Hello and welcome reader, to the 28th instalment of the Character Development Threads
! These shared story exercises help budding writers develop their characters alongside the characters of other budding writers. No sign-up is needed; just jump right in with your characters. It is recommended that you read the thread page and the last couple of pages before starting.
Discussion Thread Thread Page Town Map
This is a "Main Series" thread and, as such, an element of risk is expected. Rules and participation guidelines may be found on this page.
The thread page groups active characters under the areas in which they are active, enabling you to see who is at a given location in which you might be interested or to find out where to go to encounter characters with whom you wish to interact.
Kindly add your own characters to the thread page, with a link to their initial post, under the area in which they are located and update the page if they change location.
Bear in mind that if your characters are arriving at a location, they are likely to know little more than what they see and hear as they arrive - what the location looks like, what other characters are there (both of which can be read on the thread page) and the last few lines uttered and actions taken as they are arriving (which can be found in the last few posts for that location in the story thread itself), so inserting characters need not be a terrifying process.
If you need help, have any questions, or want a quick recap (if the page count is daunting), head over to the discussion page, and someone is sure to help you out!
To help guide character interaction, having your character come in with a at least one short-term and one long-term goal or motivation is strongly recommended. It is not required, but it does make it easier to drive the plot forward. Feel free to come up with rumours about what treasures, adventure, locations, and dangers may be found in the setting - they need not be true or accurate, just some hook on which to hang an adventure.
The setting is specifically designed to be a vast sandbox into which details can be inserted by participants (for example, you are free to decide that there is a particular temple in the midst of the forest in which something may be found or that there is a particular shop/hotel/restaurant in a section of the town), if you come up with a location that you desire/expect other characters to visit, please add it to the thread page as a sub-location of the relevant area.
Things change as the story progresses. If, for example, a massive battle occurs at a location and the area is now strewn with bodies and buildings are damaged, kindly update the thread page to reflect those changes, in order that other participants have an up-to-date description of the location prior to sending their characters there.
Special thanks to all those who helped in getting the thread launched or provided ideas and feedback. In alphabetic order, they include:
Blackfire667, Collen, Corvidae, daird, DarkbloodCarnagefang, EternaMemoria, Gault, Kkutwar, KillerClowns, ladytanuki, Masterofchaos, nrjxll, Pyxo, Slysheen, TroPartner, WillDeRegio and yours truly
Apologies if I missed anyone - just let me know and I'll update the post.
Between dimensions, and linked to the rest of the multiverse, lies a strange post-apocalyptic environment made up of various regions strewn with the remnants of past glory - ruins, lost technologies and magic. Here and there, nature has found its way back amongst the ruined temples and towns.
In the midst of the blighted landscape, a fresh new town has emerged - a synergy of technology, nature and magic; clean and eco-friendly; a beacon of hope for a brighter future - where travellers can rest, recharge their batteries both literally and metaphorically and get whatever they may need - technological, magical or otherwise - to aid them on their adventures.
New arrivals can turn up by diverse means in the transportation area in the north-western part of the town or by whatever other means they deem appropriate. Here they may also find for rent, lease or hire, any transport they desire from riding animals to vehicles.
The wilderness areas have not been fully explored since the mysterious apocalyptic events that ravaged the area some time ago and no one is really sure what's out there - but rumours abound.
All that is known for sure is that both magic and technology have existed here for a long time, so anything is possible...
Currently in Day 1.
Current Time: 10:00 PM
Current Weather:
General Setting: Fine, a few light clouds Rainforest: Moderately misty, the fog is slowly thickening
See the thread page for updates.
Edited by Wolf1066 on Feb 11th 2021 at 12:12:29 AM
[Between Town Hall and Power Plant]
Gar May shifted her head to regard Murquoql and Nyorla with as many eyes at once as she could. Reading the expressions of a species you'd never met before was always a questionable proposition, but there wasn't anything obviously disingenuous that she could see.
"Huh. You really didn't notice... weren't affected at all? There's some kind of weird tachyonic distortion all over this area. I couldn't even jump in by this hemisphere. I'm guessing it's a side effect of whatever went down before they founded this town, but it's not exactly my universe, so that's just a guess. But it plays some significant hell with hyperdrives, at least the kind I have."
Her ears twitched, and she looked away.
"Also, different note: when you say some dogmatic maniac is after you, how imminently after are we talking here?" And what do I do no matter what they say? 'Strength in a pack' and avoiding getting caught in someone else's crap both make equal sense right now.
Wasteland, Near the Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Varla; Sallara)
Just in case Lerna's hormones could still recognize Varla's touch, Varla hummed a few notes to activate the pre-cast snare-spell matrices on her skin. Holding the syringe in her hand on the bone-cracked arm, Varla slid out of her wheelchair, landing almost on top of Lerna in prime position to pin her further. Varla's good hand probed, her electrical sense synergizing with her echolocation seeking a surface vein neither too big nor too small of suitable proximity to the heart. She found one, gripped with her good hand, and plunged the needle in.
Meanwhile, Nerea expertly defanged Lerna and remarked, "I think she may require a higher dose, though, I can carry her in the mean-time."
Since everyone was now clustered at almost point-blank range, it was easier for Varla to lower her voice against unknown eavesdroppers. She sent the spent syringe up to Sick Bay and prepared the second half of the dose in a new syringe as she suggested, "With her on my lap, you two can push us both on wheels. It'll be a lot faster that way. Also, skin contact with Lerna might help make my next—" She faltered just a little bit as she wondered if her next word was not in anyone's vocabulary. Given that Nerea missed the memo on "molesting" until today, it was likely. Just in case, Varla leaned on the planetary translation field as she continued, "—troubleshooting easier." Hopefully the translation field was developed enough to get the same idea across in a synonym if "troubleshooting" was missing from someone's vocabulary — Varla was juggling too much to think of a substitute herself.
Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Mequoql, Morpho; Henry, Joseph; Rebecca)
Mequoql got the outpouring of confusion...
He tried to remember before that. To piece together what he knew, and what felt so familiar. Mequoql, the figures, himself, lizards, the scenery, the voices... but it was like building sculptures from dry sand. Every shape constructed quickly crumbled back into a formless soup, leaving him no wiser for the wear.
Before he could get his thoughts back on track, the image of Mequoql disappeared, replaced with a disarray of figures from before, none lingering long enough to get a focus on.
