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
This is my good side.
Wasteland: Southeastern Coast
The water Sallara was channeling helped rouse Nerea from unconcsiousness, yet Lerna wasn't moving. If she couldn't move, the stream could carry her then. The air started hissing violently, and filled with mist, clouding Sallara's sight. Was the air also getting warmer? Speculation
Sallara could barely see a few feet in front of her. "Over here!" She called aloud. If Varla couldn't see either, perhaps she could be able to hear her instead. She waved her free hand while the other was busy keeping up the water stream.
The Harbor
Nayx eventually stopped her lightning spell and raised her head over the surface to spy on the events unfolding. She did not like what was going on: A thick mist covered the area, and her precious water elemental was little more than a boiling puddle near the coastline. Some strong fire magic her opoonent must have, to boils such a powerful creature.
Kraul looked alongside her, and when both descended back he couldn't help but comment. "They seemed to be prepared for your 'surprise', Lady Nayx."
"So very clever of you." Nayx growled back. Infuriating, these pests were really ticking her off. "But it doesn't matter. I'll just have to be a little more active."
Throwing her arms forward, she started funneling cold water from the depths into the elemental, adding frost magic to cool it down even further, in an attempt to counter the extreme heat the creature was receiving. She didn't like this; using magic on it would risk the elemental noticing and attacking her and Kraul, but it was a risk she was willing to take. The trace of Onden blood would drive the elemental to Nayx's intended objective; as long as Sallara was nearby, the elemental would not focus on anything else.
Town Square, Bulletin Board (Michelle, Michelle, Jenny, Jenny!Alternate-Texas, Soryn, Zelena)
The alternate Jenny had run quickly, and ended up close to the two Michelles, Soryn and Zelena.
She ran up to the "original" Jenny, and dragged her away from Soryn, quickly, treating her like a car accident victim, with the alternate Jenny shouting "I'll get you away from... that.... that thing!" in a very distinct Texan accent, one that sounded very Dallas, Texas in tone.
Jenny!Alternate-Texas had only ever seen dragons as CGI in Game of Thrones on TV, or as a Chinese water dragon in a zoo.
"You're ME! Fucking weird!" Jenny!Alternate-Texas said to herself. "Well, you look just like me."
She had no idea that the "original" Jenny was an Artificial Human from Canada who was 100% biological - so not a robot artificial human - who looked just like her.
To Jenny!Alternate-Texas, if she'd heard Soryn talk, well, it wouldn't have rendered as words to her, where she was from, it would have sounded like animal sounds - no translation convention here.
She couldn't kill Soryn, her code was to only injure evil people who deserved it, not animals or people who work for evil people. No loopholes around that.
removed Fourth Wall part.
Edited by Merseyuser1 on Jun 2nd 2019 at 12:05:28 PM
The Ridge
The Frisky One; Mustang herd, Whisper, Skvader; the moufretas;
The smaller of two incoming grownup moufretas turned away, disappearing out of sight behind the canyon's stone pillars. The elder one went straight towards the mustang herd … and also turned, facing the empty space between the defence ring and the smaller group.
Whooosh!
The elder vomited a bright stream, setting withered grass and dried bushes in the open space between the mustang groups on fire. Two hundred feet long line of fire started to expand, consuming the nearby vegetation. Satisfied with her work, the elder moufreta turned towards the smaller group of mustangs.
Forest - Eastern End - Telegraph Tower
Jean; Parthenia and Farrah
Farrah intently eyed Mad Bastards excusing themselves and leaving on their bikes with enviable quickness."Huh. What was that about? Didn't even finish their coffee."
"I appreciate you help," said Parthenia to Jean. "But it seems I have to go too."
"What?" said Farrah.
"I'll take some of the weapons along, though. And ammunition. Food, as well," Parthenia nodded towards Farrah's packing horse. "Is that okay with you?"
"What if I say no?"
"Then I'll try to take it away by force," said Parthenia matter-of-factly.
There was a pause.
"Fine," said Farrah with a sigh. "Take it and fuck off."
Parthenia's eyes flickered.
Uh-oh.
"Done," the Inquisitor walked towards the horse, took a rifle and a sidearm off its saddle, and a couple of bags. Without saying a word, she calmly disappeared into the thicket.
"So, erm," said Farrah to Jean. "What were you about to do?"
Spiral out, keep going.
Town Square, Archaeologist's Spaceship -> Road to East Gate, Between the Hotel and Restaraunt (Mael; Archaeologist, Sarquoql alias Ren 4)
As the archaeologist locked up her spaceship, Mael rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter," he said bluntly. "Let's just get this tour out of the way." Silently he added "You could've fooled me. You acting like a jealous boyfriend threw me off. Bah, forget it. And no, I was not referring to mind control. I'm a lot of things, but I'm not vile enough to mind control someone to fall in love or lust with me, especially someone who's a lesbian."
