Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Rebecca Jane Walsh, Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho; Henry)

Morpho tried to get everyone's attention. Mequoql had asked previously about whether Morpho had explained about the moonstones.

"Negative," Morpho grumped, "Rebecca interrupted."

"Right. Everyone pay attention. Carol, look me in the eyes. This is Joseph, he's possessed, and this is what his possessor did to us all." With that, Mequoql telepathically replayed her retrieved memories, complete with the thoughts from the others that she'd gleaned while the events had been happening.

However, for Rebecca, the moonstones would have had no effect on her, if anything, they'd have failed to work they way they should, it would probably have been too much for whatever controlled them.

Being a metahuman probably did have some advantages.

"Err... sorry to interrupt... but there is a supposedly ancient cure for demonic possession, or ancient possession of any kind", Rebecca said, in a somewhat upbeat tone. "But it requires plants.. lots of them. Well, fungi technically, but at least I know which ones. It could just help your friend. OK, so it's from an ancient book, from the 1890s, but still... worth a shot?"

Just because Rebecca had been silent and seemed out of it, didn't mean she hadn't been listening, she was just a silent participant.

Although Rebecca wanted something to eat, she just needed to see what was on offer. Unless she was in survival mode, stranded with no way of getting out, she certainly didn't want meat - she was vegetarian and committed to it.

This may have been a somewhat troubled regeneration, but another 48 to 72 hours and things could start to get better for her. Then again, it was only her third regeneration and she hadn't quite figured it out yet, although she knew she would keep regenerating, but how long she'd have each form... anyone's guess.

Edited by Merseyuser1 on May 12th 2019 at 10:20:56 AM

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

Carol glared at Henry as he accused the others of using his bag as a waste bin, especially her. "Oi, I didn't touch your stuff. Besides," She glanced at the jeans briefly, "I don't 'ave a tail."

Bonnie glanced over, giving Carol a glare, "Do these look like trousers to you? I don't wear pants, you iron-headed dolt!"

Carol stopped, before smirking. She stifled a laugh, "Sure you don—"

They were interrupted by the arrival of a rather injured man.

Carol's eyes initially widened, before narrowing to slits. "Why you..."

Bonnie and Lily, meanwhile, both gasped at the stranger. The lagokin medic changed course from attending to Rebecca to tend to the more injured looking new arrival.

"SON OF A B—" the dark elf started, as she began marching angrily towards Joseph.

"CAROL! What a hell is wrong with you?!" Lily shouted, pushing the field rations into Rebecca's arms as she ran over to grab her comrade by the shoulder.

Carol shrugged her off. "That little shit—" She whipped her head around as the newly returned Mequoql called her name. Upon receiving the telepathic update, she slowly turned back around to face Lily, "He did that."

Her comrades, on the other hand, were both staring with blank looks on their faces. They had received the update, as jarring as it was receiving someone else's memories, but couldn't hold onto the information pertaining to Joseph. "Uh... He did what exactly?" Lily asked.

"Look," Bonnie said, "I don't know who this young man is, but in case you haven't noticed, he's bleeding from his bloody ears!"

She headed beside the distressed youth, placing a reaffirming hand on his shoulder. "Hold still. I'm going to try and find out what's wrong and see if I can heal it," she told him, before placing her hands over his hands.

Meanwhile, Carol let her shoulders slump. "Uh, Sugar," she said to Mequoql, "You did give Bunny and Lils the same stuff you gave me, right? So... what a hell?"

Sun-Dry Sea ~ Panzerfaust Crash Site (Pilot 0037, Novia; Moquoql)

Both Novia and her pilot ran out of CO2. They looked over expectantly at Moquoql for help, only to be interrupted by the small fire they had managed to extinguish flaring back to life.

"This isn't working!" the boy cried, backing away with Novia.

The artificial Silver Witch snapped her attention towards the other side of the Panzerfaust, where flames had fully engulfed the left arm. "Get down!" she said as she put herself between him and the Panzerfaust.

The left arm's magazine detonated, reducing the part into flying shrapnel and unexploded ordnance.

Wasteland: Southeastern Coast

Varla and Nerea seemed rarely disturbed by the growing storm. Unlike them, Sallara was struggling to stay on her feet. The wind constantly forced her to hunch down, and the cold rain that had fallen on her skin was making her start to shiver. At this point, she kinda was starting to miss being underwater.

The promise of cover by that rocky cave was more enticing than before, yet she was now wary of it. With the elemental in tow, it could mean getting themselves into adead end. Not that it wouldn't make a difference, considering they were completely exposed right now. Still, it was worth proposing the idea.

"Hey!" She called out, having to yell to make herself heard over the roaring wind. "There's a cave ahead! We can take refuge there!"

Meanwhile, the elemental had finished formed itself, yet it was still disoriented. As it took a moment to consider its surroundings, it felt a small movement at its metaphorical feet. Wind and water was moving around in unknown patterns. Some creature dared use hits own element against it?! With fury boiling inside, and its head turned to the origin of the meddling fool that had acted up. There, it sensed three mortal presences by the shore. One of them stood out from the others.

A giant, watery arm raised towards the far away group, the limb's end shaping like a crude hand, a finger pointing at the group. Immediately later, it started moving forwards, waves forming in its path and crashing against the shore.

The Harbor

"It's done." Nayx announced once the summoning was complete, and the hard-water sphere around her dissipated.

Kraul approached her, wary. "What do we do now?" He asked. He did not like magic like that. Elementals were not mere beasts that could be easily felled, and more than once they had turned against their masters. When it came to an unshackled one like what Lady Nayx had brought forth, the best they could do was to stay unnoticed by it.

Nayx fixed her sight on the far shore. "Now, we wait." From this distance, she could feel the faint presence of the strangers and her mark. They seemed busy. Probably spellcasting?

Suddenly, a burst of heat passed above them. The water boiled as it passed, and twisted into a small whirlpool from the strength of the projectile.

Skrarr were resistant to extreme temperatures, be it cold or hot. The dark depths they inhabited were bitterly cold, with exception of the sulfurous vents that their cities were built around, which easily boiled. As such, Nayx and Kraul were only mildly affected by the change of temperature, but if the projectile had landed, it would have been lethal.

"Ssso, they now know where we are." Nayx hissed, now angry that they had been so bold as to directly attack them. "Perhaps the could use another 'gift'."

Rising up her hands, she started another incantation. Up above, a thunder boomed across the sky. Lightnings atarted falling at random over the water and near the shore. Nayx could not properly aim at them from this distance, so all she could do was wait until it struck down her foes on its own.

Outside Hub Town

Slowly but surely, Nasur made his way around the vehicle. A thing made of pure metal, but did not seem magical at first glance. Only faintingly came the sound of rustling from inside. Someone, or something, was busy rummaging through its interior.

What could he do? Try and break inside? The stranger inside could be armed, and Nasur was not. Well, nothing another round of pleading on his knees wouldn't solve.

Before he could take another step, Joseph's voice came from right behind him, making him almost jump in the air. "Keep it down!" He hissed between his teeth, trying to make as little noise as possible. "I'm trying to see what's going on inside without being noticed." Last thing he needed was to have an all-out argument right next to a possible danger.

And then, with a flash of light, one of Joseph's other friends showed up. "Shhh!" Nasur tried to desperately shush the two down. "Don't follow me! We're going to be noticed!"

