Hello and welcome reader, to the 28th instalment of the Character Development Threads
! These shared story exercises help budding writers develop their characters alongside the characters of other budding writers. No sign-up is needed; just jump right in with your characters. It is recommended that you read the thread page and the last couple of pages before starting.
Discussion Thread Thread Page Town Map
This is a "Main Series" thread and, as such, an element of risk is expected. Rules and participation guidelines may be found on this page.
The thread page groups active characters under the areas in which they are active, enabling you to see who is at a given location in which you might be interested or to find out where to go to encounter characters with whom you wish to interact.
Kindly add your own characters to the thread page, with a link to their initial post, under the area in which they are located and update the page if they change location.
Bear in mind that if your characters are arriving at a location, they are likely to know little more than what they see and hear as they arrive - what the location looks like, what other characters are there (both of which can be read on the thread page) and the last few lines uttered and actions taken as they are arriving (which can be found in the last few posts for that location in the story thread itself), so inserting characters need not be a terrifying process.
If you need help, have any questions, or want a quick recap (if the page count is daunting), head over to the discussion page, and someone is sure to help you out!
To help guide character interaction, having your character come in with a at least one short-term and one long-term goal or motivation is strongly recommended. It is not required, but it does make it easier to drive the plot forward. Feel free to come up with rumours about what treasures, adventure, locations, and dangers may be found in the setting - they need not be true or accurate, just some hook on which to hang an adventure.
The setting is specifically designed to be a vast sandbox into which details can be inserted by participants (for example, you are free to decide that there is a particular temple in the midst of the forest in which something may be found or that there is a particular shop/hotel/restaurant in a section of the town), if you come up with a location that you desire/expect other characters to visit, please add it to the thread page as a sub-location of the relevant area.
Things change as the story progresses. If, for example, a massive battle occurs at a location and the area is now strewn with bodies and buildings are damaged, kindly update the thread page to reflect those changes, in order that other participants have an up-to-date description of the location prior to sending their characters there.
Special thanks to all those who helped in getting the thread launched or provided ideas and feedback. In alphabetic order, they include:
Blackfire667, Collen, Corvidae, daird, DarkbloodCarnagefang, EternaMemoria, Gault, Kkutwar, KillerClowns, ladytanuki, Masterofchaos, nrjxll, Pyxo, Slysheen, TroPartner, WillDeRegio and yours truly
Apologies if I missed anyone - just let me know and I'll update the post.
Between dimensions, and linked to the rest of the multiverse, lies a strange post-apocalyptic environment made up of various regions strewn with the remnants of past glory - ruins, lost technologies and magic. Here and there, nature has found its way back amongst the ruined temples and towns.
In the midst of the blighted landscape, a fresh new town has emerged - a synergy of technology, nature and magic; clean and eco-friendly; a beacon of hope for a brighter future - where travellers can rest, recharge their batteries both literally and metaphorically and get whatever they may need - technological, magical or otherwise - to aid them on their adventures.
New arrivals can turn up by diverse means in the transportation area in the north-western part of the town or by whatever other means they deem appropriate. Here they may also find for rent, lease or hire, any transport they desire from riding animals to vehicles.
The wilderness areas have not been fully explored since the mysterious apocalyptic events that ravaged the area some time ago and no one is really sure what's out there - but rumours abound.
All that is known for sure is that both magic and technology have existed here for a long time, so anything is possible...
Currently in Day 1.
Current Time: 10:00 PM
Current Weather:
General Setting: Fine, a few light clouds Rainforest: Moderately misty, the fog is slowly thickening
See the thread page for updates.
Edited by Wolf1066 on Feb 11th 2021 at 12:12:29 AM
Near the River (Akane; Krakka'a)
Akane's outfit initially resisted being pried off its master's skin, however, the oni allowed it some slack to allow the wyvern to grip the front of her outfit. If he wanted a hold on her, shed have one on him as well. She gave him a sly smirk, "Oh my, how direct of you."
She tilted her head to the side a bit, "Wyverns are majestic winged creatures capable of instilling awe in lesser beasts. Though, I am not exactly a lesser beast, you still have my fascination," she said, tapping the top of her sternum, "I am Akane Matsui, Red Devil of the Imperial Senjimese Navy."
Forest (Bonnie, Carol; NCH; Mequoql, Morpho)
The moufreta staring directly at the truck didn't know what hit it as an arrow sprouted from between its eyes. It was also completely oblivious to Mequoql's telekinetic hold on it. Moments passed, and it remained standing before keeling over, dead and cross-eyed.
The final moufreta, still standing by its fallen sibling, noticed it was severely out numbered, three of its siblings were no longer moving, realized that one of the twolegs in the formerly moving metal beast could make a moufreta stop moving without touching it, and— metal slime!
It performed a spinning hop and dashed off into the woods as fast as it could go, skillfully weaving around trees in an attempt to put as much cover between it and the truck.
"Damn, that was anticlimactic," said Carol, lowering her halberd in frustration as she watched the moufreta flee, before calling up to Mequoql, "Oi, you can come down now, ya silly cat." She glanced over at Bonnie, who had covered her folded down ears with her hands. The quarter-elf elf raised an eyebrow at the lagokin actions, "Whatcha doin' that for?" she asked, her question falling on deaf ears.
The Scar at the Northwesternmost Edge of the Rainforest (Moufreta, Moufreta, Moufreta, Moufreta†, Moufreta, A. Moufreta, A. Moufreta)
All five moufretas tumbled haplessly into the scar. They weren't exactly sure what happened. One moment they were curiously investigating a strange new creature that might have had or been food, and the next they had rocks in their nose and throats and knocked off balance as they fled.