As the archaeologist departed with Sarquoql and Mael in tow, Sarquoql mused to Mael, "'Jealous boyfriend'? I was aiming for the impression of 'overprotective brother'. Apparently my acting needs an adjustment. That bluff is one of the guard duties she hired me to do."
Mael noticed Sarquoql looking back and forth between the archaeologist and Soryn. "What are you doing?"
Sarquoql answered, "Do you see that large serpent man with the gray scales? That's my informant." He added with a leak of frustration, "My thoroughly distracted informant. He's not under stealth like we are, so I'm covertly trying to get his attention without..."
Sarquoql was interrupted from further elaboration by the archaeologist's discovery. He hadn't had the foresight to put in mind-control orders for her to share the fruits of her psychometry with Mael, so thinking fast, he acted as telepathic relay for her vision of the past.
"The cyborg leader of the Web of Friendship was here," the archaeologist "voiced" over her vision, crouching at the corner of the restaurant. "She watched and waited starting at the crack of dawn disguised as a pile of dirt and rocks."
The Ridge — Battle Round 4
(The Frisky One; Mustang herd, Whisper, Skvader; four dead juvenile moufreta; three live juvenile moufreta; two incoming older moufreta)
Angel came to his senses, heard Lead Mare Flashfoot's signal to prepare to retreat, and scrambled to his feet. The dazed and squashed moufreta gasped for air and tried to do likewise, but Filly Flashfoot darted in and started frantically stamping on its neck. Around them, the defensive ring broke formation in preparation to run away.
Lead Mare Flashfoot and Guardian Thunder regrouped and advanced menacingly on the limping thrice-kicked moufreta, which hissed at them and retreated into a tunnel. Neither horse was willing to follow, so they blocked the entrance with their threatening presence.
The second moufreta followed its buddy's example, hissed at the three white geldings and retreated into a tunnel. The geldings weren't willing to follow, so they followed the example of their herd leaders and blocked the entrance with their threatening presence.
And then it was revealed why the juvenile moufreta had suddenly gotten out of the way. A line of fire sprung up between the defense ring and the herd leaders.
Whisper panicked. As second-in-command, Fiddler took charge, bumping and shoving at Whisper, driving him towards the dinky little stream. Filly Flashfoot left the moufreta she was stamping behind as she and the rest of the herd followed Fiddler and Whisper, boxing Whisper in to keep him from running somewhere dumb in a blind panic. They all charged splashing down the stream, using it to jump past the fire and reunite with their herd leaders and the handful of white geldings with them.
Lead Mare Flashfoot beckoned the herd and they all took off running and splashing south downstream on the canyon floor. Legs and tails were singed and splashed, and Thunder, Angel, Wheezer, Stomper and Nippy were dripping blood in a trail.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Jun 2nd 2019 at 4:30:55 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Mequoql, Morpho; Henry, Joseph; Rebecca)
Carol glanced up from the window. "I'mma gonna drink it," she said. She scowled at Mequoql, "A weapon? I mean sure, you could make a firebomb out o'it... but that would be a waste o'good liquor. Like I said, I'mma gonna drink it."
She then gave Morpho the blankest of stares. "Eh? An atomic whatsit? A hell?"
Lily clasped a hand on her confused comrade's shoulder. "Advanced alchemy," she told her, "best not think too hard about it." She folded her arms across her chest, adjusting them to find a comfortable position with her somewhat bulky flight gear. "It's a good thing we can identify magically crafted gold after the first time alchemists caused the economy to collapse," she said.
The flight mage then turned her attention towards the metal man. "'Little Miss Fop', as Carol so rudely referred to as, is an associate of ours, the Marchioness of Brentford," she told him.
She paused, before continuing on a different topic, "I'm not sure what you're talking about a masquerade, but it did come as a surprise to learn more about the world. The monsters out there are a lot more formidable than what stories tell you."
Closing her eyes for a moment, Lily proceeded to head after Henry. "Listen," she said, "I believe you about the memories— it's the same for me. I remember you coming here by yourself. I would have noticed if there was anyone else, lizardfolk or otherwise, with you."
"Anyway, I think you should take a moment to process all of this— you're starting to act a bit like Carol does sometimes. And when she does, it usually ends up causing trouble.
Carol, meanwhile, had approached Rebecca. "I'll help you with that stuff," she told her. "Besides, you're not causin' all that much trouble. You brought beer, so you're alright in my book."
Meanwhile, Bonnie's sedation of Joseph went swimmingly well. Despite the initial resistance from the injured young man, once the sleep spell took effect, it was lights out for him.
For about one minute.
