[Northeastern Forest ~ Lower Tree Line —> Desert Trail]
Long seconds piled up into longer minutes. Feet were stirred awake, pushed into pain, and left to become numb. Knees bent into lunges that became less certain and more vicious with every failure. Hands plunged a sharpened stick into the dirt time and time again, and eager eyes searched for the kill. But all they found was an empty spear with a blunting tip.
Remarkably, no matter how many times that hungry body struck and missed and no matter how long the recovery took, the rabbit it hunted was never more than a few meters away, sitting still and fixing the body with a tantalizing stare. It became a bit of a cycle: the chase, followed by the attack and the discovery that, yet again the body's strike missed it's mark, then the recovery, the panting, the hunger, the great empty ache. It overwhelmed the body's mind, rejecting doubt and the faint semblances of finer strategy, pushing those legs into action and resuming the chase.
Minute by minute, cycle after cycle, the thick forest canopy began to give way to something thinner and drier. More of the cloud-filtered sunlight could reach the ground, illuminating fallen leaves that looked magnitudes older than those filling in the forest's earlier brushwood. The feeling in the body's feet seemed to return only to experience the full, articulate stabs of pain from jagged-edged twigs and dry leaves that seemed to crumble only after cutting into skin.
The body had lost track of the path behind, and the path ahead was dictated by a small forest critter with a brain the size of a golf-ball. The campfire was long gone. The body's possessions were long gone; a few more added onto a forgotten pile. All that mattered was what lay ahead: the rabbit, the energy, the sustenance. Faded realizations floated through the body's weakened mind. If the body did catch the rabbit, it would be difficult to stop from trying to eat it raw, straight from the spear. These thoughts may have brought the body discomfort had they not been so strangely encouraging. Spearing the thing, raising it to a large set of teeth, and chewing it to bits. The blood a sign of victory. Of life, and it's transference. The body only wanted to keep living.
The rabbit hung near to a dead husk of a tree. The body stepped forward, reared back, and threw its wooden spear. The body's muscles, though weak and well past their reasonable limits, pulled together for one wobbly tour de force of a throw. The rudimentary weapon flew beautifully, straight into the path of the rabbit's fearful escape. There could be no mistake; the two had to meet. And so the body's eyes bore witness. The spear made contact. And the rabbit...
The rabbit dashed away, bloodless, woundless, and free to move as it pleased. The spear's pointed tip had been in the rabbit. It went in. It passed through. The rabbit ignored the spear's presence the way a phantom might ignore a wall. It passed through. It passed through.
Cold seconds passed, and the body stood there, shaking. The rabbit had once again stopped only a few meters beyond what should have been it's grave. The body's fierce eyes glared savage death upon the small, witless creature. But the fierceness faded, quickly changing to anguish. That anguish piled up within the body's gut, finding air in its chest and a voice in its throat.
The forest and the desert beyond echoed with the angry, mournful wail of a creature unwilling to accept its death, yet unable to prevent it. Lost in all senses of the word. There was no real fight left, only resistance of the inevitable. The impending. Knocking. Pounding. Racing along with the body's heart.
Possessed of a frenzied spirit and with nowhere left to turn, the body set its eyes back on the rabbit and pushed its legs into motion. It's arms held ready, fingers contorting with anticipation and agitation. Its breath came heavy with each lumbering step. The body left its disgraced spear behind and followed the rabbit forward, out of the forest, past the dead trees and into the desert.
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
For how impossible her own ideas had been, Connie couldn't help but think the actual resolution to the story was only a little less outlandish. Granted, she didn't know much of anything about aerodynamics, or how planes were put together, let alone a plane from the land where phones were little flat TV screens. Even so, she had a hard time imagining an eleven-year-old kid scrambling around in a little two-person aircraft, rooting through it's wiring and somehow actually fixing it in time to level out from whatever downward spiral they'd fallen into with no working engine. Maybe there was just a bit of casual embellishment to the story. Although Connie would've expected the embellishment to come from Amy, who seemed to have a built-in embellishing filter, making the most mundane things seem exciting.
In the end, all she said before returning to her oatmeal was, "I'll bet that got you the most literal grounding of your life, huh?"
"If it's the chance of meeting someone new versus living another day with all your body parts intact, I think you might want to reconsider your priorities," Davey said. "I hate to put a damper on the thrill of it all, but you two really ought to be more careful. Luck can't be counted on; good luck might just as easily be bad. If you want something reliable, try having a little foresight. It does wonders for preventing regret, heartache, and irrevocable bodily damage."
He offered them a little smile, then stuck half a cucumber slice into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. By that point, everything left on his plate had been cut into neat, bite-sized pieces that could easily be stabbed with a fork. His neck-bound napkin had little more than a stray hair or a modicum of egg on it.
He took quiet notice of Irina reading her anonymous papers. His attention had been drawn to her when she mentioned heading home, striking a small chord of worry in his heart. It was too soon. He hadn't had enough time, and opportunity had shortchanged its knocks. As such, it was with a bit of eagerness that he answered Samuel.
"Oh, yeah, of course." he nodded, "Well, the day is ripe with possibility. We've got a whole town to stomp around in and a not-entirely featureless desert beyond that. If I recall correctly, I remember hearing about a set of natural hot springs tucked away in a canyon west of town. And as for my friend, we're not waiting on him any more than he's waiting on us. We came here together, but he's got his own business, and we've got ours."
this place needs me here
[Bed and Breakfast (Dining Hall)]
Amy twisted her lip, visibly annoyed.
"We have more experience now!" she said, "It happened when I was ten! I'm sixteen now! Surely you guys could understand that, can't you?" She crossed her arms. "You guys sound just like my grandmother; always doubting my ability on everything I do. I'm a good pilot now, and once I fix my plane, I'll be glad to show you all!" She suddenly smiled, "Maybe I can take one of you guys on a flight. That would be so much fun!"
Maya blinked. That is, if you guys aren't afraid of heights.
At the idea of doing more exploring, Amy's eyes widened. "That sounds like so much fun! I love exploring! You get to see new places and make new friends! You don't mind if we come with you, do you?"
[Outside]
It wasn't long before they reached the car. To James's slight annoyance, it was covered head to toe with sand from last night. He tried his best to clear most of it off.
"God fucking damn it." James muttered, "Damn sandstorm nearly covered the whole car. We should've parked this thing near some shade."
John put a hand on James's shoulder. "It can be washed. Right now, we gotta focus on finding this man."
James sighed. "You're right, you're right..." He opened the back seat, "Alright you two, hop on in. Don't worry, there's enough space for you to move your feet. If ya'll need to make some side stops let us know."
Sorry for it being so short of John and James.
edited 15th May '16 4:16:56 PM by Masterofchaos
[Trail to Mountains - Wagon (Teri, Wolfe, Gwion, Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Iraal, Scents, Katya)]
Scents looked Lupin up and down as he gave his preposterous display about anyone wanting to subdue Yamiko having to get through him first. She didn't laugh out loud in case it somehow escalated the situation even more, but she was snickering on the inside.
And yeah, I don't care if you can read that, you furless brat.
Iraal had been content to let the employees speak, but once Wolfe had finished, she gave a nod to confirm that they spoke for her. Folding her hands together, she continued "As far as I am concerned, anyone with common sense would not let someone who might tear apart minds if you're impolite accompany them anywhere - much less into potential danger. You four are a risk I'm not willing to take, and it's time for you to go."
Her voice was a little more controlled now, more due to having been silent than anything else. The students' behavior was utterly intolerable. What sort of university do they attend?
For further emphasis, Scents gave her armor a command, and a silver fluid - malmetal flowed out to cover her head, followed by a series of small metal plates that formed a layer on top of it. The malmetal at the front formed into two grilles and three red sensor "eyes", though the latter didn't match Scents's own eyes.
May as well try and send them on their way... nicely.
"Get some help back in town, kid," she told Yamiko through the helmet's voice module, which only sounded slightly flanged compared to her normal voice. "There's got to be a doctor or something who can treat this kind of shit in a place like this, right?"
edited 12th May '16 6:01:24 PM by nrjxll
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Desert Trail - Wagon (Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Iraal, Scents, Teri, Wolfe, Gwion, Katya)
"A doctor?" Lupin muttered at the mention of Yamiko getting help. "What she'd need is a bloody exorcist."