"Wait!" he thought, "Wait please!"
But the image didn't stop changing, the nonsensical snatches of words returned, and he feared that his connection to Mequoql was lost.
...and suddenly harsh words jolted Mequoql's attention.
"And I already told you my telepathy is not easy to control!" Mequoql counter-complained. She was about to start in on saying how demanding for Mayatans to shut off their telepathy was analogous to a blind person demanding for other people to walk around with their hands over their eyes, but she was interrupted by the tree leaves shifting in the breeze, allowing a sunbeam to hit her and trigger a deep yawn. Then the yawn gave her an idea. The stowaway Joseph seemed to be stuck in some sort of dream world, so she could try to join him there.
"I'm sorry, did you say stowaway?" Henry interrupted, staring wide-eyed at Mequoql. "In his head?!"
"Yes, and he's desperate for communication," Mequoql answered, adding that last bit in an attempt to guilt-trip Joseph.
"Probably, you'll have to tell me more about that later," Mequoql murmured to her.
Morpho called over from his lookout position, pointing out, "That's what the werewolves all say, right before they're surprised by their own second identity. And I may not be a telepath, but it's still obvious to me that you just now exhibited some suspiciously similar amnesia patterns."
Bonnie continued where Morpho left off, "We're not trying to put you under a microscope. We just want to make sure everything is working properly."
"Exactly," Mequoql interjected. "You heard what Morpho said, and amnesia is not a good sign."
Henry supported what Morpho and Bonnie were saying. "Joe! We are dealing with things beyond our understanding here, dude! You can't just discount what these people are saying."
"I'm just trying to help, Joe. And hey, don't just go messing with those! You could set them off just by thinking the wrong thing."
"By thinking?" Joseph paused, looking back at the others questioningly.
"And that's why I'm still testing them," Mequoql warned, displaying the moonstone in her hand. "These are, like Henry said, on a hair-trigger. My species with its innate telepathy has the advantage of a metaphorical feather touch."
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Apr 13th 2019 at 8:32:53 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
< WoF Scouter Hummingbird, Corridors - Ciao >
Having made his compulsory greeting, Joseph let go of his shirt and lowered his waving hand, then quickly linked both hands together, as though they'd get lost if left apart. With them conjoined, his feet planted, and his mouth about to make words, only his tail was left to flit about nervously. Not too bad as far as appearances went.
"Really?" he said to Moquoql, a smile fighting to be seen through his confusion. "That's... nice of them." He couldn't imagine what on earth (or in space, for that matter) he'd done to warrant telling, let alone be called 'good'. Maybe she was just trying to be welcoming.
To the two other strangers, he couldn't help but tilt his head to one side, both at being referred to as "she", and because the two he was looking at seemed to be children. Or at least very, very youthful in appearance. One looked pretty human, but the other seemed to be some kind of pale android.
"Way more than you know," he replied to the boy, his voice taking a sudden deeper cadence. "So," he glanced back at the pale girl, "should I call you two something shorter, or... wait, 'pilot'?"
Joe screwed up his face a bit, unsure of whether he wanted to know the answer. However, he was saved from contemplating for too long when his gaze finally fell upon Nasur again, and his smile returned.
"Right, uh, so, um," he explained, "I just wanted to say that me and the others are gonna be going back down in a minute. We found my friend's truck and I guess we're going to try and track down the lady that stole it in the first place, and I just didn't want to, you know, disappear on you without saying bye. So..." he folded his arms, then unfolded them and scratched at his neck, then folded them again, then finally just stuck his hands in his pockets. "...so that's why I'm here."
this place needs me hereGhost Town, City Hall (Aynara; Seven Bandits)
The fifth bandit still in her teeth, Aynara glanced curiously at the open safe that Mael had been about to reach into. What was that doohickey anyway, and why did it have people so excited?
WFS Hummingbird Corridors (Moquoql; Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Nasur; Joseph)
"Don't be sorry, that's what I assembled it for," Moquoql pointed out. "It recharges quickly, I specifically picked a fast sapper when I assembled it."
Moquoql had already said her name, so she glanced at Pilot 0037 and Unit 09.
"Huh," the boy said, staring impassionately at Joseph, "She looks a bit squishy." It took him a moment to realize the previous pronouns used with this "Joseph". "Wait, you're a guy?" he exclaimed, before shaking his head, "Ugh, lizards are confusing."
As Joseph stood there thinking, Moquoql twitched her fingers and telekinetically pulled the hovering medical pod full of tools and stuff towards herself, taking a single hesitating step towards the transporter room in a nonverbal hint to walk and talk at the same time. Verbally, she prompted, "Joseph, did you have something you wanted to say?"
Crazy Kiwi
Forest - Eastern End - Telegraph Tower
[Parthenia, Farrah, Jean, Teri, Wolfe, Gwion]Wolfe noticed Farrah smirk when Teri mentioned tattoos - and well she might, as her tattoos far eclipsed the extent and complexity of his two smallish tattoos hidden from view by the short sleeves of his shirt. He grinned. "Not so much 'needing an excuse' as justifying - to myself - spending money on a tattoo when there are so many other things I need to spend money on."
Then Farrah turned her attention to one of the dead moufretas and wondered aloud if it tasted nice or had been dead too long.
Teri shook her head. "Nah. We killed 'em only a couple-a minutes ago. Dunno what they taste like but the crows seemta think they're OK."
Wolfe nodded agreement. "They probably haven't even had enough time t'completely cool. We were more int'rested in preventing 'em from eating us than in eating them, t'tell the truth."
Then Parthenia the Keraunos hinted at a question about where they came from and directly asked what they do.
Wolfe took another sip of his coffee. "Well, at th'moment, we've been sent to this world t'see if we c'n find any lost archaic information about wormholes, dimensional rifts 'n' such. Most-a the stuff we get sent t'do boils downta 'go somewhere potentially dangerous 'n' find something' 'n' we're the mugs that say 'right-o'." He took a puff of his vape and another sip of coffee before continuing. "As to inquisitors; where we come from it tends to be a religious calling - the seekin' out of heretics against the established Church. That's not something our society has a lotta use for these days."
He had no idea who "Cat" Jones was, but the images that sprung to mind around Inquisitors 'finding out about things' were not at all pleasant.