Joseph was awake once more, though calmer this time. Bonnie gawked at him, "That shouldn't— you shouldn't— HOW?" Pushing her initial surprise aside for the time being, she took a deep breath and settled down to listen to what Joseph had to say to Morpho.
Rainforest (Leto; Henry; Swanwhite)
Leto let out a quiet hiss as she stared unblinkingly at the man. "Fine," she said, "I'm fine. Surprised."
She had slowly begun extending a hand towards Henry when she jumped at the sudden cracking of twigs. Her spine hit the tree behind her, and she flinched in discomfort.
Blinking a few times, she realized that the dragonhorse from earlier had shown up again. What exactly did that mean? Weren't there someone after the person she met earlier, and by proxy, herself. Did that mean—
She recoiled further against the tree, ineffectively trying to distance herself from Henry, before realizing that the man seemed rather calm... and almost harmless. Barring the horseless carriage that he had almost ran her over with, that is.
East of Town ~ David's Truck (Claire; Nasur; Arnaya; David, Joseph; John, the Hunters)
Claire widened her eyes. "Alien vampire? Eeee— this is so from a pulp novel," she excitedly said.
Having the bumper sticker pointed out to her, she squatted down and stared at it. "Huh. How'd I miss this sucker?" She glanced up at David as he ducked into the back of the truck, "Yeah, I saw the truck and thought, 'oh hey, this would be faster than walking to wherever'. Also, your truck seems to be out of fuel." She paused, grinning stupidly at the back of the truck before adding, "I didn't steal it."
She then bounded to her feet and spun around, before firmly clasping her hands together. "Right! We're going to find that other chick, right? Mind if I help?"
The Necropolis ~ Ossuary Roof (Akane; Syrni Sandra)
Akane held a curled finger to her mouth as she stared at Syrni Sandra's midriff. "Yeah, I enchanted my clothes to have hidden pockets." She paused for a moment, before acknowledging something: "A pouch, huh? You're a marsupial. Which means you'd have come from Abyssia if you were from my world. Unless you're a monstrous Kan-ga-roo..."
One awkward minute of having a Void maiden writhe in discomfort, and the fact that Akane could now faintly hear Syrni Sandra's heartbeat, led the oni to let out an exasperated sigh. "This. Is not going to work," she stated.
"Find a comfortable sittin' position before you hurt yourself, and we'll go from there."
Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay, Shale)
Diantha glanced at Shale as she grabbed her wrist. "Oh!" she said, stopping herself from progressing farther with her plan.
The noble spirit she was currently channeling power from, Oz, took a moment to realize that he was inadvertently included in this conversation. Uh... hi?
Cynthia gave a nod of her head at Arilay's assessment. "I can draw his attention, and then someone can rush him."
The door opened, and Shale took the bandit down with frightening speed. The young knight blinked a few times in bewilderment, "Or you could do that."
The two girls followed Arilay inside the house, before taking positions around Shale, providing enough room for the alien. Cynthia kept her attention towards the door they had come in, while Diantha scanned the room.
Sun-Dry Sea ~ Panzerfaust Crash Site (Pilot 0037, Novia; Moquoql)
"Adamant generally refers to a durable, high-grade wolfram alloy used in forging armor, weaponry, and machine parts. However, due to its cost and weight, it is not used in the fabrication of the Mark III Panzerfaust at this current time," Novia replied. She blinked a few times. "I am unfamiliar with the first two of those materials, however, the vessel contains diamond? Fascinating," she monotoned.
Her pilot merely stared at her, understanding little of what she said. "Cool?" he said, hesitantly, before heading off to investigate the cramped and gutted cockpit.
The Necropolis ~ Ossuary Roof (Akane; Syrni Sandra)
"Find a comfortable sittin' position before you hurt yourself, and we'll go from there."
Syrni Sandra sprung up in a heartbeat and eyed a crenellation. She eased herself into a kneeling position with her knees up against the wall, hooked her hands on the top of the crenellation, and rested her forehead on it. "That's better," she sighed as her heartbeat slowed, and returned to the topic of marsupials and origins. "My home world is a moon orbiting a gas giant," Syrni Sandra shared. "I've seen kangaroos on a couple of my many visits to Earth, and researched them in a bit of spare time. There's a lot of differences between them and my species. The skeleton, to start with the obvious. I have yet to find another species besides mine that has an incomplete part of their skeleton on the inside and the rest of it on the outside."