"Hey, that's not fair!" Vicky protested, turning to face Gwion and Iraal. "Why should all four of us get off when it's only Yamiko and maybe Lupin that's causing problems?"
"Not to mention," Lupin added, removing his fingerless-gloved hand from his coat and showing it to everyone so they knew it was empty, "I helped pay for the wagon, remember? If you're gonna kick us out, we should at least take one of the horses."
"If you do that," the driver called back at them, "this wagon ain't gonna be goin' nowhere, even with four less people. She needs two horses to get her wheels turnin'."
"I'm sorry - I didn't mean it like that," Zuri apologized to Gwion, referring to how he called her out on suggesting they not provoke Yamiko, and raised her hands by her shoulders like little white flags. "I just don't want anyone here to get hurt, is all. And besides, I know Yamiko better than you do, and I also know more about supernatural matters than you do, so you'll have to trust me a bit on this, even though it may be hard. We often fear what we don't understand, but please, let's not be too rash! I know Yamiko poses a potential threat, but it's also just plain cruel to kick us out into the desert without any transport."
"I'll tell you what," Lupin suggested, letting go of Yamiko, who only started to cry even harder. "You can do whatever you want with Yamiko - detain her, sedate her, whatever. On one condition: that you do the same to me as well. I just don't want her to be alone, is all."
"I'm... I didn't mean for any of this to happen..." Yamiko gasped in between sobs, hands clenched tightly around the bottom part of her dress and eyes refusing to look at anyone. "I don't want to be any trouble, even if that means I should just leave..." Then she suddenly slid herself off of Lupin's lap and stood up, walking toward the back of the wagon. "Vicky's right. It shouldn't be all four of us who have to go. Don't worry about me. I'll just take my stuff and camp out here in the desert until the wagon comes back... You three go on without me." Her eyes still full of tears, she reached for her parasol, her new rifle, a blanket, and a bag of food and water, and leapt out the back. When she landed, she winced, for she had landed right on her bad ankle.
"Yamiko, wait-" Lupin sprang up and went after her, snatching his own rifle in the process. "I'd much rather go wherever you go. It would make me feel better as well."
"Come to think of it," Zuri remarked, "not all of us have to go investigate the Dead God. Maybe you should leave that to Vicky and me, and we can report our discoveries back to you. Remember, I can check on you using my astral projection. Oh, and you better take the big bag we brought along - you'll need it."
"So we're just gonna faff around and do nothing for a day or so while you go investigate a potentially dangerous artifact?" Lupin asked Zuri.
"If you're interested," Nemaforte spoke up, having been looking around the cloudy landscape for the past few minutes, "I sense another gathering of sorts out that way." She gestured out into the distance with her hand. "Do you see it too, Lupin?"
Lupin gazed out in the direction Nemaforte was indicating, and then he pulled out a compass and noted that it pointed west. "Yeah, I do see it - but it just looks like an indistinguishable blur to me. And if it is company, we know not how friendly, so it is a good thing we are armed now."
"But without any transport, how are we gonna get there?" Yamiko questioned.
"I know!" Vicky exclaimed. "I'll come with you!"
"But Vicky-" Zuri began, but Vicky silenced her.
"Come on, they need me more than you guys do - my telekinetic powers can be a great help for transport. In fact, I wonder if we'd even be able to fly there... that'd take a lot of energy though."
"In that case, you'd better take this." Nemaforte reached into her bag, and pulled out a roughly half-liter bottle full of a translucent and slightly greenish-blue liquid, decorated with a bright blue cork and several glittery stars on the bottle. She handed this to Lupin. "It contains reimari-tabin, or Cosmic Potion. Very relaxing to the nerves and rejuvenating to the mind. I sometimes drink it after exhausting myself with too much magic. It's very potent, so just a dropperful in a glass of water should be enough."
"I don't want this," Lupin retorted, handing the bottle back to Nemaforte. "Why should we trust you not to poison us with it?"
"Sounds interesting actually," Yamiko remarked. "Maybe I'll try it first to make sure it isn't poison."
"Relax, it's a gift," Nemaforte insisted, pressing the bottle into Lupin's hands. "The least you can do is accept it. It's my most popular concoction, so I have a bottle and a half more still. And I agree. Yamiko could be the test dummy as punishing for torture of the driver. It maybe help calm her too." She winked at the last comment.
"Alright, so are we all in agreement?" Zuri asked, taking a single sleeping bag and some food and other supplies out of the large bag Vicky then carried telekinetically out the wagon. "Is it okay if I at least stay with you all, please? I'd think one of us is far less of a threat than four, and it is my utmost wish that no further harm comes to us before we reach the mountains. I must investigate the Dead God on behalf of my classmates, for there's a chance it may hold answers to the strange phenomena we have experienced."
edited 12th May '16 8:51:45 PM by ladytanuki
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.
Crazy Kiwi
Southwestern Desert – Temple
[Tsadro, Arthur, Sophia, Peggy, Karl and Finn]Peggy was most impressed with Tsadro's forcefield. It obviously magnified his actions as there was no way he could have pushed that amount of rubble aside with his own strength, no matter how fancy the “broom”.
She inspected the hole. "Lemme see... They left the lab and bricked it up so no one could find it, but they left the saws hidden behind the wall so that they could open it up again without having to lug tools down here to smash the wall down... They've got to have been planning to come back at some stage."
Karl nodded. That sounded like a reasonable assumption; if they'd never planned on returning, they would have just sealed it up and left - and most likely would have taken anything of value when they went. The fact that it had been equipped with the means of opening it up suggested that there was probably still something of value to the builders inside.
Desert Trail – Wagon
[Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Iraal, Scents, Katya, Teri, Wolfe and Gwion]Unsurprisingly, given the fact that she had been the target of Yamiko/Amanda's wrath, Iraal voiced her agreement with what Teri, Wolfe and Gwion had said - backed up by Scents “armouring-up” in case things got nasty.
Teri was most impressed by the way Scents' helmet flowed out of the rest of the armour - as was Wolfe, who had only seen things like that in Science Fiction movies with a decent Special Effects team.
For Gwion, the armour was far more advanced than anything on Earth of his time but was not unknown in Capital City. He listened to the discussion that ensued, thankful that Lupin wisely chose to remove his empty hand from his jacket and pleased to hear Zuri apologise for her ill-considered choice of words.
In the end, three of the students, including “Yamanda” and Lupin, volunteered to leave and Zuri pleaded to be able to stay in order to investigate the artefact on behalf of herself and her friends.
Gwion looked at Iraal - after all, she was his employer for this journey and it was her decision as to whether or not Zuri could stay.
Wolfe didn't know whether to trust Zuri or not. On the one hand, there was the whole black-shadow-into-the-body thing; on the other, Nemaforte had said that only Yamiko had an evil presence within her and that the others were merely the recipients of “gifts”. Nemaforte was hardly an ally of the students - she'd actually stopped Yamiko from hurting Iraal - to the point that they were suspicious of her offer of medicine, so she could probably be trusted and undoubtedly had a good knowledge of such matters.
Lupin - well, he was protecting his girlfriend, so his motives were understandable without any need to suppose malevolent control. Zuri and Vicky hadn't taken any action or threatened anyone and now Vicky was willingly joining Yamiko and Lupin in leaving.
Wolfe looked around at the others trying to gauge their reactions.
Teri was relieved that the situation had resolved without further violence. She had been seriously worried that Lupin would do something rash in the wake of his declaration of defiance and that Gwion would be forced to respond with force. No doubt Gwion would use his pistol only as a last resort, but there was a whole spectrum of violence and unpleasantness encapsulated by the word “force” between “harsh words” and “shooting someone” and she was glad that none of it had been necessary.
Valley of the Dead God
It was a worthy effort, trying to scare the things off. Blair had not expected the not-hyenas to react pleasantly to Brin’s rock trick, but then again his magic was already telling him that these were not your everyday, rational animals.
As the one hyena leaped at Brin, Blair raised his hands to weave a defense spell out if habit, but Brin handled it well herself. Blair grimaced slightly at the dead-not-dead animal. “I’ll take care of the rest,” he said, “and hopefully anyone else who might be lingering.” He eyed the starlings., then closed his eyes, checking the nearby area for signs of actual life. He could feel the group at the fringe of the Valley, and a few other animals besides. “One moment.”