Teri gave Farrah a strange look. "Nah, by 'in the wars', I meant it looks like y've both 'ad an 'ard day. She was unconscious an' - not to put too fine a point on it - you both look like y've been dragged frough a gorse bush backwards. I di'n't mean a lit'ral war."
Wolfe turned his attention back to Parthenia. "Dunno about tea, but we c'n do black coffee, if y'want. Sorry, but we haven't seen any other horses."
Gwion looked at the corpses of the moufretas and turned to Jean in disbelief. "Hold on a sec, those things aren't adults?"
Edited by Wolf1066 on Apr 13th 2019 at 7:24:14 AM
WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (John, NCH; David; Arnaya)
Arnaya corrected, "Who, us? No, that's ridiculous — that would be Nyorla's boss in the Celestial Bureaucracy."
Adam blinked. "How does that work?"
"What," Maya said, "Do you go up to someone and say 'hey, asshole, you're gonna die soon'?"
"And how do you undo it?" Jackson asked, "And most importantly...did you do this before?"
Aynara explained, "No, we don't know, not even Nyorla, up until the moment she activates. She's the canary in the coal mine, if canaries could hold onto souls long enough for emergency medical attention to make the body habitable again... that analogy got away from me. We call the talent Nao Ranay Nokt."
"If you're asking me if Nyorla's Nao Ranay Nokt has ever activated before, yes it has. She saved her sister Mequoql from poison, and since then has saved countless others."
"If you're asking me if I've ever killed anyone, or caused Nao Ranay Nokt to activate... well, the incidents were before I joined the Web. My mother needed Nao Ranay Nokt while giving birth to me and my twin. The other time was when I set off an explosion to escape a vivisection. All the scientists assigned to study me were assigned precisely because they'd needed Nao Ranay Nokt in previous incidents before I was born, and there was always at least two Nao Ranay Nokt stationed at the lab. Nao Ranay Nokt activated for all but one of the scientists caught in my explosion."
Between Town Hall and Power Plant (Gar May; Nyorla, Murquoql, Blackthorn, Zip, Zing)
Murquoql mused, "Oh, I think that might be our bad. The pilot suspects our spaceship is being watched by a different enemy, so she disengaged the exhaust filter on the warp drives to make a smokescreen on the hull. The weaponized exhaust is supposed to wreak merry havoc on sensors, I wouldn't be surprised if it was doing the same thing to your engines."
"Also, different note: when you say some dogmatic maniac is after you, how imminently after are we talking here?" And what do I do no matter what they say? 'Strength in a pack' and avoiding getting caught in someone else's crap both make equal sense right now.
Nyorla tried to answer, "Well, the dogmatic so-and-so gave us the 'We Will Meet Again' speech and left a few minutes ago, and I was just now on the phone with someone saying the maniac is gathering supplies. No idea how long that'll take."
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Apr 12th 2019 at 4:06:32 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
This is my good side.
Wasteland: Southeastern Coast
Sallara winced a little as Nerea expertly removed Lerna's fangs without hesitation. "You have had to do that often?" She asked her.
Varla got closer back on her chair, so Sallara stepped a little closer. The merwoman seemed to want to be a little more secretive. She also mentioned needing them both to be closer for making 'troubleshooting easier.'
Sallara raised an eyebrow. "Why exactly do you need skin contact with me?" She asked.
Harbor
Nayx had paced back and forth for a while, deep into thought. Kraul simply watched her, not moving a muscle except for his neck and tail.
The wait had been maddening. The group had barely moved at all. "We need to separate them somehow." She muttered to herself. "The company she has gathered could be problematic, but it's not doing anything."
"Drag them into the water would help?" Kraul spoke up.
"No, you idiot!" Nayx hissed back. "They don't seem to be surface dwellers. We would be outnumbered. Unless..."
The serpentine woman looked at her scepter, uncaring of her bodyguard mentioning once again how 'he feared no creature in the depths or above'. Her fang-filled mouth curled into a smile. She had an idea. "Kraul." She called out.
"Yes, Lady Nayx?"
"I must prepare for a ritual. Make sure nothing disturbs me."
"But... Yes, Lady Nayx." Kraul readied his trident and swam in circles around his superior, ready to strike down any presence that could be bothersome. Nayx, meanwhile, was focused on her scepter. She held the hand grasping it in front of her, with her other hands hovering at the sides and above it. The Skrarr started mouthing words of power, and as she went on, the scepter's gem started glowing blue. Water around her started swirling around her, forming some kind of protective bubble, with Kraul swimming around it.
Above the surface, clouds started forming gathering unnaturaly fast over the coast, reaching far and wide. The sky darkened, the wind started to blow, and rain started to fall.
Nayx smiled while she chanted. They had no idea what was coming for them.
WFS Hummingbird
"Ah, very well." Nasur nodded as everyone presented themselves with what seemed to be numerical codes instead of names. "I am Nasur, former noble of Nocturna." He emphasized his introduction with a graceful bow, or as graceful as he could do in his current state. "I take it you don't have names?" He inquired.
"Oh, you're leaving then." Just like Moquoql had said. Nasur couldn't help but feel a little bad. Yes, Joseph seemed to have his own issued to deal with, but he had been the first person Nasur had met since his exile, especially the first one to not try to rip his face off. And now he was leaving him behind, alone in an unknown place, even if it was not dangerous...
"Can I go with you?" He asked, before he had time to think the question. "I mean, I would hardly survive in a place like this. And you may need my help!" He added. "It may not look like, but I know a lot of things you may not that might be helpful. Besides, I don't take up much space and I don't eat... much." He swallowed, as the sudden mention of eating gave him a painful reminder of his own ailling.
"So?" He shook the feeling off and asked ocne again to Joseph. "What do you say?"
< Forest, Edge - Shadow Truths >
"Finally," Joseph gestured at the lagokin's bowed head, "we find someone who respects personal boundaries. I thought that was something I cared deeply about. I thought you knew that."
He pointed an accusatory finger at Henry, who in turn put his hands up as if Joseph was aiming a gun at him. His expression, however, remained set as a rock in a stormy tide.
"Hey," he said, "I don't remember forcing you to do anything you didn't want to, man. For the record— maybe you don't remember, but for the record, you were very on board with trying to get better, or at least get your situation figured out back when I found you hiding in your house just-" he squinted up at the fading light through trees and shook his head, "I don't know... yesterday?"