Wasteland, Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea, Cuddles; Varla; Sallara) -> Cave
The heated mist was on a ticking clock, rising to rejoin the clouds. Varla was already moving with haste. Echolocating with Lerna hauled onto her lap, Varla wheeled with all due haste to the cave, Sallara's water-hand adding extra speed with a push. As Varla went by, she reached out and grabbed Nerea by the elbow to guide her. Sallara didn't seem to need guidance, but Varla hoped Sallara wouldn't lag behind — the mist was on a short fuse and would only be good for cover for a minute or two. Varla noticed what Nerea was carrying and hastily added the isopod to the list of impending teleport. Once inside the cave, Varla turned to see if Sallara was lagging behind, still echolocating to get an estimate for just how confusing the cave would be to navigate.
Sun-Dry Sea ~ Panzerfaust Crash Site (Pilot 0037, Novia; Moquoql)
Moquoql waited patiently as the teleporter pad was claimed to evacuate Varla and the group she was protecting out of a battle. It gave Moquoql enough time to use her spatial awareness psychic specialty to telekinetically seek out, gather, account for and triple-check every stray scrap of wreckage. The more she had on hand to reshape, the less she'd need to conjure via atomic manipulator.
While Moquoql was waiting, she curiously followed the young pilot to see what exactly had caught his attention about the separated cockpit.
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.
Outside Hub Town
It looked like, for now, no one had 'chasing the truck's thief' as a priority. David disappeared inside his beloved vehicle, double-checking that nothing was missing. Joseph, meanwhile, was mingling with the others, which in turn split in two groups, a small one going towards the town.
Sighing, Nasur stood up and looked for the artifact he had left behind. Thankfully, no one had bothered to pick it up, as it was laying in the exact spot where he had left it. Nasur crouched and picked it up, as well as the addon he had been given so that it could charge on its own.
Just as he touched it, he felt a small surge of energy go through him, the same he had felt not long ago, back aboard the 'ship'. It was little more than a momentary respite, like taking a single drop of water after days of thirst. But something was something.
Well, it seemed that he had to take the initiative this time. Picking his device up with both hands, he walked up to Claire. "Everyone else seems rather busy right now. Mind if you help me with the tracks?" He spoke to her as he walked towards the shrubbery she had pointed to before.
Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay, Shale)
Shale gave a polite but hurried greeting to Oz before moving to take down the bandit. Arilay joined Cynthia and Diantha in defensive formation.
"Gerroff! Can't breathe!" the bandit groaned his complaint.
Still handling the bandit's head, Shale didn't budge, snarking over Arilay's radio, "Yeah, right! You know I can feel how strong your ribcage muscles are, despite what your gray beard implies. You can breathe just well enough. Now, you also know what I've poked through in your head, are you gonna tell them or shall I? The faster you get this over with, the faster I'll get off of you."
"All right! All right already! I'll squeal. There's evacuation tunnels. The gang's already swarming in them. We got reports over our walkie-talkies. Something about bewaring silver eyes... someone coming to usurp Black Morgan. Between that and the swath of death and destruction... including the fire... we have our orders from Black Morgan. It's time to find a new hideout. He didn't tell us where. Just to get out. He said he'd tell us after."
Above Ghost Town -> Motel
with Eldritch Anchor (Aynara in a Dropship)
"Geronimo," was Aynara's last thought before she deliberately knocked herself out, entering the deepest vampiric stage of hibernation, which was supposed to come with total sensory deprivation. It wasn't in preparation for the impact itself, it was in preparation for what could happen in reaction to the impact...
...except now she had no idea how much time was passing.
Outside Hub Town, David's Truck (Claire; Arnaya; Nasur; David, Joseph; John, the Hunters)
David winked at Jackson, then began walking over to his truck, passing Claire on the way.
Arnaya warned David, "You might not like what any given necromancer might have in mind for you. There are so many ways to torture various undeads that aren't practical with someone who's properly alive." The biggest problems with torture like that were the inevitable escalating attempts to interrupt, starting with plucky heroes and eventually progressing to divine intervention.
"You ask too much," Arnaya refused both aloud and broadcasting telepathically, "I was born a Student of Terror, when you ask me to stop being creepy you are asking me to stop being me. My demeanor is as unchangeable as my spots." She was about to dare Maya to stop her when Amy interrupted by taking Arnaya's side.
David was already checking what else was stolen from his truck.
Adam was already suspicious from all the huddling and whispering, judging from his next conversation with John. Privately, John thought to Arnaya, "Whatever idea you have, you best do it now. Just don't touch a hair on his head, got it?"
Choking back the literalist snarking that John had just opened himself up to, Arnaya warned only him, "Nick is not going to like it one bit," and nonverbally summarized Bandersnatch Maneuver A — putting a reinforced medical pod on the transporter pad and teleporting Adam inside for an examination — as Maequoql prepared to do just that in the wake of Varla's impending evacuation.