One of the moufretas got up and managed to sneeze one of the rocks out. Another managed to swallow the rock in its throat. The third managed to clear all its airways, curiously poking the ejected rocks with a toeclaw to see if it would move again. The fourth choked on the rock in its throat and passed out. The fifth flailed around, annoyed by the pain in its snout.
The unfortunate pack were greeted by additional whoops coming from the side of the Scar opposite the rain forest. A pair of moufreta leaped down from above. They were noticeable different from the other five; they were a duller shade of orange and a dull red crest of feathers on their heads. They circled the pack, whooping at them.
The others whooped in return, before huddling closer to the ground, tails and heads lowered.
One of the crested moufretas went to sniff the downed moufreta before using a claw to slit its throat. The moufreta bled out and died without a sound.
The other crested moufreta whooped at the remaining four moufretas, before snapping it jaws, causing the four to bolt away down the Scar, with the two crested moufretas following close behind.
-
Global Moufreta Kill Count: 13
[Forest]
Seeing that one was dead and the other one had ran off in fear, all a sonic scream would do was draw unwanted attention.
"Don't do that!" Nick said, "Don't scream! Please, for the love of God, don't scream!"
Everyone, except for Maya, covered their ears.
She's not gonna listen! Maya signed, We're gonna have to deal with even more of those things!
"Great," Marie sighed, "We're never going to get out of danger."
Edited by Masterofchaos on Jul 28th 2018 at 8:23:56 AM
Forest (Bonnie, Carol; Mequoql, Morpho; NCH)
Glancing over at the pleading Nick, and then up at Mequoql, whom she finally noticed was about to scream her head off, Carol grabbed one of Bonnie's ears and asked the lagokin a question; "Dual Catharsis works by touch, right?"
Bonnie furrow her brow, "Yes, but she in a tree— Wait, I hope you're not thinking what I'm thinking you're thinking..."
Upon receiving conformation of her guess, Carol grabbed Bonnie by the back of her collar, "I'm giving you t'the count o'three t'prep the spell. One..."
Bonnie's eyes went wide, "You are!"
"Two..." Carol tensed up. The lagokin hastily constucted the spell.
"Three!" Carol spun once, before hurling Bonnie at Mequoql.
The elf then tilted her head at the others, "I've done this before, she'll be fine."
Edited by WillDeRegio on Jul 28th 2018 at 10:04:44 AM
Truck, Edge of the Forest (Bonnie, Carol; Mequoql, Morpho; NCH)
Morpho didn't hear the desperate plea — his microphones were still off — but he was able to read Nick's lips. Morpho suggested over the comm chip, "Quick! Bite something!" as he ran towards the tree, stretching himself up to Mequoql's mouth. His microphones still off, he didn't hear Bonnie and Carol chattering.
Mequoql heard the warning and saw the last moufreta run off before anyone could kill it. She let go of the arrow-struck moufreta and bit down on the profferred morphing metal. As the arrow-struck moufreta died, Mequoql was able to reduce her reflexive outcry to a much quieter whimper.
Unfortunately, Morpho had stretched up just after Carol threw Bonnie and was now in the way. The hurled lagokin hit the back of Morpho's head. Morpho lurched forward and knocked Mequoql out of the tree.
As her claws were yanked out of the bark, Mequoql gasped, twisted midair and extended her gliding membranes, landing on her back on top of the broken-necked moufreta corpse with an "Oof!" She hastily reassured, "I'm Okay!" amended, "Well, mostly okay," and messaged, "Morpho, you can turn your microphones back on." She massaged some sore muscles in her forehead and muttered under her breath, "Great, now I'm gonna feel like there's a pair of fish hooks pulling up my eyebrows for the next few minutes..."
Morpho, stabilizing Bonnie before she could fall like the moufreta and Mequoql did, turned on his microphones and turned to face the group. "Okay, who threw her and why?" he queried, returning Bonnie to the ground in a much more controlled fashion.
The Scar at the Northwesternmost Edge of the Rainforest (Moufreta, Moufreta, Moufreta, Moufreta, Moufreta, A. Moufreta, A. Moufreta)
Murquoql watched two other moufretas show up to slit the unconscious moufreta's throat. She grunted quietly and braced a fist on the dropship as her head pulsed with the pain of a Psychic Glimpse of Death. She glared silently at the retreating moufretas.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Jul 28th 2018 at 8:21:31 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Near the River (Akane; Krakka'a)
The mammal had the audacity to smirk at him when he grabbed her.
"Oh my, how direct of you." she said.
"Nine," Krakka'a replied. "Eight."
"Wyverns are majestic winged creatures capable of instilling awe in lesser beasts."
Majestic? Awe? He had certainly never heard those words used to describe him before. It was enough to get him to let go, anyway.
"Though, I am not exactly a lesser beast, you still have my fascination."
To Krakka'a's credit (which may be the only time you will ever see that phrase), he managed to make it through Akane introducing herself before he burst out laughing. Not a derisive snort, like he would have expected. A full-on, limbs-shaking, tears-in-the-eyes laugh. This thing, this mammal, thought she was his equal?
"You...you're not..." he managed to gasp between paroxysms of laughter. "Zarokh, did you...oh right, he's not here." He looked back at Akane, replayed the last few seconds in his head, and burst out laughing again.
Further South of the River (Mustang Herd, Skvader)
Lead Mare Flashfoot was just about to entertain the idea of slowing to a canter when the strange noises from the stationary Sabertooth Airbeast made up her mind. The herd would stay at a gallop for just a bit longer.
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Near the River (Akane; Krakka'a)
Having convinced that calling the wyvern a wyvern wasn't an insult (which, to her, it wasn't), Akane made sure that her outfit didn't try sticking to the wyvern's claws as her released her.