Joseph found himself staring at the gems again, hardly paying attention to Henry seconds after he'd started speaking. "That was yesterday," he murmured.
"I'm just saying we're concerned. We're concerned and we're voicing those concerns, and given just how far above our heads all of this is, I think it'd pay to take those concerns a little more seriously."
Joseph furrowed his brow. "Why's that? Because I'm a werewolf all of a sudden? According to the shiny gentleman over there?"
"I don't think he was saying-" Henry began, before pausing to squint at his friend. "...Joseph, you did change into a lizard overnight. Between that and the lost memories, I think Morpho has a point."
"Oh so now it's 'were-lizard'? Or is it that I've got voices in my head? Or is it my aether matrix? Make your minds up. All this nonsense and coercion because I can't remember the past couple of days? You were there with me Henry, did I act differently?"
Henry thought for a moment. "You were panicked, but otherwise, I'd say no. At least not then, but ever since-"
Joseph put up his hand, staring once again at the pile of gems, "Hold that thought. I just had a great idea." He nodded slowly. "This whole ordeal is precipitated upon the problem of me losing my memory, isn't it?"
"...well there's also-"
"Of course, we'll get to that, but one step at a time. Now," he pressed on, "my idea is: why don't I take one of these gems," he made a motion of picking up an invisible gem from the top of the pile, "and just use it to fix this memory situation?"
He turned his hands over and looked around at the others. "You're worried about this, it's something I can recognize myself, so I think we'd all be more at ease if it gets dealt with right away, and this," he pointed at the gem pile, "looks like the most straightforward way to do it. And, at the end of it..."
He closed his eyes for a moment, tilting his head back and forth in quiet deliberation. Then he shrugged and smiled, "...at the end of it, you can all do whatever else you like. I won't protest."
Henry ground his teeth for a few seconds, then sighed. "And what if it goes wrong?"
"If it goes 'wrong', whatever that entails, you've got more gems right here. But there'll be nothing to worry about, I promise. Let me take a stab at it."
Henry was left frowning. He still felt bad about the whole thing, but he couldn't think of any clear cut objections that didn't slide right back into more bellyaching from him about the gems. Maybe this was the way to go.
With one last sigh, he yielded his say, and looked to the others.
<
Rootland, Pool - Who But Myself? >
The image grew faint and distant, fading into the vast pale of all else.
The voices drifted away, a school of fish parting with a castoff anchor.
The impression was alone in blinding white light. Overexposed but isolated.
He just wanted to close his eyes, to sleep, if only to escape. But nothing happened when he tried.
Somewhere along the line, in the messy wash of time, a word came to his head.
"Almost."
He waited for more, patient to a degree, but expectant as well. You couldn't just leave someone with 'almost'. What was 'almost', by itself? 'Almost' was stupid.
Nothing else came. He was left with only the single word. 'Almost'.
Gee, thanks. he thought, as sardonically as he'd ever thought anything.
He didn't know if he had an actual mouth, let alone a face, but somehow, he knew he was smiling.
< WoF Scouter Hummingbird, Transporter Room - Mister Understanding >
"Stick around and you may just get the chance yourselves," David said, flashing a quick grin. "She and Rip are in town, and thief or not, I am going to need a proper pit stop at some point." He glanced down at his shirt. The dark blue was mottled with sand, and it hung mostly loose thanks to a few stray buttons. "I can't believe I'm still wearing this sorry thing."
He gave it a futile brushing, then, returning his attention to Arnaya, said, "Oh, so more like oracles, then. A degree of separation— much less impressive," he joked. "But I suppose a connection like that can make a mean buck on the back-end. Joseph and I had a hard enough time trying not to get fleeced just in buying a heading on that thief. To presage death, well... you might as well sell folks pockets that tube right back into your bank account."
Arnaya's explanation of Nao Ranay Nokt was, in truth, a little lost on him, both because the phrase was a mouthful, and because he couldn't get a grounding on how the phrase was used. She called it a talent, but then later seemed to refer to it as a quantifiable thing in plural, never once altering the phrase itself. Of course, David didn't ask for any clarification. He was a quick study. He always got things.
Edited by Ryuhza on Apr 13th 2019 at 1:10:55 AM
this place needs me here
[Hummingbird]
Amy's eyes widened with excitement. "They're here? Connie and Rip are here?" She nearly squealed, "This is so cool! I can't wait for you guys to meet them! I'm gonna give them the biggest hug ever!"
Marie noticed David looking down at his clothing and smiled. "Now, don't you worry about that, hun. Little ol' me can get you all fixed up as soon as we get into town. Just tell me your style and we'll go from there."
"She's probably going to get him lolita clothing like she does everyone else," Nick whispered, "...Actually, that would look badass on him."
"A top hat, a fluffy suit, and a cane?" Adam whispered back, "That is pretty cool. I gotta see where she goes with that."
Arnaya's explanation of the Nao Ranay Nokt left them way more confused than they were before, but didn't want to ask any more questions that would risk exploding their minds.
"...Yup!" Nick said, "I totally got that!"
John sighed. "We'll make sure you don't do anything risky."
Maya twirled her knife around. "Alright, now that we all know things...how much longer is Joseph gonna take. I really want to get that thief. Scare the shit out of her."
"We'll get there when we get there," Jackson said, "Christ, you're just as bad as Nick! Be patient."
Edited by Masterofchaos on Apr 13th 2019 at 9:05:47 AM
Crazy Kiwi
Bank of the Large River - Chitara's Wagon
[Chitara, Naiolo, Pearl, Aubrey, Finn]After a pause to reflect, Chitara announced that it seemed that she, too, had been transported from her own world to somewhere different - in this case, here - with no clue as to how.
Pearl nodded. She could relate to Chitara's situation, even though it seemed to have played out significantly differently to her own.
Aubrey felt a brief spark of satisfaction that his suspicions were correct and then instantly felt guilty. Although what had happened to Chitara and Naiolo had happened to many of the people on Terra Nova - those who hadn't been born there - it was still a horrible thing to have happen, and satisfaction was not a suitable reaction.
He was astounded that Chitara had not realised that she had been transported until now. His own arrival on Terra Nova had been much more self-evident - he had vanished from St Swithin's Lane on a winter evening and found himself in the middle of the day in a vast woodland after some extremely unpleasant side-effects.