Small Valley
Roscoe.
At the sound - or, more specifically, the psychically transmitted thought - of her name, Roscoe blinked and looked up. Yes, Blair?
A favor. Somewhat important. Ask Kito or Cyrus, whoever is in the wolf form, to chase out a deer, an actual living deer. There’s one to the group’s five o’clock, about a quarter mile out. Send it running to me. Tell Kito he’ll get to see my aiming skills.
Roscoe frowned. Is something wrong?
We’re in a valley of undeath with monster soldiers and soulless creatures surrounding an ancient non-being. Sure, everything’s fine. We need that deer immediately, please.
She sighed. “Um, Blair says they need a deer,” she said to the group. “There’s one a quarter of a mile… that way.” She pointed where Blair had indicated. “Kito, do you mind chasing it out of the brush and out to Blair and Brin? Blair says you’ll get to see his aiming skills.”
By the way, if this doesn’t work, tell our eyes in the sky not to wait for a signal if they see us being torn to bits by hyenas.
Roscoe groaned. “Uh, apparently they ran into trouble and Hoshi and Miyuki may not get a signal.”
edited 14th May '16 9:02:22 PM by savlamar
[Trail to Mountains - Wagon (Teri, Wolfe, Gwion, Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Iraal, Scents, Katya)]
Iraal glared from behind her sunglasses at the psychic students. She didn't speak at first, wanting to take a few minutes to assess the situation - and to calm down. When you made decisions without thinking, it usually came back to hurt you.
I don't trust any of them. But this does seem to be the fastest way to get of them peacefully - and if I decide that this entire thing is no longer worth it, then at least Amanda, or Yamiko, or whoever she is won't be there to possibly object.
She contacted Scents over their communications channel - just to have one more opinion. What do you think?
I think I should have been paying more attention during the weirder bits in temple.
Scents...
Oh, yeah, sure, probably the best way. I want that mind-reading twit gone - we all should - and this is the easiest way. I'm not sure the others are any danger on their own, but Lupin's a problem as long as she is. You simians are kind of weird about sex, you know?
Iraal didn't bother to respond to that. Instead, she looked at Zuri and, still glaring, pointed a green finger at her. "You. You are strange and I don't entirely trust you, but you aren't the one out of your group I'm most worried about. You can come. But if this kind of incident happens again, I expect... much more straightforward cooperation than I got this time." She looked at Nemaforte. "Speaking of which - see if there's anything you can do about your translation problems."
Meanwhile, Scents moved forward to the driver. Still leaving her helmet up, she asked "Hey, you all right, zer?"
Attitude is prohibited
[Valley of the Dead God] (Mid-Air)
Hoshi and Miyuki watched from above as Brin and Blair started to fend off the increasingly aggressive not-hyenas.
"Think we should help 'em?" said Hoshi.
"They haven't given the signal..." muttered Miyuki. "If another of those things lunges at them, I'm going down there. You stay here."
Hoshi sighed and rolled her eyes. "You always get the fun jobs," she groaned.
[Outside]
Rin suppressed a sigh. The car was smaller than she had been hoping... But she wasn't going to complain. Even a cramped vehicle was better than being bored out of her mind back in the lobby. She got into the backseat and silently hoped they wouldn't be driving for long.
And maybe she'd get to hold the cat for a while, so that was some consolation, at least.
Not entirely dead.
PAINKILLER
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
Irina finished reading the papers, and immediately uttered, "Naraka ky-Enda! This is true, Samuel?"
He nodded. "I had to get it translated for me, not because it's a different language, but that writing is awful," he joked. "Todd tried to take it from me. He knows what's in it. Can't prove it now since we got it."
Irina neatly folded the papers back up and handed them back. She said quickly, "We need to find who wrote this once we get back. We should probably leave—" but Irina's head flicked over to Davey. She admitted to herself she didn't want to leave right away. And, in addition, the two girls needed to repair their plane. She sighed and started again, "...I suppose we both do have time to kill."
Samuel was up for anything on the front of exploring the landscape and other shops. For getting in a plane with two girls who got their plane broke and were reckless beyond what he was used to—not so much. He appeared to wince at Amy's declaration. She has good energy, but sometimes not in the right places, he thought, referring back to her hugging him. "I'm up for a nature hike. Irina's good at guiding."
"Hm. I offered that earlier, but I got not much of an answer. But a hot spring? Sounds lovely."
"I'd like to see a forest," Samuel added, "we never see those at home."
[Town—Outside] (Daniel, John, James, Rin, Pancake)
Daniel put his hands on his hips. He mentally shrugged—sand in pants wasn't bad. In underwear, yes. He climbed into a seat and buckled in. He brushed off some grainy sand where his arms would rest. Sweat and sand was also uncomfortable.
He said, "Remember, out west. Maybe smack dab in the middle of the desert. If anything, cruise around until we find someone."
Once he settled in, he looked to Pancake. With the open-air car, he wondered aloud, "Also, why'd you bring the cat with you?"
Life is hard, that's why no one survives.
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Desert Trail - Wagon (Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Iraal, Scents, Teri, Gwion, Wolfe, Katya)
Zuri was relieved that Iraal let her stay on the wagon. But even though she was able to meet a compromise calmly, deep down inside she was still rather upset at her three classmates just being kicked out of the wagon to fend for themselves in the desert. If they didn't have weapons and especially their psychic powers to protect them, Zuri would have fought harder to have them all stay.
"Again, I really am sorry that any of this happened," Zuri explained to Iraal, looking a tiny bit flustered still. "It's not like we expected it to happen, nor have we ever had anything like this happen before. Besides, this was all the shadowy figures' fault, so the dream entity Nightfright that was the bane of us back in Boston is to blame. Oh and Amanda too, who might have been under direct control of him. It is for that reason why we are investigating the Dead God - to prevent such things from happening again."
She looked down at the floor of the wagon, arms folded across her chest, feeling very uncomfortable in the wagon after all that. But she had no other choice - if she was to investigate the Dead God, she would have to travel in this wagon full of people who were suspicious of her. Well, except for the little witch sitting next to her. She took a side glance at Nemaforte, the only person in this wagon who seemed at least somewhat sympathetic to her situation. At least with her, she felt safe.
Meanwhile, Scents asked the driver if he was okay. "Well, I'm a little concerned about those three being able to survive out in the desert," he responded. "I don't know anything about magic or psychic powers or whatnot, but the wilderness can still be a dangerous place." Then he turned his head around and called back to the three college students. "Do you at least have camping supplies and plenty of water?"
"Yup, got that all in this big rucksack here!" Vicky cheerfully reassured. "And we got guns to hunt for food as well!"
"Alright, if ya say so," said the driver, as he picked up the reins and gave them a tug. "Well, we better get goin'. I don't like the look of those clouds. Could mean a storm's a-comin'." The horses started walking, and soon the wagon was moving again - this time minus three people.
edited 16th May '16 1:52:29 AM by ladytanuki
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.
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
Connie bit her lip, trying to hide a wincing smile while Amy earnestly defended her skills as a pilot.
Trying too keep a token friendliness to her voice, she glanced at Amy and half-murmured, "Yeah... well, maybe you should try asking yourself why the plane needs to be fixed in the first place and," she twirled her finger in a small loop, "follow from there."
Davey once again found himself intrigued by whatever esoteric business Irina and Samuel were discussing. He had to make a conscious effort to keep from trying to crane his neck and peek over. And when Irina voiced her approval towards the idea of visiting the hot springs, Davey had to raise his napkin and pretend to wipe some invisible food off of his face in order to had a smile that was maybe a little too big.
"Glad to see we're enthusiastic," he said once he was able to get his treacherous mug under control. "I'd need to look at a map to be sure, but if memory serves, the nearest forest is in the opposite direction of the hot springs; east instead of west. Further out too," he took a bite of pancake, then turned his paw-like hands over in a sort of shrug, "We might be able to visit both— I'd say it depends on however pressing this, eh... papers business is. Although, even if we do have the rest of the day, we might easily end up pushing ourselves too hard in order to keep a schedule and lose a lot of the enjoyment in what we're doing. It's very hard to be spontaneous when you're trying to stick to a certain timetable, and, frankly, full enjoyment of the outdoors is all about spontaneity."
