_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Southeastern Coast - Start and _{^> David — Varla, Arnaya — Lerna, Nerea — Sallara — John Richman}


David glanced back at the stranger after the main had regained some lucidity. He was a little surprised at how well the fellow was grappling with his situation, but evidently he was savvy to the mind-controller's identity, as well as a few other things Arnaya had dropped onto him. Apparently the nonsensical sounding thing was the name of some kind of team the man's nephew was a part of. What Not-Chaos-Hunters was supposed to mean, and what manner of team was recurrently involved with a mind-controller, he had no idea. Still, he was glad enough to see the man—John, he said his name was—finding himself more at ease, even if it made David himself feel even more out of his element.

He had almost found in himself a calm once more, when, inevitably, his exchange with Varla came back to him.

'Not until you are enlightened.'

David turned to face her, rising from his sandy seat. "Enlightened to what, Varla?" he demanded, sounding more exasperated than angry. "Why do you insist on needling me with these vague, self-righteous platitudes? And I suppose that shaking the narrow precipice that my existence rests upon with your heedless use of magic was also to defend yourself from sexual assault, wasn't it? Yeah, that's a fine excuse, especially-" Stop.


He shut his mouth, blinking and breathing slowly You don't know, Davey. She doesn't know, and neither do you.

"Okay... Varla, I'm all ears," he said, lightly tugging on his own pair for emphasis, "what do you want from me?"

[Wasteland]

John could feel his head spin even more as he was helped to his feet. He was relieved to hear that no one was hurt, though he wondered how on earth they managed to get bullets out of his rifle.

"Huh," he said, putting the bullets back in, "My good ol' hunters rifle. Probably the most dangerous one I have in my shop." Once he was sure more than enough were in, he looked at Varla, "Uh...I don't think I'm too injured. Though it does suck to have sand in my hair."

He then gave a friendly bow to her. "Again, thank you so much for saving me. If you need an extra weapon at hand, I'm more than happy to help. It's the least I can do."

Unfortunately, it seemed that she and David had a misunderstanding earlier and bad blood still seethed. As he looked at David, though, he couldn't help but think that he saw him before. It was at the tip of his tongue, and yet...

Then it dawned at him.

"Wait!" he said, "You're that guy who chased after a truck at the Frontier!"

Oh man, how long have that been? Had it been nine years ago? God, he could still remember running to Joseph, he and James calling him son, the three of them trying to relax and—

The memory suddenly became painful for him to bear, so he cleared his throat and stepped between the two.

"Anyway, let's all settle down here. Obviously there's been some miscommunications, but we cannot afford blowing up at each other like this. Now, how about the two of you talk this out peacefully, alright?"

It was same tactic he used whenever his nephew's friends got into their arguments. It usually worked, but he wasn't sure how well it would do with a bunch of adults. Were they all adults? He didn't know, but he was damn sure they were all older than fifteen.

Edited by Masterofchaos on Dec 6th 2018 at 6:30:25 AM

Purple Fez Tavern (Sarquoql alias Ren 4; Tecia sa Valdela)

Excellent! Sarquoql had found a prejudiced slayer on the second try!

"Unfortunately, I have no idea where the vampire went — she teleported — but I can at least give you a picture." He unfolded the damaged poster and laid it on the bar as he slid onto a neighboring stool. "That one bit my employer." He pointed to the twin with overlapping spiky spots, Aynara.

Arnaya answered Varla, "Well, I am a bit thirsty..."

Varla noted, "Fine, I'll heal myself," and held out her wrenched wrist that was just beginning to show signs of bruising, gripping her amethyst heart. As Arnaya knelt and sunk her fangs in, Varla began answering questions, "David, watch and learn. Because some of you still don't understand from my last display of power..." she hesitated and glanced with a question at Arnaya, who rolled her eyes, sighed resignedly, then gave a minute nod that Varla felt through her wrist more than she saw. Varla continued, "...all of you will see exactly what I mean about being a living sex weapon."

Genders and sexualities aside, Arnaya was the only one in the immediate vicinity who knew Varla well enough to both remember that even the non-explicit tactics were still effective and bear no ill will for being demonstrated on. Arnaya treated this as yet another quick-draw recovery drill.

Varla brought her fingertips to her lips. The glowing dot in the center of her crystal heart split in two, half moving to the point of contact. She asked Arnaya, "Remember Soryn?" then blew, returning the energy she'd extracted from Arnaya with interest.

The energy hit Arnaya square in the chest, rendering it transparent. She dropped Varla's wrist out of her mouth and fell onto her back. Lost in the memory, Arnaya's ice-blue eyes unfocused as her six-chambered heart visibly accelerated. Colorless energy rippled in the air above her like heat waves.

"Now I have her too aroused to defend herself," Varla pointed out. She watched Arnaya's heartbeat, tuned into the rhythm and sang, siphoning off the energy and using it to un-wrench her arm and replenish her blood. She then forcefully poked between Arnaya's metallic ribs. Her finger hit the right place at the right time to stop the heart.

Arnaya twitched and wheezed from the painful impact. Varla coldly exposited, "As you just saw, she's a vampire, so this won't kill her like it would others."

Jolted by pain back to reality, Arnaya restarted her heart, as it was merely stunned and not impaled. She complained in a mildly disgruntled tone, "Ow, ow, ow!" as she sat up and waved away any concern. She waited to make sure everyone saw her heart working again before dispelling the transparency.

Varla continued, "That is a sample of what I was trained to do. That is a sample of what I was taught to expect from anyone. That is a sample of what I kept encountering even after I escaped. That is one of many tactics obvious in their impending use to those who know how to look."

Arnaya interjected, "Do you have to rub it in every time your warning of impending rape or something is corroborated by a telepath?"

Ignoring the interruption, Varla moved on to another question and indicated her crystal heart, the glow within smaller, "It's digesting lust. Whoever emitted any pheromones that I intercepted won't miss the energy those pheromones carried. What would have been my own lust is completely converted so I can't feel it. That's how my crystal heart renders me immune to... almost all the arsenal I was trained to use being used against me by other weapons like me." She put the heart back in its place in her hair.