Pearl eyed up the wagon and the beetles that drew it. "Whatever happened to you seems a lot different than what happened to us and nothing the size of your wagon has ever been known to arrive on Terra Nova - the only vehicles to arrive have been a few bicycles and motorcycles; nothing even as large as a small motorcar."
Aubrey nodded. The general opinion seemed to be that there was some sort of size or weight limit, but what the exact limit was, was uncertain. Certainly more than six hundred pounds and probably less than half a ton - even the famous elephant had not been fully grown when it arrived, despite exaggerated claims made for the 'benefit' of newcomers...
Finn glanced up at Chitara. "Well, there's bound t'be someting in town ta help y'get home - a dimension gate or suchlike - provided y'c'n identify which o' the many worlds is yours, o' course."
Finn's words reminded Aubrey that the only world he could return to was Terra Nova - returning to Earth of his own time was impossible and returning to Earth years after his own time was out of the question - and, despite the fact that his life on Terra Nova was better than life he left behind on Earth, he felt a brief twinge of nostalgia.
Aubrey didn't need James, Wolfe or the others to tell him it was irrational ; he knew it. He could think of dozens of reasons - many of them directly related to Pearl - why he was better off on Terra Nova than in late eighteenth-century London, but there was still a hint of pain in the memory of being torn unexpectedly from his familiar life.
The Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Sallara; Varla)
Nerea nodded, before waiting for Varla to return to her seat. She proceeded to deftly transfer her servant from the ground to the mermaid's lap. Walking around to the back of the wheelchair, the empress grabbed the seaward side of the wheelchair, allowing for Sallara to take position next to her.
The empress gave a slow nod. "Sadly, yes," she told Sallara, "This is not the first time that my servant has had one of these... fits. Fortune smiles upon us, though, as one of us has healing magic to counter my servant's dread poisons."
Glancing up at the sky she frowned softly. She could sense something off in the air, atmospheric disruptions, the clouds rolling in, something she hadn't experienced in well over sixty years spent in her undersea palace with her paltry staff of servants and several generations of isopods.
She felt the wall falling water fast approaching...
"It seems it is going to—" Nerea began to warn, before curtains of water washed over the group, "rain."
Meanwhile, deep within Lerna's mind, the great weight of ages began to lessen.
City Hall Basement (Haydn, Wilhelmine; Oseru)
As they passed the bandits, Wilhelmine stopped Haydn from going further. "Take care of the bodies," she told him, "make sure we won't have to deal with them again— and make sure to not burn the place down this time."
Haydn gave a smirk, before complying, using his magic to systematically engulf each one of the bandits in a spiraling inferno of fierce flames, leaving behind ashes, crumbling bones, and melted metal.
As Wilhelmine directed Oseru towards the stairs heading upwards, she gave a description of Aynara from when she last saw her: covered in mud and bandages.
WFS Hummingbird Corridors (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Joseph; Moquoql; Nasur)
The boy scratched his cheek. "They either call me 'Thirty-seven' or 'Boy'," he said, before gesturing towards Unit 09, who was currently starring blankly at a wall, "I call her 'Zero-Nine'."
As Unit 09 was contemplating nomenclature, the boy decided to speak up on her behalf, "I'm a Panzerfaust pilot, she served as the computer," he told Joseph. He then doubled back to grab Unit 09 by her wrist and gently pulled her along with the group, as to not leave her behind. She autonomously complied, still in thought.
Rainforest, Following the Trail of Death (Seenarnha, Lectri, Swanwhite, Plasma)
Plasma was the first dragonhorse who smelled dead meat, so she snorted a warning. The group halted, then slowly creeped forward as the rest of the dragonhorses in the group got a good whiff too.
Suspended in midair was a mesmerizing display of... some kind of networks? Seenarnha squelched a stupid impulse to trace her fingers along them — no cursebreaker worth their salt ever stuck their bare hands into any clearly marked area of unknown effect. She took a more scrutinizing look. The left network was comprised of translucent tubes of various diameter — with a heart tangled in at the thickest tubes. The right network was comprised of much thinner off-white threads — with a brain tangled in it.
"Wait a minute..." Suspicious, Seenarnha's microchip communicator was about to direct one of the spaceship's proxy computers to connect to the Hub Town's internet, only to find out it had already done so and downloaded the local wildlife brochure she was after. Evidently, the thing that rearranged someone's circulatory and nervous system into this display was called a Deadly Mirage.
Seenarnha pulled out Cold Iron tongs and a DNA kit from Swanwhite's saddlebags. Using the tongs to hold one swabber at a time, she sampled a little bit from next to the heart and the brain. She looked down, noticed black hair scattered on the ground, so she took a sample of the hair, too. Using her telekinesis, she guided each sample into the kit. She backed away slowly a few steps, waited a bit, and was dismayed when she looked at the results...
Rainforest, Site of the Tragedy (Seenarnha, Lectri, Swanwhite, Plasma)
The samples were all from the same victim. "E-eiyah... how am I going to break the news of this tragedy to his family?"
Border of the Warpfields, Petrifying Pond (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara)
Syrni Sandra contacted Arilay over the microchip communicators, "Hey, Arilay, you know that shimmer that you suspected was Mael and company under an invisibility cloak? It wasn't. It was a Deadly Mirage."
"Thank you, your work there is done."
"Where to now?" Jen Jara wondered aloud, then silently added over the comm-chips, "We can't exactly rendezvous with our friends if we're going into 'hidden seed' deep cover."
Syrni Sandra asked, "Wanna go chase Salsa and see if we can make her give the rest of our armor back?"
"That would be an exercise in frustration," Jen Jara predicted. "Eh, I feel random — let's go explore somewhere random!" Jen Jara tightened her grip on Syrni Sandra, hopped into the air...
Border of the Warpfields, Petrifying Pond (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara) -> The Necropolis (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara)
...and landed heavily in what was obviously a large graveyard. The clouds were denser in this section of the sky than where they'd just come from, and with the sunlight interrupted more often, the air was consequently colder.
"Ooh, spooky," Syrni Sandra grinned, jokingly clinging tighter to Jen Jara in obviously pretended nervousness.