And right then, as if tempting fate, a voice from behind greeted the three. Nasur, taken by surprise, turned around quickly to face the stranger and stare dumbfounded. For now, it didn't seem hosile. "Oh, ehm. Hi." He managed to say, raising a hand in a friendly manner. "I wasn't stealing anything. I wasn't snooping around either."

Grasslands, Battlefield (Ozurr; Varg, Jann; Rosalind)

So somebody with a blade had been here. Rosalind racked her brains trying to remember the last time her horses had encountered someone with a blade, but those memories were blurred by the haze of less-than-lucid combat, as there had been zombies everywhere at the time. She supposed it didn't really matter, these ape-wolves would have had more relevance to the speed at which the mustangs had left the battlefield — fast, cantering at the slowest but probably galloping.

"Target practice?" Jann asked, taking Rosalind's hand as he followed her back to the vehicle, his mind immediately reaching back to his days at the Academy.

"I've studied plenty of inert ghouls before, but getting active ones into the city past all the rules and decrees was nearly impossible,"

Rosalind wondered why Jann didn't simply study active ghouls somewhere besides the city.

Jann began to ramble, "And they never lasted long anyway. Gods, the things I'd give for a chance to properly study an undead creature in..."

Rosalind flinched and her eyes sought the horizon through the truck as an impalement scar flared with pain in remembrance of That Archer. That particular scar had been left by one of his arrows — the entry wound on her lower back next to her spine and the exit wound on her belly. Her free hand was now clutching the scar of the exit wound. That Archer had declared that as long as she was pinned like an insect, he might as well study her like one...

Rosalind was snapped out of her flashback by Jann's shocked and embarrassed exclamation of apology.

Rosalind tried to vocalize her forgiveness, but instead her lungs shut down. Trembling and still clutching the exit wound scar, it took a herculean effort for her to maintain her handhold with Jann instead of clutching the entry wound scar at her back. Rosalind struggled for a few dramatic seconds before she finally un-stuck her lungs and managed to take the calming deep breath her emotions so desperately needed. She quavered, "Apology accepted."

In answer to Rosalind's question about the weather, Ozurr said, "Huh. Now that you mention it, it was the dead of winter when I left Hromstgard. I know winters aren't as severe at lower latitudes, but still..."

In an attempt to change the subject, Rosalind voiced her earlier question to Jann, "About those ghouls, was there anything stopping you from studying them anywhere besides that city?"

Since Rosalind preferred the window seat, she waited for Jann to get in first — no more trying to get Jann to brush by her, the risk of another suggestive collision like what happened last time was not ladylike no matter how much she wanted it to happen again.

For each bit of flame extinguished by the extinguishers, that much more of Moquoql's telekinesis was free to attempt stilling the air around the rest of the flames. She thought she was starting to make progress when...

Moquoql ducked behind the pod to avoid the explosion, her telekinesis doing its best to catch the flying debris in midair so it wouldn't hit anyone. Unfortunately that meant letting go of the flames, which flared until she was done with the debris and re-established her attempted smothering. She shut the two empty extinguishers into the atomic manipulator. While it was working, she barked, "Right! Priority change — Novia, show me where the remaining explosives are and I'll focus my extinguisher on them!" She pulled out the refilled extinguishers. "Meanwhile you two keep focusing on the easily reached and extinguishable flames. The more you extinguish, the more you'll help my telekinesis focus on smothering the remaining flames."

Being native to a volcanic Death World necessitated speed sex, so it didn't take long for Syrni Sandra's erotic dream to bring her to climax, with nothing more than a wobbly gasp to indicate it. Of course, a sensation that intense always kick-started the process of waking her up, as if someone's presence at the window wasn't enough to do so already.

"What did you say?" Syrni Sandra's auto-adjusting sunglasses had resumed a slight tint in the ambient light of the bell tower. She looked down — it was Akane at the window.

Syrni Sandra answered, "Sorry, I heard your voice but not your words. I was dreaming and my language neurons were shut down." She landed lightly on the bell tower floor and adjusted her wrapped cloths. "I thought Alexa was going to be the seeker? Or did you just get the same idea as me on where to hide?" she remarked in confusion before adding, "Anyway, at least you're not Cody. There's a taboo restricting who can explain certain things to children that I neither understand nor want to run afoul of." In her culture, children were raised communally.

The archaeologist began, "Dude, I'm a le—uuuh... I mean, welcome aboard."

Sarquoql peered suspiciously at the archaeologist's eyes, then glanced at Mael's glove and subtly elbowed him with a jealous scowl behind his helmet. "Hands off, buster." He deliberately left it ambiguous whether he was speaking as himself or as Bodyguard Ren 4.

While Soryn was gawking at the flashing spaceship, Carly slipped away. Since Jenny was still present, Soryn didn't particularly care.

An old man and a green dragon man suddenly appeared, the dragon man looking wildly around before sealing up his spacesuit and escorting the old man to the Mayatan waiting by the spaceship. Soryn's interest was caught by the cautious dragon man, there was something vaguely familiar about that caution. But that characteristic was common to too many of Soryn's acquaintances, so without any further clue to go on, Soryn dismissed the thought.

Soryn gently cleared his throat. "Anyway... So, ladies, shall we get going?"

Edited by Miss_Desperado on May 14th 2019 at 11:19:05 AM

[Spaceship]

None of Mael's intention was to flirt with someone—especially someone who was a lesbian (and changing their sexuality was something even a man like himself would never do)—all he wanted to do was make sure this plan went without even the slightest hitch. So seeing his new partner suddenly act like a jealous boyfriend made him blink, completely baffled.

"I'm not going to steal her away from you," he said defensively, "But you may have already lost, my friend." He turned his attention back to her, "Thank you. You're very kind. A little tour of this place would be helpful as well."

Edited by Masterofchaos on May 14th 2019 at 3:13:22 PM

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Rebecca Jane Walsh, Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho; Henry)

As Mequoql was relaying telepathically replayed her retrieved memories, Rebecca again tried to get their attention.

"This is important!", Rebecca shouted, in a voice that sounded like a police officer's, although it had her Capetonian South African accent. "there is a supposedly ancient cure for demonic possession, or ancient possession of any kind. But it requires plants.. lots of them. Well, fungi technically, but at least I know which ones. It could just help your friend. It means I'm going to have to leave here temporarily to go back to my home universe to get the book... but I'll have the cure. Anyone listening?"

She hoped someone was listening, as she considered it highly important.

"What do you think? Should we try this?", she asked, turning towards Bonnie, Carol and Lily. "I think it would be good, but want to see what everyone else thinks first."

Edited by Merseyuser1 on May 14th 2019 at 8:32:03 PM

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho, Mequoql; Henry, Possessed!Joseph; Rebecca)

Mequoql's telepathy overheard Rebecca's food preference, so she called, "Morpho, put the meat down and grab Joseph while I fetch a pod!"

Morpho rearranged the now-larger pile of flaming gemstones into a ring of fire, stretched to fetch a moufreta shoulderblade, and set it down with the chunks of meat on top inside the ring. Then he started rapidly folding and re-folding his metal until the hot spot was spread out and diluted to a safe and pleasant temperature.