Varla's gaze snapped to John. "Among the things I'm immune to are rescue romances like the kind David tried to initiate with me when I led a group effort to pull him out of quicksand. First of all, rescue romances are taboo in two galaxies, based on recognition that the situation compromises the rescuee's judgement. Furthermore, David seems to think it's okay to fetishize rescue breaths, which it's not, doing so leads to a different kind of stupid way to die even in cases where I'm not in the picture."

"David, an apology is not enough, I expect you to not flirt with any rescuers in the future. Any rescuer who responds positively to the words you uttered has ulterior motives for rescuing you, and the rest will think either you're the one with ulterior motives for needing a rescue or you simply need to cool your fool head."

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Dec 6th 2018 at 10:58:29 AM

Purple Fez Tavern (Sarquoql alias Ren 4; Tecia sa Valdela)

"You have... 'no idea'?" Tecia repeated. She looked at Sarquoql incredulously. "You disappoint me already." From her expression, she seemed entirely unaware that Sarquoql might be insulted by this blunt statement. She continued, as if she'd said nothing amiss, "I suppose then, we should seek out the signs such abominations invariably leave behind. While that surly aberration calling itself 'Smith' will have probably kept the creatures out of the limits of this city, hungry vampires do tend to leave bloody trails. Unless we are dealing with an exotic breed, they will need dark, miserable places to hide during the day and prey to feast upon at night. The Rainforests' caves or the abandoned town both seem likely to provide both, unless you have information I lack."

There was also the option of interviewing townsfolk. But Tecia did not relish the possibility of making casual conversation with the living. For such brief creatures, they wasted so much time on trifling chatter.

Ghost Town, City Hall (Aynara; Amos; Bandit Guards)

On the other side of the City Hall from Mael and company, Aynara huddled right behind a random rooftop ridge as Amos knocked on the door and hoarsely called out, "Guards! Guards! Urgent message for the boss!"

The door cracked open and a voice on the other side questioned, "Amos? Whaddya doin' outta your post?"

"She made me!"

"Who did?"

That was Aynara's cue. "I did." She telekinetically seized the guards' throats and informed them, "You're my hostages now too. Let us in, we don't have all day." As the door slowly opened to reveal two guards with their hands up in surrender, Arnaya glided down from the rooftop. Her captives gawked, so she unsheathed her claws until they got the hint and looked away.

Inside the building were evidence of lightbulbs, but since the power station hadn't worked in who knows how long, the hall was left in shadows. Arnaya's nocturnal eyes adjusted quickly. She double-checked the silver disks on her transparent eyelids and directed, "Take me to your leader." She telekinetically yanked away a pistol and added, "I thought I made it clear already that any funny ideas you get are spoiled the instant you think of them."

Sarquoql justified himself, "Yes, I do have information you lack, as a matter of fact, and because you lack a specific piece of information that I'm about to give you, you've already made your first mistake in hunting them. These particular vampires are infamous among my species. They're telepathic, as usual for us Mayatans, but very mischievous and they pride themselves on subverting expectations. Anywhere you expect them to be, you've lowered their chances of being there just by expecting them there. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was lurking in this very tavern and overheard your speculations. That is why I said I have no idea where she went."

"Anyway, if you still think it'll help, I can show you where my employer was standing when she was bitten. She's still alive, you could interview her. We fortified a hotel room immediately after the attack. I can't just go gallivanting off chasing vampires, I have to stay within a certain distance of my employer and she has a schedule of her own." Actually, he wasn't keen on following the archaeologist's schedule, but neither did he want the Web of Friendship seeing him in the company of this slayer. He glanced at the front door.

[Ghost Town —> Within City Hall, Location Unknown]

Oseru took the offered spinel with a nod of gratitude. Against competent opponents — and she had an uncanny suspicion her opponents were, indeed, competent — control of information was key. Another thing her people had learned as they forged their mighty empire.

After looking over the terrain, she said, "I think it's time to apply some lessons from a story my father's sister once told me. A little something she picked up in Zekuros, while punishing..." she paused. "Actually, I don't remember if she was fighting against the anarchists or the fascists during the Battle of Zekuros. Not that it matters; all just Kykzavi. Anyways." With that, she led an unexpected and cunning approach into the corridors of the City Hall. Combined with the spinel and a bit of subtle magic ably disguised as background noise, the Web of Friendship would not be able to detect her approach to the City Hall, nor predict precisely when or where she would appear.

Bit of a cop-out, I know, ideally one should Show, Don't Tell. I just think it'd be interesting to finally see how the Web of Friendship reacts to a genuine Didn't See That Coming, and while I've no intention of making a habit of it, a bit of chicanery to guarantee that should be worth it. Also, unrelatedly (no pun intended), for those wondering why she said "father's sister" instead of aunt: translation/cultural quirk.

Purple Fez Tavern (Sarquoql alias Ren 4; Tecia sa Valdela)

"My only expectation for these entities," Tecia said, with a strange bitterness, "is that they will die. It is not an expectation they will subvert, even if they delay it until the wheel of death and rebirth grinds the multiverse itself to spinning dust before finally falling apart itself and leaving only an eternity of emptiness. Of course, they shall not have the misfortune of lasting that long if I can help it."

This odd tangent completed, Tecia said, "now we must recall, as you hopefully already recognize, that our enemies are not really 'subverting expectations'. They necessarily can only subvert their expectations of other people's expectations. Telepathy provides better than-average information, but a telepathic snapshot can no more fully encompass a mind than a map can fully encompass a territory. Of course, if they are reasonably intelligent — which we should assume, because it is a useful assumption in general, even when wrong — they will take this into consideration, leading to a fractal pattern of meta-cognition where determining the mapping function is more useful than attempting to follow the potentially infinite regress of steps involved." Finally, she looked Sarquoql in the face — right in the eyes, hidden as they were by his outfit — and said, "you know the vampires well, it seems — what cognitive and meta-cognitive patterns do they use to construction their assumptions about other people's expectations when determining how to subvert them? Noting my previous point about avoiding infinite regresses, of course."