Jen Jara visually scanned the area, looking for threats. Among the gravestones was an old crumbling little church. Jen Jara set Syrni Sandra down on her own two feet as they assessed it. "I'll need my gauntlets back if we're going in there," she said.
Syrni Sandra dutifully unfastened the gauntlets and handed them over. Jen Jara skillfully secured them on.
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara; Alexa, Cody)
Inside the small church there wasn't much personally interesting to the Viporises look at, which probably helped speed Syrni Sandra in finding a tunnel leading underground. They proceeded single-file with Jen Jara in the lead. Syrni Sandra couldn't help running her hands over the coffins along the way, her heat-sensing "freckles" searching for slight temperature differences that might indicate if there were any vampires who fed recently on warm-bloods.
Jen Jara didn't need to look over her shoulder to see what Syrni Sandra was doing — her ears and her own heat-sensing "freckles" were sufficient to infer. "Stop that," she warned over the comm-chips, "The sound of your hand friction might wake them up!"
Skeptical, Syrni Sandra scoffed silently, "Like our scent and heartbeats wouldn't do that anyway..." She wasn't finding what she was looking for, the coffins were as stone-cold as the rest of the place. That didn't mean there weren't vampires...
Jen Jara hesitated, she heard a faint echo of a distant voice. "Someone's here," she thought, "We're too far away for me to feel if the who's-that is warm-blooded or not, but it's definitely not a great big dragon or I would have felt the near-volcanic heat. Should we call ahead now or try to get closer first?"
Syrni Sandra speculated, "If that's a vampire, the stranger might already know we're here. If that's a necromancer muttering and assessing the site for a zombie army, the stranger doesn't need to know we're here until we're ready to surprise him... him or her?"
"The stranger could just be exploring, like us..."
"Well, we won't know until we get closer to get more evidence, will we?"
With that decided, the Void Maiden Viporises attempted to sneak up on the voice, trying not to let their chitinous feet click too loudly against the stone floor...
Wasteland, Near the Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Varla; Sallara)
Nerea nodded, and Varla injected the next dose. Varla sent the spent syringe back up to Sick Bay.
As soon as Varla was back in her wheelchair, Lerna was quickly deposited on her lap. Varla fought the urge to bare and snap her teeth as she barely got her cracked bones out of the way in time.
As the air abruptly smelled different — stormy-different — Varla hissed, "Yesss..." simultaneously with Nerea's spoken warning. It was clearly a magical storm, which was good, Varla would have an easier time trying to wrestle it under her control than if it was mundane.
Varla overrode the planet's translation field so she could chant in the spellcasting dialect of her captors. "Ktunnnjr khehrrr al-thehvrrrit, rrrextakkk khehrrr trrrhehkkkaf-thehlllhehnnn, ktunnnjr trrrhehkkkaf-thehlllhehnnn Vhahrrrlllhah!" She didn't want to stop the storm — she wanted to bend it to her purposes.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Apr 13th 2019 at 9:47:35 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove
"So that's how you got your beast mode?" Cody asked.
"Yep. Took me years to finally get a handle on it but- hold on, I hear something," Alexa said, tilting her head to listen.
A faint scraping could be heard, like claws on stone. Alexa stood up on all fours and assumed a defensive position. "Get behind me kid, this could get ugly," she warned Cody, who complied. Together, they crept down the corridor toward the scraping noises, which increased in volume as they got closer. Alexa squinted and could make out two humanoid silhouettes coming down the corridor.
"Do you think we should ask them what they want?" Cody hissed, straining his neck as he tried to look over her shoulder.
"Just let me do the talking Cody. For all we know, they kidnap street urchins and torture them for a living," Alexa whispered. Cody nodded, eyes wide.
"Who's there?" Alexa called.
< WoF Scouter Hummingbird, Corridors - Room For One More >
Joseph flinched slightly as the medical tube suddenly drew closer, seemingly of its own volition. He only relaxed when he looked to Moquoql for some kind of reaction, and slowly realized what had just happened.
Right, he thought to himself, not haunted, just... way beyond you.
It didn't exactly help that the next thing he noticed was the android girl—Zero-Nine, the boy called her—staring impassionately at the wall. He was happy enough to get moving after that, giving himself enough space to hopefully avoid any treading on his trailing tail.
"Alright," he said, "Thirty-Seven and Zero-Nine it is. That's got to be a little weird though... like, do you ever look over your shoulder when somebody is counting or calling out numbers? '35, 36, 37.'" He made a show of looking around, as if his own name had been called. "Then again, I'm not really one to talk. There's got to be about a million people out there named Joe."
"Oh, you're leaving then."
Joseph nodded "Yup, 'fraid so. As much as I'd love the full tour of this place..." he cast one last look back at the other end of the corridor, "...there's things we've gotta do." He sighed and folded his arms, his long mouth set in a frown as he thought of all the cool space things he was going to miss out on.
"Can I go with you?"
Joe stopped mid step and turned to stare at Nasur. For some strange reason, the thought had never occurred to him. He'd gotten so swept up in reuniting with his old friends, he'd all but forgotten his new one. He didn't know if it was his place to decide, and the truck was already primed to be loaded, but it didn't seem right to say no. Heck, he didn't want to say no. Nasur had helped him as a total stranger, and he clearly needed help himself. Even there in the corridor, despite being on a ship full of people and surrounded by four at that very moment, Nasur in his pleading seemed so lonely.
"So? What do you say?"
Slowly, Joseph's mouth widened into a sort of sideways smile. "...Can you handle a bit of a crowd?"
this place needs me hereWFS Hummingbird Corridors (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Joseph; Moquoql; Nasur)
As Unit 09 was contemplating nomenclature, the boy decided to speak up on her behalf, "I'm a Panzerfaust pilot, she served as the computer," he told Joseph. He then doubled back to grab Unit 09 by her wrist and gently pulled her along with the group, as to not leave her behind. She autonomously complied, still in thought.
Nasur asked if he could come with Joseph. Moquoql mused, "I don't see why not — what do you think, Joseph?"
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara; Alexa, Cody)
As Syrni Sandra and Jen Jara moved closer, they could hear more of the voice, which was joined by a second, much younger voice. Then the voices abruptly switched from talking to whispering before the first voice called out "Who's there?"
"Void Maiden Viporises," Syrni Sandra called back, "Who are you?"