Connie ran the handle of her spoon in a cycle along the edge of her oatmeal bowl, with her free hand pressed up against her cheek.Though she looked by all accounts as though she was only half-listening, she suddenly offered, "Okay, what about a vote? Whatever we pick, we'll head to first, and if we feel up for it afterwards—if, uh, 'time permits'—then we can check out the other thing. And if we get a tie we can just flip a coin or something."
this place needs me here
[Bed and Breakfast (Dining Hall)]
Amy groaned.
"It's not broken like that." she said, "We just need to get some sand out because of the storm. If it was broken to the point where we couldn't go anywhere too far, I wouldn't have offered. Now can ya'll stop being paranoid? I'm the one with flying experience here."
At the sound of suggestions, Amy tapped her fingers, before getting an idea. "Oh! I can make a tally sheet! Whatever gets the most votes win! Give me two seconds!"
She reached into her bag, trying to find a small notebook and pencil. White she ruffled through, something caught her eye. "Oh! Hold on!" She pulled out two clip on flowers, and put one in Connie's hair. Then she walked over and put the other flower on Davey's suit, then she went back to her seat. "There! Now you two look prettier!"
She then resumed to her search. Finally, after a few minutes, she pulled out a blue pen and tiny notebook. "Here we are! Now...where did you guys wanna go again? And don't we need some kind of car to get there first?"
[Outside-James's car]
John blinked as he got inside.
"Pancake is my baby." he said, "I wouldn't go anywhere without her."
James chuckled. "If you try to tell him not to bring her, you're gonna lose. He is not leaving without that kitten."
Pancake purred.
"So, we're pretty much just going all around the desert until we find this man, basically." John said, "Good thing we have air conditioner and water." He buckled up, "Hopefully we won't be out there that long."
"Ah," James said, buckling up as well, "We came here to see new things, honey. Think about this as some sort of oppertunity to sight see."
John shrugged. "We're going after someone who could be armed. Kind of puts a damper on that."
"You're a gun shop owner. You own a shit load of guns. You can handle things like this."
John sighed. "I guess. Everybody ready?"
Professional Recluse
She stowed the handgun again, she would've kept it out but her remaining companions seemed armed well enough and the ghosts, dead god, and general spooky things seemed to goad her towards runemancy than bullets. Relaxing was welcome too, and far easier now that the wagon was much more empty.
She sat further up in the wagon, letting the sun hit another angle for a while. The atmosphere seemed to lighten and she couldn't help but feel a little better.
"That resolved pleasantly. The competence displayed is...reassuring."
edited 16th May '16 9:25:00 PM by Slysheen
Stoned hippie without the stoned. Or the hippie. My AO3 Page, grab a chair and relax.
Crazy Kiwi
Trail to Mountains - Wagon
[Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Iraal, Scents, Katya, Teri, Wolfe, Gwion]After a lengthy moment, Iraal finally decided that Zuri could remain and investigate the Dead God artefact on the proviso that she would be more cooperative if any further incidents occurred.
Teri still wasn't sure how she felt about that but - at least as far as this particular venture was concerned - Iraal was the employer and had the final word.
She hoped that Nemaforte was right and that there was no risk that whatever Zuri had absorbed would take over her as had happened with her friend.
She listened as Zuri apologised for what had happened and laid the blame on something called "Nightfright" and Amanda. It sounded like their version of Earth was seriously fucked up and something of it had followed them here.
She wondered why, given their obvious youth, inexperience and inability to protect themselves from harmful influences, they were fucking about with all this paranormal shit anyway. This was like that old Thames Television series The Tomorrow People, but scarier. For a start, it was happening on this side of the television screen.
Once the driver had satisfied himself that the three being left behind were adequately provisioned for surviving in the wilderness, he urged the horses onward and got the wagon underway again, citing concerns over the possibility of an approaching storm for his eagerness to get going - though Teri wouldn't be surprised if the recent memory of having his guts seared by Yamiko also had something to do with it.
Wolfe watched the three students alertly as the wagon pulled away, wondering if Yamiko - or Amanda - would make some sort of retaliatory move. He had no idea what range her abilities had and was mindful that she hadn't even touched the driver to cause him pain.
Gwion was also watching them and aware out of the corner of his eye that Wolfe was doing so as well.
To Gwion, Wollfe was an enigma. He was obviously not military, security or law enforcement - just as James was obviously ex-military - but he was no common "civilian" either and it was clear from his demeanor that he had seen, and therefore survived, combat.
Teri, too, was puzzling. From her accent alone, he'd take her to be a typical Cockney girl who had lived all her life in the heart of London's East End, but her confidence and her ease in a stressful and potentially dangerous situation was far beyond what he would expect from such a person.
Gwion turned as Katya - who had seen fit to keep her own counsel since agreeing with "the green one" - spoke. He couldn't help but agree with her sentiment - the competence displayed by the others during the recent problem was indeed reassuring.
As the distance between the cart and the three students grew, Wolfe allowed himself to relax a bit.
He remembered what Nemaforte had said earlier about magic making things work and turned to her.
"Perhaps in your universe, as in others, magic is the driving force behind everything, but in the one we came from it doesn't. We didn't lose it, we never had it to begin with. All we've ever had is atoms created by nuclear fusion in the hearts of stars giving rise to compounds created by chemical reactions; valencies, gravity, magnetism, momentum, inertia, strong and weak nuclear forces. Those are the things that underlie everything in our universe. Therefore, everything we use is based on chemistry and physics - from the chemical reaction that creates rapidly expanding gasses to propel our bullets to the metallurgy that fashioned a barrel strong enough to safely contain that explosion to the raw physics of momentum and inertia that dictate what a fast-moving hard lump of lead and copper does when it meets soft, squishy tissue."
Drummer Boy
[Small Valley —> Valley of the Dead God]
As soon as Roscoe finished speaking, Kito gave a curt bark of acknowledgement and bounded away. He didn't really need the directions; his nose quickly led him to the deer Blair was referencing. It smelled tasty. But Kito had a job to do.
He wasn't expecting much trouble. This was not a Fenrir Island deer that had evolved alongside Wolfram, matching their predators' strength, speed, and intelligence. Still, he wasn't taking chances. Not today. He planned to use magic to shunt the deer back onto the correct path if he had to, but for the most part, it was unnecessary.
I hope you know what the hell you're doing, Blair.
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
[Trail to Mountains - Wagon (Teri, Wolfe, Gwion, Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Iraal, Scents, Katya)]
Scents retracted her helmet as the driver (Mat?) spoke, first the plates folding back into her collar and then the malmetal flowing after. After he had finished, she gave him an admiring look - though it wouldn't necessarily be recognizable as such to a human. You get mind-shot and the first thing on your mind is that the girl who did it be okay? Don't know a lot of people who'd be like that.
Shit, I wouldn't be like that.
She said nothing out loud, though, deciding to let him focus on his job, and stood in place (vayen weren't great at moving backwards) until she was level with the main body of the wagon again. There, she studied the humans with one eye, and after a moment fixed it on Katya.
"Thanks," she said, accepting the compliment as not meant just for her, but including her. "So I'm not sure we've been properly introduced. Name's Follows-Many-Scents, or just Scents."
Iraal continued to glare at Zuri, until a blinking line of text from her social software warned her that she was now definitely no longer justified. Wishing her glasses hid her eyes better, she turned to nod at the older human employee. "Zer..." she waited for her backup to display the name "Wolfe explains it well. I understand that your friend was not responsible for her actions" - though what in god's name is a 'Nightfright'? - "but magic is something I do not understand at all. I would not want to take chances under the best of circumstances, and while this expedition is relatively cost-free and casual, it still isn't."
She looked more levelly at Zuri. "I still don't understand why you are so certain the Dead God will be relevant to your studies." Pause. "That is, your problem. Although archaeotechnology is sometimes said to be indistinguishable from magic, in my reality, at least, they are not connected." She couldn't resist making the point one more time. "Because there is no such thing as magic there."
edited 19th May '16 6:16:02 PM by nrjxll
PAINKILLER
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
Irina's attention went to a fro between the others. She shifted her braided hair ver her shoulder and commented, "Sam and I just need to leave before it gets dark."