Edited by KillerClowns on Dec 11th 2018 at 6:22:35 AM

Rainforest, Following the Snake (???; Seenarnha, Lectri, Swanwhite, Plasma)

Glancing between the dragonhorses and this strange furry person, the lamprey tilted its head slightly, before hissing softly. It raised its right hand, flicking its fingers in a wave, before dropping to a crouch.

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

Unit 09 glanced down at her speaker. "I suppose that would make things easier for me," she said before looking up at Nyorla, "That would be..." She stared off into space, thinking for a moment, "nice?"

The boy, meanwhile, stared at his bandaged hands. He looked Nyorla in the eyes, "If you think so," he told her, before extending his hands towards her.

Unit 09 was distracted for a moment as she sensed something vaguely familiar nearby. Staring pointedly at the airlock, she wobbled slightly, before reaching out and grasping her pilot's shoulder.

Ghost Town, Building opposite Disused Well (Greg the Bandit)

Greg had been having a rather ordinary day in the life of a bandit. Until that cackling mad man showed up and started torching the town.

Hesitantly glancing over the sill of the window he was hiding under, he risked a chance to see where that man was now.

He frowned; the man was still in the same spot, lobbing fire at anyone who caught his eye, with no regards to taking any form of cover. That man had to be getting shot, unless either everyone was missing, or this guy had some kind of force field.

A ripple in the air signified the latter. Damn crazy space weirdo.

Fortunately, Greg had something at his disposal that was more potent than small arms: a rocket launcher that had conveniently fallen off a truck. To be honest, it kinda looked like a traditional rocket launcher, just with a nice cozy shoulder plate at one end instead of an open tube.

Pulling the weapon from where he had it stowed in the room, Greg awkwardly hoisting the hefty device into firing position.

He pulled the trigger... and was promptly tossed on his ass from the recoil of the PIAT Mk I.

Moments later, several balls of fire came flying through the windows of the room. Greg rolled away from the PIAT, and half-scrambled-half-crawled towards the room's exit. He made it to the door just before the room caught fire.

Minutes later, he was fleeing out the building's back door and down an alleyway.

Ghost Town, Disused Well (Haydn, Wilhelmine; Eyes and Teeth fragment(s), Very Much Dead Bandit)

Haydn sensed something amiss amid his rather effective torching of bandits. Turning slightly, he promptly took a mortar round to the face... or at least his arcane defenses did.

The explosion sent debris bouncing off a wildly rippling curtain of air in front of the mage, who tossed his hands up as he was suddenly blinded by the flash from the explosion.

"Sonovabitch!" Stumbling backwards, he wildly returned fire in the general direction of where the attack came from— until he realized his aetheric defense shield had failed when he took a bullet to the shoulder.

His enchanted longcoat took the brunt of the impact, but it still felt as though he had taken a sledge hammer to the joint. Dropping to a crouch, he lobbed several balls of fire blindly in the direction of the shot— only to get an irate yell from Wilhelmine.

The senior lieutenant was annoyed at the cloud of steam that burst from her Mist Shield as the fireball was rapidly extinguished. Her subordinate was being reckless as always.

Glancing over at the blazing corpse of the bandit she was stalking down, she guess the man had managed to shoot Haydn.

"Fall back to my position, Lieutenant," she called over to him. She frowned as her subordinate made a rather undignified run for cover, before tripping on the curb and faceplanting. Extending the range of her Mist Shield to encompass the pair, she grabbed Haydn by the collar and dragged him towards one of the buildings that wasn't on fire.

[Ghost Town-City Hall]

Once again, Mael was amazed at how Orseu operated things. Combined with the spinel he gave her and her magic trick, his pursuers would have an even harder time trying apprehend them. Looks like this mission could go smoothly after all.

Amazing, he thought, It seems that my generation is truly behind when comes to advancements like this. Perhaps I should explain to my employer we need to change things around here for now on.

But now he had to hurry up and follow her to city hall; he could slightly hear the commotion from the other side of the room, and so he dashed right behind her.

"Your father's sister taught you that?" he asked, "Sorry if I sound like I'm prying, but are they within same rank as you? This is, no doubt, incredible reliable, so I'm curious. Maybe I can try to use similar techniques when I update my technology."

[Ghost Town-City Hall]

Oseru shook her head. Now communicating telepathically — and putting the extra effort into ensuring it was a tightwave beam that would be undetectable to any but Mael — she explained, nah. She was a mercenary and a raider during the White Years of Zavi. Ain't much real difference so far from home. A bloody time for the Kykzavi, but a profitable one anyone who can fight and doesn't mind doing it for coin and the honor of their ancestors. Every Qorisayane worthy of a Clan, in other words. So she learned herself some tricks for fighting in places like this. Torn apart cities. So my order took her on to teach her what she'd learned.

Perhaps it was too much to say, but she was feeling conversational, and thinking was easier than speaking. Though honestly... I owe a lot more to practice in a nastier place. There's another world out there, with a place called the 'United States of America'. Hard place to describe: imagine a society lit by electrified neon, where the sacred line between machine and human has been forgotten. Merchant guilds rule as petty tyrants, with abominable artificial minds at their right hands as they watch the poor, hopeless, half-dreaming masses through the machines watching in every corner. Her disgust and horror at the memories of what she had seen there were palpable. Though I pray I never have to see that nightmare again, I learned how to avoid tools my own people could scarce imagine. And I figure, our enemies might have similar tricks, so best to keep it in mind.

Edited by KillerClowns on Dec 11th 2018 at 8:49:28 AM

Ghost Town, Within City Hall (Aynara; Amos, Two Bandit Guards captured; Two Bandit Guards uncaptured)

Mequoql's debriefing had her mention that Mael reminded her of a teenaged Sarquoql. So starting from the moment Mael's location had become unclear, Aynara had brainstormed her ideas for finding Mael via asking herself "What would Sarquoql do?" Sarquoql wouldn't be content snatching a single bandit minion and scarpering, he'd want to usurp the gang's boss. Eavesdropping on that dog had gotten Aynara corroborating evidence (Mael's fresh scent trail) that Mael thought the same way.

Aynara had to keep a telepathic monitor on her captives' knowledge of the building's layout to forestall any attempts to take her on a route that would waste her time. She didn't skulk through the building, she picked the fastest direct route from the janitor's back entrance.