As people discussed who was splitting up with whom, Aynara kept a poker face. She still didn't trust Claire, and there was that whole problem with Adam. Adam could most likely be transferred to Maequoql instead of having Aynara babysit every step of the process, but Maequoql had seemed a bit distracted. While she was thinking it over, Aynara reflexively passed to Nasur the knowledge of how to connect the solar panel with the battery.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Jun 4th 2019 at 5:46:53 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.
Town Square ~ Bulletin Board (Maelys, Mist; Soryn; Jenny, Alt!Jenny, Michelle, Alt!Michelle, Zelena)
"I wonder what Claire's up to; I hope she isn't doing anything dangerous," said Mist.
Maelys sighed, "You should know her by now, I suppose. Either she finds trouble, or trouble finds her. Not that I'm terribly concerned; she can handle herself. I'm just afraid of the mess I'm going to have to clean up, I supp-"
The maid stopped and turned her head in the direction of who was trying to get her attention. She immediately noticed the snake man waving at her and Mist. "I suppose he's beckoning us over. We've got plenty of time to kill, so we might as well see what he has to say."
The pair arrived to witness the apparent sister of one of the women around the snake man pry her off of him and begin to drag her away. "Are... we interrupting something?" asked Mist, giving an aside glance to the unfazed Maelys.
Maelys, ignoring her companion, gave a curt bow of the head. "Good evening, sir, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Town Square, Billboard (Maelys, Mist; Soryn; Jenny, Alt!Jenny, Michelle, Alt!Michelle, Zelena)
The first Michelle turned towards Soryn and observed, "Is it just me, or has this afternoon gone on for a damn long time? Time probably flows faster in my world..."
Soryn added his own observation, "Hmm, I don't know about slow, but now that you mention it, the flow of time on this planet seems a little... herky-jerky to me. Reminds me of what somebody hypothesized would happen if they disabled some automatic safeguards on a stasis spell, but not quite..."
"I guess I've eaten around ten or twenty of these... built up an endurance to chocs." Jenny said, somewhat valley-girl sounding, "But then again, I'm human and I'm not human, so I can probably eat more chocolate and not damage my teeth or whatever. Confusing I know, about being human and not human."
"It's not that confusing, given my own artificial background," Soryn purred.
"Z-zhe-zhello-ooo!" she shouted, and it sounded more like a hooting in tone. "How are yooou?"
She then approached Soryn, and with blunt honesty, asked, "Can you help me find some good historical artifacts? Gotta get them from here, to sell in my home universe. Money, well, you know, I need it. It pays my bills doing artifact-hunting."
Soryn eyed her up and down as he used his staff to do a discreet scan on her for glamour or anything else functionally similar. He didn't mention his findings, and instead answered, "Well, we were thinking about sightseeing an abandoned town, I don't know if it has any artifacts that you'd be interested in but the more the merrier."
Soryn was about to introduce himself when he noticed Jenny had a doppelganger arriving to glare at him. So instead he said to the first Jenny, "Don't look now, but your doppelganger looks kind of mad."
In the time it took for him to say that, Doppelganger Jenny closed the distance on the group. She dragged the first Jenny away from Soryn, quickly, treating her like a car accident victim, shouting "I'll get you away from... that.... that thing!" in a very distinct Texan accent, one that sounded very Dallas, Texas in tone.
"What did you just call me?" Soryn exclaimed, offended.
Ignoring him... "You're ME! Fucking weird!" Jenny said to herself. "Well, you look just like me."
"Ex-cuse me! What am I, chopped liver?" Soryn demanded. He huffed in annoyance as he didn't get an answer. What was going on? Was his mouth cursed? Were her ears cursed? Was she just that stubborn? Whatever the exact case may be, something was blocking communication. He adjusted his grip on his staff as he ran through a troubleshooting series of spells. The planet's translation field was weakened around her head.
Soryn's Mad Scientist creators had copy-stolen DNA and languages from a specific Camelian, Kynn Derra from the Web of Friendship, to use in Soryn's creation. They'd used the DNA to enhance the lingual part of his brain as best they could and then repeatedly downloaded the languages into his head to make him memorize them as he grew in the genetic vat. He still knew all the languages that she knew at the time of her catch-and-release, but now that he was out of the vat he couldn't learn languages as fast as a Camelian could.
Kynn Derra's arsenal included a few Earth languages, so Soryn switched from Camelian-Basic to the language he'd heard out of Doppelganger Jenny's mouth (it had momentarily slipped his mind what the language was called) and tried again to get her attention. "Ex-cuse me! What do you think you're doing, barging over here and interrupting?"
Maelys, ignoring her companion, gave a curt bow of the head. "Good evening, sir, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Oh, no no no, you're not the ones who are interrupting, she is," Soryn hastily clarified, pointing to the doppelganger Jenny. "I was wondering who wolf-whistled at me. My name is Soryn, who are you lovely ladies?" This last question was directed at all four who had recently approached.
Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho, Mequoql; Henry, Possessed!Joseph; Rebecca)
"I don't want to upset anyone. Sorry for causing trouble... I'm an idiot." Rebecca said, in a somewhat over-apologetic tone. "I don't really want to upset anyone... I should try and help, but then again, I probably can't."
Mequoql facepalmed, telepathically broadcasting, "Don't Say Such Stupid Things!, of course you're able to help. You can help by fetching the preventative recipe, like I've been telling you this whole time. If I can upload that recipe to my spaceship, then the spaceship's scanners will be able to determine if any ingredients are on this planet lickety-split. For all I know, whoever's possessing Joseph right now could be capable of body surfing and I don't want to take the chance of him jumping into anybody else around here. I already got mind-controlled once today, I don't want to be possessed today as well."
Mequoql monotoned her disbelief, "You're really gonna drink a weapon that was designed to mess with those who ingest it?"
Mequoql made a twisted echo of what Carol said when she turned to Rebecca, "You brought beer, the functional opposite of the preventative, so you're NOT alright in my book."
Meanwhile...
He paused for a moment, holding his eyes shut in the middle of something like a grimace. Jaw clenched tight, he growled, "This has been really something, but I've hit my limit. I need to go now."
Henry slung his bat over his shoulder began pacing through the campground, looking left and right, murmuring, "I need to just... just get on out of here and go home. Where are those stupid gems?"
Evidently Henry hadn't been watching when Morpho dumped them into the fire.
"Anyway, I think you should take a moment to process all of this— you're starting to act a bit like Carol does sometimes. And when she does, it usually ends up causing trouble.
Mequoql added, "Henry, Bonnie, my older brother once plucked out my memories of my friends and family. Until I found the evidence, I thought I was an only child. You're both exhibiting the exact same symptoms I did, only this time it's Joseph edited out of your memories. Henry, I know what you're going through and I'm begging you, don't do anything that you're going to regret later."
Morpho tried not to waste time getting Joseph inside, after all he didn't know how long Bonnie's spell would last. When Joseph's eyes flickered back open — too soon — Morpho deformed himself further and quickly narrowed the pod's opening to a few inches, not caring that he'd slammed the doors on himself. They pinched him but not Joseph.
Bonnie gawked at him, "That shouldn't— you shouldn't— HOW?"
While oozing out, Morpho inferred to Bonnie, "Simple. Two minds, one body. You knocked out one of them, not both of them. That's how." He then closed the last inch-gap of the pod. "Now we gotta figure out which one you knocked out." The video-conference-like intercom engaged. "Speak," Morpho said, standing in front of the camera pointed at the outside, "We can still hear you."
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Jun 5th 2019 at 6:12:58 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.
Town Square, Bulletin Board (Michelle, Michelle, Jenny, Jenny!Alternate-Texas, Soryn, Zelena)
Jenny!Alternate-Texas noticed Soryn saying something, but to her it came out sounding like a load of growls and hisses, the same way her pet cat would probably not be able to speak back to her, even though it probably understood her.
"Ex-cuse me! What am I, chopped liver?" Soryn demanded. He huffed in annoyance as he didn't get an answer. What was going on? Was his mouth cursed? Were her ears cursed? Was she just that stubborn? Whatever the exact case may be, something was blocking communication. He adjusted his grip on his staff as he ran through a troubleshooting series of spells. The planet's translation field was weakened around her head.
Soryn's Mad Scientist creators had copy-stolen DNA and languages from a specific Camelian, Kynn Derra from the Web of Friendship, to use in Soryn's creation. They'd used the DNA to enhance the lingual part of his brain as best they could and then repeatedly downloaded the languages into his head to make him memorize them as he grew in the genetic vat. He still knew all the languages that she knew at the time of her catch-and-release, but now that he was out of the vat he couldn't learn languages as fast as a Camelian could.
Kynn Derra's arsenal included a few Earth languages, so Soryn switched from Camelian-Basic to the language he'd heard out of Doppelganger Jenny's mouth (it had momentarily slipped his mind what the language was called) and tried again to get her attention. "Ex-cuse me! What do you think you're doing, barging over here and interrupting?"
Jenny still could not understand what was happening, and for her, the consequences hit hard - it felt like she was high and unable to cope with the world around her.
Her world was far less weird then hers, but with only 3,456 "ultra-humans", "inhumans" or "metahumans", and no superheroes per se, this world felt very different.
Jenny!Alternate-Texas approached Michelle (alternate self), and said. "Hi, I'm Jenny. How did you end up here? Interesting little town."
Zelena noticed that Soryn was talking to her, or so she thought.