Henry and the others puzzled over a ripped pair of pants. Still folding himself, Morpho identified the pants, "Those are Joseph's pants, from when he was stuck in lizard form."

"My species and my spaceship have a solution that's more accessible than that," Mequoql informed Rebecca.

"Fine, you try your way, I'll try mine," Mequoql told Rebecca.

"He erased your memories," Mequoql repeated. "I retold the events he erased as best I could, but..."

Mequoql affirmed, "Yeah, and it's keeping him from trying to escape my clutches."

Mequoql barely managed to keep from sinking her claws into Joseph as he struggled. With her hands busy securing him as he panicked and struggled, Mequoql couldn't hold one hand up in a "stop" gesture, so instead she bared and snapped her teeth in the air. Sustaining impacts to her ribs and gliding membranes, she gave up on speech to telepathically broadcast, "Don't bother, Bonnie, I know exactly what's wrong, I saw it happen, and it's a trivial thing for a medical pod to heal." Joseph renewed his struggles. "Easy, Joseph, you have more cause to worry about Carol than about me," Mequoql warned as she assessed how Lily was holding Carol back.

Morpho finished redistributing the fire heat and barged in between Bonnie and Joseph. "You heard her," he added as his metal snaked along Mequoql's skin and transferred Joseph from her engulfing hug to his. Morpho told Bonnie, "Okay, I've got him. And my grip is stronger and surer than hers. Now you can proceed if you must." At a silent comm-chip prompt from Mequoql, Morpho looked at Joseph's ears. "Yup, that's what happens when you teleport up and down long distances without preparing your ears for the air pressure difference first."

Once Morpho took over holding Joseph, Mequoql heaved a sigh of relief and groaned as she rubbed at where Joseph's thrashing elbows had impacted her. "Timing, Bonnie — timing," Mequoql chastized both aloud and telepathically, then seconded Morpho's invitation to proceed with a go-ahead nod and went to join Lily in holding Carol back.

Mequoql whispered, "At the risk of sounding unprofessional, I think they just don't understand because they're being dense."

Edited by Miss_Desperado on May 18th 2019 at 2:55:59 AM

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

Held by her horns, Lerna had no choice but to look Varla in the eyes. "All right," she agreed with a faint smile, before noticing movement out of the corner of her eye. Pulling away, Lerna excitedly pointed towards the elemental. "Eep! It noticed us! It's coming this way!" she exclaimed.

"Tsk... Lerna, stay with Varla. She needs you right now. I shall escort Sallara to the cave," she said.

"But, m'lady..."

"Stay."

Her command was punctuated by a bolt of lightning descending from above, striking the waters nearby. Nerea observed the surge of magenta rippling through the blue of the ocean in her aether resonance. "That was close..." she said, before shouting, "We need to get to cover!"

Sun-Dry Sea ~ Panzerfaust Crash Site (Pilot 0037, Novia; Moquoql)

The boy took a flying leap towards the ground to avoid the blast. Novia's breathing relaxed as nothing hit her from behind.

"The panzerfaust was only equipped with two munitions magazines. Both seem to have detonated," Novia told Moquoql, before pointing towards the main body of the panzerfaust. "There is a remote possibility that the integrity of the compressed fuel cell could become compromised due to the fire. You should focus your efforts on that if you wish to save what is left of the panzerfaust."

The boy nodded at Moquoql's orders as he got up and dusted himself off, before taking the fire extinguisher back and heading off to deal with a smaller blaze, Novia tailing along to help.

The Necropolis ~ Church Bell Tower (Akane; Syrni Sandra)

"I was askin' what you were doin' up there," Akane called up to Syrni Sandra.

Putting her hands behind her head, she arched her back to stretch it. "I heard bells chiming in a city of the dead, so I thought I might as well check it out," she told her.

She sniffed a few times, "So... you're in heat. I could see why you wouldn't want to talk about it in front of the kid. Also explains what you're doin' way up here," she said, flashing the Void Maiden a smirk.

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Rebecca Jane Walsh, Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho; Henry)

Rebecca turned towards Mequoql.

"Oh, no, no, you misunderstand. It's not that type of cure. It's more a survival-type thing I learnt from a book. Nothing like what you're suggesting. It's more preventative than curative, god, I sound like a doctor now saying these things. I've done some survival training. I've done some survivalism training as a hobby." Rebecca said, trying to clear the air. "Why don't we try and work together, rather than argue about things? Your medical tech will probably work better than mine. It's probably better anyway, you're the de facto medico here. What I'm suggesting is for when people are in the field, out walking. This recipe using wild plants is supposed to prevent demonic possession and other things, it'll probably work for if we end up coming across other things like moonstones you mentioned."

Rebecca may have spoken quite a lot of words, but she wanted to clear the air. She'd spoken fast, but at a pace that you could understand it.

As Rebecca spoke, a large Peugeot pickup truck fell to earth behind the group.

It was white, and seemed brand-new.

The car made a large thud and landed not too far from the group.

How did it get here? It obviously came from an Alternate Universe, that was certain.

Could it be of use to the group? Well, maybe... but first, where would they find the gasoline for this Franco-Chinese car?

Edited by Merseyuser1 on May 15th 2019 at 7:16:56 PM

WFS Hummingbird Sick Bay -> Transporter Room (Maequoql)

Since the angry being refused to acknowledge her and was already on the warpath, Maequoql shrugged and let Varla have at it. Then Maequoql got a call from her younger sister, so she fetched one of the armored medical pods reserved for prisoners.

Varla made a momentary token effort to resist Lerna's attempt to pull away, just to make a point about her grip strength, then released Lerna. She rotated her wheelchair and saw the water elemental was unfazed by Nerea's attack and advancing. Varla cast a disappointed glance in Nerea's direction before re-focusing.

Varla watched the increased lightning rolling in from the sea. Her eyesmoke tendrils had already sapped enough lightning, so she didn't need to intercept this fresh round of incoming bolts. Her already glowing eyes lit up further with a very specific glee and she crowed, "YEEEAAAHOOO!" Lightning-attractor pulses of energy — similar in concept to anti-missile flares — rode her voice at the speed of sound, aimed at the water elemental. Usually her species used those flares to sink ships. The glee of seeing her enemy make a mistake mixed dangerously with her pre-existing rage, causing a new volatile cocktail of emotion.

Fortunately, Varla had just enough self-awareness left to pay attention to herself and what Nerea was saying and cork the vicious cycle of her emotion and her magic feeding off each other before it got any worse. "There, that's a start for distraction. I'll join you in the cave as soon as I can to make sure it's not a dead end. If it is a dead end, I have just the solution." The traffic jam on the teleporter was gone. "Go while you still can, before I do something really crazy." ...like starting a rotating carpet-bomb ring of heat to steer the wind with — that would have gotten in Nerea and Sallara's way.

_{^< cont. from} East of Town, David's Truck - All That Is Misplaced _{^> David, Joseph — Adam, Amy, Jackson, John, Marie, Maya, Nick — Arnaya — Claire — Nasur}


David bared his teeth in a tight smile.

"Right, well, may I remind you that no one else here shares your keenly invasive talent. You can read my mind all you like, but communication is a two-way street, and if you don't say—or at least think back to me—whatever it is you're up to, well... then I'm in the dark without so much as a box of match-"

He cut himself off, noticing movement in the back flaps covering his truck's bed. In the very next instant, he noticed the conga line of crawling slipaways, bleeding out from their group towards the truck.