Predictably, this brought them in contact with a bandit patrol. She telepathically sensed the patrol coming and sent instructions to her captives to act natural, punctuated with a brief, light telekinetic squeeze. She removed the predator from her body language and the ponytail holder from her hair. She tilted her head forward and rearranged her hair in front of her eyes.

The patrol rounded the last corner, the two groups stopped and looked at each other, Aynara's gaze not so obvious through her curtain of hair. The patrol took in the sight of three bandits surrounding a slouched lady clothed in nothing but muddy bandages, and immediately assumed the captivity went the other way around from what it actually was. "Woo woo, look at what the cat dragged in! Is the boss gonna share this tall drink o'water with us?" they leered.

Aynara figured that was as good an excuse for being here as any and silently threatened one of the door guards into saying a technical truth.

"The sooner we get her to the boss, the sooner we'll find out!"

The patrollers high-fived the door guards and went on their merry way, chuckling. Aynara and the three bandits started walking again.

As soon as the patrollers were far enough away and not paying attention, Aynara re-tied her hair in a ponytail, then bared her claws and delivered a sharp prompting nudge to get her captives moving faster.

Sarquoql's talent-linked instincts automatically took notice of how the slayer's gaze found his eyes behind the obscuring barriers. But even if he wanted to use his power (which he didn't — it would be redundant), it couldn't flow through the contacts and visor. Blocking it helped to hide it.

He fidgeted and looked around at his surroundings again, even glancing at the ceiling, before replying, "Well, I did read the laboratory reports on these twins. Have you ever heard of game theory, as shown in stories by novelists like Lynn Derra, Zirconi, Sharnetu, or Jane Austen? According to the scientists, those twins have the same intuitive, half-instinctive grasp of game theory, how to use it, and how to compensate for irrational instances as those novelists do. Also, the twins are fanatic analysts of the horror genre."

Sarquoql wondered whether to mention the Web of Friendship in his warnings. On one hand, the more forewarned the slayer was, the better chance she had of actually succeeding. On the other hand, what if he told the slayer and then the Web of Friendship interrogated her? In that case, the more he told her, the more likely it would be that the Web would use the clue of how much she knew (and by extension, how much he knew) to infer his identity.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Dec 15th 2018 at 8:50:06 AM

[Ghost town—City Hall]

Mael nearly jumped when another voice suddenly came within his head, but relaxed when he realized it was still Oresu.

He was a little confused with how she described the United States. Unless time advanced significantly since he teleported away from Florida, this sounded nowhere near like his country. It was corrupt, yeah, but nowhere near like that. How long had he been gone?

Then he remembered; different universe. Maybe even from the future. Hopefully far, far, from the future. That made way more sense then his world suddenly turning into a cyberpunk nightmare overnight.

I see. he thought back, Well, that was...not the answer I was expecting. Then again, I don't know what else I expected. I can see why you're as determined as you are now. That truly does sound like a horrific place to live.

As soon as they got close, Mael's gem started to glow again. At the same time, he heard voices. Many, many voices.

"Stop," he said, "You hear that commotion? They're already here. Unless you have another plan, coming here means we either get captured or killed." He chuckled, "Actually, I'm less worried about you getting captured. You've shown to be very powerful, after all."

Forest (Bonnie, Lily; Henry, Joseph; Not-Chaos-Hunters; Mequoql, Matiu; Arnora)

"Not exactly," Arnora said. "The enchantment on this sword is unique, as far as I know. There is a way to summon the spirits of one's ancestors as shades, but I don't really know how it works. I don't really know much about magic at all, really. It's extremely regulated in Hromstgard."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Arnora said. "All the stories about this sword say that Vebrandr put a number of failsafes into the enchantment to ensure it was passed on properly. Destroying the sword might destroy the souls bound to it."

Mequoql then said something about having a sister in a "space ship," whatever that was. To her (admittedly limited) knowledge, ships were designed to sail across water; how one could be "above the clouds and below the stars" was beyond her. Some sort of enchantment perhaps? But apparently, this sister was in a position to locate Hromstgard, which was a good start.

Arnora's eyes narrowed. "Let's get the bad news out of the way first."

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


Henry was stood still by Mequoql's matter-of-fact explanation. He'd only heard Joseph's full name once before, but there was no mistaking its double. Still, he could barely begin to comprehend what he'd been told, and meanwhile, Mequoql was directing his attention to the Joseph of the there-and-then, before moving on to speak to someone else.

He stared at his friend as the latter cleaned his face off with a towel. Human for all of five minutes, and Henry was already having trouble picturing the strange lizard-like shape that he'd possessed for nearly two days. He was back to normal now, sure, but they still didn't know why he had changed in the first place. And this news of another Joseph out there, one who was apparently still a lizard... what on earth did it mean?

But of course, they weren't on Earth. Henry didn't know where they were, only that it was a land of spirits, of trapped souls. Of magic gems that could start a fire, or move them across incredible distances in an instant. Gems that could change a person, and make them sick. A land of mind readers and mind controllers. Of woodland beasts that would give a grizzly bear nightmares. A land of magic and wonder; the kind that now ran a cold chill down his spine and and gripped his chest with an uneasy tightness.

His eyes lowered to his hands, leaning lightly against the aluminum bat as if it was a walking stick. Maybe he was better off using it that way. It seemed like a bit of a joke in the shadow of a giantess.

Henry broke his silence with a sigh, then stepped towards Mequoql and murmured, "Hey, can I ask you a favor? Would you mind not telling Joe about this... second Joe, for the time being? At least until we understand what's going on a little better? I just," he glanced at the Joseph he knew, who was now looking back at him expectantly, but too far away to hear anything Henry was saying, "I think it would be too much for him right now, you know? He just got the one thing taken care of. Why dump this on him? We don't even know what it means. It might mean nothing. It's just... he doesn't need to be any more confused than he already is."

With that, he took a deep breath, put on a smile, and made his way over to Joseph's seclusion.