She raised an eyebrow as the wyvern bust into laughter after her introduction. "Hmm? Was it something I said?" she asked innocently, before waiting for the wyvern to stop laughing. She put on a broad smile, "You know, you're not the first to not take me seriously; I go through this every year with the new recruits..."
[Forest]
Everyone immediately pointed at Carol.
Well, Maya signed, This was random. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not staying around these walking disasters. She looked directly at Carol, Bonnie, and Mequqol. She then shook her head and walked away, I'm going to find a good place to set up camp. See ya.
"Maya! Wait!" Amy said, following her, "We don't separate, remember! That's the group rules!"
Jackson sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Bloody hell...we're going to go on ahead to see if we can find a decent spot to camp, maybe make sure we don't run into those creatures again."
"Agreed," Marie said.
As the two of them walked off, Nick gave Adam a pat on the back. "Hey, you saved our asses back there. Thanks, buddy. I knew you could do it!"
Adam smiled nervously and rubbed his cheek with his finger, "I-It wasn't too much. I just thought it would be enough to scare the other one off. B-but I'm glad I could help." He turned to the others, "Uh...don't listen to what Maya said. She's just on edge. If you want, you could stick around a little longer."
Edited by Masterofchaos on Sep 11th 2018 at 1:04:51 PM
Truck ~ Forest's Edge (Bonnie, Carol; Mequoql, Morpho; NCH)
After being tossed, Bonnie had extended her arms to touch Mequoql with the Dual Catharsis spell she had managed to prepare beforehand. Unfortunately, Morpho beat her to the punch, resulting in the lagokin harmlessly bouncing off the robot's body. She started to fall, and was prepping her landing strategy, when Morpho reached to help her. She wriggled helplessly, before giving up her resistance to slump in resignation.
Once back on the ground, she turned to look up at Morpho, "It was Carol's idea. My Dual Catharsis, which she thought might calm Mequoql, isn't long range. Therefore, she threw me in an attempt stop Mequoql from screaming and attracting more moufreta. I'm..." her ears drooped, "I'm very sorry about that."
Carol tilted her head and tsked.
Bonnie then pursued Amy and Maya, "Wait! I know Carol can be a walking disaster sometimes—"
"I think she meant you, too, Bunny-Ears," Carol shouted after them, her insult falling on deaf ears, before turning around and heading off in the opposite direction, grumbling quietly to herself.
Bonnie caught back up to the other two girls, "Carol tries to mean well, in her own brash and reckless manner." Her ears drooped again, "I guess I'm used to her— mostly anyway. She does get on my nerves, though, especially when she calls me Bunny..."
Truck ~ Forest's Edge (Bonnie, Carol; Mequoql, Morpho; NCH)
Morpho observed the social fallout and muttered, "Oh dear." Fortunately it was an easy fix, he calculated that slight temporary distance and maybe some lunch would help get everyone less grumpy.
Good news, Mequoql's death-witnessing headache was in the much less intense aftershocks stage now. Bad news, Amy's words had triggered a song that would be stuck in Mequoql's head for much longer than the headache...
Mequoql stood up off of the broken-necked moufreta corpse and hastily called out to explain, "Whoa, hang on everybody, you don't have the full picture! I tried to warn you, that scream that Morpho muffled was loaded with an emotion bomb. It wouldn't have attracted more moufreta. It would have repelled them by copy-pasting the dying thoughts from that skewered one into all who heard my scream. And... then spreading mortal terror abruptly wasn't necessary when that last moufreta ran away... so... you were right for stopping me, but for the wrong reasons."
Changing the subject, Morpho casually hoisted the two large bags into the cargo area of the truck, then pointed at the moufreta corpses and and suggested, "Is this meat edible? If it is, maybe we could cook these corpses for lunch and leftovers."
Mequoql interjected, "There was a poster for a leather worker offering a bounty on these." Curious, she asked Bonnie, "So, what does Dual Catharsis do, and how, exactly? I'm not sure, but I might be able to reverse-engineer it so that something like that..." she gestured up to the claw marks she left in the tree, "...is less likely to happen again."
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Forest - Ruins (Eris, Inanna, Henry, Joseph)
As Henry and Joseph had their little heart-to-heart, Eris stopped walking and waited patiently for them to finish. At first she was largely focused on them too, but it wasn't long before something else caught her attention. She still looked back at the pair occasionally, but whatever it was that concerned her was somewhere further out into the darkness of the woods.
"I knew there was a charmer in there somewhere~" Inanna replied to Henry, "I bet you just get all the ladies, don't you?"
After he went to speak with Joseph, Inanna looked around idly before she noticed Eris's concern. With a small frown, she went to join her sister.
"Something wrong, Eris?"
"Do you hear that?" Eris replied, continuing to look into the forest.
Inanna tilted her head to one side as she focused herself. "...Sounds like...some kind of monster...? Except it doesn't sound like any monster I've ever heard." She glanced back at Henry and Joseph briefly, then back at Eris. "...Sounds like it might be heading this way too. Do you think it'll hurt our new friends?"
Eris closed her eyes. "There's no way of knowing until we see the source ourselves. Best to stay on our guards in the event of the worst."
It was around this time that the other pair rejoined them.
"...Please don't panic, but...we might be having problems?" Inanna explained, Henry's explanation of Cupid seemingly being ignored for the time being, "There's...something heading this way. It sounds like.... Poot-poot-poot-poot-poot...." Then she tilted her head to the side again. "...And it just stopped, but it sounded like that anyway. Um.... It's not a sound we know, but maybe you've heard something like that before?"
Eris pointed in the direction she heard the sound come from. "If you don't recognize it, it's best that we try to avoid the source if at all possible."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
It's a bird.