Joseph found himself caught in a hushed dispute with his flighty blue friend. "Yeah," he hissed in return, "I noticed. We've got ways of doing that from a safe distance. I'm trying to keep you out of a jam— if you get caught-"

The sound of Adam's voice right behind him made him almost jump into the air. Once he got a hold of himself, he too shushed Adam. "Shhh! Adam, don't follow us! I'm trying to keep him out of a jam, and if we get caught-"

Just then, they were caught, in a manner of speaking. The woman ransacking the back of the truck stepped outside and made it eminently clear that everyone had been noticed. Joseph glanced back at the rest of their group just in time to catch sight of David staring at their procession—and him especially—with a confused sort of glare.

Joe groaned, dragging a hand down the length of his lizardy face as he slid down from a crawl to a dismal flop against the desert floor, any pretense of secrecy or usefulness thoroughly defeated.

Strangely, the woman who had emerged didn't panic at the sight of their sudden gathering. If anything, she seemed pleasantly surprised by the company.

David slowly sidled forward, eyeing the woman with a mix of curiosity and caution. He carried his gun quite visibly at the level of his head, but kept it pointed at the sky.

"Just as my vampiric friend here says," he affirmed, tilting a slight nod to Arnaya. "And if you want to get along nicely, I'd highly recommend you start emptying your pockets of anything that might have accidentally fallen into them. I get so very flustered when my truck's things are out of place."

The Necropolis ~ Cody's Cove ~ Church Bell Tower (Syrni Sandra; Akane)

Syrni Sandra had already coincidentally answered.

"Wow, you have really good hearing," Syrni Sandra remarked. She didn't react to the extra flesh on Akane's chest — her instincts marked breasts as irrelevant, since that was not where mammary glands were located on Viporises. Instead, her gaze absentmindedly wandered over Akane's belly, hips and arching back. Syrni Sandra admitted, "That was me, I accidentally fell on the bell." While she spoke, she pressed her knuckles into her lower back and shifted her weight from foot to foot, working knots out of the muscles next to her spine while subtly showing off her hips.

"Yeah, awkward," Syrni Sandra interjected.

"It does?" Syrni Sandra queried, "How, exactly? Any arbitrary hiding place I could have picked would have given me privacy just long enough for me to sneak an erotic dream into a quick nap." She raised an eyebrow at Akane and mirrored her smirk, "At least in theory. I didn't anticipate you seeking me out."

[Truck]

Adam felt guilty...all of that, and they still got caught. Perhaps he should have stayed with his friends after all.

Though his feelings of guilt was nothing compared to Nick's feeling of worry. Shielded beyond human capacity. Okay, he didn't like the idea of anyone invading people's thoughts at all, but if that bug really did do something sinister to Adam...whoever was responsible was going to pay. Big time.

I'll handle it, he thought, You...you stay away from him. You'll freak him out.

Everyone else also felt dread at the news that something wrong with Adam, but tried their best to not give that away. This wasn't the time to try to go detective on him. Right now they had another priority; getting the truck back.

"Like everyone else said," John said, "We're just getting my friend's truck back. We would also want to know if you were with anyone else...that would be helpful."

Jackson quickly glanced over at David and whispered, "Do you really want to threaten this person right now?"

East of Town ~ David's Truck (Claire; Arnaya; Nasur; David, Joseph; John, the Hunters)

Claire gave the black spotted humanoid a confounded look, "Sign? What sign..."

She stared at the otter-like man for a moment, before realization clicked, "That would explain the pants... right."

She turned back towards the spotted lady, taking a half-step back, only to bump into the tailgate of the truck, "So... you're a vampire. You're... a bit different from all the vampires I'm used to," she said, before giving her a scrutinizing scowl. Well, they're a mixed bunch, but no different from the folks back at Sanctuary...

Glancing back at David, she stared at him some more, her scowl slowly giving way to a silly grin. "Oh, fine—" Claire pulled the pilfered gun and ammunition out and set it on the ground, "Better to make friends than enemies, I suppose. This was all that I took, m'kay?"

The witch-thief then turned her attention towards John. "No, I'm by myself. There were two others, Mist and Maelys, but they're busy shoppin' around town."

Thinking for a moment, she tilted her head to the side, puzzled. "Wait, if David's the owner, then who was that chick who ran off?"

_{^< cont. from} Forest, Edge - Scatterbrained _{^> Henry, Joseph — Bonnie, Carol, Lily — Mequoql, Morpho — Rebecca}


Henry breathed a slight sigh of relief as Mequoql reappeared, appearing to have something of a handle on the situation.

"See," he said, shaking his head as she warned Morpho against anyone using the gems, "I knew those stones were a bad business. We should have given them back."

He then glanced at Bonnie and Carol, wrinkling his forehead in utter stupefaction. "You don't have a tail? What on earth does that have to do with— ...wait..." He glanced at his backpack again, beginning to piece together what Carol was getting at.

A moment later, Morpho explained the rest, although that only elicited further confusion.

"But that was before I got here; how'd it get in my backpack? And aren't these a little big for a lizard? What's a lizard wearing pants for anyway?"


Pain superseded Joseph's senses. Wincing kept his eyes glued shut, he could have still been floating in mid-air for all he noticed the forest floor, and all he could hear beyond his deafening earache were his own excrutiated wails, sounding distant and drowned out even as they passed through his head.

He tried to focus—to pull his mind away from the assault on both sides of his head. Just as he did, he felt himself being pulled slightly into a strange, tight embrace.

Slowly, with a great deal of strain, he managed to force his eyes open, holding them in a squint. He turned his head enough to just barely catch a glimpse of who was holding him. The sight of Mequoql—the faintest sight out of the corner of his squinted eye—sent a shock of fear through his entire being. He couldn't begin to understand why he was so afraid of her, but he had to get away.

He shook his torso, twisting his shoulders this way and that as he struggled within her grip, but he felt so weak. So tired.

"No!" He shouted, his fear compounded by how muffled his own voice sounded to his ears, like he was screaming into a wall. "Help!" He begged, trying as hard as he could to escape his captor's clutches. "Help! No- no- please! Don't let her!"


Shifting gears from the pants debate, Henry turned back to the hapless young man as he began screaming bloody murder, seemingly at Mequoql.

"He... hey, what the heck are you doing to him?" he asked, sounding both alarmed and genuinely confused as to what could have caused such a harsh reaction.

Mequoql announced that he was someone who was supposedly possessed. Carol was in the midst of storming over to the young man herself, extremely pissed about some perceived slight, with only the efforts of her friends holding her back. In the very next moment, he was hit with a flood of memories spanning several hours, many of them featuring himself, but not quite as he remembered. There was something off about it, but his mind just couldn't make the connection. The sudden deluge of information, strange behavior, and unexplained events from all sides was so great that he felt more lost than ever.

"He did that," Carol stated.

"What, the mind thing?" Henry asked, tapping his temple. "You're saying he's telepathic too? Or possessed? Or- ...look, none of this making any sense. What is anyone doing? And— hey, how come he's wearing my spare hiking pants?"

He found himself staring at the young man again, noticing the familiar garment for the first time.