Joseph, for his part, had moved away from the primary zone of his stomach evacuation, coming a little closer to the rest of the camp, but not so close that idle ears would easily overhear him. He couldn't help glancing between all the far away—relatively nearby—people and worrying about what they might think while Henry made his leisurely approach.

"Please don't laugh."

Henry's brow furrowed. "Laugh? Why, because you threw up?" He shook his head with some disbelief. "Joseph, my man, I'm not about to-"

"No no, not because of... look, just..." Joe struggled hard to meet Henry's confused gaze, as if an invisible brace were holding his head in place. "Just... do you happen to have a... spare change of pants?"

Henry's eyes widened.

"Oh no no no, it's not that!" Joe exclaimed, "Oh my god, it is not that!"

"Are you sure? Because I'm not going to laugh, and I've got a- I do have an extra pair-"

"Henry, I swear to you it's not what you think." He gestured at his pants, the rear of which was still covered by the jacket tied around his waist. "It's just that there's a big hole back there from, you know, when I was all lizardy. It's like wearing those butt-flap pajamas, but with the flap missing."

"Oh. Ohhh." Henry put a hand to his forehead, quietly laughing to himself and slowly shaking his head.

"Hey."

"Sorry, it's not you; I'm not laughing at you."

Joe frowned, glaring at a nearby tree as he fished his water bottle out of his pockets. "Do you have a spare pair of pants or not?"

Henry flashed a grin. "You are in luck my friend, because that I do." He let go of the bat for a moment to reach around for his backpack. "Travel light, but always come prepared. You never know what's going to happen, but you do know that if you fall into a stream or a river, you don't want to be walking around in soaking wet clothes, and going naked is probably not ideal either. Here," He held out a pair of nylon hiking pants. "They're a little thin, but they'll keep the warmth in."

Joseph was in the middle of a big swig of water, but he took the pants in his free hand and gave Henry a thumbs-up for good measure.

"You going to be alright?"

Joe broke away after draining over half the bottle in one go. "Yeah," he said between breaths, "I'm just... really, really parched."

"Well," Henry shrugged, "you did lose a lot of fluids just now."

"Yeah yeah, I know."

"Hey." He bowed his head slightly, giving Joe a meaningful stare. "No one is going to give you a hard time over this. Okay? Don't stay away for too long."

Joseph nodded, pulling on a weak half-smile.

"And listen, we'll get back home pretty soon. So just... hang in there."

"Henry, I'm fine."

"Alright. Okay. Just making sure."

"Jeez, you sound like my mom at her mom-iest. Get outta here, I need some privacy."

Henry picked up his bat, put on his backpack, and began moving back to the crowd. Putting on a ridiculously high-pitched voice, he pointed at the campsite and said, "Well, if you need anything else, I'm right over here, honey." With that, he left the thick underbrush and returned to the others.


Upon reapproaching, Henry noticed some commotion among the gem-equipped teens. "Hey, what's the rush? Where are you all off to?"

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Cynthia, Diantha; James, Kaitlyn, Kris; Arilay, Shale, Maequoql; Joseph, Nasur)^note Ladytanuki and her character Nui are MIA

Maequoql giggled at Joseph's surprised outburst.

"Go ahead and don't worry. This ship has a cyborg controller who can quickly recover from anyone mashing on inappropriate buttons."

And then the group arrived, prompting Nasur to hide behind Joseph.

Maequoql pointed out Arilay among the group, "Oh, and here she is now!"

Arilay waved and tried to reassure the stranger cowering from her. "Don't mind us, we're just passing through. Or at least trying to!" She then addressed Cynthia and Diantha, "Once we're down, I'll show you what I can do to hide and secure the motorcycles."

After listening to the Howling Void's melody (loosely translated as    "Hello, cousin!"   ), Shale had the answer. Another Eldritch Abomination was indeed present, and closer than the Howling Void. The normal shine returned to Shale's eyes and she kept her communication microchip keyed to only Arilay and Moquoql. "You do not want to know what the problem is, the solution does not fall within an engineer's skillset. Suffice it to say, no wonder Aynara called for me. In the meantime, just treat it like those deadly mirages in the town's brochure, only limited to intercepting incoming teleports and it's not actually the mirages."

"Ew," Arilay silently remarked before asking, "Can Aynara get out?"

"Yes," Shale answered, then read Aynara's report and added, "I don't think she'll need to, at least for a while."

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

While Nyorla's fingers wove a necklace with the speaker as a pendant, her telekinesis removed the young pilot's bandages. "Huh, that's weird," she commented at the unexpectedly improved wounds, "Were you augmented for accelerated healing or something?"

Meanwhile, Moquoql was dismissed by Shale, then telepathically noticed Unit 09 and someone on the teleporter pad noticing each other. She moved to block the view through the quarantine airlock with her gliding membranes, then contacted Arilay over the comm-chips, "Can you discreetly find out if any of your present company is from the Balamar Empire? If so, try not to let them find out about Pilot 0037 or Unit 09." She nonverbally updated Arilay on the evidence of child abuse.

The Scar, bridging the smaller river (Jann, Varg; Rosalind; Ozurr, Zarokh; Chitara, Naiolo; Aubrey, Pearl, Finn)

Jann's eyes nervously darted back and forth between the other members of the group as Chitara casually strolled up and began to examine Rosalind's eyes and teeth in an uncomfortably thorough manner, prompting her to shape-shift back into the "spooky form" she'd used earlier.

Feeling Rosalind brush up against his hand, he got closer - now finding himself oddly undeterred by her appearance - and shifted his arm to rest around her shoulders.

"You seem... uh, very knowledgeable about these things," he told Chitara, attempting to further defuse the situation. "Are you a fellow scientist, as well as a merchant?"

Meanwhile, Varg glanced up at Ozurr, who still seemed distracted by something over at the wagon. Failing to notice anything strange herself, she reached up to gently poke his knee.

"You alright there, big guy?"

Forest, Sparring (Carol, Morpho)

Carol pointed the spear-tip of her halberd at Morpho as she paced to her left. Tensing, she grabbed the shaft halfway as she charged the metallic man. She then followed up with a wild swing, sweeping her halberd in an arc, aiming (to the best of her capabilities) on smashing the blade through Morpho's head.