"Zh-zhe-zhello! I'm zhe one zh-zhat you were talking to", Zelena said, turning towards Soryn. "Z-zho-zho what do you want?"
Quickly, the original Michelle, decided to disappear in a flash, creating a small portal, as a means of getting around the island. Michelle felt she'd been here long enough and that there was more of the area to see.
Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Rebecca Jane Walsh, Michelle Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho; Henry)
Rebecca was pleased with the compliment from Carol. She'd felt it was always nice to be appreciated.
However, she expressed her displeasure towards Mequoql, when he'd said:
""You brought beer, the functional opposite of the preventative, so you're NOT alright in my book."
"Oh, OK, sorry, sorry..." Rebecca said, trying to keep her cool. "I brought food and drink so you'd enjoy something. It's not meant as a preventative. Oh, and as for that preventative cure? Written in 1983 by a homeopathist, and perhaps not that useful."
Suddenly, a small flash of light and a portal opened, and Michelle (the original) fell to the floor, having travelled from the Town Square and ending up on the Forest's Edge. She was very close to Rebecca.
"What's going on here?" Michelle said in her thick Toronto accent. "What's been going on here, anyone got the local goss."
Michelle figured it was better to know what was what, locally, who could be of use to her. She didn't intend on landing here, but she'd make lemons from this lemonade, metaphorically speaking.
However, she was unaware of Body Surf incidents taking place here, or Joseph being possessed. Michelle couldn't be possessed though, her mind and body would be too much for whatever was causing the body-surfing to handle, and she had Time Travel powers (which the entity wouldn't understand).
If Michelle was to die here... well, not for long anyway.
Michelle was wondering how and why she'd ended up here, and decided to try and adjust to being there.
Rebecca turned towards Carol and said. "Thanks for being so nice to me. Anything I can help you with in the forest?"
In the background, a moufreta was running about acting very unintelligently and coming within distance of Carol and Rebecca, as was a skvader bouncing about in a way similar to a Slinky spring; it was full of energy, basically.
Edited by Merseyuser1 on Jun 6th 2019 at 7:26:33 PM
The Necropolis ~ Ossuary Roof (Akane; Syrni Sandra)
Nodding sagely at the Void Maiden's chosen position, Akane began lightly prodding Syrni Sandra's back, getting a feel for the subtle energies and how they flowed. She noted what muscles reacted to various touches, and adjusted accordingly to relieve tensed up areas.
The oni blinked, tilting her head. "A gas giant? Odd... I suppose?" she said, slightly perplexed.
She then hmmed thoughtfully to herself, before stating, "There are the various types of thora, insect-like creatures. They have partial internal skeletons. The kappas say that's because they'd collapse under their own weight otherwise with just an exoskeleton."
"Of course, there are other ways of reaching that configuration you're looking for: Chaos. Miasmic chaos breeds monsters. It does things to creatures; warps them in strange and horrific ways. That's how you end up with undead shark wizards," she said.
Sun-Dry Sea ~ Panzerfaust Crash Site (Pilot 0037, Novia; Moquoql)
The boy rummaged around the cockpit, revealing how small it was in comparison to himself, but found nothing of interest. Dejected, he wormed his way out and turned around.
"Ah!" He was startled by the unexpected appearance of Moquoql, who had been tailing him. He stumbled back against the cockpit, a hand to his chest as his heartbeat returned to normal.
Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay, Shale)
"Bewaring silver eyes..."
Diantha stared at Cynthia until she noticed the gaze in the back of her head. The young knight turned around, shrugging at her comrade, "I don't think he means me... right?" she said with uncertainty. Her face perked up a bit, "Silver eyes, plural. I only have one," she added, pointing towards her eyepatch.
They remained silent on the remainder of what the older bandit had to say.
Town Square ~ Bulletin Board (Maelys, Mist; Soryn; Jenny, Alt!Jenny, Michelle, Alt!Michelle, Zelena)
Maelys gave a fixed stare at the mention of a "wolf whistle". Mistaking it for the device Mist used to summon her steed, she turned her attention to the valkyrie, who shook her head.
"It wasn't me, Maelys," she said.
"Right... My name is Maelys, and this here is Mist," said the maid, her cheeks darkening a bit as she extended a hand towards the valkyrie. She then regained her composure, her face returning to a pale, neutral frown.
Maelys then cast an aside glance toward the alternate version of Jenny, mentioning, "She lacks manners, ignoring you like that."
Town Square, Billboard (Maelys, Mist; Soryn; Jenny, Alt!Jenny, Alt!Michelle, Zelena)
"It wasn't me, Maelys," she said.
"Right... My name is Maelys, and this here is Mist," said the maid, her cheeks darkening a bit as she extended a hand towards the valkyrie. She then regained her composure, her face returning to a pale, neutral frown.