As for Jospeh himself, he had quieted for a moment, pain overcome by a myriad of voices in his head, and a sudden wave of memories. His and Henry's arrival, his using the gems to turn back to normal, falling asleep, and then... waking up?

He didn't remember waking up— not before his frightful falling out of his sleep. He didn't remember any of the things he'd supposedly said, but there was something in there... snatches of words, a dialogue... a sense of remote déjà vu. Familiarity he couldn't explain.

A voice in his mind mentioned bloody ears, clearly talking about him. He again forced his eyes open to see it was Bonnie. He saw her mouth move and heard more of her words in his mind, but not in his ears.

"Bonnie...?" Joe murmured, his own voice wholly silent to himself. He watched her with a mixture of hope and the fear that still gripped him tight. She reached out, touched his shoulder... and then Mequoql snapped at her like a mad dog.

"Oh no no NO!" he panicked, uncovering his ears to grab at the forest floor with his bloodied hands, trying desperately to escape Mequoql's arms. "Get her off me! Please, help me! Please!"

"What are you doing?" Henry asked again, staring incredulously at the scene. "You're- you're hurting him or something!"

Meanwhile, Rebecca was going on about a demonic possession cure that, from what he gleaned, wasn't actually a cure, but more like a demonic possession sunblock. And then a vehicle appeared out of thin air a short distance away.

Henry slowly brought his baseball bat up to his face, closing his eyes and pressing against it with his forehead. "Oh. I... I see. I'm just... I'm losing my mind."

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Rebecca Jane Walsh, Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho; Henry)

Rebecca decided to make the sudden decision to temporarily leave the forest and do something that she considered important. Highly important to her.

She decided to try dimensional-jumping (which she hadn't done for a short time now) and go back to her home universe.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Earth-1A-X61, Rebecca's home universe (Rebecca Jane Walsh)

Rebecca had successfully managed to jump between universes with her small universe-jumping device that was the size of a smartphone.

In the other universe, where The Forest was, she'd spent the last 58.24 minutes there (at least according to her smartphone's clock but it had actually been two-and-a-half hours since she'd left her home universe, in reality. Time went by differently, despite both being Earth locations.

She ended up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, her second home when not in South Africa, and decided that the first thing she'd do would be to get a new outfit, and a backpack.

Rebecca went to a charity shop/thrift store and decided she'd trade in her predecessor's outfit - men's T-shirt, leather jacket and jeans - for something more feminine. Way more feminine.

After spending 20 minutes being slightly indecisive, she eventually settled on a warm fake fur jacket, a chequered black-and-blue flannel shirt◊ that was cropped, and just about showed off her midriff, but not enough to be titillating, a pencil skirt (much like you'd see a secretary wearing), and some ankle boots that were fairly high-up. She also bought a few crop tops and denim skirts, but probably wouldn't wear them. Rebecca sold her predecessor's clothes, and also some of his technology (an iPad and other things).

At best she'd spent $400 CAD on clothing from that shop - payday for a thrift store!

Next, she went to a car dealer down the street, which had a few late 2000s cars. She decided if she was going back to the forest, buy a reliable old Japanese car.

In the end, she bought a good-condition 1996 Toyota RAV4J V 2.0◊ which was finished in a lovely wine red color◊.

She paid $8,695 in Canadian dollars for it - or £5,076 - for a vehicle that was, at its core, a 23-year-old sport utility vehicle.

"It's a Toyota... bloody reliable!" she thought. Rebecca knew her cars and was into them.

Now Rebecca had bought the clothes, the car, next thing was the food.

She stopped off at a food shop which sold a variety of snack foods, with a mixture of imported products.

"I have to get food for everyone at the forest" was the thought running through her mind.

Bulk-buying was the goal, and all the cash she'd had on her hadn't quite been spent... and probably wouldn't be.

In the end, Rebecca bought in bulk a load of crisps/potato chips in a variety of flavors - salt and vinegar, BBQ, cheese and onion, ready salted, prawn cocktail; some nacho chips with salsa; cheese-and-onion pasties; hummus and bread rolls; mints (to get rid of the garlicky smell from hummus); and also some brioche rolls (soft French bread); chocolate bars, M&M's (Rebecca had to tell herself mentally they're not all for me, she had a weakness for these sweets) and a load of beers, a mixture of Canadian/Taiwanese/South African/Indian, some diet cokes, and loads of water.

It took a small trolley to wheel this load back to the car, but she'd spent this much on food for everyone at the forest!

"Bulk-buying works wonders", Rebecca thought. It was the first time she'd done anything like this for someone outside her multiverse, as The Forest was not part of it.

After all that shopping, Rebecca headed for the city limits, and when she reached a small rural road, which was very quiet, she decided it was the ideal opportunity to dimension-jump with a car in it.

She pulled out her interdimensional travel device, then got back in her Toyota and drove into the void that it filled. Next destination: The Forest.

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Rebecca Jane Walsh, Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho; Henry)

Rebecca had successfully managed to cross between the Forest's Edge campsite and her universe.

The Toyota drove through the portal cut that had been made and safely landed on the ground - it was like driving down an invisible incline that was a steep hill downwards. Tricky for Rebecca to do here, since she'd never been to this universe before landing at the campsite as she was regenerating from John to Rebecca.

"EVERYONE... I'm back!" Rebecca shouted "I've got us a surprise.... a big surprise. Look in the back of my car and help me get everything out."

She hoped that everyone would be pleased.

"One good thing about this Toyota.... I can get people out of the forest if they want to. And I can dimension-jump and get them a car if they need." Rebecca thought happily.

Rebecca awaited their reaction, slightly nervous about things.

Edited by Merseyuser1 on May 19th 2019 at 9:31:46 AM

The Necropolis ~ Church Bell Tower (Akane; Syrni Sandra)

Akane gave a curt nod, "Yup, an oni's senses are at least ten times better than an ordinary human's. Of course, I'm no ordinary oni."

Feeling the maiden's eyes on her body, and watching her massage herself, Akane gave a faint smile. Placing a hand on her hip, she shifted her weight to her left side, "I don't suppose you hurt yourself on the bell, now did you?" She curled her fingers, staring at her knuckles, "I should mention that I learned a few massage techniques from one of my bodyguards... does wonders on the body."

"Anyway," she said, shifting her weight to the other side, "many people don't tend to look up, so hiding in a high place... like say over a bell, would be more private than a cupboard or a coffin. Everyone checks those in hide and seek."

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

Bonnie gnawed on her lip as she watched the young man struggling within Morpho's grasp. "Fine," she said to Mequoql, sighing, "you've got the better means of treatment, anyway."

At Morpho's description of what happened, Bonnie flinched, and Lily visibly shivered. "You poor thing," whispered Bonnie.

Carol stared at Mequoql for a moment, slightly dumbfounded. "Wait... I thought I was the dense one..." she said aloud.

Bonnie fixed Rebecca a stare. "Ah yes... fungi. See those mushrooms over there?" she said, pointing to some white, conical mushrooms growing at the base of a nearby tree, "I know of five mushrooms that look like that. One's perfectly edible, one causes hallucinations, one turns you undead, one liquefies your kidneys, and one causes hallucinations and heart failure. Those are kaleidoscopic mushrooms, by the way. Don't eat too many unless you want to go mad."