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

Nerea flexed her tail. Varla was once more talking about enlightenment. Following the demonstration of the mermaid's power, the empress merely raised an eyebrow initially, staring at Arnaya, "So... you can ignore mortal injuries like my servant." Concealed behind her visor, she blinked. "Fascinating."

Bowing her head for a moment, she turned her head to face Varla, "That is a formidable ability of yours; precise as opposed to my blunt spell-craft."

Meanwhile, Lerna tilted her head as she stared at Varla returning her crystal heart to her hair, "Lust...? Oh, so that's what this feeling is... huh," she said, not fully realizing the meaning of her words.

Nerea realized her mouth was open. She immediately closed her mouth and frowned, deciding not to intervene in her servant sticking her foot in her mouth in front of the hair-trigger mermaid. She instead walked over beside Sallara.

"Yes, these isopods and the gargantuas also serve as cleaners for my palace; they are adept at dealing with pests. Their presence is also rather... comforting," she told her.

Folding her arms across her chest, she glanced down the beach towards the south. "My servant and I were headed south, following the coast. Unless any-one has any objections, I would like to return to that course,” she said, gesturing with her tail to indicate the direction.

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

The boy blinked, before frowning at his hands. "No... they would waste that on a kid." He then proceed to shrug, "Well, it looks like I don't need no bandages now. My hands are all better... you're right, that is weird."

Unit 09, meanwhile, simply tilted her head in mild confusion as Moquoql blocked her from looking though the airlock.

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Cynthia, Diantha; {James, Kaitlyn, Kris}; Arilay, Shale; Joseph; Nasur)

As the group passed by the lizardfolk and the... ghoul(!) hiding(?!) behind them, Cynthia and Diantha exchanged glances. The sight managed to distract the young knight from her focusing on the strange feeling she had in her arm.

While Diantha continued along, Cynthia stopped, and glanced back. That lizard looked familiar...

"Cynthia, you okay?" Diantha asked, noticing that her friend had stopped.

"Yeah... just... I'll be right along; there's something I want to check out before we continue," she said, before heading over towards the dropships.

She stood beside the lizardfolk before tapping on their shoulder, "Joseph? Is that you?" she asked, staring at him with her green eye.

_{^< cont. from} WoF Scouter Hummingbird, Transporter Room - Small Universe _{^> Joseph — Arilay, Maequoql, Shale — Cynthia, Diantha — James, Kaitlyn, Kris — Nasur — Nui(?)}


After helping Nasur up, Joseph quickly retreated from the surface of the teleport pad. When the former began to worry loudly and hid behind Joseph, Joe didn't know what else to do but face the supposedly dangerous newcomers, striking what he thought was a karate pose. He held both hands out, flat and pointed upward, ready for karate chop action. His feet were planted with one far ahead of the other, while his wobbly legs did their best to support him. His tail nearly thwacked Nasur as it shot into an inverse arch, and his expression was somewhere between a flat, tough-lizard-guy frown, and wide-eyed nervousness.

He had no idea how he was actually going to defend Nasur, or himself for that matter. Then a thought struck him.

"Wait..." he glanced over his shoulder, "I don't think Maequoql would let them on board if they were dangerous, unless," he turned his head to look at the nude alien, trying hard to keep his eyes from any rude wandering, "please tell me this isn't some kind of private space coliseum."

It didn't even make much sense in his head, but Joseph was relieved to hear the notion quashed by both Maequoql and the newcomer she pointed out, who, to his eyes, looked nothing much like a cyborg.

The others she was with didn't seem to take much immediate notice of him or Nasur, which wasn't to surprising given the locale and sudden change of scenery. Joseph figured he probably wouldn't have noticed himself either upon first coming aboard, had there been another him to notice.

"See," he turned back to Nasur, relaxing his posture, "no danger at all. I knew it. Yeah... yeah, I knew it. Now come on," he stepped around the ghoulish man and headed for the drop pods, beckoning him along, "You gotta have a look over here."

He stopped in front of the nearest pod and contemplated the door release button. However, before he got around to pressing it, he felt something tap him on his shoulder, and heard a voice—a vaguely familiar voice—speak his name.

Joseph turned his head, fixing the one who'd named him with one of his big blue eyes. He took in her face, her voice, and slowly but surely, a long, open smile spread across his lizardy face.

"Hey, I know you!" He blinked several times, shaking his head in disbelief and glancing around at the ship's interior, "Of all the places..."

Forest, Sparring (Carol, Morpho)

Morpho twisted his head to watch Carol's movements, then deformed his shape as his head rolled out of the way of the blade. A groove opened up on his increasingly undefined shoulder as the blade smashed into where his head used to be. He tried to cling to the blade. What used to be one of Morpho's feet spread puddle-like as the other former foot lashed out to try and grab Carol's foot.

The lamprey person waved and crouched. Plasma tilted her head and whickered in confusion, still standing on the ends of the ankle chains. Lectri visually measured the chains and estimated she was out of range of any sudden lunges. From Lectri's saddle, Seenarnha asked, "Are you able to speak? If not, you can just think at me, I'm a telepath."

A very light mist was creeping inland from the coast.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Dec 19th 2018 at 6:36:32 AM

[Between]

The Eyes and Teeth "heard" the Howling Void. And as mindless as it was, perhaps it even understood, in some way. After all, it had heard music before. It had heard the Song.

Its only response was a sort of a scream, a dissonance that assaulted every sense. To a human, it would manifest as a stench of shit, the taste of stomach acid, an ear-splitting scream, images of gruesomely mutilated humanoids resembling the victim writhing in agony, a sweep of fire across every nerve, a sudden and horrific vertigo, and many more strikes against the senses humans do not often consider. Other species listening in to the activity Between — even other entities humans would call abominations or devils — would find their own minds perceiving it differently, but in a manner similarly chaotic and repugnant to their very beings.

[Within City Hall, Location Unknown]

Oseru was able to shield her mind from the onslaught, and if Mael's telepathy would have given him any sensitivity to goings-on Between, he too would be protected.