The Scar -> Mouth of the Smaller River (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind)
After a few minutes of walking across the Scar, the group arrived at the beach, where the muddy banks of the river blended into wet sand as the water flowed out into a small delta. There were more hoofprints - and quite a lot of foul-smelling heaps of manure - here, notably on both sides of the river this time. Other than that, there didn't seem to be much else to see at first glance, aside from perhaps some washed up seaweed and a few driftwood logs in the river.
Varg stepped over to a collection of hoofprints, feeling the sand crunch beneath her boots. She glanced up at Ozurr, suddenly remembering something he'd mentioned before.
"Hey Ozurr, what's a 'Fey?'" she asked, her tail swaying thoughtfully. "Another people from your home-world?" Or was it 'Fay' maybe? 'Fae'? She scratched the shaved side of her head. Eh, close enough.
Jann, meanwhile, was silently debating with himself whether or not he should ask Rosalind about the incident back in the vehicle, when he felt something move in one of his belt pouches.
"What in the Depths..?" he mumbled to himself, and pulled out his thaumic compass. As he opened it, the metallic rings within began to spin much faster and more erratically than the last time, and the tiny dot of distorted air at the center was now giving off a faint purple light. Most unusual. This much magical activity, and yet he himself couldn't feel a thing? Perhaps the device had reacted to some otherworldly form of magic - or something else entirely - that he wasn't used to?
Jann slowly spun in a circle, trying to determine the source of the phenomenon, and ended up facing the river. More specifically an unassuming piece of driftwood.
"Something isn't quite right here..." he told his companions. "Stay alert."
Edited by Corvidae on Jul 31st 2018 at 6:39:27 PM
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
[Forest]
Maya, Amy, Jackson, and Marie didn't get far enough before Morpho and Bonnie explained themselves.
Alright, Maya signed, We'll stick around you a little longer. She then looked at the two monster corpses and scrunched up her face, Oh, no no no no...I am not eating whatever the hell that is. It could be posinous.
"Well, I don't think this world has deer," Nick said, "So we might not have a choice. Besides, our new friends here can help us."
Amy turned her head around, obviously looking for something. This immediately got Marie's attention.
"What is it, dear?" Marie asked.
"I think I heard voices," she said, "They're not too far, but they're not close either." Her eyes then widened with excitement, "Oooh! I think there's more campers here! That means we can make more friends!"
"Shouldn't we warn them about the creatures, first?" Adam asked, "I mean if we weren't armed, or had Ms. Carol, they'd probably rip us to shreds."
"Good point," Jackson said, turning to the others, "I think we should all go. Remember, number one rule with the group..."
"We don't separate." Everyone except Maya said in unison.
"God, now you're making us sound like we're in a damn classroom," Nick groaned, "Can we never do that again?"
Edited by Masterofchaos on Aug 1st 2018 at 8:31:05 AM
The Scar -> Mouth of the Smaller River (Ozurr; Varg, Jann; Rosalind)
As the group of four hiked down the river, Rosalind felt considerably cheerier. She was among traveling companions who didn't freak out and attack her for being a vampire. She'd just survived her first hostile encounter in this strange new world, with said companions standing by her side in support. The wilderness was much more like a home to her than civilization could ever be. All that was missing from this happy scene was her herd of mustangs. Even then, that was the immediate part of their quest anyway. She was looking forward to the reunion. The reunion... which would probably be delayed by the horses running away from Ozurr.
Rosalind racked her brains. How was she going to introduce the mustangs to three strangers who had obviously predatory body builds? At least the mustangs were the pinnacle example of equine bravery, so whatever plan she could think of wouldn't take inordinate amounts of time to execute, unless it was a spectacularly stupid plan.
Using persistence hunting would have been plausible, except she herself had tried to out-marathon the herd's ancestors and they'd turned the tables on her with stealth, misdirection, intimidation and attempted violence. And now, thanks to the zombies, the current descendants had a lot of practice in refining such counter-tactics. She really didn't want to have to go through that again, what took all day and all night generations ago could take a week now.
Now, here was a less stupid plan: the horses were braver in Rosalind's presence, so maybe as soon as the herd was sighted, she could use up some of her blood supply to run ahead of her traveling companions, catch up with the herd, and then bring the horses in a zig-zag back to the rest of the party. She'd be bringing preview scents with her, too.
She'd figure something out eventually, but she had to focus on the here and now. They'd arrived at the shore, and already there were more signs her horses had been this way.
Above is a belated addition, I forgot I wrote this.
Mouth of the Smaller River (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind)
"Something isn't quite right here..." Jann told his companions. "Stay alert."
Rosalind was already alert, she was sniffing the air and prowling around like an upright cat. "I agree. We're not alone. I smell something fleshy, and it's close." Her vomeronasal organ was no help identifying the mysterious new scent.
Next to Jann, Rosalind abruptly stopped prowling and froze in place. "Jann, back away slowly. The scent's coming from right in front of you and I can't see its source." She had no idea that one of the two driftwood logs was not wood.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Aug 6th 2018 at 3:47:15 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
< Forest, Roaming - Washingtonians and Sumerians >
Henry put on a serious, thoughtful expression.
"Poot-poot-poot-poot-poot?" he repeated, rising on his toes and lifting the brim of his cap to glance into the forest beyond.
Joseph tried to stifle a snorting giggle, earning an elbow to the side for his trouble.
After a few moments of silent musing, Henry shook his head. "Honestly, it sounds like my grandfather's old pickup. The thing didn't drive so much as it putted."
Behind him, Joe's big eyes lit up. He raised his lizardy head, staring at his friend expectantly, but Henry didn't seem to take notice, only shrugging helplessly at Eris and Inanna. Following a sigh and a soft forehead slap, Joseph nudged his friend, then stuck his arms out and gripped an invisible steering wheel, turning it this way and that.