Samuel nodded, agreeing. He scratched his chin and looked up, where he placed his eyes as he thought. "Home has hot springs... I just want to see a forest. I mean... I'm not adverse to going for a hot bath. I've had a real tiring past couple of days anyway. Might do me some good."
The girl added, "In that case, maybe we should go to the forest first. That way we can relax at the end of it all." At the question of transportation, Irina said, "I have my hoverbike. It can fit me, another person, and..." She glanced at Davey, and tried to search for a good word for him. "Someone Davey's size."
Samuel chimed in, "I heard there's horses in town we can rent. I don't think the payment's that bad for renting 'em for a day. unless you guys don't know how to ride a horse."
Life is hard, that's why no one survives.
[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Dining Room)] (Connie, Davey, Amy, Irina, Maya, Samuel)
Connie wanted to explain to Amy that she wasn't talking about how badly the plane was broken, but rather that—despite her swearing up an down that she was a better pilot than the kid in the story—she had allegedly flown into a sandstorm. But going so far to correct her and point out flaws was the kind of carping behavior that Connie did her best to steer clear of. Less ugly noise for the world to have to hear, she'd once reasoned, touching base with her inner hippie. So she let it drop.
She had a harder time not saying anything about Amy's desire to tally up a grand total of six votes, but fortunately—a strange sort of fortunate—she was silenced by the sudden presentation of a clip on flower, which went straight into her hair before she could say a thing. With no mirror in sight, a great effort went into keeping her hand from preemptively plucking it out again, but she managed. She watched eagerly as Amy approached Davey with another flower. The girl clipped it onto his shirt, and to Connie's mild surprise, all Davey did was glance at Amy, then at his table mates, then down to the flower before twitching his whiskers with a bemused smile and saying, "Well... thank you very much."
Davey, for his part, was becoming rapidly used to Amy's oddly timed gestures of affection. He figured that as long as she didn't present him with an ornate dog collar or a bottle of flea powder, he could stomach it fine.
"I guess that makes enough sense," Davey agreed, "forest to hot springs. Shade for the heat of the day, and a warm up for the day's end. Objections?"
Connie shrugged, "Sounds fine by me. Over the river and through the woods. I mean, if there's a river. Probably not, huh?" She glanced away and cleared her throat before putting her elbow on to table to prop her head up. "I think that's a vote averted, Amy. Sorry."
Davey pulled a sly, half smile and nodded approvingly of Irina's word choice. Perhaps of the transportation setup as well, although the question remained as to who would be riding along with them. Samuel seemed like the obvious choice, though his presence would easily put a damper on any quiet, private moments that Davey could drum up. Amy was no better an option, with her tendency to ignore boundaries and inject herself into whatever seemed to be happening, private or not, welcome or not. Maya was more of a wild card. She didn't present herself nearly as much as Amy did, but had a bit of a sarcastic streak which might spring up at an inopportune time. Plus, Davey wouldn't be able to help but feel endlessly guilty if he tried to ignore her. Connie was his first choice. She'd been around him long enough and was savvy enough to people in general to be able to identify what was happening and when not to butt in.
Even with all this considered, Davey chose not to make any obvious pushes towards one person or another. He simply worked away at the last of his breakfast in peace, mentally crossing his fingers and thinking, let the chips fall where they may.
"I rode a horse at summer camp a few years back," Connie said, nodding at Samuel, "I think I could pick it up again."
Davey ground his teeth.
"Not the horse," Connie grinned, "I ain't Hercules. But, you know, I could ride one. Probably. With a few pointers."
edited 19th May '16 9:46:14 PM by Ryuhza
this place needs me here
[Bed and Breakfast (Dining Hall)]
"Forest to spring it is!" Amy said, putting her notebook back in her bag, "Ooh! We should take pictures during the trip! I have to show my Grandma when I get back home!"
During the transportation talk, Amy rubbed her chin. "Well, I haven't seen any horses since I got here. Maybe that's because I haven't really gone anywhere. Also, I thought camels were better for deserts than horses."
Some horses go through the desert, Amy. Maya signed, But that's besides the point; that might be our only transportation if we're gonna go with the others. Only two people could fit in our plane, and I don't think we convinced anyone to ride with us after that story.
Amy pouted her lip. "You're right...sooo I guess we'll stick with the horses." She scrunched up her face, "They smell weird and poop a lot, though."
Maya smirked. Well, there's always piggy back rides. Maybe I can just jump on your back and-
"NO, no, I'll deal with the horses." she crossed her arms, "You're such an asshole, sometimes."
Ah, but you still love me. She looked around, So, ya'll almost ready to go, or are we going to be here another while?
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Northern Desert (Yamiko, Lupin, Vicky)
The three psychic college students watched as the wagon left without them; Vicky in particular kept an eye on her roommate's ghostly complexion as it vanished. It was all a blur to Yamiko though, for her eyes were still producing tears. Lupin had his eyes fixed on her, mainly because he was utterly confounded by the appearance of her aura.
Now I know how Merlin felt whenever he gauged the malevolent nature of one of the nightmare manifestations, Lupin was thinking. And for some reason I feel her aura too, something like intense sadness coupled with a strong lust for pain. After a while though, he had to look away from her, for something about the darkness of her aura triggered a trembling sensation in him, combined with an old fear that evoked similar feelings.
As the three walked off the desert trail in the direction Nemaforte had indicated earlier, Vicky lagged behind Yamiko and Lupin while levitating the heavy rucksack before her. As she did, she immediately felt regret for having volunteered to leave the wagon. She was much more comfortable around Zuri, after all, since the two were roommates and had quite similar interests. Yamiko and Lupin were quite a bit older than her, and there was always something secretive about them, like they had their own hidden ties and connections. The fact that they were a romantic couple made her even more uncomfortable, for she herself had never been in a relationship before.
"Um," Vicky began, stopping and letting go of the rucksack, "maybe we should try flying now? I don't know if I can carry you two as well, but I can certainly try..."
"Actually," Yamiko quipped, wiping her tears on her long velvety sleeves, "I believe there is a way for people to enhance someone else's psychic abilities with the focus of their own mind. I uh, read about it somewhere."
Lupin cracked a small smirk before giving his own tuppence. "She even recently enhanced my cloaking abilities for practice recently - I was able to slip right past the security at a local bank and make it to the vault entrance because of it. Although, that's as far as I got, for I'm not too fond of robbing banks." Yamiko let out a snicker at the last part.
"I bet you would make a good thief though," Vicky remarked. Yamiko snickered even more loudly when she said it, and Lupin cracked a smirk again. "What's so funny?"
"I doubt it," Yamiko remarked matter-of-factly, jabbing a thumb in Lupin's direction. "It takes boldness and charm to make a good thief, at least in fiction anywaynote . This guy is as serious as the dog star and would freeze if you so much as shine a light on him."
"Because obviously I chose to study cloaking in the hopes of hiding from everybody," Lupin replied flatly. "Anyway, shall we give flying a try? I think if we all try and turn our focus to Vicky here, she should be able to carry all of us. Also, we should preferably find a ravine to give us more flight room..."
"Right there!" Vicky pointed to a wide yet shallow gorge running parallel to the trail, and led the couple over to the edge of it. "All right, so how's this gonna work?"
"Well, I think it would help if we held hands, with you in the center," Yamiko explained. "That way we can easily focus our energies on you."
"Sounds good to me," Vicky shrugged, walking over to the large rucksack and sliding it onto her back. She struggled to stand up with it, and teetered around after she did so. And then she held hands with the couple, with Lupin on her right and Yamiko on her left. "Okay guys, get ready. On the 1, 2..."
"...3!" At that moment, Vicky activated her telekinetic abilities and began to rise into the air, Yamiko and Lupin doing the same shortly after. Both of them had their eyes closed and had their minds focused squarely on Vicky. Once everyone was in the air, she pushed them forward, into the gorge. For a while they were flying straight, hand in hand, the rucksack resting easily upon Vicky's back.
However, near the opposite edge of the gorge, Vicky noticed them losing a bit of height. "Come on you two, lift us higher!" Vicky called, straining a bit to keep the two afloat. "Otherwise we're gonna crash into the wall of the gorge!"