Someone approached my pet improperly, was Oseru's deadpan telepathic explanation to Mael. She then searched the minds around her. Ah. There it is. She gave Mael a mental image of the HeDGe.^note We'll have to ask Millership for details, but I wanted to get this post done. What we seek. It could make both our lives much easier, I will say this. And as to a plan... how do you feel about a distraction? I make some noise and let them throw themselves against my might. You disappear, overwhelming the mind of lesser minions, and pluck the item from the boss's private stash. She gave Mael the combination, also plucked from the same mind. We meet where we first met. All we need know is a way to stay in touch... any clever ideas?

Tecia pending, but I gotta sleep.

Edited by KillerClowns on Dec 19th 2018 at 8:54:49 AM

[Deep Space]

The Howling Void took the brunt of the lash-out, shielding its precious audience.    "You're boring,"    the Howling Void scoffed, and turned its attention to sing elsewhere.

Author's note: Because I never intended an extended interaction between the two eldritch abominations, I randomly decided that one of the more distasteful sensations to the Howling Void is boredom.

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite

Bonnie, Lily; NCH; Matiu; Arnora; Henry, Joseph; Mequoql

Mequoql's stomach rumbled and she stopped waiting for Bonnie to put her spell on the meat. Mequoql tore into the raw moufreta liver she was still holding. She switched to telepathic broadcasts instead of speaking out loud so she could continue eating.

Arnora answered Mequoql's question. Mequoql smiled, then frowned, at the description of a way to summon the souls that Arnora didn't know how to use. "We've got to investigate that option, otherwise we're missing out on info."

Lily mused, "Curses... enchantments... swords. They all can be broken. I suppose doing so might release them to their afterlives?"

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Arnora said.

"Me neither," Mequoql chimed in.

Arnora continued, "All the stories about this sword say that Vebrandr put a number of failsafes into the enchantment to ensure it was passed on properly. Destroying the sword might destroy the souls bound to it."

Mequoql added, "Where I come from, destroying souls is impossible because divine intervention always interrupts. I, for one, would rather not get a Bolt of Divine Retribution to the face, so let's not try anything that might destroy souls. I vaguely remember something about a particular way to help souls along to the afterlife. I don't remember exact details, but destroying the containing artifact is definitely not it."

Arnora's eyes narrowed. "Let's get the bad news out of the way first."

Mequoql reported, "Bad news is, my older sister looked at this world and she doesn't see Hromstgard. Now before you panic or despair or something, remember that you got here somehow, I'm guessing the same means should be available to take you back. Perhaps you found a portal. I have a younger sister who is excellent at finding portals and finding out where they go. But I digress. The good news is, my older sister found one other giant within hiking distance — you mentioned someone called Ozurr?"

Mequoql blushed, the shorter and thinner fur on her face not doing much to conceal the flush of blue. "Oh, uh, too late, I already mentioned it to him. Oops?"

Henry temporarily disappeared into the undergrowth for a conversation with Joseph.

Nick was predictably agitated. Mequoql quickly corrected, "We are NOT sitting here doing nothing! We are refueling and sharing information! The more we know about each other, the more efficient we'll be in battle, and we can't fight on stomachs that have been empty for too long. Now you need to eat. If you're going to go, at least grab the most recently cooked moufreta meat before leaving."

Upon reapproaching, Henry noticed the commotion among the gem-equipped teens. "Hey, what's the rush? Where are you all off to?"

Mequoql telepathically broadcasted latitude, longitude and altitude coordinates. "That's on the southeastern coast of the Wastelands, it should be far enough away from the quicksand pit. Once you see a purple mermaid or a furless Mayatan, tell them Mequoql sent you."

[Forest]

Marie turned to Henry, "We're going to see Nick's uncle. Turns out he somehow got to this...uh..." She waved her hand, "land, and we're going to see him to let him know we're alright. He's, no doubt, worried about us. We should be back at the campsite before nightfall, though."

"You, on the other hand," Maya said, "need to hurry home. Joseph's gonna get to the stage where he's really tired soon, so you should get him home so he can rest." She handed him another handful of gems, "Just think of where you want to go and two of you will be there. Click your heels three times if you need to." She smirked.

Nick nearly jumped when Mequoql's voice suddenly appeared in his head. God, he hated telepathy. It felt like a huge invasion of privacy. Still, she was eating, and was probably too lazy to stop.

Oh, we're doing this now, he thought, Fine, I'll get one of these, but we're leaving after this.

"We're really eating more of this unseasoned meat?" Maya asked, "God, I hope John at least brought some Cajun seasonings."

"Yes, Maya," Jackson said, "That was surely high on the priority list." He rolled his eyes, "Just grab one and we'll be on our way."

In the end, they managed to grab at least seven pieces of Moufeta meat in their bag, then they regrouped and got in a circle.

"Mr. Henry," Adam said, "I-If you can...can you tell Joseph that I said...sorry for freaking him out? He'll, uh, probably tell you when he can." He felt a small twinge of sadness, but knew that the Joseph that remembered him was close by. He just hoped he still had some time to finally see his friend again. He couldn't wait another minute.

"I hope we see each other again!" Amy said. She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Have a safe trip! Don't forget about us, okay?"

Jackson turned to Nick. "You do the honors. Mequoql already gave us the directions."

Nick nodded. "Alright, everyone put your hands on mine."

They complied, and closed their eyes as they did so. With a bright light, the Not-Chaos-Hunters vanished.

You'll see them again in the next Wasteland post.

[Ghost Town-City Hall]

Distractions. That was one thing he knew how to do; it was (mostly) why he sent his thrall away in the first place, even thought that backfired a bit. With the spinel in hand, once he got some more thralls, his pursuers will, no doubt, be confused.

You can read my mind, right? Mael thought, ''We'll communicate with each other like that. If anything goes wrong, you let know."

His eyes then glowed, along with his gloved hand.

Now if you excuse me, I have some work to do.

Writer's block for Mael, sorry for the shortness!