Henry blinked at him for a moment, not entirely sure what to make of the charade. "Uh... kind of? If you're doing my grandfather's truck, you need more bounce. Although, I'm not sure why-"
Exasperated, Joseph flung his arm out, pointing repeatedly into the woods. "Luth thin-guh. Thuth thing mahkln the noith! Thup 'poo-poo-poo-' "
"Oh it could be a c-" Henry swiveled back to the sumerians in mid sentence, "it could be a car. Uh- a vehicle. An automobile. Like a... if you've got horse-drawn carriages, it's a lot like those but made of metal and without the horses... or oxes, or mules, or donkeys, or unicorns or whatever you have. Regardless, if it is what I-"
"We."
"-what we think it is, that means it's more people. That could be good or..." he glanced back at Joseph for a moment, "...it could be trouble. Shoot." He sighed, turning his attention back to the Sumerians. "Look, if we are still in Washington, then we have got to keep Joe under wraps. If word gets out about him before we can get him back to normal, it could cause a national incident, and who knows who might come calling?"
Joseph nodded solemnly, fixing Eris with an almost cartoonishly sincere stare as he said, "G-men, like in the eckth-filefth."
"Joe, they're not gonna know-" Henry began, then shook his head, "...the point is that when we go over there, unless we can be sure that, whoever these people are, they aren't going to lose their heads when they see Joseph, we should keep him out of sight."
He frowned, looking over the two women, their outfits, the blades that were magically floating above Eris's shoulders, and Inanna's large, burning scythe.
"...I guess that's assuming they don't lose their heads over anything else. ...Inanna, aren't you cold in- in- just... that?" He nodded at her scant attire, then thumbed over his shoulder, "Joseph has an extra jacket you can borrow if you... you know, if you'd like."
Behind him, Joe—who was quietly trying to correct his pronunciation of the X-Files—looked up, hugging the jacket he was wearing quite defensively, though the one tied around his waist did look a little excessive.
"Or you, Eris." Henry shrugged and grinned, "I mean, hey, we've got two jackets. We don't need them. Well, we don't need need them."
Edited by Ryuhza on Jul 31st 2018 at 4:17:32 AM
this place needs me here
Forest - Ruins (Eris, Inanna, Henry, Joseph)
"Don't laugh at me! That's what it sounded like!" Inanna stated indignantly at Joseph's giggle. Then she frowned and rubbed her chin in thought. "Though, now that I think of it.... Maybe it was more like 'braap-braap-braap-braap-braap' or 'grr-grr-grr-grr-grr....'"
Eris just shook her head at her sister getting sidetracked while she listened to the rest of what the two travelers had to say.
"...It sounds like an intriguing machine, but I suppose that's besides the point right now," she commented, "Besides your concerns about Joseph, there's also no way of knowing if these newcomers are friend or foe. Inanna and I will likely be able to handle any adversity, while I doubt any potential allies would be any more concerned about Joseph than they would be about us."
"Huh? What about me?" Inanna chimed in, having snapped herself out of her tangent. After a moment to gather in, she made a big smile and thumped the bottom of her scythe against the ground proudly. "Oh! Don't worry; when you're with us, you have the blessing of Mother Tiamat. With her grace, you will never have to worry about any 'G-men.' Whoever they are."
Then Henry made a comment about Inanna's outfit.
Inanna's free hand balled up into a fist as both her arms straightened down with her wrists held out at ninety-degree angles, and she fixed Henry with an expression of pure annoyance.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" she demanded of him, "This clothing is symbolic of my domain! To cover it up would be blasphemy! And I'm also quite proud of my figure. Why would I want to hide it?!"
"...Inanna, we have bigger things to worry about than whatever Henry thinks of your choice of clothing. Or what you say is clothing," Eris stated after letting out an exasperated sigh. Then she turned to Joseph, who seemed to be quite protective over his jackets. "Furthermore, I think Joseph would have more use for those than we ever would."
"But-"
"-On more important matters, I think the best plan of action is that I go investigate the matter myself, while Inanna remains with you. If it's safe, I'll let you know. Does this sound fair to you?"
Inanna still looked irritated for a couple of minutes before what Eris said sunk it. Her body relaxed as she turned to Eris with a concerned expression.
"...Are you sure you can handle it alone, Eris?"
Eris nodded. "Someone has to protect Henry and Joseph, and I'm the one who's supposed to be handling talking to the locals. This was part of the plan before we found ourselves here, as I'm sure you remember."
Inanna was silent for another few moments before she nodded. "...Well, if you say so...." Then she turned to Henry and Joseph briefly, then back to Eris with a determined look. "...By Mother Tiamat, I'll make sure no harm comes to these two!"
At that, Eris turned her attention back to Henry and Joseph, awaiting their thoughts on the matter. If given a positive answer, she'd turn and make her way towards the source of the sound without another word.
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
The Scar -> Mouth of the Smaller River (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind)
"Hey Ozurr," Varg asked, "what's a Fey? Another people from your home-world?"
Ozurr sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh gods, don't get me started on the Fae." He thought for a second on how best to describe them, trying to keep in mind that Varg was from another world, and therefore almost certainly lacked most frames of references he would normally use. "Well, they sort of look like humans, and they talk like humans, but that's about where the similarities end, in my experience. They are pretty much copies of each other: six feet tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, pointed ears, and perfectly symmetrical faces. And I have never met a Fae who was capable of the kind of compassion I've seen from humans. They don't do anything without an agenda, and won't do so much as pass you the salt at dinner without expecting to be repaid in kind...and their definition of 'in kind' doesn't fit any sort of logic I'm familiar with. They can't lie, but that doesn't mean you can trust a word they say, because they are masters at twisting the meaning of words."
