_{^< cont. from} Forest, Edge - Now Presenting _{^> Henry, Joseph — Adam, Amy, Jackson, Marie, Maya, Nick — Bonnie, Carol, Lily — Mequoql, Morpho — Maitu}


Steadying his smile into something a little more passive, Joseph glanced from Maitu over to Henry, who was pressing his fingers against his forehead as if he was trying to cook a bag of popcorn with his mind.


For his part, Henry was grappling with the discovery that his thoughts could be read at any moment. He tried to focus on his mind, thinking of ways he could protect it, or at least keep from thinking oddly dark thoughts or picturing overly-personal memories. This is a lock, he thought, visualizing a great big padlock with a dozen ornate keyholes. No no, this is a vault, the padlock shifted as imagined, becoming a high-security bank vault. You'll have to get through it if you want to read my mind. Not to mention the security checkpoint, laser grid, and moat of hungry crocodiles.

As ridiculous as the idea seemed, the events of the past two days had left him with an open-enough mind to try it anyway. He faced Mequoql, arms folded with bit of a jumped-up sense of confidence. However, before she took any notice, Henry thought he heard Joseph's name pop up amidst the hush of whispers over in the circle of teenagers. He glanced at them and, sure enough, they seemed to be looking in Joseph's direction. With a slight frown, Henry glanced at the surrounding trees, as if he were admiring the scenery, all the while taking casual steps closer to the teens.


Joseph rubbed the side of his head hesitantly, but it didn't seem like Henry was doing anything terribly important, nor did it seem like he was trying to regroup so they could mull over their situation. In any case, the group and encampment were both small enough that there was no chance of either of them losing complete track of the other. So with a shrug, Joe glanced back at Maitu and shrugged. "Uh... th-" he cleared his throat, "ssure, I guesth."

He began to walk closer to the rest of the group, when the teen with the eyepatch called out to him. They wanted his side of the Mael story. Again he hesitated, this time looking to the fur covered alien who had helped translate his speech before. She seemed busy, talking to Henry about something or other, leaving him to handle speaking on his own. The robot guy concurred, and Joseph was starting to feel both warm at all the neighborly friendliness, and a growing burden of expectation. It was silly, all they wanted was him to recount his perspective, probably three sentences at most. But in his state, with so many eyes on him...

He took a few more steps towards Marie, with twitchy fingers and tail anxiously ruffling the jacket hanging from his waist. It wasn't terribly cold anymore, but the cover put him just a little more at ease.

Standing before his small audience, he shrugged. "Ah'll tly- dgh..." Stopping himself, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried to concentrate on his tongue and the motions of his mouth. "I. will. try."


Henry continued his covert eavesdropping, acting especially interested in what looked like a nearby gopher hole when Marie called out to Joseph directly. If they were about to put him under a microscope, they had another thing coming.

Once again, Mequoql called him to attention, briefly pulling his focus away. She asked him to run through his Mael memory once more, this time in his head.

"Oh, you want to try and read it, huh?" He asked, a sly smile creeping onto his face. "Well," he held his hands out in a shrug, then pointed both fingers at his head, "if you think you can." Again he visualized his mental high security, before going through his Mael memory with as few embellishments as possible.

When she proceeded as usual, seeming to have found whatever she'd been wanting to find, Henry frowned. "You... you got all that?"


"Tho..." Joseph began, still closing his eyes as he tried to concentrate on his memory and pronunciation, "Mael comth'out, talk-king to Henmry, an- uh... I'm behund a tuhree. Then... Henny geth'all quiet, an I take a look, an Mael hathisth— ...ahurm, Mael... has... his... hand... his hand on Hemry's souller." He patted his own shoulder to be clear. "I thoughd Hem- ...Hemry- Henry wass in trouble, tho I threw, uh... a shtick at them." Again, he made a throwing motion with his arm to help get the story across. "Then, uh, Mael shtarted sthouting at me, but I don' thing he knew where I wath." Finally, he opened his eyes and shrugged, "And then I guess he walked away."

He glanced between those listening, waiting to see if at least the gist of what he'd said was understandable. While he waited, a uniformed girl with rabbit ears approached him with funky glowing circles around her fingers. She said she was going to check if there was magic at work. Joe blinked, unsure of what else to do but go with it.

He drew his head back a bit, presenting the rest of himself so she could do whatever she had to, though he couldn't help but ask, "Ith thiths gonna... ss-sting... at all?"

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Southeastern Coast - Mindful _{^> David — Varla — Lerna, Nerea — Sallara}


David nodded enthusiastically at Nerea's peace offering. If they had a consistent message, the apprehensive newcomer would be more receptive to what they had to say, and less likely to spray them all with however-many gallons of seawater. With that in mind, he could only stare in disbelief as Varla—following her oddly sudden and impressive display of mer-acrobatics—drew a sword and threatened both the bleeding girl on the beach and her most enthusiastic rescuer.

By a much-needed stroke of good fortune, their confused approach didn't escalate the situation. In fact, the good will seemed to have overcome any hostility, and the stranger quickly backed down. Apparently it had all been a bad case of mistaken identity, heavily worsened by her agitated state. David felt some relief when Varla returned her sword to its resting place, though even as he watched he found himself idly massaging his sore fingers.

He looked to the newcomer, ready to ask her a thing or two when Varla mentioned her healing cantrip.

Cantrip.

Reaching up to sweep back his ears, David half-suppressed a sudden shiver. He quickly pressed his hands to his achy sides, only to meet once again with his watery bindings, which didn't exactly help the matter on his mind.

Cantrip. He hadn't heard the word in a long time, and while its healing nature roused a certain suspicion, the word itself dredged up a deluge of more troublesome memories. Poglean, and all of those carelessly hushed voices.

                             The man of the beastly cantrip...

                             ...of course I'm grateful, but how could it have been worth it?

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Temple Ruins - Radius De Caelo _{^> Joseph — Nasur}


Even before he hit the ground, Joseph felt himself being dragged back. Once he landed, he dug his short-clawed fingers and toes into the dirt, engraving his final resistance. The tugging force was so strong it threatened to lift his feet into the air, carrying him to the monster's amorphous clutches.

Somehow it hadn't overtaken him completely by that point. It stopped barely three feet from his tail, which he was desperately trying to coil away. Still his heart pounded. If he lost his grip for even an instant, he was surely done for. Even if he held on, the force continued to drag him across the ground, and his claws felt ready to split.

Suddenly, a hooded figure emerged at the temple entrance. The figure's barren skin was withered and almost zombie-like in appearance, even down to the blue skin. As the zombie man grabbed his arms, Joseph was all but ready to give up in the face of an excessively unfortunate fate.

"Push!" The figure yelled. "Push with all of your strength!"

The familiar sound of words was enough to give Joe the last kick he needed. Releasing his hands from the dirt, he did as he was told and pushed his burning legs through one last firey cycle. To his surprise, the combined effort of his pushing and the hooded figure's pulling easily broke free of the force that had gripped him so tightly. Maybe a little too easily. Like a bullet exploding from a gun, the sudden unbridled force sent Joseph reeling into his wispy savior, who was already moving backwards in trying to get him on his feet— an effort that had been successful, if only for a moment. Joe toppled into the hooded figure and—without enough energy left in him to even brace for impact—careened to the ground, where he collapsed belly-up with a great, heaving breath.

tilting his head sideways, he got one lingering look back out the temple's entrance, at the nightmarish creature that had come so close to ending him. He was worried it would try to squeeze through somehow. That he would be prompted to start running again. He didn't know if he could even get up.

But the monster wasn't there, looming over him as he'd feared. It was leaving, and—unless his eyes were playing tricks on him—encased in some kind of bright light. A ray from the sky.

A weight slipped off of him, and there he laid. His arms, legs, and tail were still coated in some of the dried mud he'd brought all the way from the coast, and his banana-yellow shirt looked bruised. His hands, elbows, knees, and feet were scraped mixes of blood, dirt, and sand, but he was alive, and he didn't have to run.

Edited by Ryuhza on Sep 17th 2018 at 4:16:34 AM

[Forest of friendship]

Nick cringed when Morpho twisted his neck again. "Please stop doing that, dude...it's fucking creepy."

Again, the teens listened to Joseph's side of the story, and they stared at him in absolute shock.

"...You saved him," Amy said, nearly squealing, "Joseph, you saved Henry! The both of you managed to stop him before he brainwashed you!"

"Alright!" Nick said, walking over to Joseph and giving him a pat on the back, "You're a badass, buddy! Both of you guys are!"

Marie gently took Joseph's hands and smiled softly. "Thank you. You two have been more than helpful. Now, since you'll be here with us for a bit, why don't you make yourselves comfortable?" She let go when Lily offered to check on him, "I'm going to try to help out with the food."

"In your dress?" Jackson said, "That blood is gonna be bitch to rub off."

"My outfit's already been ruined. I got nothing else to lose." Marie flipped her hair, "Besides, I have bigger priorities than this." She then decided to walk over to Carol and knelt down, "Do you have an extra knife?"

Jackson shrugged, and that's when he noticed Henry coming to their direction, looking concerned. "Uh...you alright?"

Adam got off his stump of sorrow and dusted himself off. It still hurt that he had to run into a Joseph with none of the memories of their friendship, but he decided to put that aside. These people needed help and company; him being gloomy wasn't going to help. He trotted over to where his remaining friends were.

When he looked at Henry, he realized how much he hated being short. The man was practically towering him, which only made him even more nervous.