The auto-tinting sunglasses had lost their tint in the dim light. The Void Maidens could see a boy hiding behind an enormous scaly monstrous... greyhound? Since the child looked unhurt and alert, what they'd interrupted was definitely a conversation, not a mauling in progress. Still, just in case of... whatever, the Viporises kept their knees a little bent and their weight on their toes instead of their heels.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Apr 14th 2019 at 6:23:36 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove
The silhouetted humanoid woman with poofed up hair called out the answer to them and Alexa tilted her head again, confused. Must be some species she'd never heard of.
"Have you heard of them?" she questioned Cody softly.
"Nope. Haven't ever heard a name like that before," he replied. "Hurry up, answer 'em before they kill us!"
"Name's Alexa. This is my friend Cody. He's lived here for a while. I smelled something and it led me all the way over to him because he hasn't had a bath in forever," Alexa said.
"Will you shut up about the bath thing?" Cody growled. "Anyway, what did you say you were? Void Vipers or something?"
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara; Alexa, Cody)
Jen Jara slowed her approach to something more friendly and less ground-covering. When they were close enough to talk without calling, she corrected, "Void Maiden Viporises," slightly slowing the last word down to make its short "i"s more obvious. Her alto voice contrasted with Syrni Sandra's mezzo-soprano a few seconds earlier. "We're the astronauts of our species, we're out exploring." Jen Jara held her hands flat and palms-up, stinger thumbs folded under her other thumbs in the Viporis greeting gesture. She belatedly wondered if the presence of her gauntlets would undermine the gesture's intended message, only to realize from the thick shadows in front of her that she was in silhouette anyway. That might be a problem — some species, e.g. dogs from Earth, did not like it when strangers were silhouetted.
Syrni Sandra was behind, but not directly behind, Jen Jara. She also did the greeting gesture, then glanced over her shoulder back the way they'd come, checking to see if the conversation would wake the dead. No movement. So far, no sign of unlife. She was ever-so-slightly disappointed.
??? (Sarquoql, alias Ren 4; Mael)
Sarquoql's arm raised to shield his eyes from the impending flash.
"Yes, my lord!" Melissa called from the other room.
Sarquoql inspected himself, opening and closing parts of his spacesuit, but he didn't look different to his own eyes. Feeling skeptical and distrusting, he dug in his heels. "I'm not parading around in public with you until I've actually seen these disguises for myself and verified that they're real. Do you have a large mirror or something?"
Feeling eager to share the info, and feeling a bit smart-aleck-y to boot, Sarquoql added, "It's now later. Alcohol for our victims is how we can make our mind-control both easier to maintain and harder to detect. It's also kind of similar in function to a sedative, which I was wondering about earlier. And by the way, you didn't answer my question about what the robot that chased you looked like."
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove
They both noticed the hands of the women were lying palm up. Unsure of what to do, Cody gave a little wave. "Astronauts, huh?" He glanced at Alexa, unsure of what to say next.
"Do you think we can trust them?" he asked.
"Well, it's better to be safe than sorry, but let's get a good look at them for now before we pass any judgement," she replied.
"Can you show us what you look like? We promise show you what we look like after," Alexa said to the newcomers.
"What if ya scare them off?" Cody asked.
"Well, it's not like they're from around here, so for all we know, they could possibly look more intimidating than I do," Alexa shrugged.
"I doubt that," Cody snorted. "Alright, let's see your faces."
Edited by Mroh on Apr 14th 2019 at 10:22:59 AM
WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (John, NCH; David, Joseph; Arnaya)
"Oracles aren't Nao Ranay Nokt, they're a different talent," Arnaya corrected. David was still confused, along with the Not-Chaos-Hunters, but they knew they were confused and David didn't.
Arnaya mused, "Actually, you'd be surprised at how many people don't want to know how they die. Oracles don't make a lot of money that way. And as for monetizing Nao Ranay Nokt, that's just..." Arnaya didn't stop her chuckle in time as the morbid consequences flitted through her mind. "Can you picture the scale of the outrage, protesting and rioting that would come from trying to monetize any part of the Emergency Medical Response system, let alone such a successful part as Nao Ranay Nokt? Nobody wants to pay through the nose for being rescued from sheer dumb bad luck."
Maya again expressed impatience for hunting down the thief already, a sentiment that Arnaya shared, but they had to wait for Joseph to return. That was taking longer than she was happy with, but maybe she had time for...
"Hmm," Arnaya began, conspicuously drumming her fingers on her chin, "If you still don't understand how Nao Ranay Nokt works when I tell you, perhaps if I show you you'll finally get it..." She popped out her claws and hovered them near her own throat.
"Don't you DARE you idiot!" Nyorla's voice abruptly berated Arnaya over the loudspeakers, "Do you really want to take the chance of that making things easier for your stalker?!"
"Point taken," Arnaya punned, sheathing her claws.
"That's not funny," Nyorla groaned.
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara; Alexa, Cody)
Cody looked a bit confused, but gave a little wave in answer to the greeting gesture. "Astronauts, huh?"
Suspicious murmurs passed back and forth between Cody and Alexa, then Alexa asked "Can you show us what you look like? We promise show you what we look like after."
Upon hearing the promise, Syrni Sandra and Jen Jara exchanged a confused glance before realizing that they were, once again, the ones with the most superior night vision in the area.
Meanwhile, there were more murmurs before Cody added "Alright, let's see your faces."
Syrni Sandra confessed, "We can already see you just fine. Our home moon is often as dark as this tunnel, so Viporises are really good at seeing in the dark."
Jen Jara nudged Syrni Sandra with her elbow and asked, "Did anybody happen to see any candles or torches or something on the way in?" There was an emergency light in her first aid kit, but like its name suggested, it was supposed to be saved for emergencies.
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove
Cody frowned slightly. "There aren't any sources of light in here, except for various openings letting in sunlight. Believe me, I know this place well. Also you can see in the dark already?" he asked.
At hearing "We can already see you just fine. Our home moon is often as dark as this tunnel, so Viporises are really good at seeing in the dark," Alexa flinched. Perhaps she shouldn't have hid her ability to see in the dark from them either.
"Actually, I can see in the dark pretty well too. I apologize for the deception, but you can't really be too careful around strangers," Alexa said.
"What do they look like?" Cody asked Alexa.