He paused and reflected on everything he had just said. "And now that I say that, I wonder how much of what I know about the Fae is true, and how much has been filtered through my father. Faerie completely surrounds Hromstgard, and the Fae and Frost Giants have been at war for at least the last 500 years."
Just then, Jann piped up that something wasn't right, and Rosalind added that she could smell something nearby, but couldn't see it. Ozurr unhooked his axe and studied the logs in front of them. One of them struck him as odd - there were footprints in the sand that did not match the horse prints. They almost seemed human...but they stopped as abruptly as they started, mere feet from the log.
Cautiously, Ozurr reached out and nudged the log with his axe.
Near the River (Akane; Krakka'a)
Krakka'a tried to steady his breathing long enough to get a coherent sentence out. "The idea...the idea that you...a tiny, little mammal...are anything other than a lesser being...it's hilarious!" He wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, I haven't had a good laugh in a long time. Thank you for that." He sighed. "In all seriousness, though..." he suddenly grabbed her again, this time around the neck. "You are an insect, and you need to be made to understand that the fate of all insects is to be crushed."
The Scar bridging the smaller river (Zarokh)
"Oh Great Sobek," Zarokh said to himself as he dragged his rapidly dehydrating body along the Scar, "have I done something to offend you, that your emissary should treat me this way? If I have, please send me a sign as to what it is, that I may repent my transgressions."
He paused and tilted his head at the familiar sound of running water. Overjoyed, he ran as fast as his anatomy would permit towards the sound...
This was a river? This was barely a creek. Zarokh slid down to the banks to where the mud had been disturbed recently...and recoiled at the smell. As a crocodilian, Zarokh was no stranger to eating raw, and even rotten, meat. So if whatever was mixed into this mud smelled this bad, there must be something very wrong with it.
Forget it, he thought. Maybe there's another river.
He paused halfway back up to the bridge. A familiar looking vehicle was sitting there. He listened, but didn't hear any voices. He hauled himself the rest of the way onto the bridge and looked down at the other side. There were several sets of footprints heading downstream, including one that could only have come from that giant blue mammal. Zarokh couldn't figure out why, but they had left their transportation behind and gone downstream. Were they looking to get water? If so, why would they head for the beach? If they wanted to avoid whatever was contaminating the bank, they would have gone upstream.
Maybe this is the sign I was after. But what does it mean?
< Forest, Roaming - Washingtonians and Sumerians >
Henry put up his hands in defense. "Whoa, hey, listen! It's not a question of your style, or your body, or any of that. I mean, if I thought I could handle it, maybe I'd... go... bare-chested."
Behind him, Joseph performed a series of eyebrow gymnastics.
Before Henry could continue, Eris proposed to go alone. He debated it for a moment before shrugging and nodding. "Sure. Sound's fair."
After all, of the four of them, Eris was probably the second least alarming sight for a couple of wood-faring Washingtonians to encounter. On top of that, if it turned out to be another Mael situation, she seemed like she could handle herself.
"Just be sure... if you do run into people that look like we look," he gestured between himself and Joseph, before glancing at the lizard-boy and correcting, "well, not the way we look, per se, but the way we're dressed. Hiking clothes— like hikers would wear. If you see people wearing that, and they start screaming, or fainting, or even like they're getting ready to defend themselves, please be gentle. They don't have lightning swords or axes or magic gifts from Mother Tiamat or anything like that, so please try diplomacy first."
"I think..." Joseph began, speaking in slow, careful fragments, "theel—" he closed his eyes, "ahem, ssshe will... be... fine." He punctuated the last word with a little smile.
"Hey, not bad at all," Henry said with an approving nod. "Keep it up and I'll bet you could learn to speak Lushootseed."
Joe stifled another laugh, then aimed a grin and a thumbs-up at Eris. "Gooluck."
Edited by Ryuhza on Jul 31st 2018 at 8:55:36 AM
this place needs me here
Truck ~ Forest's Edge (Bonnie, Carol; Mequoql, Morpho; NCH)
Bonnie stopped to turn around. "Emotional bomb? You can do that?" she asked, shaking her head slightly, "That's something that could be potentially useful..." she rubbed her chin as something in what Mequoql said caught her attention, "if you could pick who heard it— hmm..." She mused on trying to modify a Fortify spell to block sound, "I might have an idea pertaining to that."
She then glanced over in Morpho's direction when he mentioned the moufreta corpses, "Aye, they're edible. Carol's got more experience in skinning and cooking than I do; she's rather decent at hunting and such."
At the mention of her name, Carol came back, "I'll be settin' up shop over there," she said, jutting a thumb to a tree a short distance away (far enough for someone to butcher animals without causing unwanted trauma to more sensitive individuals) that was rather clear underneath its boughs, "If someone doesn't mind fetchin' some rope from the truck, I can get started on disassemblin' these three," she said, before casually hoisting the arrow stricken moufreta over her shoulder.
Bonnie wrinkled her nose, "Right, I'll make sure to purify the meat when you're done." She then turned to speak to the others, "Those beasts are— were juvenile moufretas. They're not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, and they're highly incompetent and too curious for their own good." She crossed her arms, "They're slightly more dangerous than chickens."
She finally addressed Mequoql, "Ah, right, Dual Catharsis. By channeling aetheric energies into a pulse, one can rid the mind and body of either their self or another of adverse ailments. Toxins, damaged nerves, severe pain, minor damage," she glanced over at Carol, "hangovers, et cetera."
She then clapped her hands together before fetching her staff, "Now, lets see about who's over there..." She would tag along with any of the others who were going to investigate the voices.