"H-Hi..." he said, rubbing his arm.

"He's shy," Maya said, "Don't take it personally. Once he knows you a little better, he'll loosen up. For now, think of him like a kitten."

Adam shot her an annoyed glare and sighed.

Edited by Masterofchaos on Sep 16th 2018 at 12:09:29 PM

Rainforest (Seenarnha, Swanwhite, Lectri, Plasma; Witch Snake)

^{Author's note:}  I expect the killed-by-a-curse tree branch would burn just like a mundane dead tree branch, but just in case I'm wrong, I wrote to leave room for different effects.

Seenarnha's magic detector showed no difference between the dead foliage and the background magic field, so she lowered the glass with a slightly disappointed sigh. Out of idle curiosity, her levitation snapped a small crooked branch off the first dead tree and held it over the concrete road. She considered which dragonhorse could use the target practice while fishing out plain ordinary sunglasses from Swanwhite's cargo bags. Swanwhite was already a sharpshooter. Lectri and Plasma could use more practice, but Lectri's aim was terrible enough to probably set the rainforest on fire.

Seenarnha put the sunglasses on, looked through the magic detector's glass, and commanded, "Plasma, burn it," telepathically clarifying the target.

The little dragonhorse stepped forward and took aim at the floating branch. A loop of solar-flare-shaped flame whipped out of her mouth and engulfed the branch.

Seenarnha watched the effects and praised, "Good girl!" She scritchied Plasma behind her ears, put the sunglasses back and inspected first the aftermath, then the wilted spots of foliage that she suspected were Fred's footprints. Seenarnha fished out blue baubles that looked like Christmas ornaments. Well, they were, but they had been repurposed. Seenarnha mounted Lectri and rode her off the concrete road, marking their trail with the occasional bauble. Swanwhite and Plasma followed.

After a bit of riding, Seenarnha spotted a large snake and signaled, "Whoa." Under less dire circumstances, she would have squeed and cooed at it, but she forced herself to remain calm and businesslike. Seenarnha thought about maybe offering to share body heat with the snake after making sure it would be safe to do so. The dragonhorses would be warmer than herself. She glanced through the magic detector at the snake. Well, no wonder the dragonhorses were fidgeting warily, this wasn't just any snake, there was something magical about it.

"Steady, girls, shaiye," Seenarnha reassured as she dismounted. Now the question was what exactly was that magic up to — was it the life-draining curse, or was it something else? Was the snake's shabby appearance something that could be chalked up to imminent molting? The magic detector wouldn't give a direct answer, it wasn't the kind of tool that would do that.

Seenarnha fished some cold iron tongs out of Swanwhite's cargo bags, just in case the snake turned hostile, and started telepathically scanning the snake's mind, looking for immediate intentions and any indication of gender.

Rosalind flinched at the suddenness of the spiky manifestation.

"Would throwing down my weapon be of any reassuranccce?" Nyceme said to the new group.

"Not when it does that!" Rosalind pointed at the spiky cage.

Rosalind had never heard of the land of Crownen. Jann and Varg introduced themselves. Meanwhile, out of breath, Rosalind shielded her nose and mouth in the tattered sleeve on her elbow and carefully inhaled, trying not to overload her sense of smell with Nyceme's perfume. An errant thought mused on what this pose would look like with a cape. Still shielding her mouth so that nobody could read her lips, Rosalind murmured, "Ozurr, if she's lying to hide an attack on me, I want you to throw me as far as you can upstream across the river, I'll catch up with you later."

Varg said, "I think you can come out now."

Rosalind shook her head at Varg and addressed Nyceme in a slightly gentler but still suspicious tone, "But if you're just peaceful travelers, then what was all that conspiratorial whispering for?" She carefully inhaled air filtered through her sleeve again.

The second telepathic message Mequoql had sent out had her seeing for herself what Bonnie had to say about Carol. Mequoql hid a mischievous grin behind her hand and started telepathically playing a certain Earth song used in pranks in Carol's head.

Mequoql sighed, "Yup, I did. Nice try, but... no wonder Mael was able to mind-control you, your mental shields felt like cardboard. Good news, though, the more you exercise them the stronger they'll grow. I can help you practice."

Nick cringed when Morpho twisted his neck again. "Please stop doing that, dude... it's fucking creepy."

"What? What did I do?" Morpho asked, befuddled.

Mequoql turned her attention to Joseph and translated, "He says... So, Mael comes out, talking to Henry, and I'm behind a tree. Then Henry gets all quiet, and I take a look, and Mael has his hand on Henry's shoulder. I thought Henry was in trouble, so I threw a stick at them. Then Mael started shouting at me, but I don't think he knew where I was. And then I guess he walked away." Apparently this was cause for celebration among the Not-Chaos Hunters, but Mequoql privately thought the whole event was a stroke of sheer dumb luck.

When Bonnie closed the distance on Joseph, Mequoql translated again, "Is this gonna sting at all?"

As Marie offered to help with the moufreta, Morpho realized, "Oh, right, I was going to help, too." He walked back over to Carol.

Now that Joseph was safe, Maequoql typed, "Interesting abilities, Mr. Safon. Do you by any chance have experience with vampires, life-draining curses, missing kids, or mind-controllers?"

Parking Lot - bikes (Kaitlyn, Kris, James; Murquoql and the Dragonhorses)

Kaitlyn gave a grin. "We're going to the Ghost Town and, according to the map, they're both in the same general direction from here."

Murquoql was about to say something when a sudden fight on her telepathic radar interrupted. It was Mark and Farah, and they were in trouble! Murquoql couldn't intervene, her head was flooded with data detailing every second of the short-lived fight and she needed to finish processing it or else she'd be what some humans called a Leeroy Jenkins and that wouldn't end well. Mark ran away as the stranger knocked Farah unconscious. Mark was heading for the parking lot, but where did John Smith, Security Service, just send the stranger and Farah? The horses had disappeared too, well that was just peachy.

Murquoql bared her teeth in a snarl of annoyance. Whoever that electric-wielding stranger was, Murquoql would have to commit a lot of resources if she were to pick a fight with that stranger. She telepathically instructed Zing to retrieve Mark. As the dragonhorse cantered off...

James continued to stare in the direction of the noticeboard a moment then returned his attention to the furry alien and her unusual beasts. "I do apologise, that was quite the distraction. May I ask why you are interested in our destination?"

Speaking out loud would take too long. Instead, Murquoql telepathically broadcasted to Kaitlyn, Kris and James, "Two reasons, now that this emergency has happened. Those people who got ambushed, Mark and Farah, were planning on going to the Ghost town, but now they're in trouble and I don't know how that'll change their plans, but as you can see, Mark is running straight for us." Zing was now in position.

On a separate "frequency", Murquoql telepathically spoke into Mark's mind, "It's me, Murquoql. I'm in the parking lot. The dragonhorse is my pet, get in the saddle and he'll take you to safety."

Murquoql switched back to telepathically broadcasting to Kaitlyn, Kris and James, "The original reason is I was looking for volunteers to supplement an understaffed search party looking for a missing kid in the rainforest. But I'm sure my searching friend can cope for a while longer, she has the other half of this dragonhorse herd."

On her microchip communicator, Murquoql signaled her older sister Maequoql, "John Smith, Security Service just teleported two fighters out of town. One had plans to accompany me partway to the rainforest, the other attacked out of nowhere. Do you know where they went?" What followed was a long stream of data on what Murquoql had "overheard" of their minds so that Maequoql could recognize them.

WFS Hummingbird Cockpit (Maequoql)

As if Maequoql didn't have enough people to look for already. She swept her telepathic "searchlight" over town and confirmed to Murquoql that Farah and Parthenia were indeed no longer in town. And as a side note, Mael had not returned to town.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Sep 17th 2018 at 10:40:24 AM

The Scar (Chitara's Wagon) - near the river

As the wagon came to a halt, Finn and Pearl slowed their bikes to a stop and Pearl, Finn and Aubrey dismounted., Chitara asked if they had any idea of what to do with the large alligator or crocodile.

For his own part, Aubrey hadn't the faintest idea. This adventure was stranger than he had ever imagined it would be, even having seen some of the lifeforms on the space-borne cruise ship. He was in the company of an undead snake woman and strange bird-people approaching a blue giant and an enormous reptile. Suddenly, the fact that he had brought a few firearms and the means to live out in the wilderness didn't seem as 'well-prepared' as it had when leaving Terra Nova. The term was offensive to him, but he could now understand why people called James, Wolfe, Karl, Teri, Kris and Peggy 'Mad Bastards' - they did this sort of thing for fun!

He took his cues from Finn, who was at least experienced in travelling to strange worlds and dealing with their inhabitants and visitors.

Finn was at a loss as well, the reptile looked far too big to make any sort of sense. If it turned hostile, would the firearms be any use against it? And what if it was the blue giant's pet? So far, the group didn't seem to be hostile - just going about their own business. It was clear that they could see the wagon and the bikes and the only response seemed to be that the red-haired woman moved noticeably closer to the men as if nervous.

Then Nyceme approached the group, causing the red-haired woman to flee in terror and hide behind the giant - Finn mused that the group ought to develop some sort of protocol for approaching groups in which those who were least likely to scare the others made first contact.

In response to the woman's fear, the blue giant took an enormous axe from his belt and made it clear that Nyceme had approached close enough for now.

