked, his voice coming off a little listless.
Connie, who was in the midst of pouring some honey into a bowl of oatmeal, glanced over to the omelettes, and then back to Davey, knitting her brow as she so often did when presented with the strangeness of others. The tray of omelettes was just as far from Connie as it was from Davey; out of reach in both cases. She tried getting Irina's attention, then pointed towards the omelette tray, before leaning back, breathing out, and saying, "I hope they were properly honored."
[Northern Desert] (Rip, Hazel)
"I don't know how it works." Rip declared, throwing his hands up. "All I do is follow some directions— guidelines more than anything. I don't think there's an exact science to how this thing works, or if there is, no one—least of all myself—has sorted it out."
He turned his eyes back to the stone. "I've never heard of one of those things blowing up or harming it's user, and the guy who provided it didn't warn me against anything of that sort. But this is wild and untamed territory; there's little openly known about how that stone functions that hasn't been perverted by rumor or speculation taken as fact."
The man paused for a few seconds, looking around for a stick and a decent patch of untrampled dirt. "As for myself, as I said, I was following some directions." He took his stick and began tracing out three loose circles in a line, the middle one being much larger than the other two. He pointed to each in turn, "Earth, Sun, Ianus. As for the symbols I mentioned, I pulled them from an old journal on Cittecilian* script. It's a forgotten language, or a made up language, or... what matters is that it seems important or meaningful enough to me. There's a mysticism about it, and as I understand it, mysticism helps these sorts of things work. The symbols themselves are words I suppose I..." he hesitated, clenching his teeth slightly, then sighed. "words I associate with the spirit that I was trying to contact. I drew 'em out right here," he poked his stick between the circle he'd called 'Ianus' and the one he'd called 'Sun', "then I set the stone on Ianus and focused on those symbols. Thought about the words, visualized them, visualized the spirit." he tapped the side of his head. "And somehow, I ended up drawing the wrong one."
Rip sighed again, deeper this time, then tossed his stick to the side and returned to leaning against his car. He scratched near his moustache and raised his eyebrows. "So, does that help at all or... tell me, am I wasting my time here?"
every little word and every little step