Joseph's cries for help drew the lagokin medic's attention back. "Look, I won't scan him; you've already got a diagnosis," she told Morpho, "but I will put him to sleep for you. All that thrashing about can't be good for him, and he is causing a bit of a ruckus."

She altered the pattern on the magic circles, before bringing them up to Joseph's head: "Sleep."

Meanwhile, Carol and Lily gawked at the appearance of the strange white truck, and the subsequent return of Rebbeca with a red truck of her own. "Okay... I did not eat the mushrooms," said Carol, before turning towards Lily, "I take it you can see those weird trucks, too, Lils."

Lily nodded in reply.

Carol paced around Rebecca's vehicle in a semi-circle. "Looks fancy," she told the metahuman. Something caught her attention through the window of the SUV. "By the gods... BEER," she growled, plastering her face to the window.

Lily squinted her eyes. Frustration gave way to exasperation gave way to confusion, "Did you really go off and get food?! A minute ago, you were whining about food, and now... Where did you even get this?" She sighed, raising an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, dimension-jump?"

She sighed again, "We... we already have the company truck, and I can fly. We're not in any particular need for transport." Cupping a hand to her chin, she added, "But, the thought is nice..."

Carol looked up from eyeing the beer, "Wait... you're willing to get us cars— damn, you must be richer than Lils' and Patches' folks. Hell, you're probably richer than Li'l Miss Fop."

Lily shook her head slightly, "I sincerely doubt that, and you really shouldn't call her that, you know— oh, never mind."

Wasteland: Southeastern Coast

A lightning struck close to them, throwing sand in the air. At this Nerea urged Sallara to get to cover. "What about Varla?" She asked. But Varla seemed fine on her own along with Lerna, doing already enough to deter the monster's advance.

The elemental was now dangerously close to the shore. In its presence, the tide started to ebb, only to surge forward in waves. It saw the group of mortals split in pairs, and hesitated between the two. Its attention got focused against its will on a specific mortal, as words resonated in its mind. 'Follow this one's blood. Bring it to me.'

The titanic mass of water focused in this one, looming over it and its companion. Lifted an arm, ready to either catch its prey, or simply club it and pick it later.

"YEEEAAAHOOO!"

A yell pierced the air. Then, a lightning struck the elemental straight in the chest, making it explode. Then came another, and other. The elemental's body was left on almost nothing, yet it tried to regenerate whenever it had the chance.

Sallara watched in awe at the display. Varla's doing, so it seemed. But it was not the moment to gape. Sallara called back. "It's not moving for now! Everyone, get to cover!" Then, she made a run for the cave.

Outside Hub Town

"Well, that could have gone worse." Nasur managed to say to Joseph and Adam, defeated. "Or probably better. Depends of how you see it."

Thankfully, the stranger did not seem hostile, and even cooperated by giving back what she had taken from the vehicle. Though no one else seemed convinced. Just in case, Nasur stepped back and motioned the other two to do the same. Just in case.

The others were already invested in interrogating her. With a side of intimidation as well, if Nasur properly got the tone of David's words. He tried to think of some way to be of use, but for now everything seemed to be already taken care of. Best he could was to try and be friendly with the stranger. Better not escalate things, even if his group had the obvious advantage in numbers.

"So, what is your name, if you have one?" He asked the girl, as friendly as he could sound. "And why are you looting this thing if you have companions already 'shopping'? It doesn't sound necessary when you can afford thigns." He added with curiosity.

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Rebecca Jane Walsh, Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho; Henry)

Rebecca turned towards Carol and Lily.

"If you're wondering why I got all this food... at least it's easy to prepare, snack foods", Rebecca said. "At least it was cheap. In the days when I did survivalist things as a hobby, they recommended we buy cheap, easy-to-prepare food for when we did get back to civilization. In our case... it's probably going to be to provide a better taste."

Rebecca then explained. "Oh, no, the Toyota's mine, it's not for you, I needed something to get around in. But be my guest if you want a ride..."

Turning towards Lily, Rebecca made eye contact with her and started to explain about the regeneration.

"I have the ability to regenerate, it just was a more troublesome regeneration than when I went from my first to my second incarnation, and I'm now in my third. I had what's called post-regeneration trauma. Don't know if I'll get it in my next incarnation, or even as far down the line as sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth... it's a gamble whether I do or not. When you have that... well, you're not quite thinking straight. I'm obviously not used to it yet." Rebecca explained, in a friendly manner, and she was thinking about how to try and get on with everyone. "I've got an ability that not many of us here probably have. But how long my regenerations last... anyone's guess. As for your question... yes, I can dimension-jump but normally only have done it in my own multiverse."

Rebecca then approached Mequoql and tried to explain things without offending her.

"By the way, I've abandoned my idea regarding treatment or cures using mushrooms. It was just the survivalist in me. Your medical cure, whatever it is, probably sounds better." she said. "Sorry for even suggesting that. Guess this is what learning survival things between 2003 and 2011 does to you. I can't help Joseph, sadly, as I'm not a medic."

In the background, a zebreer was seen eating some firemilk mushrooms from under a tree.

The Peugeot pickup truck, having literally Fell Off the Back of a Truck in a large Chinese city, and crossed into this alternate universe, lay abandoned. No-one really knew whose it was, but one thing was certain, it wasn't Rebecca's. It was virtually undriven.

In the background, a dimensional portal opened, which had an woman who looked ''exactly'' like Jenny from the Hub Town. However, unlike Jenny, she was human. Who was she, and why was she here? Nobody knew.

deleted

Edited by Merseyuser1 on May 25th 2019 at 9:43:49 AM

Necropolis, Cody's Cove, Coffin Room (Alexa, Cody; Jen Jara; Krakka'a, Shade of Osiris)

Something small climbed out of one of the coffins and raised its arms. "Just me, Cody," it said. "You looking for somebody?"

"Human," Krakka'a snarled. He stalked menacingly towards the boy. "Why is it always your kind getting in my way?"

HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING.

"That you know of."

AND IF I RECALL CORRECTLY, YOU THOUGHT AKANE WAS A HUMAN AT FIRST. REMIND ME, HOW DID THAT WORK OUT FOR YOU?

"You shut your mouth!"

I DON'T HAVE A MOUTH.

"You know what I mean! What's your game in all this, anyway?"

...I BEG YOUR PARDON?

For once, Krakka'a seemed to have caught Osiris off guard. The pterosaur smirked and continued.

"You seem to switch between trolling me and giving me advice. I'm just curious as to what you think you're trying to accomplish here."

I COULD EXPLAIN IT TO YOU, BUT I DOUBT YOU'D UNDERSTAND.

"Try me."

WHEN YOU KILLED AND ATE THAT MAN OUTSIDE TOWN THIS MORNING, I HAD TO WATCH IDLY BY WITHOUT COMMENT. I HAVE NO INTEREST IN SEEING YOU KILL ANOTHER INNOCENT.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have attached yourself to me." He turned his attention back to the boy. "Now I'm thinking maybe I should kill him, just because you don't want me to."

AND HOW DO YOU KNOW HE CAN'T SNAP YOUR NECK WITH HIS MIND?

Krakka'a narrowed his eyes and glared in the general direction he imagined Osiris' voice to be coming from.