Pearl was hardly surprised - the woman's terror at the sight of a snakewoman was obvious and the blue giant was just as clearly protective of his companion. The fact that the other two readied firearms was understandable but Pearl's hand dropped to the grip of her AKM in case things got heated. The only reason she did nothing more was the fact that the human-looking man and the strange woman made no overt signs of hostility once they had drawn their weapons - they were just being cautious.

Pearl could see that Finn had also moved his hand close to his G36 and she murmured quietly to Aubrey. "Don't make any threatening moves, but be ready to take cover if this goes badly."

Aubrey, still taking his cues from Finn, placed his hand near the grip of his AKM but didn't raise the weapon.

For some bizarre reason, Saen chose to approach the enormous crocodile, forcing the red-haired woman to reposition herself. From her point of safety behind the axe-weilding giant, the woman called out, asking if Nyceme had been sent by someone.

For Finn, this put a whole new complexion on things. The red-head wasn't scared because she had never seen a snakewoman before, she was scared because someone might conceivably send one after her. That raised a whole lot of questions about the world she came from.

Nyceme then tossed her scepter behind her as a sign that she meant no harm and introduced herself.

To Aubrey's great relief, Nyceme's act prompted the man and the strange-looking woman to put away their firearms and introduce themselves.

Nyceme's gesture and Varg saying it was safe to come out didn't seem to reassure the red-haired woman, however.

Finn raised his right hand in greeting, taking it far from the grip of his rifle. "We mean none-a yez any harm. Sure we've got snake-women, harpies 'n' firearms 'n' one'v our group is not exactly alive, but that doesn't make us bad people." The only thing he had managed to catch from the earlier whispered conversation was the loud bit about one of the women being a vampire and it seemed pretty obvious which one it might be. "I think some of the group is as worried about you lot as you are about us - y've got an axe-weilding giant, an enormous crocodile 'n' firearms and some seem to think she's a vampire." He pointed at Varg. "But we can't just sit here starin' at each other all day an' any fight would be bad for both sides." He made an expansive gesture at the terrain to indicate that it didn't provide the best cover if a fire fight broke out.

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql, Nyorla)

The boy pulled off the cover. Upon peering into Unit 09, he backed away slightly, eyes wide.

Inside the box, nestled among wires alongside a canister and other small devices was... a girl, one who had undergone hip and shoulder disarticulation. At first glance, one might mistake her for a porcelain doll; a pale, featureless body, silver hair tied up in a braid to keep it from getting entangled in anything, glassy silver eyes that stared off into the distance, and very much unmoving. However, one would notice the subtle motions of apparent breathing, pupil dilation, and the occasional twitch.

Jet black metal plates, cold to the touch, were bolted to her hips and shoulders. Bundles of wires were embedded in various locations, the base of her head, below her lower jaw, the base of her neck, the small of her back, the center of her chest, a spot just below her chest, and one where her navel, had she had one, would be. Some wires were connected to a rudimentary speaker, others to a box in plug in the back that had formerly been the port of connection to the Panzerfaust.

Most notable, however, was the gaping abdominal wound, which revealed something rather bizarre: blue "viscera", suspended in a cloudy blue gel that pulsated with a faint glow. One particularly blue, spongy, pool-noodle-looking thing, to which a tube leading from the external canister was connected to, was severed in two, the source of the "fuel" leak. There was a packet of... stuff... that glittered in the light, a jagged tear in it letting out darker blue fluid that made the gel a bit clearer.

Off to the top side of the wound, closer to the core of her body, a strange mechanism, comprised of an eclectic blend of vacuum tubes and somewhat crude integrated circuits could be seen in an area of clearer gel. One of the vacuum tubes had been compromised, and was now slowly flooding with the dark blue fluid.

At the very back were crystalline bones, with a shard of lanceros horn wedged between two vertebrae.

Heading away from Town (Moobly, Nora; Karl, Peggy, Sophia)

Nodding in agreement with Sophia, Nora pointed onward, shouting, "Full speed ahead!"

Moobly shook her head, deciding to remain silent.

Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Sallara; David; Varla)

Lerna blinked the seawater from her eyes, still keeping her hands up. "Umm..." she said awkwardly.

The empress used her tail to redirect Lerna's curious little crustacean from further upsetting their guest; skittering things had that affect on people, as previously demonstrated by David. She waved a hand in her servant's direction, "Relax, my dear," to which the serpentine girl complied.

Lerna then proceeded to give a bow of thanks in response to the other merfolk's curtsy, with the empress following suit with a bow of her head.

"I can not fault you for your actions. It is only natural to re-act defensively to a perceived enemy," Nerea calmly stated.

She then turned her head towards Varla, raising an eyebrow. The mermaid had a means of healing? That would have come in handy with David's injuries. Perhaps after healing the merfolk lady, she would be willing to render aid to the furry man.

Lerna, too, fixed her attention on the mermaid in anticipation of what she was about to do.

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Matiu; Henry, Joseph; NCH; Mequoql, Morpho)

Bonnie shook her head when Joseph asked if it would sting, "Not unless you're already stinging, in which case I'd be able to eventually figure out what's bothering you. In this case, there shouldn't be any side-effects."

Holding her hands out, she slowly worked her way around him, hmming thoughtfully to herself. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary that she could detect; then again, she was barely qualified to be a physician's intern.

With her check of the lizard man complete, she gave him a slow shake of her head, "Well, the good news is that you're a perfectly healthy lizard man. But, according to you and your friend, you're supposed to be human, and I can't seem to find the reason why you're not." Her head and ears drooped, "Sorry," she said mornfully.

Meanwhile, oblivious to Mequoql's attempts at projecting the Best British Single of 1988 into her head due to her metal amalgam infused skull, Carol passed Marie a spare knife as she returned to prepping the moufreta corpses. "You know how t'do this, or do I have t'teach you, too?" she asked, glancing briefly at Morpho.

She gently nudged the girl in her side with her elbow, "Anyway, you don't have t'worry much about gettin' your dress dirty; I'm sure one o'the others has a cleaning spell or somethin' that should do the trick, otherwise this jacket o'mine would be mostly blood by now," she said, poking a patch for effect.

Upon making eye contact with Mequoql however... I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling / Gotta make you understand / Never gonna give you up...

"The hell?" Carol gave gave the alien a perplexed head tilt, before making a silent "oh" as she came to the conclusion that Mequoql had taken a rather sudden romantic interest in her. "M'kay, so she's a bit like Mai, then. I suppose I can work with that," she said with a dismissive shrug.

A room in the Hotel

A lone eye snapped open.

For the second time that day, the animated hand scythe felt like it was being watched, in a similar way to being around the satori.

A bit on the larger side, the kama was a bit ornate, with a silvery blade, gold accents, a yellow eye-like gemstone set at the point where the blade and handle overlapped, and crimson leather wrapped around its teak handle.

The leather unfurled and began fluttering like a pair of wings as the scythe began hovering.

It sent out a distressed "ping" to its master, Admiral Akane, having been left behind as she went about her walk.

Upon receiving a reply and location from its master, it headed towards the room's window... only to bump harmlessly off the glass. Returning to its master's side wasn't that urgent of a matter, so it looked around the room for another way out...

The Scar, near the River (Jann, Varg, Rosalind, Ozurr, Zarokh, Saen, Nyceme, Sindar, Jamie, Chitara, Naiolo, Pearl, Aubrey, Finn)

Ozurr did a double-take when Rosalind asked him to throw her if the snake-woman seemed hostile. Of all the things he had ever been asked to do, in nearly two centuries of life, that was by far the strangest. But Rosalind seemed pretty earnest about this, so he nodded and paid close attention to this Nyceme person.

Nothing about Nyceme immediately registered as suspicious to Ozurr, beyond the toxic cloud of perfume that everyone around her seemed to be reacting to. Ozurr suspected he might have had a reaction too, if he hadn't been innoculated against overwhelming odors by the constant stench of sharing a palace with several dozen nuckelavees. He lowered his axe, slightly.

The staff that she tossed behind her, on the other hand, sent a cold chill up his spine the instant he looked at it. He couldn't tell why without opening his Third Eye properly, but something about it just seemed fundamentally wrong. He raised his axe, slightly.

One of the other members of the new group, a human by the looks of it, came forward and addressed them. Then he said the word "vampire."

Ozurr blinked in surprise. "How did you..." Then he realized that the man was pointing at Varg when he said it. Ozurr tried, and failed, not to laugh. "I'm sorry," he said, catching his breath. "I can't even tell you why that's funny."

At that moment, Zarokh felt something make contact with his flank. He turned and saw a second snake-mammal-thing placing her hand on him. Zarokh stared, dumbfounded, at the sheer brazenness of the act. "I'm sorry," he finally said in an irritated tone, "do I know you?"

Traveling up the River (Akane; Krakka'a)

Krakka'a would have shrugged if he didn't need both of his wings to stay airborne. "Hey, you're all new species to me. As far as I could tell, that may have just been some sort of weird sexual dimorphism."

Think, Krakka'a. She's only helping you as long as you can hold her interest, and it's a long way to the coast. What has she shown interest in?

"So, perhaps you can enlighten me. What exactly, other than the horns, is the difference between a human and an Oni?"

Traveling up the River (Akane; Krakka'a)

Akane stopped for a moment. "Ha! Sexual dimorphism? I've got your sexual dimorphism right here," she said, pushing up on her breasts, causing them to jiggle slightly, "It's what makes us mammals: these plush pillows. Mammaries, breasts, boobs, titties and teats, udders, etcetera etcetera," she said, waving her hand, "Females generally have 'em; males, not so much."