Near the River (Akane; Krakka'a)
Claws gripped steely flesh and a rather tense leather choker. Akane gave the wyvern an impassionate glare, "You are assuming that, just because I'm smaller than you, that I'm weaker than you?" She laughed before snapping her hand to casually pry the claws loose from around her neck, "Clearly, you need a lesson in humility."
Having freed herself from his grasp, Akane darted around to the back side of the wyvern, grabbed him by the waist with her forearms, and applied pressure to his wing membranes to coerce him into cooperating. She then lifted her opponent and arched her back, swiftly slamming the cocky wyvern on his neck.
She flipped to her feet and dusted her hands off, grinning, "What was that about "mammals", hmm?"
Forest - Interior (Inanna, Henry, Joseph)
Eris stayed for just long enough to listen to Henry and Joseph's final words of advice and encouragement and to acknowledge it all with a curt nod. Afterwards, she headed off and was soon gone.
"Yeah, Eris has this handled!" Inanna commented as her sister departed, "If they want to be nice, she'll be nice. If they want to NOT be nice...well, she'll handle them with no problems! It wasn't for nothing that she was always the one that broke up fights between the rest of us!" She frowned briefly. "Though it HAS been a while since we've seen our other siblings...."
She shook her head. "Oh, never mind. You'll see." Then she turned to Henry, with her eyebrow raised. "...You didn't sound so sure about going bare-chested. Never gone all the way before...?"
Forest - Edge (Eris, Mequoql, Morpho, NCH, Bonnie, Carol)
As Inanna stated earlier, whatever was making the sound before had ceased. However, that didn't matter much to Eris, as now that she was drawing closer to the former source she could make out voices. She stopped for a moment as she tried to make out just what they were saying.
Unfortunately, she was still a little too far away to tell. So she proceeded, but this time doing her best to proceed as quietly as possible. Her goal of remaining stealthy became more difficult as her surroundings began to brighten up, indicating that they were closer to the forest's edge than she and the rest of their group had realized.
Before too long, she'd reached the forest's edge, and more importantly the people she sought. The six teenagers of varying skin colors and outfits reminded her more of what Henry and Joseph were wearing, and were likely to be similar to them. There were also the two not-quite humans in what appeared to be military uniforms, whose nonhuman features reminded her more of Inanna and herself. Finally, and most interestingly, there were the two clearly alien beings.
The presence of the latter two alone made her doubt this group would think anything of Joseph, Inanna, or herself. All the same, she continued to observe them quietly for the next couple moments. Judging by the number of small, dragon-like corpses lying about the scene, she assumed they had just fought off a monster ambush. Furthermore, they seemed to be speaking of setting up camp around this area.
However, she also noted they were speaking of hearing voices and going to investigate. Most likely, that meant they were just aware of their group as her group was of them.
"Now let's see who's over there...." commented the rabbit-like girl.
"...Or, perhaps, we'll meet you first," Eris replied as she stepped out into full sight of the other group. "Fear not; I do not intent to hurt you."
Edited by Yomegami on Aug 1st 2018 at 7:47:32 AM
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!Truck ~ Forest's Edge (Bonnie, Carol; Mequoql, Morpho; NCH)
Author's note: I'm playing loose and fuzzy with time here.
Mequoql heard distant voices, and apparently, so did Amy. "Good ears, Amy," Mequoql complimented. She theatrically braced her fingertips on the sides of her head and swept her surroundings with her telepathic radar. She pointed deeper into the forest, "That way, there's four people. They've already sent one to investigate us."
Distracted by Bonnie's musing on emotion bombs, Mequoql shook her head, "I can't make an emotion bomb on purpose, so whatever experiments you're planning will have to be adjusted accordingly."
Mequoql telepathically scanned again and assured Adam, "I don't sense any more living moufreta in range of my telepathy, except for the one that's still running away from us." Mequoql noticed another thought and gasped, "Two of the ones staying behind have encountered Mael! They're okay now, thank goodness..."
Distracted again, Mequoql smiled at the good news that moufretas were edible. "Ooh! I call dibs on a liver for lunch!" she called to Carol, before considering Bonnie's explanation of Dual Catharsis, "What Dual Catharsis does sounds like what various extraction programs for the spaceship's sick bay pods do. Almost all of which are beyond my personal ability to imitate."
Morpho rummaged in the truck and fetched the ropes. He casually hauled the heavy broken-necked moufreta corpse and asked Carol, "Anything else I can do to help?"
Truck ~ Forest's Edge (Bonnie, Carol; Mequoql, Morpho; NCH; Eris)
Mequoql did another telepathic scan and stifled a chuckle at how accidentally conspicuous Eris was making herself with thoughts of stealth. Clearly Eris didn't know there was a telepath or how to hide from one. When Eris finally decided to show herself, Mequoql commented, "Boy, you got here fast."
WFS Hummingbird Cockpit (Maequoql)
Maequoql picked up the past trail of Mael at the same time as her younger sister did. Apparently Mael had been busy before the Web encountered him, but for how long? And more importantly, where would he hit next? Maequoql gave the forest one last once-over, didn't find any clues more recent than this one, and checked in with the rest of the Web members. Everybody was okay at the moment, so she turned her attention to the large concrete trench, starting at the town and scanning her way south.
WFS Hummingbird Rec Room (Moquoql, Aynara, Arnaya; Explorer of Unknowns, Felian)
Moquoql made an unceremonious entrance to the rec room, intent on returning for more stimulating conversation with Explorer of Unknowns. She was surprised to see the twins instead of her older sister, but one telepathic summary later, she sat down to watch the imminent fireworks.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Aug 1st 2018 at 7:31:20 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
< Forest, Waiting - Washingtonians and Inanna >
As Eris left, Joseph stepped away from the other two and began quietly counting to the air. He got to "Thickxth" before he had to slow down and start repeating himself. However, when he heard Inanna's precarious question to Henry, he couldn't resist turning a curious eye in their direction, joined by an impish—as impish as his lizardy mouth could look—smile.