Promptly, both Yamiko and Lupin closed their eyes, struggling even more to keep the three of them flying. All of them felt the strain of this task already, and for a while, they thought for sure that they would fly head-first into the gorge wall... Until Yamiko gave one final mental push and abruptly lifted the three upward, out of the gorge and several feet above the desert floor. From there it was relatively smooth sailing - they flew the next couple hundred feet with few problems.
But after a while, the three were getting tired, and a quick scan from Lupin told them that they still had a ways to go. Moreover, there was a rock formation up ahead that they were about to fly right into... You mean we have to go even higher!? Vicky thought. The three struggled to rise up higher, but they were quite exhausted at this point. ''Urgh, there's gotta be something we can do!"
I got nothing left... Yamiko communicated back, feeling quite an immense headache. However, just then she got an idea. Okay... I have one idea, but it'll require us to sink lower for just a bit. And this time, she focused her attention back on the wagon they had left behind, causing the trio to sink down until they were flying mere inches above the ground.
Zuri... please help us...
Trail to Mountains - Wagon (Nemaforte, Zuri, Iraal, Scents, Wolfe, Teri, Gwion, Katya)
Nemaforte's ears drooped again as Wolfe explained that his world never had magic. However, there was something familiar about the scientific concents he was talking about. "You know, I can remember a note I read in a history tome," she began to explain, "about the dominantness of electronic technology on Orenya. While your Terra Nova never had magic, on Orenya the magic came first, appearing as a purple fog that surrounded us. What I read, we grew to adapt to that magic, but yet we created technology to harness the sun's energy, plus heat from the warmer parts of Zurem, to send electric communication. However, all the communication disrupted the magisphere, and our people suffered for it. Magic is an entity we found to... depend upon. Maybe on Terra Nova, your understanding of the world grew from a different way. Maybe you's had a field of science."
There was something peculiar in the way Nemaforte looked at Wolfe, and it wasn't in her eyes, for those were covered by sunglasses due to being sensitive to sunlight. Rather, it was in her calm smile and single fang-like tooth sticking out, and in the large yet shallow dimple in the middle of her forehead, that upon very close inspection seemed to pulsate as if it had a heartbeat.
Meanwhile, Zuri regarded Iraal's question about the relevance of the Dead God to her studies. "To tell you the truth, I'm not 100% sure it is relevant," she decided to reply. "However, there is the fact that my astral projection was unable to go anywhere near it, and the disturbance that Nemaforte sensed around it. Based on that, I think there is at least some possibility of the Dead God possessing some sort of strong psychic or magical energies, and not of a friendly sort even. From what I know about curses and hauntings, it seems quite possible that the Dead God may be under such an influence. It's... a hypothesis, I guess you can say, one that I wish to test by..."
She was cut short by a voice in her head... not just that, a telepathic message from Yamiko. Specifically, a call for help. "One moment..." she mentioned to Iraal. "I think my classmates need some help flying over the desert, it seems."
For some reason this remark caught Nemaforte's interest; the pale elfin witch turned to face her and watched with interest as she was obviously communicating with some other presence that had taken up temporary residence in her mind.
Zuri, we're running out of power, and are about to crash into a rock wall... we need your astral projection...
Zuri heard Yamiko's message loud and clear. And so, she put up no hesitation. Relaxing her back against the wagon wall, she closed her eyes and let her ghostly form emerge from her body, exiting the wagon and heading off in her classmates' direction.
Northern Desert (Yamiko, Lupin, Vicky, Hazel, Rip, James, Kris, Kaitlyn)
It didn't take too long for Zuri's astral projection to spot them, especially given how Lupin's all-black outfit and Yamiko's partially black one contrasted with the light-coloured dirt. And they were in fact less than fifty feet away from a rock formation. At this, Zuri spread her arms, and ghostly wisps streamed behind them like wings. In this form, she swooped down until she was right underneath them, lifting them up just enough to clear the rock wall.
In this fashion, the group flew quite a long ways, until Lupin sensed that the gathering was close and instruced everyone to land. As soon as he said it, Vicky saw a small gathering of people right near another large gathering of rocks, one of which had been split clear in half and was being used as a table of some sort. By this time though, even Zuri was getting tired of helping carry her classmates, and her astral projection was starting to fade. With all her might, she gave them one final push towards the gathering, and then vanished in a puff of wispy fog. The other three abruptly started to fall, but they mustered up just enough psychic energy to break their fall just before they hit the ground.
Where they landed, they were right next to the small group. Immediately they recognized Kaitlyn, Kris, and James, all on horseback, with whom they had gathered supplies for the road. However, there were two people they did not recognize, plus a truck they did not recognize. A middle-aged man with noticeable facial hair, and a younger woman with lots of combat gear on her. The latter was presently sitting on the severed rock, with a kit of some sort as well as a strange rock and a grease pencil sitting next to her.
"Oww my head..." Vicky muttered, releasing her arms from the rucksack's straps and rubbing the side of her head. "I sure hope I don't have to use my powers again for a while..."
Meanwhile, Lupin looked around, and in addition to seeing the people and horses and the truck and the cut-in-half boulder, he saw what appeared to be a dead donkey just standing there nearby. He scowled at the latter for a while, but decided to ultimately pay it no mind, turning back to face the Mad Bastards and the pointy-eared woman with them. "Well well, fancy meeting you here again," he greeted matter-of-factly.
Yamiko, meanwhile, caught a whiff of dead flesh, and immediately stood up and inhaled deeply, stretching her poofy-sleeved arms out. And then she gazed intently at the armed woman sitting on the boulder half, but had to clutch the side of her head as she did so. "Nice decoration," she remarked, jabbing a thumb behind her at the dead burro she didn't even realise was re-animated. "I do much enjoy the smell of death in the afternoon. Makes me wonder why I never picked up the art of necromancy."
Trail to Mountains - Wagon
Zuri was unconscious for several minutes, and seemed to be twitching a bit while out. When she finally came to, she was breathing in heavy gasps, her body shaking a bit.
"What has happened?" Nemaforte asked her, in her usual stoic tone of voice. "You seem exhaust."
"That took a lot more out of me than expected..." Zuri said with a sigh. "I..." She glanced around at the others in the wagon, but felt oddly weary while doing so. As she looked at them, she couldn't even think of half their names. "...I can't even seem to... where are we headed again?"
"To the Dead God, of course," Nemaforte replied.
"The dead..." Zuri wondered for a bit. "I... I'm sorry, I'm just really out of it. I feel... empty."
"Your aura looks badly damaged," Nemaforte remarked. "Sometime it happens when one astral projects for too long, or finds trouble during the journey. Usually one needs much rest when that happens."
Zuri looked to be quite dizzy and disoriented at that point. At one point she held a cupped palm before her and focused on it for a bit, but nothing happened, and the very effort seemed to drain her. "This is very odd..." She felt around with her fingers. "The air didn't even warm up."
Nemaforte rummaged around in her bag and took out a glittery bottle identical to the one she had given Lupin earlier. "Maybe this will help." Carefully, she pulled out the bright blue cork with a dropper attached, and immediately the scent of otherworldly sweet herbs wafted throughout the wagon. Equally as carefully, she squeezed the little bulb at the top of the cork and filled the dropper with the fragrant light bluish-green fluid swirling around inside of it. And then she took one of the water bottles Zuri had on her and poured some of the contents into an empty bottle from her bag, and added the "cosmic potion" to it. Immediately the mixture turned cloudy and slightly bluish in tint, and even started to fizz a tiny bit.
Zuri absent-mindedly took the bottle from Nemaforte and held it up close to her face. "It smells kind of like absinthe. But a lot sweeter. Does this contain alcohol by any chance?"
"Of course." A sinister smile appeared on Nemaforte's face, but her tone of voice remained unchanged. "More than any other of my potions, in fact."
Regardless, Zuri took a tiny sip... and immediately her eyes widened and she couldn't help but smile a tiny bit. An overwhelming sense of joy and coolness washed over, and there were even a few tears that welled up in her eyes. The drink was pleasantly sweet with zero bitterness, though with something of a peppermint-ish hint. It was truly unlike anything Zuri ever expected. Moreover, she felt a sort of vibration all over her body, but especially in her hands and the top of her head. For a second, she felt as if she could do anything - even transmute the entire wagon into a giant octopus if she so desirednote .