At that moment, she received a mental distress cry from her weapon. Closing her eyes, she then snapped her fingers, giving her current location for her weapon to lock on to.

"Oh, right, differences between humans and oni..." she said, snapping her gaze back up towards Krakka'a, "Oni are said to be ten times stronger than your usual human, same goes for their speed and durability. We oni also have more pronounced fangs, and sometimes a much more vivid skin color. We also tend to be a bit bigger, though not so much in my case," she stated, returning to their original course for the Coast of Chills.

All the meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, the oni's fair skin was beginning to redden.

Edited by WillDeRegio on Sep 19th 2018 at 4:52:02 AM

The Scar (Chitara's Wagon) — near the river

Jann, Varg, Rosalind, Ozurr, Zarokh, Saen, Nyceme, Sindar, Jamie, Chitara, Naiolo, Pearl, Aubrey, Finn

Rosalind cast a surprised look in the speaker's direction at this proclamation. Which one? She glanced up at Ozurr, the question in her eyes.

Rosalind cautiously stepped out from behind Ozurr to get a better view of the assembly, scrutinizing each one in turn. Her gaze examined Nyceme most closely — there was something familiar about that snake lady... "Does he mean you? Are you the not-exactly-alive one?"

Rosalind did a double take. She wasn't the one being pointed at? She stifled any further surprised reaction. She wanted to capitalize on the mistaken identity, but there were too many people who were able to correct the pointer, whether by accident or deliberately. Rosalind couldn't shush them all without drawing attention to what she was concealing. It was frustrating.

Rosalind didn't know exactly what Nyceme knew, but Rosalind could guess. Either the stranger on the motorcycle had made a mistake independent of Nyceme's magic or he was relaying a mistake that Nyceme's magic had made. Based on Rosalind's past experience (all of Rosalind's previous attempts to deceive mages had fallen flat), it was almost certain that Nyceme didn't have a case of mistaken identity.

Ozurr's coverup was too much of a hint. Rosalind was about to give him a disapproving look, but she reminded herself that it wasn't his fault that her secret was either busted already or about to be busted in the next few seconds.

The stranger on the motorcycle had a good point...

Rosalind caught movement out of the corner of her eye and looked to see what was going on. Was the other snake lady poking Zarokh? That wasn't very smart, poking a giant gator...

Rosalind wondered, if Zarokh caused a big enough fuss, would she be able to use the distraction to her advantage? She reviewed what she'd just thought and realized she was just grasping at straws.

Rosalind snapped under the suspense. She had an escape plan, might as well fast-forward to see if she needed it. In one fatalistic shout, she blurted out, "Oh, what's the use? I can't hide it from Nyceme, let's just get it over with! I'm the vampire! If anyone has a problem with that, say it to my face!"

Moquoql's face set in a grim mask. "An engineer's not the only thing you need. You need a doctor. To Sick Bay!" With telekinesis stifling all jostles, Moquoql carefully gathered Unit 09 into her arms and carried the box and its precious cargo through the quarantine airlock that led directly to Sick Bay, muttering something about spells and skewed priorities.

A pod descended from the ceiling, but when Moquoql set Unit 09 down inside, an error message popped up on the pod's screen. "Of course," Moquoql grumbled, "The anti-magic nodes. I knew they were going to get in the way. What would happen if I try to temporarily uninstall and remove them?" That wasn't the only option, but the others were more labor-intensive — Murquoql could tinker with the pod and make it work around the projected fields of mundanity (and the pod would squawk all the way), or someone with medical knowledge could do a lot of things manually.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Sep 18th 2018 at 6:42:40 AM

The Park

Mark Tanzer

His chest is on fire.

How…?

His diaphragm cries for mercy.

Why…?

His limbs are beyond pleading.

Here, out of all places…?

His clothes are soaked with cold sweat. He keeps running. Despite it happening some time ago, the sound of gunshots is still ringing in his head.

Farah, you brave stupid bitch…

Something's strange. He's still alive.

Did Farah hit her? No, it's impossible.

He stops. Turns around. Near the Notice Board, where the showdown has occurred, now stands an average-looking man in a suit. Parthenia's gone. So is Farah.

What the hell happened?

Mark stands there in silent shock for a few moments.

I need to find James Turner.

Through the veil of familiar pain in his body comes a long-forgotten sting.

I'm sorry, Farah. Hope you're alive. If you're with Keraunos right now, make sure she still doesn't want to kill you. She's too good of a go-getter.

He turns around… and sees a strange, large, dragon-like beast looking at him. Then a familiar … presence, even strangely at the back of his head, tells him to mount the beast with the promise of safety.

I guess I don't have any choice, Murquoql?

Parking Lot - Bikes

Kaitlyn, Kris and James; Murquoql and the Dragonhorses; Mark Tanzer on Zing

It would be better if I went on my own.

He sees a small crowd near strange-looking machine beasts. The people comprising the crowd are even stranger-looking, even if we don't count his old acquaintance, Murquoql and her herd of dragonhorses. The dragonhorse Mark is riding confidently heads out towards the crowd.

Two of the humans are female, though you couldn't tell it outright. They share the same fashion sense Farah and Parthenia do: masculine clothing, the main quality of which is its practicality. On the other hand, the choice of hair dye (if they indeed dye their hair) of one of the females is decidedly unpractical. The man in brown duster standing next to them looks almost outlandish in his relatively conventional looks.

"Good afternoon," says Mark. He nods to the Mayatan. "Thanks for the help, Murquoql"

He jumps off his mount in one fluid motion.

"Is there anyone named James Turner among you?"

Edited by Millership on Sep 22nd 2018 at 12:01:55 AM

Parking Lot - Bikes

Kaitlyn, Kris and James; Murquoql and the Dragonhorses; Mark Tanzer

Zing had sprung from a standstill directly into a canter to catch up to the man he'd been told to fetch. Zing took more care in slowing and halting beside the man. After some hesitation, the man got in the saddle. Zing carefully accelerated to a canter back the way he came, looking around for anyone else who might ambush the man he'd been told to fetch, but the trip to the parking lot to rejoin the group was uneventful.

The man dismounted and thanked Murquoql, who answered, "You're welcome, Mark." Zing trotted up to Murquoql and got a "Good boy," for his efforts, then he walked back to the man and tentatively took an introductory sniff of the man's sleeve. Murquoql noted, "Looks like Zing wants to say hello."

After a slow, careful zig-zagging descent single file, the herd rejoined the skvader at the tiny trickling brook at the bottom of the canyon. The skvader already had his drink, so he got out of the way as the herd desperately crowded to get their own drinks. There was a bit of pushing among the herd, and glares shot between Rook, Raven and Thunder, but with the hierarchy mostly stable, no outright fights broke out.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Sep 21st 2018 at 7:22:48 AM

WFS Hummingbird Sick Bay (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql)

The boy snapped back to his senses, tagging along with Moquoql as she took the computer to Sick Bay. "Why— why is there a girl in there?!" he asked, "How is she still alive?!"

" This unit is not a living thing. Therefore, it cannot be alive," stated Unit 09, "A doctor is unnecessary. Only a mechanic is needed." Unit 09 fixed her gaze upon the hazy image of her pilot; it had been a while since she last used her eyes for their intended purpose.

The boy shivered and moved out of Unit 09's view.

After a moment, Unit 09 spoke up again, "Removal of anti-magic nodes would allow this unit to access restricted subroutines." It recalled the last time the arctic calibreum parts were removed (forcefully), "In addition, irrational hindrance number one would exceed operational parameters and this unit would become unresponsive for brief while."

The boy shook his head, not understanding anything Unit 09 was talking about.

Edited by WillDeRegio on Sep 21st 2018 at 9:54:35 AM

Chitara's Wagon-Jamie

"Decades, another lifetime." she said, momentarily too exhausted for bravado as she worked on another concoction. She did chuckle at the instrument analogy.

"Of course not, an instrument performs as expected it is made of rules, boundaries, can it truly invent? Make something truly unique?"

Her mind showed her a damp cave, swirls of monstrous coral spires twisting into the ceiling, and a ghostly trumpeter making sound that hurt her mind to try and comprehend, and the naga, inflaming the ears of her barbarian companion until she turned toward her, eyes alight with a maddened mixture of bloodlust and rapture as she raised the polearm and advanced on her.

She blinked a few times as the memory recessed. "Perhaps.. perhaps they aren't so different after all." she conceded.

The young harpid left and there was a yell. No roaring of angered reptile or screams of pain followed so she finished the concoction, re-doned the mask, and left the wagon.

The group were largely interacting with another group of little importance. The raven had apparently left the wagon and taken flight, shadow far from the bickering humanoids. A woman was having an annoying loud breakdown along with plenty of screaming and cowering.

"Silence, I am trying to work!" she yelled back, working on finishing a smelly but harmless mixture to drive away any interfering animals.

Forest-Ulf

It was a rather fun to ride on a motorcycle; Until the paths ended. Gwion was a good driver, he could admit that, because any less skilled of a driver would probably have plowed such a contraption into a tree and died.

He focused on holding on until the bike stopping was almost more abrupt than the thrashing it had gone through with the greenery.

He stumbled away a little green and bent over, bracing his hands on his thighs closed his eyes and took even breaths until the nausea faded away. He took a draw from a metallic canteen in one of the pack's pockets and violently shook his head out to drive any last light-headedness.