"Well, they appear to look like humans, except they have feathers on their heads instead of hair and they have some fort of chitin on their legs. One has orange feathers poofing out all over the place and the other has black feathers laying flat. They're wearing what looks like togas of some sort and they're tied differently than other togas I've seen. The one with the orange feathers has blue eyes and the other has darker blue eyes. I suspect they're sisters, but I'm not certain," Alexa explained in sort of a hushed whisper.
"They haven't told us their names yet. Should we ask 'em? I'd rather not have to keep calling them Orange Feathers and Black Feathers," Cody hissed.
"Might as well," Alexa said, turning back to the two women. "May I ask what your names are?" she inquired.
Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Mequoql, Morpho; Henry, Joseph; Rebecca(?))
Lily nodded. "I'll make sure to tell you later," she replied to Mequoql.
Meanwhile, Carol was staring at the blunt end of her halberd. She hmmed a moment, before making a few strides towards Joseph.
Bonnie noticed what her dark elf companion was doing and fervently shook her head.
Lily took note of this, and head over to cut Carol off, talking the girl out of doing anything drastic.
Bonnie returned to her conversation with Henry and Joseph. "Look, I'd suggest not using the gems to fix something that might have been caused by them— but I am here in case anything goes wrong." She looked around, "So is everyone else, in their own way," she said, stepping aside to put herself between Joseph and Carol.
The Necropolis ~ Avenue of the Angels —> Cody's Cove (Akane)
Now covered in a layer of rock dust, the oni admiral left the sundered remains of several statues behind. Bounding across rooftops, she cast her gaze around as she tried to locate Krakka'a.
"Where the hell could that moronic wyvern have gotten off to so fast?" she said to herself, before catching the sounds of voices emanating from a tunnel leading underground.
Curious, she decided to check it out.
She soon found herself gingerly crawling through a partially collapsed tunnel. She crawled out from the rubble, finding herself in another tunnel. Fortunately, there was enough room for her to walk.
Padding along with bare feet, she drew close enough to eavesdrop on the conversation being held further down the tunnel.
Her vision already adjusted to the low light, she spotted a pair of figures up ahead. Tengu? she thought to herself, before squinting. No, they lacked wings, and their legs weren't bird enough. There was something inhuman about them, though. An undiscovered type of yokai, perhaps?
She drew closer...
[City Hall Basement —> City Hall Main Floor (Haydn, Wilhelmine; Oseru)]
Oseru nodded in approval as Haydn cleared away the dead. Cremation was, in Qorisa, the proper way of honoring the dead, and so out of habit, she muttered a brief prayer for the departed souls released from their mortal shackles by the flames: "let our enmity end here. May your ancestors forgive you, and welcome you with whiskey and honey."
Then, and only then, did she return to the matters of the living: the alien. Oseru did not recognize the Eyes and Teeth as an entity with its own intentions and goals. From her perspective, she had only met three kinds of aliens in her life. First, the Dead Gods, who were completely insane and had a habit of incinerating, dismantling, and/or experimenting on any humans that came too close to their graves. Second, Abigail, an AI from Earth which had planned to slaughter a significant part of its world's "unproductive" population before the American government had put it down. Third, the "posthuman" elite of Earth; in Oseru's opinion, the amount of cybernetic and genetic alteration many of them had undergone meant they no longer qualified as human despite their appearances, and they counted among their number Abigail's creators and Alice Winters.
Oseru, in short, doubted that this new creature would be any less atrocious than the monsters she had thus far encountered. But all she said was, "thanks for the warning. I'll keep an eye out for it".translation note
She then, after both psychically and visually scanning for and confirming no hostiles, made her way upstairs, gun at the ready for any surprise attacks by entities she'd failed to detect.
Edited by KillerClowns on Apr 16th 2019 at 5:40:47 AM
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara; Alexa, Cody; Ayane)
Syrni Sandra and Jen Jara were about to introduce themselves when they saw something in the gloom beyond Alexa and Cody, approaching rapidly.
"Behind you!"
A vaguely demonic-looking humanoid was closing the distance with an odd quietness. The ceiling was low by Viporis standards, so Jen Jara slipped into what martial artists would recognize as a cat stance, while Syrni Sandra got ready to bolt back to the church.
Ghost Town, City Hall (Aynara; Seven Bandits)
Aynara finished the fifth bandit and moved on to the sixth, gripping this prey much more possessively than the last. She double-checked her stealth and the flow of power she was leeching from the spinel necklace. Her previous headache from using the spinel for the first time had dulled and morphed into the illusion of numbing slivers of ice lining the edges of her eye sockets by now.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Apr 15th 2019 at 9:39:49 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove
Alexa and Cody spun to find a spry young woman with glowing red eyes standing there. "Get behind me Cody!" Alexa yelled. Cody complied, staring anxiously at the young woman.
Alexa thickened her vocal cords and growled softly. "Why are you here?" she hissed, slowly approaching the strange woman, fangs bared.
[Hummingbird]
Amy felt the squeeze on her shoulder and giggled. Even though she didn't get her vampire date, she got a vampire friend, and that's what mattered the most.
Maya nodded. "I think she's been a blessing for all of us, actually. Hey, when you meet up with her, can you tell her me and Amy said hi?"
Something else that Arnaya said made everyone stare at her, eyes widened.
"You...you can do that?" Nick said, "You guys can know when someone dies ahead of time?"
Adam blinked. "How does that work?"
"What," Maya said, "Do you go up to someone and say 'hey, asshole, you're gonna die soon'?"
"And how do you undo it?" Jackson asked, "And most importantly...did you do this before?"
[???]
So seeing the vampire hunter was out of the question, at least for now. Hopefully, when the storm settles for now, they will work together and take down WOF, even temporarily.
Mael waved his hand and closed his eyes, and again, a bright light appeared and left.
"There. I have no idea what you're new appearance is, but you won't be recognizable to anyone else. At least, to anyone who isn't me or that archeologist. That spinel I have should also keep you off radars for a while." He turned his head, "Melissa! I'm going out for a moment. Keep watch of the ship while I'm gone."
"Yes, my lord!" Melissa called from the other room.
You can decide on what he looks like now. Also, sorry that these are so short. Writer's block
Edited by Masterofchaos on Apr 7th 2019 at 1:19:04 PM