Edited by Masterofchaos on Dec 21st 2018 at 5:15:13 AM

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

Nyorla's weaving hands slowed as Moquoql abruptly brainstormed, telepathically pulling Nyorla in for synchronization. Their vomeronasal organs processed Unit 09's smell and the smell coming off Pilot 0037's obsolete bandages. Nyorla matched her memory of the blue liquid from the box spilling on Pilot 0037's bandages to Moquoql's memory of Pilot 0037 being reminded of healing potions. In perfect unison, they chimed in the excited manner of Archimedes, "Unit 09's blood equivalent accelerates healing!"

The brainstorm ended and Nyorla finished weaving the necklace. She checked to make sure the speaker fit within what she'd woven to hold such a pendant. "There you go," she murmured as she placed the necklace around Unit 09's neck.

Aynara felt Amos's mind and the minds of the two door guards being probed by someone other than herself, so she withdrew and renewed her notice-me-not mental shield before the probe could get to her. Her fangs and claws popped out as she wondered if it was Mael, but she couldn't backtrace the connection to find out without ruining the notice-me-not. She counted to twenty to make sure the probe was done before renewing her own probes into the minds of her hostages.

Wasteland: Southeastern Coast

Sallara sighed and shook her head, exasperated at Varla's attitude. "Leave it be, David." She said to the furry man. "Keeping on arguing will not get us anywhere. It seems we are not going to come to an understanding."

"Oh, you come from a palace too?" She asked Nerea. "Are you involved with royalty?" Although the way she spoke of Lerna made her think Nerea was royalty.

Then, Nerea proposed keeping on going south along the beach. Sallara did not like the idea of staying that near the water, but parting ways so soon was not appealing either.

"I... would prefer to walk inland for the time being. I was planning on looking for a nearby town or city after touching land. If you could point me in the direction of the closest one, I would be very grateful." She stated. "Or maybe I could travel with you if your route takes you close to one." Hopefully, they would be able to accompany her for a while.

I think their current position is north of the main town, so Nerea's route would take them there eventually.

WFS Hummingbird

Nasur relaxed a little at Joseph's insistence. Hopefully, he was wrong when he mused about the private coliseum. The last thing Nasur wanted was to die for someone else's amusement.

Before the two could go on to something different, Joseph got caught up with one of the newcomers, who seemed to have recognized him. Nasur looked at the newcomer with curiosity. "Oh, my friend also has a friend! So wonderful!" He exclaimed, elated.

He took a moment to inspect the newcomer. All of a sudden, he felt a very familiar feeling about her. A feeling that froze him on hi stracks and made the hairs on the back of his head stand up straight. Something that he had not felt in quite a very long time.

He perceived magic on her.

Sniffing the air to confirm it, he got away from Joseph and a tad too close to the newcomer, pulling his hood back a little to smell better. "You... smell of magic." He said, inquisitively.

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

Lily frowned, unnerved by the telepathy, before rubbing her chin softly in thought, "Destroying the souls, especially if they bring about divine retribution, would not be good. Leta is not exactly pleased with those kinds of actions." Hmming softly, she raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps... divine intervention is what we need? No..." She shook her head.

Remebering what was in her hand, she called out to the Not-Chaos-Hunters before they left, "You wanted seasoning, right? Here," she said, handing a glass bottle filled with a yellow powder over to Maya. The words "Colonial Garden traditional CURRY powder" were printed on the bottle's brown label, each to their own line, with the ingredients listed below the large print: coriander, turmeric, cumin, fenurient, garlic, ginger extract.

Meanwhile, Bonnie gave Mequoql a pointed stare, "You... have blue blood?" she asked, noticing the alien's flushed face.

When the Not-Chaos-Hunters vanished in a flash of light, Lily shivered at the sight. She remembered the one time she managed to telemet. Or at least the week she spent in traction afterwards.

Forest, Sparring (Carol, Morpho)

Carol stumbled, but managed to recover, wrenching her halberd free from Morpho's grasp. Unfortunately, her foot was snared by one of the metal man's tendrils.

Flicking her gaze down for a brief moment, she growled, before launching a punch directly at the metal man.

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

Unit 09 gave a slow nod at the two Mayatans as they came to the conclusion about her blood: "Affirmative. Witch's blood has regenerative properties," she chimed.

She then opened her mouth slightly as she felt the necklace being put into place. Glancing over at Nyorla, she briefly racked her brain for the right words. "Thank you?" she said, as she relinquished her grip on the speaker, allowing it to fall into place as the necklace's pendant. The girl then closed her eyes as she half-smiled at the alien.

Rainforest, Following the Snake (???; Seenarnha, Lectri, Swanwhite, Plasma)

The lamprey glanced down at the chains for a moment, its thoughts incoherent. Talk? "Yesh." Tele—"path?" it mumbled. It proceeded to stare at this strange creature before it for a good minute before noticing the mists rolling in.

Its eyes widened as it whipped its head to and fro, Fog? Panicked, it tensed its body to flee, only to stop. The beast was still held back deep within the recesses of her mind and her appetite was satiated for the time being; it wasn't likely that the beast would break out.

Edited by WillDeRegio on Dec 25th 2018 at 9:59:19 AM

Forest's Edge, Sparring (Carol, Morpho)

Morpho lost his grip on the halberd, let the punch hit with a dull clank, then assumed the shape of a street lamp, thereby hoisting Carol upside-down by her snagged ankle. "And what were you hoping to accomplish with that punch?" he laughingly asked, leaving himself open to any interrupting attack.

Oh good, the stranger could communicate after all. Seenarnha introduced, "My name is Seenarnha, and yes, I'm a telepath, I can read your thoughts. The dragonhorse who brought you is Plasma, I'm riding Lectri, and Swanwhite here has the cargo. What's your name?"

Swanwhite moved slowly and carefully, nickering all the while, trying not to scare the stranger as she approached for introductory sniffing. Plasma gently nuzzled the stranger. Seenarnha exposited, "Aw, look, they like you!"

Upon feeling the stranger's pulse of fear, Seenarnha glanced at the incoming mist. Interesting. Encountering vampires scared of their own appetite wasn't anything new, but... "The mist... why do you associate it with... hunger?" She offered, "I preserved a few jars of blood in Swanwhite's cargo bags, if you need any." She'd originally planned to see if the Fiendlord would fall for that bait, but she could always get more jars of blood from the spaceship's sick bay stasis refrigerator.