He checked the shoelaces of the boots and made sure the TT-33 had its safety on and gestured OK to Wolfe.

Edited by Slysheen on Sep 20th 2018 at 12:11:58 PM

WFS Hummingbird Sick Bay (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql)

Moquoql reached back with her telekinesis to retrieve the toolbox she'd left behind in the transporter room. She asserted, "Living or not, you're still biological. Somehow. I still have a lot to learn about biology, especially yours." She tried to stabilize her telekinetic grip on getting the leaking liquid out of the vacuum tube and back where it belonged, muttered "Slippery..." then changed the subject. "But we have better things to do than to argue about how necessary a doctor is." She rummaged through her toolbox and retrieved some tape for the fuel packet and hose, intended to temporarily replace her plugging telekinesis until she could find or have the factory reverse-engineer replacement parts.

As Moquoql started manually taping, she asked, "Now, what are these restricted subroutines, and more importantly, what's irrational hindrance number one? If I know what it is, I might be able to prevent irrational hindrance number one from exceeding operational parameters." She guessed, "Is the hindrance, perhaps, a sensation or an emotion? Mayatans have a telepathic trick to share the burden of excess emotion."

Shale was encouraged by the flood of Nui's gratitude. She was about to open a port in a specific mental shield to assist Nui's biology when Nui let go, cutting off the prerequisite connection like abruptly hanging up on the telephone. "Seriously?" Shale couldn't stabilize Nui's biology if she wasn't touching Nui.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Sep 21st 2018 at 7:36:25 AM

Scar - Bridge Crossing Smaller River (Chitara, Naiolo, Jamie, Aubrey, Pearl, Finn, Sindar, Nyceme, Saen, Rosalind, Ozurr, Jann, Varg, Zarokh)^note yikes, 14 people?

Nyceme's reassurances didn't seem to do anything to alleviate the redhead's fears. Especially the spikes the scepter sprouted, which drew suspicion from not only her, but from the living mage as well, and the giant... She couldn't care less about the impression she was leaving on them, but she did start to realize that she may have made a mistake in choosing to front the diplomacy attempt for the wagon group. Of course, in her mind it was perfectly reasonable; given how unruly vampires were in Crownen, it was wise to send the person with the most unappealing blood to converse with them. She still had a hard time wrapping her head around the concept of a cowardly vampire, much less one with their soul still attached.

When the vampire asked what she and Sindar had been whispering about, Nyceme took a moment to ponder how to word the response. In that time, Finn surprised everyone by bringing up the subject of a vamprie in the other group. ...But it was the ogress? No wonder the giant burst out laughing. Even Nyceme just had to shake her head and press her hand against her face at that.

Then at last the redhead flat-out admitted to being a vampire. Nyceme was a bit confused at first about the implied shame in it, but guessed that maybe her world had lots of vampire hunters. That would explain the fear. Fortunately, this went nicely with the response Nyceme was coming up with anyway...

So with a smirk she said, "That isss precccisssely what Sssindar and I have been whissspering about. Sssindar is a fairy, ssso of courssse he could tell right off the bat; he wasss informing me without drawing alarm about the group... and, inevitably it ssseemsss, failing. But, I digresss."

Here she pulled out a paper fan and waved it towards herself with her tail, hoping to blow the overdone perfume away from the other group. "Your asssumption about me isss correct, though I assure you all that I anssswer only to myssself. It isss a tricky busssinesss, holding onto your sssoul after you die. How ever did you manage it? Every vampire I had ssseen before had no sssoul." Her eyes were fixed on Rosalind, gleaming with interest.

While all this was going on, Sindar remained in the wagon still, watching the conversation cautiously. It looked like there was still some tension there, even if it did seem to be Nyceme's soul (and perhaps scent) causing most of the distress at this point.

Parking Lot - bikes

Kaitlyn, Kris and James all shook their heads in surprise as they suddenly knew things that they didn't know before - the names of two of the people involved in the fracas by the noticeboard, the alien's reasons for wanting to know if they were going near the rainforest and the fact that the strange beasts were called 'dragonhorses'. The information was so alien that it obviously didn't originate from within their own minds.

Kaitlyn looked at James in surprise. "Did she just..." This wasn't how telepathy was usually depicted in movies - the person's voice speaking at normal speed with an echo effect and a bandwidth filter - this was more like downloading a song in a fraction of the time it would take to play it - except you wound up with the feeling that you'd just listened to it.

James nodded before Kaitlyn had time to finish. "It seems so. But how?"

"Telepathy, I guess," said Kris. "That's fuckin' eerie."

James noticed that one of the 'dragonhorses' was gone and glanced about in time to see it was some distance away and the 'purloiner of the living' - Mark - was mounting it. He watched as the dragonhorse brought Mark to the group.

The way Mark addressed Murquoql by name when he thanked her confirmed that they knew each other but the big surprise was Mark asking if one of them was called James Turner.

James nodded. "Yes. I am he - and these are my companions Kris and Kaitlyn. I gather that your name is Mark." He nodded his head in the direction of the noticeboard. "What happened over there?"

Forest

Matiu followed Joseph back towards the loosely-defined "campsite" and listened carefully to his brief description of the encounter with Mael. There was useful information there - it seemed that Mael, for all his powerful ability to control people's minds, had weak points - he could not tell if there were others hidden nearby and being distracted affected his ability to put people under his control. These were weaknesses that could be exploited if they encountered him again.

He watched as Bonnie wandered around Joseph with her hands extended like she was some sort of televangelist pretending to heal someone with the 'power of prayer' - except in her case, it seemed she was able to gather some sort of information about Joseph's physical well-being.

With Joseph safely with the rest of the group and given the "all clear" by Bonnie, Matiu turned his attention to Carol and Marie who were discussing the finer points of skinning the orange dinosaurs. He wandered over. "I've done skinning if you want a hand." Admittedly, that was on deer, goats, rabbits and possums rather than strange alien animals, but the principles should be the same.

North Gate —> The Scar

Peggy grinned at the sentiment of Nora's shout. Of course, there was no question of actually doing full speed - not on unfamiliar roads with inexperienced pillion riders and no one wearing helmets - but the enthusiasm was great.

Sophia followed the road out of the city until it reached what the map referred to as "The Scar" - which looked a lot straighter than the map would suggest. At ground level, it was practically impossible to tell that it wound its way about the terrain.

It was easy enough - even on a street machine such as hers - to make her way down the gently-inclined side of the scar and onto the broad concrete floor. There was a bit of wind-strewn detritus here and there - leaves and small twigs, but nothing than would cause problems - Hamilton's streets could be littered from time to time. It was like riding on a straight well-made road and Sophia brought her speed up to 50 kilometres an hour - the maximum they had agreed upon in the interests of safety and conserving battery power.

Peggy and Karl followed Sophia onto the scar and, mindful of their pillion riders, gently accelerated to match Sophia's speed. Peggy wondered who had made this "scar" - it was clearly artificial and of extremely high quality.

I'll leave it there in case Nora or Moobly want to say anything or anything else is going to happen on the journey. If nothing's planned, I can have them arrive at the Wasteland sometime later

The Scar (Chitara's Wagon) - near the river

Finn pursed his lips thoughtfully when the blue giant started laughing at his referring to Varg as a vampire. He would have thought that Sindar's overly-loud whisper about a vampire was an error if the giant had not initially reacted in surprise and stared to ask how he knew about the vampire - it was only when the giant realised that he was pointing at Varg that he started to laugh. So, if not Varg then... Finn turned his attention to the only other woman in the other group - she looked less like his idea of a vampire, but she was the only other option.

Then, to Finn's great surprise, the huge crocodile spoke to Saen, clearly quite affronted by her forthrightness in approaching and touching him(?) without so much as a 'by your leave'. Finn shook his head at Saen's blatant disregard for personal boundaries.

Then the redhead stepped forward and defiantly admitted to being a vampire, challenging anyone who had a problem with that to say it to her face. Finn respected that - after all, the Warrior Rockers of Cú Chulainn were not known for being subtle or fading into the background.

For Aubrey, events were unfolding quickly and surprisingly. From Finn talking about vampires to the surprising revelation that the enormous reptile could talk to the red-haired woman admitting that she was a vampire. Aubrey couldn't help instinctively taking a step back to place the bulk of the motorcycle between himself and the group. Memories of what Joshua had said about the plague of vampires and other undead creatures on his world left Aubrey feeling nervous - but then, one of the snake women was technically 'undead' and she seemed fine... and the red-haired woman seemed to be more scared of them than a danger to them.

It was highly confusing. Back on Earth, things had been so simple - cut-and-dried - there was good and evil. Then on Terra Nova, his ideas had been challenged by his strange group of companions with their alien beliefs and sexual proclivities. And now, here, he was having to re-evaluate once again as he encountered overt magic users, undead beings and talking crocodiles that further subverted his expectations. The crocodile could have attacked - instead, it expressed annoyance in terms that Aubrey himself would have used - and the vampire had been hiding behind the giant instead of attacking them and draining their blood.

It was obvious that the rules on the hellish world that Joshua had described did not hold true for all worlds and it was becoming increasingly obvious to Aubrey that, as much as he had to realise this and adjust accordingly, the others were also having to overcome their own fears and expectations.

What Nyceme was saying about the vampire still having a soul caused Aubrey to prick up his ears.