"Wow..." She had to set the small bottle on her lap for a second because her hand was trembling, just as much as her voice was. "I... there's nothing I can really say to describe this." Still smiling, she turned up the palm of her free hand, which had felt like it was hovering slightly above her lap (even though it wasn't). In a fraction of a second, a purple flame about half the size of her hand flared up in it, prompting Zuri to close her fist and look even more surprised. She gazed at the cosmic potion in her hand for a bit, then back at Nemaforte.
"And you drink this on a daily basis?"
Nemaforte gave a very slow nod of her head. "I know not daily, but I mix it in with some other things. The Mushroom of Time pairs very well with it if not diluted."
Zuri gulped, and gave Nemaforte a very awkward stare. "Well. It's no wonder you have a name that means 'poisoned blood'."
All Nemaforte did in response was calmly put the bottle of undiluted cosmic potion back in its proper spot in her bag.
edited 21st May '16 1:24:33 AM by ladytanuki
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.
Crazy Kiwi
Trail to Mountains - Wagon
[Zuri, Iraal, Scents, Katya, Teri, Wolfe, Gwion, Nemaforte]Wolfe looked up at Iraal when she made the comment about archaeotechnology sometimes being said to be indistinguishable from magic. "On my Earth, the same is said about 'any sufficiently advanced technology' - it was a viewpoint first put forth, in our world, anyway, by Arthur C. Clarke. On Terra Nova, sufficiently advanced technology turned up at an alarming rate for some of the older inhabitants - we've got people who were born on Earth before the invention of steam engines having to contend with radio, artificial lighting and electric vehicles..."
He listened with interest to what Nemaforte had to say about her world's brief flirtation with electricity and how it interfered with the natural magic that she had spoken of earlier. He nodded. "We never had that conflict, for us it's been science all the way, on Earth and Terra Nova. Terra Novan artisans and scientists spend a lot of time attempting to replicate the technologies of Earth, often by reverse engineering whatever technology comes through with new arrivals or leveraging the skills and knowledge of new arrivals. Without that technology, life would be a lot more primitive on Terra Nova."
Teri nodded. "As it is, we're way behind Earth in some areas and what we have managed to replicate is by no means as common or as widely distributed as it would be on Earth. F'r'instance, only a few of our cities have electric street lighting and the electric vehicles Wolfe mentioned are fairly rare outside the major cities - after all, they've only been available for the last eighteen years."
Gwion pricked up his ears at what Wolfe and Teri said about their world. It certainly explained some things but raised even more questions.
Wolfe noticed the odd look Nemaforte was giving him. He couldn't see her eyes, but the expression on her face suggested something was going on in her mind.
Just then, Zuri cut off talking to Iraal about the Dead God and said that her classmates needed help. She leaned back and a ghosly doppelganger emerged from her body and took off - presumeably in the direction of her classmates.
While Zuri lay unconscious and occasionally twitching, Gwion kept an eye on her in case something else strange happened. His frequent visits to Capital City had made him more aware of psychic phenomena, but he was still uncomfortable with it - it was always a strain entering some of the more magically-oriented sections of the city - and the earlier incident with the shadowy figures and Yamiko's abrupt personality change did nothing to assuage his feelings of uneasiness.
Teri looked at Iraal. "You seem at ease dealing with other intelligent species. Does that mean that where you're from has contact with species from many different worlds? I ask, because Earth has never had confirmed contact with extra-terrestrial races and nor has Terra Nova. The only times we have encountered anything but other humans are when we've been to Capital City and places like this."
Eventually Zuri regained consciousness and seemed heavily disoriented - according to Nemaforte, her aura looked damaged. She took some potion that Nemaforte supplied and seemed to perk up quickly
Gwion gathered from the exchange between Zuri and Nemaforte that the elf-like witch or witch-like elf regularly imbibed her own potions which seemed, from the available evidence, to be quite potent. It occurred to him that her earlier bizarre behaviour could have had something to do with ingesting one of her own concoctions.
[Northeasten Desert ~ Desert Trail]
The body's mind had fallen far in a short time span. It had relegated itself to doing little more than measuring out short breaths with every step taken. The body's once outstretched arms now hung at its sides, only twitching occasionally as a testament to their former usefulness. The forest was far behind, or so it felt. The body no longer possessed the impetus to look back and see. Furthermore, it's eyes couldn't be trusted. Sometimes they saw the rabbit. Sometimes they didn't. Most of the time they were too unfocused to make out much of anything. Sometimes they were shut for several seconds on end, leaving the body to wallow in the rest of its failing senses.
Mistake after mistake had led the body there. It should never have set foot away from camp. Gambling its own life on a rabbit it had no chance of catching. Spending large stores of energy pushing further away from its best chance at survival. Starvation was the poison, but the body had only itself to blame for abandoning the long haul to the antidote to chase after snake oil.
The body's mind wasn't thinking about mistakes, or regrets. It wasn't really thinking at all, just processing. It had locked into a pattern, and all that was left to do was repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
[Northeastern Desert ~ Desert Trail (Wagon)]
Not too long after after the wagon had pressed on with three fewer passengers to its name, something unusual once again crossed its path. A figure; a body, hobbling down the middle of the road, straight towards the wagon.
There were several facets of the situation that made it unusual. First and foremost was the simple presence of the stranger on foot out in the middle of the desert road, neither here nor there. Although considering how far the word 'unusual' could be stretched in that desert, that aspect of the situation alone might have seemed less out of the ordinary.
Secondly, the stranger's dress—both what they wore and what they lacked—stood out in a few ways. Perhaps the most notable part of the stranger's attire was the dark gray hooded cloak that covered the stranger's head and draped over their shoulders and a little ways down their back, where it seemed to be in tatters and a clear portion was missing. Beneath that the stranger wore some kind of button up shirt—almost like a dress shirt of some sort—deep blue turned nearly black for all of it's grime. The right sleeve was almost completely missing, and the left one was well on it's way, with a large tear between the sleeve and shoulder. Following the trend were the stranger's black trousers that might have been slacks at one point, but had so much missing below the knees that they had nearly become shorts. Below that, the stranger wore nothing. No socks, no shoes, just bare feet.
The most unusual part of the stranger's appearance was the stranger's appearance. Beyond clothes and beyond location, the stranger looked strange. It's feet were human in shape; scuffed up and a little bloody, but fit with five toes on each, all accounted for. However, the skin on the feet was pale; gray with an almost bluish tinge. Furthermore, there were strange, identical markings on both, stretching from the top of the feet to the shins. They were black, resembling tattoos, looking almost like columns, or the roman numeral for one. The stranger's arm bore a similar marking, starting at the knuckles and terminating just below the elbow, looking like a particularly vicious 't'. Those oddities probably wouldn't catch a second glance when one's eyes found the stranger's head.
Even from far away, the silhouette of the stranger betrayed its otherwise human appearance with the presence of two large horns protruding from either side of its head and curving upward. They stuck through the stranger's hood, which seemed to be stitched with holes able to accommodate them. And if there was any doubt left in ones mine—any lingering suggestion that the horns were just part of an elaborate headdress—the sight of the strangers face would erase all ambiguity. Greenish eyes, reddened and weary, with pupils that narrowed into a vertical slit peered out over a large blunt muzzle. A muzzle, like that of an animal, with sizeable forward facing nostrils and a long, large mouth. When paired with the horns, the stranger's head loosely resembled that of a bull, though at the same time it was clearly quite different.
To top off everything else, just below the frayed edge of its torn up cloak, the stranger had a long tail that extended past its legs, hovering weakly just above the ground. It ended in a devilish spaded point and was somewhat difficult to notice—or at least it did not stand out quite so immediately—for it's lack of movement.
This unusual stranger continued its hobble towards the wagon, eyes open wide, rarely blinking. The stranger did not adjust its path in anticipation of the wagon. The stranger didn't seem to be looking at the wagon at all. The stranger simply walked, bit by bit, like a blind man wandering through the Sahara.
this place needs me here
Crazy Kiwi
Desert Trail - Wagon
Matt let out a startled cry as the strange figure suddenly became visible amid the scrubby bushes that bordered the trail and he reined the horses in hard, bringing the wagon to a jolting stop.