THINK BACK TO THE PEOPLE YOU'VE ENCOUNTERED SINCE YOU ARRIVED IN THIS WORLD. EXCEPT FOR THE ONE YOU ATE, YOU HAVE BEEN HOPELESSLY OUTMATCHED BY EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. EVEN ZAROKH COULD EASILY KICK YOUR ASS.

"Shut UP!!" Krakka'a spun in that same direction and raked his claws at the empty air.

Grasslands, Battlefield (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind)

"In that Hromstgard place of yours...does your people have any gods?" Varg asked.

"Sure," Ozurr said, after getting over his initial surprise. It had seemed to him a very random question. "I don't know much about them, though. From what I've been told, our gods don't typically involve themselves in mortal affairs, and we're better off that way. I've read some of the older legends, and any time a mortal gets the gods' attention, it doesn't end well for the mortal." He paused to think a bit. "Thassilae seemed to imply that the human gods are a bit more involved than ours. She said that any time her home country has a coronation, the new monarch swears an oath before a particular altar. Apparently, making an oath before that altar is the closest a human can get to making an oath to the gods directly, and they don't take kindly to oathbreakers. In fact, now that I think about it, she implied that they don't wait for you to die before they punish you." He looked down at Varg. "What about you?"

The Scar, bridge over the smaller river (Arnora)

Much to Arnora's annoyance, but not her surprise, Ozurr's footprints led back upstream, back to the same bridge she had just left. There was one muddy footprint on the bridge that was intact enough for her to tell it had belonged to Ozurr, but then they just disappeared.

With a groan, Arnora stepped onto the bridge and surveyed her surroundings. Whatever had left those wheel ruts she had tripped over earlier didn't leave any mud on the bridge, suggesting that the ruts led away, into the grasslands. Perhaps whoever they were had seen Ozurr and could tell her where he had gone.

Assuming they're friendly, she thought as she climbed out of the concrete trench and began following the ruts.

She turned her attention to her father's sword (she still had difficulty thinking of it as her sword). If they weren't friendly, she had a couple dozen ancestors who might have something to say about it.

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

The Empress' arsenal was limited to water, dark, and a few earth magics (though the latter did have somewhat of an effect on water-based entities), and her servant had her bow and poisons, none of which would prevent the elemental from crushing the squishier members of the group. Varla, on the other hand, had the rather effective tactic of redirecting lightning at the seawater colossus.

Seeing that Varla had things covered and that Sallara was running for cover, she urged Lerna to follow her, with the Empress herself taking the rear guard, as her defensive capabilities could easily withstand the onslaught of the raging ocean.

Feeling water lap at her heels, she pushed forward, realigning the bulk of her aetheric shielding to catch any incoming blows from the elemental.

The faint magenta line tracing down from the clouds above to Lerna's head gave the empress only a fraction of a second to react. She started towards her servant, whipping her shields back around. They slogged into position, microseconds too late for what was about to come. "Oh shi—"

Through the will of Chaos, Nayx's unguided wrath dropped from above. The air roared as it was violently torn asunder. Lerna, briefly engulfed by the brightest of lights, one hundred million volts of electricity surging around her and into the ground, was knocked out instantly, her heart thrown into disarray.

Nerea was tossed backward by the blast, slightly numbed from the arcs of electricity that had lashed out at her from the main bolt, her hearing reduced to an omnipresent whine, but for the most part, unharmed.

As for the others...

The Necropolis, Cody's Cove

Cody scowled at the unwarranted threat. "Look pal, I didn't do anything to you, so I don't know why you're making assumptions! You think just because you're a big bad predator that you can act hostile to anybody who isn't your kind?!" he snapped. He started forward to punch him, but Alexa grabbed him by the back of his tattered shirt and pulled him aside.

"Hey, let's figure out what he wants before we get into a fight here. Maybe he had a couple of nasty run-ins with humans in the past," Alexa said softly.

"He started it," Cody muttered.

"I know, but perhaps we can ask him why he's not too fond of humans. If his intentions are hostile, you and Jen can get outta here. I'll deal with him," she said.

"Shut UP!!" the pterosaur yelled, raking his claws at seemingly empty air.

"Who's he talking to?" Cody hissed to Jen Jara.

Sun-Dry Sea ~ Panzerfaust Crash Site (Pilot 0037, Novia; Moquoql)

Moquoql nodded and followed Novia's pointing, extinguishing a path to the fuel tank. She used her comm-chip to check on the progress of the request she'd made — she'd have to keep stalling for just a little more time...

"Oh, you said that," Jen Jara realized.

The talking pterosaur the proceeded to have a conversation, but Jen Jara could only hear his half of it.

"Who else goes there?" Jen Jara demanded. She added to Maequoql, "Can you detect who this talking pterosaur is talking to?"

Maequoql's answer through the comm-chip was delayed a few seconds. "Sort of. I can tell that there's someone there, but whatever he's saying, it's really staticky and giving me an overextension headache. Sorry, you're on your own unless I can get rid of the headache and figure out a loophole."

Jen Jara teleported, barging in between the talking pterosaur and Cody. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jen Jara sing-songed, in a defensive combat-ready stance. Her stomach continued growling as she looked at Krakka'a. She thought to herself, "Huh, is this what vampires feel like?"

Between her ears and the freckle-like pit organs on her skin, Jen Jara didn't need to look behind her to step and shift her position according to Cody's and Alexa's movements. Jen Jara kept herself in between Cody and the oversized talking meal.

The talking pterosaur glared, but not at Jen Jara, instead off in a random direction. "Shut UP!!" Krakka'a spun in that same direction and raked his claws at the empty air.

"Who's he talking to?" Cody hissed to Jen Jara.

"That's what I want to know," Jen Jara whispered back.

Arnaya grumbled, "In the land of the blind, sight is a 'keenly invasive talent'. In the land of the deaf, hearing is a 'keenly invasive talent'."

After Arnaya warned about Adam, Nick had an idea.

Arnaya rolled her eyes, not at all confident that Nick could handle it. "And what exactly is your plan? Did you account for the worst-case scenario when you thought it up?"

Meanwhile, David addressed the thief.

"And don't bother lying," Arnaya warned, tapping her temple, "I'll know."

Arnaya privately added via telepathy, "For once I'm with Jackson. That thief smells like a necromancer or something, and I seriously doubt any of you know how to fight a necromancer. I'd rather not babysit a bunch of newbies through a fight against one today."

As soon as the gun and ammo were let go of, Arnaya telekinetically grabbed hold of them and whisked them to the group, presenting them to David.

Arnaya just barely managed to cork her ominous laughter at that news, but failed to wipe the ominous fangy grin from her face, her silver-hued teeth glinting in the sunlight against her blue lips.

"That would most likely be the other truck thief we're hunting," Arnaya answered aloud, "Which way did she go?" The more clues she got by other means, the less she'd have to metabolize that archaeologist's blood to get visions of the past.

"No, I didn't hurt myself on the bell," Syrni Sandra explained, "I'm just not used to the weight and rebalancing of carrying an emergency kit in my pouch. Which I suppose explains why I fell in the first place." She found her gaze returning like a magnet to Akane. "Are you... offering a massage?" she asked hopefully.

"Many people don't tend to look up? That's news to me," Syrni Sandra said. "Where I come from, up is where the prey is." Then she belatedly realized something. "Oh, so that's why Arilay and Ella-Maria arrange so many 'ambush from the ceiling' drills for initiates..."