Pearl watched quietly and calmly as the drama played out. This was strange - to be certain - but so was suddenly being transported to an alien planet and having to start your life anew in a world where people from earlier centuries were still alive and people kept arriving from increasingly distant future times at an alarming rate. As Finn had eloquently put it, her own travelling companions included an undead snake woman and harpies - and much more he hadn't mentioned - so there was no point being thrown off-stride by a talking alligator, a blue giant, a vampire and whatever Varg was.

The talking was good. The more time spent talking and understanding, the less likely that people were going to start shooting. Pearl dug out her vapouriser and switched it on. She puffed on it and serenely exhaled a plume of vapour.

Aubrey noticed and reached for his own vapouriser, mindful that they might stick around long enough for him to finish a cigarette - while the vapouriser could be switched off and put away at a moment's notice, if required. The hit of nicotine did its job of calming him - he was starting to appreciate the convenience of these 'vapes' when compared with cigarettes and beginning to understand why Wolfe only smoked cigarettes when he was certain that he could sit down and enjoy one without interruption.

Edited by Wolf1066 on Sep 22nd 2018 at 11:36:07 PM

WFS Hummingbird Sick Bay (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql)

While Moquoql worked on clearing the control mechanism of "biofuel" and working on putting things back where they looked like they belonged, Unit 09 twitched slightly before answering her question: "Irrational hindrance number one. The closest biologic analog would be... pain. The anti-magic nodes keep irrational hindrance number one at a baseline of six percent of maximum threshold. In any case, it matters not if irrational hindrance number one exceeds maximum threshold. Recovery from exceeding that limit would be less than three minutes," it said, "feel free to disassemble this unit as needed in order to remove the foreign obstruction. Then you can have Pilot Zero-Zero-Three-Seven provide the necessary access code to enable this unit's auto-repair protocol."

The boy tilted his head, puzzled, "Auto-repair... protocol? Wait... you could fix yourself this whole time? Why didn't you?!"

"Negative. The foreign obstruction would cause additional problems that would require additional maintenance. In addition, you did not request and authorize this unit to perform the auto-repair protocol."

The boy gave Unit 09 a blank look before scratching his head, "'Cause I did't know about it?" he quietly said.

"This information was included in the pilot's manual."

"Pilot's manual? You mean that book I keep in my trunk? Never read it," the boy dismissively replied.

Irrational hindrance #05, better know as frustration, began rising inside Unit 09, along with irrational hindrance #04. Her mechanical voice warbled, "Why?"

"Can't read," the boy admitted.

A moment later came a monotonous "What" followed by a twitch. Unit 09 began staring off into space again, muttering "err" once.

Forest (Jean; Gwion, Teri, Wolfe; Ulf)

Jean dismounted, no worse for wear. Pulling a simple map that she had made some illegible notes on, she glanced around the immediate area, and upwards to locate a suitable tree. "I believe we are around... here," she said, circling an area on the map. She then traced a finger over the heart of the forest, "And what I'm looking for is... somewhere around here," she said, slightly disgruntled.

Overhearing the Mad Bastards, she raised an eyebrow. "So we're hunting snarks? Had I known, I would have brought bombs." She stared at her hand for a moment, "I suppose I could find a way to improvise, should we come across one."

"Anywho," she glanced up at the swearing raven, "I don't suppose you could get your familiar over there to scout for a decrepit wireless telegraph tower. It would save me having to climb a tree," she said.

Heading away from Town (Moobly, Nora; Karl, Peggy, Sophia)

Despite traveling at half the speed Diantha could frequently pull off on her bike over the right terrain, it was different riding pillion. Thus, Nora let out a rather childishly enthusiastic "wheee!" as they traveled down the Scar.

Meanwile, Moobly was observing the peculiarity of the Scar. "Is this supposed to be a road? Or..." Moobly mused as she glanced around; the architecture reminded her of things she had seen before, "a moat?"

The Scar: Mouth of the smaller river

A little more handwork, and some curses aside, and the beetles' harnesses came loose. Before they could spook and run away, Chitara gave them a few pats on their sides and brushed her talons near their antennae, which helped calm them. Instead, they calmly walked down near the shoreline to graze some more.

With this done, she turned to her current companions in hopes they could know how to proceed. Judging by their puzzled faces, it seemed that they were just as clueless as anyone else. But no one seemed to be attacking anyone yet, even if things seemed a little tense. Some attempts at diplomacy were made, with varying success. And since the alligator could apparently talk, perhaps they could just ask it to move.

Meanwhile, Naiolo couldn't feel smaller even if he wanted. That thing could talk? Thankfully, it seemed to not want to eat him, and offered some useful advice. Naiolo could faintly smell something foul by the river. So he decided to go the other way, next to where the beetles were resting. He climbed up a rock to get closer to the middle, carefully crouched down and started filling the skins.

Chitara took a moment to inspect the strangers. Obviously, her gaze landed on the big blue one, then on the tiny figure behind the giant's leg. Apparently she seemed very defensive towards Nyceme. She was giving off some strange vibes, something familiar Chitara couldn't quite out her finger on. Before things escalated, she decided to intervene.

"Alright, let's not get up in arms, can we?" She walked up to where Saen was, near the alligator, with arms raised in a non-threatening manner. "We're all friends here, so no need for threats." Approached the one that had walked up to them, that looked like a human but with a more 'brutal' appearance,though still keeping some distance. "Pleased. My name is Chitara, just a humble merchant. We were making just a trip to a common place for different reasons, and decided to stick around." Chitara gave out her friendliest smile, usually reserved for wary clients.

Then, she young girl declared herself to be a vampire. That's when it clicked on her head, why she looked weirdly familiar. Chitara gave out a dry laugh. "A vampire? Well, that explains a lot. I've met my fair share of them, no wonder I felt something on you." She then gave a dismissing wave. "Not all of them were bad, though, so no worries for now. Mind if I take a look at you more closely?"

Wasteland: Southeastern Coast

Sallara felt a little uneasy at the offer to heal her, but the pain in her arm made her choose to risk it. "Yes, if you wouldn't mind. I could use something for my arm." She offered up her injured arm in case it was needed.

"Of course." She responded to the other one. "Once again, I apologize for acting the way I did. If circumstances were different."

With that said, she stood there, unsure of what to do. She bit her lip. 'Should I ask them for help? ' They were few, and would probably do little against a whole army. The Skrarr that had attacked her home were many, so many that she could have sworn they could blot out the surface of the sea. She needed more help than this group could provide.

And yet, she remembered her father's words: Flee. Hide. Don't let them get you. Should she even call for help? Trying to fight back could guide the Skrarr straight to her. And if that happened...

Sallara raised a hand to the jewel on her necklace. It would be over. But she couldn't leave her people's fate in Skrarr hands. What kind of princess would she be by doing that?

By now, her uncertainty could probably be seen by others. But Sallara came to a conclusion: She needed to understand this territory first if she intended to call for help. This group could be of help for that end.

Wasteland

Nasur pulled with all his might, and the stranger apparently pushed as well, but it was as if something was pulling both of them back. Was the blob creature doing this?

Some terrifying seconds passed without progress. Just as Nasur started considering letting go and running away, the stranger came loose from whatever force pulled them back, and both were send flying.

Nasur fell to the ground loudly. He laid there, dazed. Everything hurt so much right now. The stranger seemed to be in a similar state. From here, it looked certainly... lizard-like, complete with a tail and snout. And also looked like it had seen better days, or had been running non-stop for days.

Slowly, Nasur crawled next to the stranger. It made no movement. Was it dead? "Hello? Are you still alive?" Looming over the stranger and sniffing it, it would get a glimpse of his big, blank round eyes, and his gaunt face. He decided to poke its side just to be sure.

What if it was dead? All that effort to end up with a corpse? 'Well... It does look tasty.' The thought didn't sit well on him, but at this point he felt so hungry he could rip chunks of himself. And besides, was it cannibalism if it was a different species than Nasur? And it was already dead, so it was totally not acting like a maddened ghoul. Yep, totally different. One bite would harm no one. As long as this was dead, of course.

Forest - Eastern End

Wolfe watched Ulf's attempts at self-remedying his motion sickness with complete understanding. Oh, yeah, been there mate. Knowing that there was nothing that could be done except wait until the fluids in Ulf's inner ear stopped sloshing about wildly, he waited quietly, ready to render any aid should Ulf fall.

Teri and Gwion also noticed Ulf's discomfort and waited quietly as he steadied himself and had a drink.

Once it was obvious that Ulf was all right, had checked his gear and given the all clear, the mood returned to normal.

Gwion chuckled at Jean's response to Wolfe's comment about snarks. "You'll have to forgive my strange alt-countryman, he's mixing his pop culture references again - and probably his meds, too. We're not actually hunting any sort of animal, we're looking for old ruins that are rumoured to be in the forest."

For Wolfe's part, he was astounded at Jean's seemingly serious response. The P.38 on her hip put the absolute earliest time span for her at the late 1930s or early 1940s - perhaps too early to know of the 'wabbit'-hunting Elmer Fudd, but surely she should have recognised Lewis Carroll's work.

In response to Jean's request, Teri looked at the raven in question and gave a derisive snort. "That bloody bird? The only fing 'familiar' about it is the sort what breeds contempt! The only fing it knows 'ow t'find is food, so unless your telegraph tower's made out of rottin' meat or offal, it ain't gonna work."

Gwion chuckled and opened one of the pannier cases of his bike. "Fortunately, I came prepared." He pulled out a moderate-sized quadcopter-style drone and balanced it on the bike's seat then fished out the remote control. "I thought we might need t'get a bird's eye view of the forest that we wouldn't otherwise be able t'see because of all the trees. This is a 'familiar' that's not likely to breed contempt."