Henry held up a finger, "Now that... that was me..." he paused, seemingly frozen with nowhere to go, before dropping his hand and shrugging casually. "Well, I didn't know what I was saying. I thought I had a point but, if I did, I arrived at the wrong one. Don't think too much of it."
He seemed like he'd finished, but after a few long seconds, he gave Inanna another look. "And you know, about your outfit, I honestly was not trying to offend you. It's just that, I don't know if you've noticed with-" he waved his hand at her scythe, "with- with your admittedly glorious torch in hand, but out here it's pretty cold, and damp, and a little windy, and it could be hours before we see even a glimmer of daylight, let alone the full rays of the sun. I just thought you might be uncomfortable. I didn't mean to blaspheme anyone or anything."
Putting his slight disappointment aside, Joe untied the jacket from around his waist and slung it over one arm. He shivered, coiling his newly exposed tail around one leg as a particularly icy breeze blew past. It seemed that standing around—for whatever unfathomable reason—wasn't the best way to keep one's body heat up.
"Dyacket's sthill up for grabth," he called out, raising it up to be seen. "If lou wannit."
Edited by Ryuhza on Aug 1st 2018 at 9:47:18 AM
this place needs me here
It's a bird.
Mouth of the Smaller River (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind)
"Fleshy..?" Jann asked, abruptly slowing himself to a halt mid-step. It was too late.
One of the logs in the river morphed, it's wet bark rearranging itself into sickly folds of doughy flesh as Jann stared at it with both fear and what was probably a bit too much fascination for his own good.
Part of the strange creature - It was definitely something alive - turned into a makeshift arm of sorts and pushed Ozurr's axe to the side, while a long tendril covered in chitinous barbs shot out towards Jann. He tried to jump out of the way, but it coiled itself around his leg, and he felt the sharp barbs pierce his skin.
"Gaaah! Gods..." he grunted to himself before tumbling to the ground, slipping in the mud of the riverbank as the creature pulled on his leg with inhuman strength. Jann frantically dug his hands into the mud, doing his best to resist being pulled into the river. He wasn't strong enough though, and soon felt the chill of water against his legs.
He was in no condition to focus on a spell, and instead desperately reached for the gun at his hip.
On the beach behind him, Varg drew the shotgun from her back with the same cold determination she would always display before a fight, and ran towards the river.
Edited by Corvidae on Aug 2nd 2018 at 9:27:33 PM
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.Mouth of the Smaller River (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind)
Rosalind's last lucid thought was, "This world has shapeshifters?" And then, right next to her, Jann was attacked. Rosalind hissed and intercepted the hostile shapeshifter before it could get to the river. She stomped on the tendril, hoping to make it let go of Jann, but soon found her own foot caught in the mass. She was yanked off her feet and dragged along with Jann into the river. Soaked and dizzy, with water in her eyes forcing them to shut, Rosalind felt around with her hands, bit into the nearest non-human flesh she could smell, and injected a dose of muscle relaxant through her fangs. The creature's grip on herself and Jann loosened just enough for Rosalind to pull her foot free. Disoriented and not knowing which way was dry land, Rosalind anchored herself and tried to grab Jann to haul him out of the creature's grip. It was more difficult than she was expecting, the creature's grip was already starting to tighten again.
Apparently this shapeshifter could clear drugs out of its system much faster than non-shapeshifters, but Rosalind was not in the right state of mind to notice that. She'd gone berserk in a protective fit of rage.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Aug 2nd 2018 at 1:32:35 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Truck at the Forest (Bonnie, Carol; Morpho, Mequoql; NCH)
Mequoql felt a small twinge of pain in her head as one moufreta's neck broke and it died quickly. More pain came as Adam's arrow skewered another moufreta and it slowly started dying. She ignored her steadily worsening headache as best she could, telekinetically holding the dying moufreta to keep it from thrashing its way into the battlefield, and warned, "Cover your ears! Too much death makes me scream a sonic attack!" Her fingers tensed and trembled as she dug her claws into the trunk and clutched it like a lifeline.
Morpho dutifully shut off his microphones and prepared to club the last moufreta just in case Mequoql's upcoming scream-propelled emotion bomb didn't make it run away.
Meanwhile, Mequoql wasn't the only Mayatan sister dealing with moufreta...
Spheroid Dropship note (Murquoql)
Murquoql's psychic radar detected five predators approaching and she poked her head out to see what they were. A gang of reptilian moufretas stared back at her. According to her psychic radar, they were trying to guess how she would taste.
Murquoql, hoping to intimidate her way out of a fight, flared her gliding membranes, bared her claws and teeth, and hissed.
The moufretas bared their own teeth, whooped war cries back, then charged. Well, that didn't work.
Murquoql levitated ten pea-sized rocks and launched them up each of the moufretas' nostrils, causing them to squawk in pain. Murquoql used the opportunity to follow up with launching five grape-sized rocks down their throats. Coughing, sneezing, and gasping for air, the five moufretas went staggering away.
Murquoql got an idea. She telekinetically yanked on the forelimbs, sending the moufretas stumbling along The Scar away from the rainforest.
Murquoql surveyed her handiwork with grim satisfaction. This probably wouldn't kill them, it would certainly leave them suffering much longer than killing them on the spot would. On the off chance that if any of them did suffocate from the rocks shifting into worse positions, the moufretas would be out of range of her psychic radar by that time. Hopefully they would never mess with another Mayatan again. Perhaps they would even warn other moufretas... maybe. Murquoql doubted that, they seemed rather stupid.
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.