Morpho stared at Henry's bewilderment. "No, that was after you got here. Put together the clues, Sherlock Holmes, isn't it obvious? When we said 'lizard', we meant an anthropomorphic one — kind of like Bonnie and her rabbit ears. Only Joseph was transformed without his knowledge and against his will. His distressing transformation is the entire reason you sought us out in the first place, you were that worried about him."

Mequoql corrected, "No, Carol was referring to him erasing your memories. Hence the kind restraints. I retold the missing events as best I could, and as for the pants, obviously you weren't paying attention to this part of the story..." She replayed her witnessing Joseph going into the bush thicket with his torn pants and coming back out with Henry and new pants.

"Not this time," Mequoql winked. Meanwhile, Rebecca turned towards Mequoql.

Taking advantage of telepathy being faster than speech, even though this particular speech was pretty fast, Mequoql telepathically broadcasted, "What I said works either way, you were the one who failed to call it a preventative instead of a cure in the first place."

Again, Mequoql telepathically broadcasted her interjection, "Didn't I just get through suggesting that?"

"Well, don't just stand there yakking, go fetch it already!" Mequoql shooed Rebecca.

"Only by accident!" Morpho protested.

A white truck appeared out of thin air, and a few seconds later, so did the armored medical pod that Mequoql summoned. Mequoql assumed that Rebecca had summoned the truck as step one in retrieving the recipe, so she was bewildered when Rebecca disappeared without the truck and then reappeared with a Toyota. Now there were three vehicles cramping the clearing.

"Beer?!" Mequoql echoed in surprise, "What are you doing with a weapon like beer?"

Mequoql dropped the "redundant food" part of her impending rant.

Eye twitching, Mequoql ranted, "Of all the redundant, unstealthy... This is a forest, not a parking lot! Your vehicles are cramping up the clearing and getting in everybody's way! How do you expect to drive anywhere where the trees are too close together? Do you realize that any spaceship or satellite with a halfway decent camera will easily notice three oddly placed vehicles? One vehicle here can be overlooked, but three can't!"

Guessing (incorrectly) whom Carol just called Li'l Miss Fop, Morpho piped up, "The price of gasoline vehicles is a small fraction of the cost of an atomic manipulator. The Web of Friendship equipped all of our spaceships with atomic manipulators. Used improperly, the output of atomic manipulators can break an insufficiently advanced planet's economy."

2003 and 2011 wasn't that long ago. Eye twitching, Mequoql tried to keep the furious exasperation out of her voice — after all, Rebecca did admit that she was addled from 'post-regeneration trauma'. "I have a cure. I don't have a reliable preventative. You have a preventative." She failed to keep the furious exasperation out of her voice. "Don't apologize for bringing it up, apologize for dropping it! You're just lucky Seenarnha the cursebreaker isn't here or she'd claw you for withholding!" Mequoql was too furious to pay much attention to the incoming stranger.

"Memories. Not mind. There's a difference," Morpho explained, "By the way, welcome again to the masquerade — a whole slew of the things you read about in fantasy and science fiction are secretly real, even if they aren't always exactly the way they're depicted in fiction."

Meanwhile, the medical pod slowly floated as best it could around the people and vehicles, finally winding its way over to Morpho and opened up to receive Joseph...

The elemental was stymied by the lightning, for now. Sallara bolted for the cave, followed by everyone else, Varla grabbing the wheels of her wheelchair and rolling them. Varla noticed a warning itch on her skin as the group blundered into an electrical imbalance. Instinctively knowing what would happen next, with no time to warn anyone or even think the words, she abruptly teleported away with her wheelchair...

Varla -> WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room

"Oops," she realized she'd left everyone else behind.

Wasteland, Near the Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Varla; Sallara)

Silently cursing her tactical blunder, Varla teleported back, reappearing behind the cover of a boulder. Peeking out from behind it, she saw that Lerna and Nerea had been struck by the lightning bolt and were now incapacitated. She pointed and released her accumulated geological heat at the water elemental, not wanting to give it any more time to recover between lightning strikes.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on May 22nd 2019 at 6:51:29 AM

[Rainforest/Henry A. Safon 2(1977), and Leto]

In a small clearing in the rainforest there was a loud boom accompanied by a bright flash. When the flash dissipated there was in its place was a bright cherry red 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible with the top down and a bright white interior. Driving the car was one Henry A. Safon the second.

Henry was a man that appeared to be in his mid to late 30s with feathered light brown hair reaching his shoulders and a trimmed beard, something that would've been very popular in his native year of 1977. His hair wasn't the only thing that placed him in the 70s though, his clothes were another dead give away. He was dressed in a beige leisure suit with a light green paisley shirt with a wide collar and opened three buttons down, and completing the outfit were many other period appropriate accessories such as a gold rolex daytona with a black dial, a gold medallion, a pair of gold framed aviators and a pair of shiny black platform shoes.

"Woah! God damn that was a rough one!" he said looking around getting his bearings. He didn't know where he was but knew that he'd likely find something if he drove around, after all that's what always happened to him on these trips. "Well let's see what we can find." As he said that he reached onto the floor of his car to pull out a red leather briefcase that he kept his portable stash in and pulled out a small amount of cocaine and a rolled up dollar bill. He lined it up on the dash of the car and took a big snort to get the drug into his system. "Woah! Alright let's drive!"

With that he started the car and "I feel love" by Donna Summer started playing as he began to drive as fast as one could in a 1970s land yacht of a car. He did his best to drive though the forest as neatly as possible but some brushing had to go in order for him to drive through the place. As he drove a little further he reached down into the passenger's footwell to grab a can of beer that he had there, losing slight control as he did.

When he looked back up he saw a humanoid figure in front of the car about to be hit. "Oh shit!" He slammed on the break and stopped the car just inches away from the figure. "*sniff*Jesus Christ! Sorry about man.*sniff* I was just reaching for my drink *sniff* and all the sudden I see you."

Edited by Mrship21 on May 22nd 2019 at 10:51:24 AM

Rainforest, Above Henry and Leto

Swanwhite had been sent alone to look for and watch over the lost priestess from a distance, the cargo she'd been previously carrying was sealed up inside the drop pod with Lectri standing guard over the pod outside. Lectri was still wearing her saddle with now empty saddlebags, the contents also in the pod. All the dragonhorses knew how to open the pod if they wanted food or a drink of water. Seenarnha and Plasma had teleported from the drop pod to the town's hotel to break the bad news gently.

Swanwhite was still in her harness, sans cargo bags, just in case she needed proof that she was a domesticated animal. At this distance, unless someone had binoculars or really good vision, she was likely to be mistaken for a helicopter. Her sniper vision was more than adequate to see from the air where Leto had gone brush-bashing in her frantic fleeing. Then Swanwhite noticed more bashed brushes in a wider trail, her eyes traced it to a car. She started an unnaturally fast dive to intercept the car, but the car stopped in time to miss Leto.

Swanwhite expended draconic flight magic to cancel her dive far faster than a creature of her size and weight should have been able to do. She still crashed into the jungle canopy, but not through it. Hoping she wouldn't be seen clearly in the mist, she took off again, trying to return to her previous altitude or at least get high enough to be obscured in the mist before somebody looked up.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on May 22nd 2019 at 8:19:08 AM