Teri looked at the device - clearly some sort of high-tech remote controlled aircraft - then at Gwion and gave a snort. "Fuckin' townie."

Gwion laughed then flipped the power switches on the drone and the remote. A screen lit up on the remote, showing a clear image of Teri's feet and the surrounding ground. He moved a control and the drone's rotors came to life, lifting the drone up off the bike's seat. Once it was hovering a couple of metres above the ground, Gwion turned to Jean. "So, which direction didja say this tower of yours is in?"

The Scar - en route to the Wasteland

Peggy beamed as Nora let out an enthusiastic sound of enjoyment that nicely echoed Peggy's own sentiments. Sure, she would have preferred to be going faster and over more challenging terrain - as she did back home - but it was still good to be out on the bike on a beautiful fine day and heading off for adventure.

Because there wasn't a loud petrol engine droning in her ears, she was able to hear Moobly's musings and glanced back with a grin. "I dunno," she said as she turned her eyes back to the 'road' ahead, "but if it starts fillin' up, I'm gonna be gettin' out of it fast."

Karl nodded agreement, wondering if this trough filled with water in the winter or wet season or whatever it was they had around here when it wasn't so idyllic. Or did it have drainage outlets to pipe the water out?

WFS Hummingbird Sick Bay (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql)

Moquoql mused, "It's not safe to drug the pain away, but my telepathy can reduce the intensity and recovery time by siphoning some of irrational hindrance number one to me."

"That makes sense," Moquoql interjected. She hadn't removed the horn yet because medical treatment was not supposed to remove any impaling object until there were sufficient resources to deal with the consequences of unplugging broken blood vessels (or whatever Unit 09's equivalent were). Moquoql examined closely how the plates were fastened on.

"Oh, now you tell me there's a manual!" Moquoql grumbled.

Moquoql's eye twitched. "Somebody has failed... monumentally... in their duty to teach you," she growled to the young boy. Brushing aside her irritation, she loaded the first aid kit and toolbox into the hovering medical pod. "All right, change of plan. We're grabbing some flashbang grenades for the lanceros, and going down there just long enough to get that pilot's manual. Hopefully we'll be back here before the lanceros notices. The manual's probably going to answer all the technical questions I have faster than you two can answer them. I can read six different languages fluently and a seventh not so fluently... Pilot, you can borrow my skill through telepathy until you learn how to read on your own."

Moquoql took a single step and then halted. "But before we go anywhere, how much longer is that biofuel going to last?"

Varla began humming, her contralto voice was able to occasionally reach down for notes that were supposed to be in the tenor range. The cantrip was an area-effect, but because it was designed with avoiding sharks in mind, external hemorrhages were prioritized over internal ones. The surface blood on Sallara's wounds congealed in the first beat and solidified into a scab in the next beat. Only then did the magic buckle down to start restoring both bodies to better health simultaneously. The process wasn't instant, it took a minute. But as a side effect, all the discomfort from the injuries that would have been distributed over the natural time to heal was compressed into that minute.

Varla noticed Sallara fiddling with the jewel necklace and was reminded of her own habit of checking the jewel fastened within her hair. "Is that jewel significant?" Varla asked.

Maequoql double-checked the tractor beam and what was happening around it. She telepathically asked, "Are you two okay down there?"

Author's note: I don't know how my universe's three branches of magic would complicate Nasur's way of eating. Maybe Nasur can metabolize the energy that went into getting the telepathic message to him, I don't know. But it wouldn't be much of a meal, if it is a meal, because telepathy is so easy for Maequoql to do.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Sep 23rd 2018 at 3:54:43 AM

_{^< cont. from} Forest, Edge - Cluelethsneth _{^> Henry, Joseph — Adam, Amy, Jackson, Marie, Maya, Nick — Bonnie, Carol, Lily — Mequoql, Morpho — Maitu}


The round of congratulations at the conclusion of his story left Joseph feeling a little dumbfounded. Evidently, the situation had been quite a bit more dangerous than either he or Henry had realized, and with the teens celebrating their rather uneventful escape as marks of badassery, he couldn't help wondering just how badly it all could have turned.

Brainwashing...

The thought now sent a chill down his spine.

"Well..." Joseph mumbled, rubbing the side of his head, "yl'know... Henry'th my buddy. I hadda do thomething."

After that, people started to get a little handsy with him, whether it was touching his back, or his hands, or- ...actually, it was all perfectly inoffensive. It just felt strange because he felt strange. As rogue and unfamiliar as another person's touch could be under normal circumstances, it became doubly so when one's own body felt the same way. Joe found himself acting like he was walking down an active hallway, or fitting into a packed elevator, discreetly edging and pulling away as he tried not to bump into or brush across anyone with his confusing physique.

All of this culminated in a game of reverse Operation as Bonnie circled him, arms outstretched. It was especially difficult to keep his tail from swishing out from beneath his jacket in his nervous excitement. He was potentially on the verge of getting an answer to what was easily the strangest question in his life, and that answer was coming from a girl with magic circles on her fingers and tall, rabbit-like ears that he couldn't help but watch.

His eyes were bright with interest as she finished with her examination, studying her eagerly as she gave him the news.

The news concluded with a sorry, and so too did Joseph's eyes fade into that sorry way they'd been before.

"Thath okay.' He crossed his arms as if he was cold, and glanced away. "It juth... it jussd means we're all in the... the same clueleths boat." As Morpho walked by, another thought struck him. "Tsso," he glanced back at Bonnie, "you don'd think thissiz a curth or anything like that?"


A short ways away, Henry let out a huff as Mequoql dismissed his mental defense effort. "Yeah yeah, well cut me some slack; I didn't even know mind control was something real until today." He took off his hat and twirled it in his hands, nodding, "As a matter of fact, I think cardboard is pretty good for a first attempt. I mean, hey, it's stronger than paper. Stronger than no defense. Yeah," he smiled, tapping his head, "if I patch this baby up and fortify it with some kind of magic monk meditation, pretty soon you won't able to read a thing. You'll be looking from person to person, reading their minds like Christmas cards, and then you'll come to me and say, 'what is this? I can't read a thing. Who is this thoughtless man?'" He paused, frowning, "Wait... that doesn't sound so good."

At that point, Jackson seemed to have noticed Henry's stealthy inching towards their group, and asked if he was all right. Fluttering his eyes in decently-acted mild surprise, Henry looked at Jackson and shrugged.

"I'm fine, how about you?" he asked in return. Then, hat in hand, he waved his arms at the forest and the sky. "Nice day isn't it? Say, you fellas aren't... oh... interrogating Joseph, are you?" Turning to face Jackson directly, he lowered his voice. "Look... I noticed you all staring. Probably asking yourselves questions, and yeah, eeeveryone wants answers, but he's going through a lot right now, so please be nice, alright?"

He stepped back, just in time to catch the return of the long-haired redhead, Adam. The boy offered a nervous greeting, with Maya clarifying that he was just shy.

"Oh psh," Henry rolled his eyes and waved it off, "that's fine. You know, I used to be shy too. Eventually you realize that all it does is slow down the whole process of getting to know each other, and usually the whole reason you feel shy is because you don't know the other person so," he shrugged, "you see how it's kind of self-defeating? Now, sometimes you just don't know what to say. In that case," he thumbed back to the deeper in the woods, from where he'd first emerged, "you can do what I do and, uh... babble."

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Southeastern Coast - Under the Surface _{^> David — Varla — Lerna, Nerea — Sallara}


By the time the newcomer accepted Varla's offer, David had been silently turned away for almost a minute, hand pressed against his water-surrounded side. To any outside observer, it probably seemed that he was only watching the sea— maybe even acting as lookout for any pursuers. In truth, he'd been somewhere else entirely, barely half paying attention to the goings-on behind him.

A moment before Varla started humming, he sighed an airy sigh and turned back around, wearing a resigned smile on his otterly visage.

"Nerena," he said, glancing from his water-wrapped waist to the magic's wielder, "I don't mean to seem ungrateful, but..." he gestured again to his waist, "would you mind removing this? I do appreciate the sentiment, but I think I'd like to dry off." That was at least half of the real reason.

David finally turned his attention back to the newly-arrived while Varla began her hum. "So, now that we've all settled ourselves down, do you suppose you've got something we can call you by? I myself am called Dav-ah!"

With a surprised yelp, he looked down at his waist, pressing his hands against it as it began to radiate a strange pain, like his insides were shifting abnormally. "Ow that... oh god." His voice grew very hushed. "Oh god, it's happening. Please don't..." his breathing quickened, and his dark brown eyes widened into a look of abject terror, "Please, stop. Please stop. Please don't do this."

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Temple Ruins - Sleep for the Weak _{^> Joseph — Nasur}


After sprinting well past what felt like his breaking point for what felt like miles, Joseph felt well and truly exhausted. As his body fell still and his eyes fell closed, it was all he could do to think, "I don't know..." to the strange voice in his head, before he drifted through the floor, down into the pit of unconsciousness.

Even as he breathed, his body barely moved, masked further by the loose shirt he had on. Without a closer inspection, one might just as soon assume that he was dead.

Edited by Ryuhza on Sep 24th 2018 at 6:24:50 AM

[Forest]

Jackson blinked, baffled.