Gwion, mindful of the potential for bandits turned his attention towards the front of the wagon, sweeping the area alertly with his eyes. When he saw the source of the driver's consternation, he was flabbergasted. As used to alien lifeforms as he was these days, this one was fucking strange even by his standards - it looked like something out of a book of mythology.
His surprise at the new arrival's appearance didn't inconvenience him, however - he still instinctively ran a threat assessment: no visible weapon, alone, clothes extremely worse for wear, hobbling... Not an immediate threat, anyway. That might change if the new arrival managed to produce a weapon from somewhere or made overt moves to physically attack, but until such time, they posed no immediate danger. In fact, they looked in need of assistance.
Wolfe and Teri also turned at the driver's cry and saw the strange figure. As alien as the creature was - Wolfe's first thought was of the Minotaur of legend but with more clothes than the depictions he had seen - there was something horrifyingly familiar about the way it was walking that transcended any considerations of species.
"Fuck!" Teri snarled. Her experiences on Terra Nova enabled her to instantly recognise the symptoms of extreme privation when she saw it: hunger, possibly thirst, in addition to whatever else had resulted in the state of the creature's clothing. She had seen it too many times in new arrivals they had found wandering in the wilderness to confuse it with anything else.
Wolfe was already reaching for the bundle of provisions he had ordered back at the General Store - there was both pemmican and jerky in there. "Heads up! We've got an emergency situation: that bloke's in a seriously bad state." Three days without water; three weeks without food - but in reality, you're pretty fucked up long before then.
edited 22nd May '16 12:47:12 PM by Wolf1066
Professional Recluse
The elation of the now extra roomy wagon ended with a depressingly familiar sight. A figure was approaching the wagon, aside from the various not-quite human features the body language and behavior were ones she knew quite well.
A snowflake fluttered down and landed between her toes, one of millions that couldn't quite cover the bullet casings, broken glass, and rubble that littered the street. Skeletons of shattered and burnt out buildings stretched for the grey sky above. Her stomach hurt but this was normal. The gloves scratched against chapped and weathered hands as she shifted the Nagant to the other hand to reflexively check the feed.
Another soldier further down the street sat, snow made a thin blanket on his frail shoulders. He would be gone soon. they would either waste away or attack their own comrades in a ravenous rush ended universally by gunshot. Even those generous souls who fed the damned would only find them the next morning dead as any other corpse that blanketed the city. A strangled cry of gibberish followed by a crack punctuated the thought and every man breathed a little easier that it was not him.
Another soul shuffled about 340 yards away, different uniform, same curse. Regardless... the rifle bit into her shoulder and the man slumped limply. Maybe if enough fell the Premier would let them leave.
She took a shuddering breath back on the wagon and felt the numbness her mind did to prepare itself. He was too far gone and the wagon had hardly the supplies or food to spare.
"I can take care of this if you wish." she said pulling out the handgun. "Do you have a spade?"
She's under the impression that he would die from refeeding syndrome if it isn't clear.
Stoned hippie without the stoned. Or the hippie. My AO3 Page, grab a chair and relax.
Trail to Mountains - Wagon
[Iraal, Scents, Katya, Nemaforte, Zuri, Lupin, Yamiko, Vicky, Teri, Wolfe and Gwion]Gwion was bemused by Wolfe yammering on about the mechanics and chemistry of firearms like some sort of nerd but it seemed to have triggered Nemaforte into opening up more about what was going on, so maybe there was method in his madness. Or maybe he was just still rattled after the strange events and blathering to cover it.
So, according to the strange witch-like alien, Yamiko was the only one who seemed under the control of anything or anyone but that wasn't exactly reassuring, given what the others revealed about the nature of the one currently inhabiting Yamiko.
The students revealing that they now had gained additional abilties or "powers" from those who had merged with them and Yamiko's turn of behaviour didn't make matters any better, either.
Wolfe instantly spotted Vicky's Harry Potter reference and was amazed that there should be such a parallel on an Earth that was so fundamentally different from his own as to have functioning psychic abilities or magic.
Yamiko seemed to be behaving quite erratically and, according to Nemaforte, this was most likely due to her being under the control of a spoiled brat with a history of threatening her classmates.
The way she went on about "whatcha gonna do, shoot me?" and people trying to detain her the "painful way" came across as a challenge or dare.
Wolfe wondered, if it came down to a confrontation, if even Gwion, Katya and Scents - as the most obviously military or security-trained members of the party - would be capable of rendering the students harmless without harming them or being harmed themselves.
Pyrokinesis - as Zuri demonstrated - was the power to create and manipulate fire, like in Stephen King's Firestarter; technomancy was the control of machinery - Zuri had eyed up the robot but it could presumably be equally applied to simpler mechanisms, such as the ones found in firearms - and the less he dwelled on the ramifications of being able to take control of other people, the better.
This whole situation had him yearning for something relatively simple, like being attacked by a bear or a rutting stag - at least those fuckers didn't pull paranormal shit on you!
He had been concerned enough before, just from seeing the Horror-Movie-Possession-Scene, and now he was even more concerned.
For her part, Teri was not in any way mollified by the turn of events since the students woke from their strange slumber. Bad enough that they seemed to have been possessed by dark entities without them displaying dangerous new powers or acting like a bitch.
Iraal seemed livid at what was going on - and well she might be, given the circumstances - and gave Yamiko "what-for" in no uncertain terms.
If it were up to Teri, the four youngsters would be told to get off the wagon and walk back to town - or levitate their way there, for all she cared.
This was likely to be a dangerous enough trek as it was - what with the inherent dangers of the wilderness and the unknown quantity of this "Dead God" artefact - without dragging along dangerous people who may well be compromised and were beginning to act strangely.
Then Yamiko jumped to her feet and started screeching threats at Iraal.
Gwion had been momentarily distracted by Follows-Many-Scents' loud whistling and looked back at Yamiko in time to see that she was still at the screaming and threatening phase of the Violence Dance and hadn't yet made an overt move to physically attack.
Still enough time to de-escalate...
Before Gwion had a chance to open his mouth, however, Yamiko fell sideways and then the wagon jolted to a halt as the driver seemed to be having some sort of problem.
The source of the former seemed to be Nemaforte, who was extending a hand towards Yamiko - some form of telekinesis, presumably, and Vicky apparently thought so too.
Then again, who needs de-escalation?
Although Lupin acknowledged that there was some sort of evil presence inside Yamiko, he still saw fit to make it known that anyone who wanted to detain Yamiko would have to go through him.
From what Zuri next said, it became apparent that she was sure that Yamiko/Amanda was the source of the driver's sudden and mysterious discomfort - and it was clear that whatever had happened to the driver had been intended for Iraal.
Fuck de-escalation.
Gwion looked hard at Yamiko where she lay on Lupin's lap. "To paraphrase the succinct wit of the Russian: the green one's right. You've been compromised and you think it's a fucking joke." He looked at Zuri, "and you've got to be fucking kidding. You've as much said that your friend, here, hurt the driver and your brilliant fucking solution is 'don't be hard on her and it won't happen again'. Your bloody mate tried to attack Iraal and would've succeeded if she hadn't been stopped. As it was, an innocent bystander was harmed instead."
He turned his attention to Lupin, remembering that Yamiko had mentioned back in the gun store that Lupin already had a small pistol. "As for you, if you draw that little pistol of yours, you'd better make sure you kill me - because if you don't you'll be the first fucking casualty. Get your hand out of your jacket and it'd better come out empty, kid." The Inner Wolf was just below the surface, held at bay just enough to allow him to speak normally and levelly, but ready to assume control if everything turned Charlie-Foxtrot.
Teri gave the four students a sweeping look. "I think you've out-stayed your welcome." It was no longer a matter of what-ifs; Yamiko was clearly a danger and her boyfriend was getting ready to use force.
Wolfe nodded then called for the driver to stop the cart.
Once the cart had come to a halt, Wolfe fixed Lupin with a steely glare. "You and your friends can get off here, no one's going to detain any of you. I'm sure that the driver will pick you up on the way back and take you into town."