"Is that...is that what you think we were doing?" he asked, rubbing his forehead, "Bloody hell, sorry for making sure you two were safe from our worst enemy. My mistake." He sighed, "Look, none of us want to interrogate you or Joseph. If anything, we want to help you."

"Don't worry, Henry!" Amy said, "We'll make sure you feel right at home! If you want, I can give you another hug!"

"I think you spoiled him enough," Maya said, "Look, do you have any fighting experiences? That'll help you fend off Mael. We can't help you with the mental shields. That's something the Web of Friendship does."

Adam, meanwhile, felt a little calmer.

"You remind me of my older brother," he said, smiling, "Thank you, Mr. Henry." He looked to the side, "Uh...I-I'm not too interesting, but I do want to show you how we make a fire. Watch."

Nick, thankfully, had already made a small circle of rocks. All Adam did was put a handful of gems inside, then motioned Henry to kneel down.

"Think of something warm," he said, "Like...anything you can imagine. Just close your eyes and say the first thing that comes to you."

Marie nodded at Carol and Maitu, "Well, Nick's uncle is a hunter, so he taught us some stuff about skinning deer. The Moufeta might be a little different, but I'm sure I can get the hang of it. You cut a hole between the knee and rear tendon, right?"

Edited by Masterofchaos on Sep 24th 2018 at 9:33:15 AM

En route to the Wasteland (Moobly, Nora; Karl, Peggy, Sophia)

Moobly turned her head towards Peggy and nodded. The Scar seemed reasonable enough to escape in the event of a flood, and since they could see in either direction quite a ways, they'd have a decent amount of warning.

Of course, the lack of anything connected to the Scar itself was a mystery unto itself. There were no drains, no routes branching off. Nothing. Just concrete for miles. Moobly shrugged as they continued along towards the Wastelands.

-

WFS Hummingbird Sick Bay (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql)

Unit 09 blinked slowly, recovering from her mental crash. "Drug the pain away? Negative. This unit does not use nor require medication. However, if you feel it necessary to share irrational hindrance number one, this unit cannot stop you."

The boy, meanwhile, backed slowly away from Moquoql. "Lieutenant Brandt was very insistent that orphans didn't need to read..." he said quietly. He shuffled warily in place before sheepinshly rubbing his arm.

"The manual? You mean the one that's in my trunk?" the boy hesitantly said, before adding, "It's at the foot of my bunk, back at the barracks."

"Current biofuel levels will allow operation for another half hour," chimed Unit 09.

-

Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Sallara; Varla; David)

The Abyssal Empress gave Sallara a nod of her head, encouraging the green-scaled merfolk to continue with a raised eyebrow.

Lerna, meanwhile sat transfixed, absorbed by Varla's voice as the mermaid performed her cantrip. "You... have a very lovely voice..." she said, clearly enamored.

Nerea stared at Varla for a different reason; "I could say the same for you," she said, in reference to the mermaid's inquiry to Sallara's necklace. The merfolk empress's tail briefly pointed towards Varla's hair, and the jewel contained within, before entering a state of idle flickering.

In turn, she heard David's request for her to remove the watery vice. "Nerea," she softly corrected. She began pulling the bands of water away, "As you wish—" Her face stiffened as the furry man yelped, clearly in pain. She reapplied the cold compress in an attempt to ease the pain, before turning her head towards Varla, "What is the meaning of this?"

Scar - Bridging the Smaller River ^characters (Chitara, Naiolo, Jamie, Aubrey, Pearl, Finn, Sindar, Nyceme, Saen, Rosalind, Ozurr, Jann, Varg, Zarokh)

Varg somewhat awkwardly returned Chitara's smile, before throwing an intrigued glance at the long-haired, fancily tattooed human who had mistaken her for a vampire.

"I'm a haugr," she said matter-of-factly. "And I agree. Not really in the mood to fight you either."

She flicked her tail towards the two-wheeled machines that the three humans had arrived on. They looked like a pair of thaumwheelers to her, but a lot stranger.

"Neat contraptions by the way. Looks like something my brother would like."

Meanwhile, Jann spun around and rapidly blinked a few times as Rosalind defiantly revealed her nature to the gathered strangers. Thankfully, none of them really seemed to mind it though. Nyceme even responded by revealing herself as some form of undead as well. Jann's eyes widened, but it was hardly all that surprising given the familiar aura of necromancy that he'd felt.

He walked over to Rosalind to place a hand on her shoulder. She'd told him earlier about how her kind got treated in her world, but the fear she had shown still made his stomach churn. This just wasn't right...

"I'd imagine we're all rather strange by each other's standards," he said to the gathered crowd as a whole, pausing to clear his throat. "Different worlds with different rules and so on..."

WFS Hummingbird Sick Bay (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql)

"Just as well," Moquoql mused, "Your biology's so different I don't know what drugs would be safe to give you anyway, so I shouldn't."

Moquoql muttered, "So it was Lieutenant Brandt who failed..."

Moquoql groaned, "Darn it! I thought there was a trunk in the Panzerfaust and the manual was in there. Back to Plan A." She started rummaging through the toolbox looking for the right type of wrench.

Still rummaging, Moquoql sighed, "So I've got half an hour to figure out why that biofuel smells so familiar and then use that info to find or make some more. I know I've smelled something that's almost it before... It's like... it's like... uncanny valley for my nose... I'll let my subconscious work on it."

She changed the subject. "Now, what are these restricted subroutines and why are they restricted? I guess probably something to do with regrowing limbs, but paranoia says one of them could be instant explosion. I don't like removing restraints when I don't know what they restrain."

As Matiu came over to offer help skinning the moufretas, Morpho explained, "Skinning may be new to me, but as for butchering, I can repurpose a seldom-used combat program to get the job done fast. But you'd have to stand clear."

One of Mequoql's eyebrows briefly twitched upwards. Her prank had just careened in a somewhat risky direction that she hadn't prepared for. Mequoql thought for a second.

Derailed prank aside, Carol was failing to consciously receive Mequoql's telepathy whenever they weren't making eye contact. If Carol were a Mayatan (which she clearly wasn't), that would be considered a specific variant of a disability — a disability that Mequoql's family had a slight genetic risk for. Mequoql was darned lucky that it was her brother — and only her brother — who had inherited an unlucky combination of chromosomes to get a variant.

Back to the prank, Mequoql was still feeling mischievous, so she decided to roll with it and let Carol stew in her mistaken assumption for five minutes. Mequoql wanted to see if Carol would roll for initiative and confront her before the time was up. If not, Mequoql would reveal the prank on her own initiative.

In the meantime, the D'voreem were back, they'd circled around to try another direction and were once again encroaching on the edge of Mequoql's telepathic radar. As Henry expressed his thoughts on mental defense, Mequoql telekinetically pinched the D'voreem until they retreated from the "invisible swarm of stinging insects" again.

Joseph was getting crowded and Henry was concerned about whether Joseph was getting interrogated, sparking bit of sarcasm from Jackson. Since Joseph was speaking clearly enough for now, Mequoql wasn't needed for translation at the moment. For the sake of not overwhelming the guys, Mequoql figured that what she wanted to talk about could wait.

To start passing the five minutes, Mequoql considered the misunderstanding between her and Lily. During first contact between the Mayatans and the Viporises, it had been obvious from the start that the two species had different number systems just by getting a look at each others' fingers. What about that situation could be applied to this situation? "Lily, about earlier... what I meant to say was, I suspect you use more digits than I do to count to ten. I've encountered a situation like this before, so if my suspicions are correct, it shouldn't take long for me to learn how you count."

"I count one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten. I've met Viporises, they count one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ahn-vin-ten." Mequoql blinked as she reviewed what she just said. She'd meant to count the first sequence in her native language, but the planet's translator field had "corrected" that. It had also "corrected" most of the Viporis sequence. Evidently, the translator field didn't do so well with numbers. "Note to self, maybe try bypassing this planet's translator field with telepathic image transfer..."

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Matiu; Henry, Joseph; NCH; Mequoql, Morpho)

Carol grinned. She hadn't expected so many experienced volunteers to help her with skinning the moufretas. "Right," she pointed her knife towards the robot man, "Morpho, you can demonstrate your technique on that corpse," she said, pointing the knife to the second of three corpses. She turned towards Matiu.

One deft flip of the knife, she extended the handle of the blade to the young man, "Matty, you can either help Marie with this one, or get started on the other. I should warn you, their hide is a bit on the tough side, but it shouldn't be that difficult. They're only moufretas, after all," she said dismissively, waving a hand, "Anyway, there's somethin' that came up that I need to take care of."

Meanwhile, Bonnie helplessly shrugged, "I'm not sure whether or not that you're cursed. If you are, its a curse, it's one beyond my level of skill." She sighed, ears drooping, "I'm still in training, so I'm not very skilled when it comes to this. I'm sorry..."

In the mean time, Lily nodded soundly, raising her hand, "The viporises numbers seem mostly right." She began counting, using her thumb to tap off the phalanges of her fingers, proximal to distal, pinky to index, as she went: "One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-doz-elv-ten."

WFS Hummingbird Sick Bay (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql)

The boy shook his head, "No, there isn't enough room for a trunk on the Panzerfaust Mark III," he said.

"You know, it smells familiar to me, too. Not sure why," the boy said, before beginning to nibble on his cheek as he returned to Unit 09's side.

Unit 09 sat silently for a minute. "The restricted subroutines are a manual override of the auto-repair protocol. However, this unit is confused by "regrowing limbs". This unit does not, and never had, limbs."