Soryn didn't know for sure what Maelys's subtle momentary blush upon introducing Mist signified about their relationship, he needed more evidence. "My name is Soryn, genetically engineered wizard at your service." He bowed and flourished his staff.
The first Michelle left before Soryn could say goodbye, then Doppelganger Jenny greeted the Michelle who was left. "Hi, I'm Jenny. How did you end up here? Interesting little town."
"You can say that again," Soryn scowled, "Even if she doesn't understand what I'm saying, it should be obvious that I'm saying something." He darkened select lines of his skin to spell out "Guess what — I'm sapient" across his chest. He then sharply cleared his throat in time with a one-handed pound of his staff on the ground. He extended his other hand to tap Doppelganger Jenny's shoulder and point at the words on his pectoral muscles.
"Zh-zhe-zhello! I'm zhe one zh-zhat you were talking to", Zelena said, turning towards Soryn. "Z-zho-zho what do you want?"
"What do I want?" Soryn smirked and bantered, "The nature of what I want makes it not yet polite of me to say so to a stranger... even if you might have been the one who wolf-whistled me. So how about we start with you telling me your name?"
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
< Forest, Edge - Penultimatums >
"Oh, a moment, yeah," Henry grumbled, speaking as much to himself as he was to Lily. "A moment, sure. A moment to process this."
He closed his eyes, and for a second it seemed as if he may have actually taken her advice. But then he began shaking his head, slowly at first, but quickly building into a frustrated frenzy.
"You don't get it— there is no processing all of this. Not while I'm sitting in the thick of it. Not while it keeps happening. Are we just going to brush off that a truck just materialized out of thin air?" He pointed his bat at the largely unaddressed truck, then turned it to the medical medical pod. "Or that thing just floating around? Or the people appearing out of nowhere and disappearing without a word? Or how Mequoql took off without saying a thing and came back firing off about possession, putting visions in our heads, quarantining some guy with blood coming out of his ears... I still don't have a clue where she went."
He glanced around, his gaze quickly setting upon the campground's original truck, "Oh, and hey, here's a question, what happened to that other guy? That Maiti guy- the guy cooking meat." He gestured again with this bat. "Gone. Gone without a word. Do we suppose he just wandered off? Disappeared by the forest? I met two women on my way here; same thing. There one moment, gone the next. See, this place... this, everything that's happening... I can't be here. God, there are still guts all over the ground— what the hell?"
He scoffed in sheer disbelief at what he was seeing. At what he was hearing himself say. Finally, his eyes found Lily again and his mouth fell slowly into a stark, sober frown.
"This is insane, and I need to go home. I'll process it from home."
With a bit of reluctance, he shifted his gaze to Mequoql as she offered an explanation, and begged him not to do something he'd regret later.
Ignoring for the time being his misgivings about her explanation, he threw up his arms in exasperation and said, "All I'm trying to do is leave, as directly and immediately as I know how to. I just want to use one gem to get myself home, and then I'll send it right back, you know, like we talked about. If that's considered regrettable or trouble-causing behavior, in the face of all of this, then I really have lost it."
He closed his eyes, sighed deeply, massaged his eyelids with his free hand, and finally—in a tired, tired voice—asked, "does anyone know where any gems are?"
Meanwhile, in containment, Joseph straddled the pain in his head and the concentration he needed to speak coherently.
"Joseph..." he began, expression falling into and out of winces, as though by the whim of a roiling tide. "...Joseph sleeps now. You know well I am not him. I am Arku. Still."
He lifted his head and raised his voice slightly. "Thought sifter, see my truth. It was never my intent to bring any of you to harm. I deceived for fear's sake, not enmity. I sought discretion above all else, and with those stones I believed I could spare you the burden of wondering. I wished you no suffering. The very opposite."
Upon the sudden arrival of yet someone else, Henry could only slowly swing his gaze—so weighted with tired ire—from Lily and Mequoql to the newcomer and back again.
< East of Town, David's Truck - For Success >
Oh, I could write a few chapters on the effects of unconventional torture, David thought back rather flippantly, ''maybe one day I'll have enough for a full textbook."
"Hmhmm, not much use to you, then." He said aloud, voice sounding from inside the back of his truck. There was a pause, some shuffling, and the creaking of a trunk lid. "Probably for the best, but..." the lid thudded shut, "...you know, I'll bet I can get it running. I've got a certain touch."
Outside, Joseph smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," he said to Nick, pointing loosely at his own head, "I was a little... I was somewhere else."
His expression turned serious as Marie approached with something secret to share. He watched and listened intently, tilting his head slightly in confusion at one point, and trying very hard not to stare obviously at the hand touching the side of his face. It was like trying to keep a rubber band stretched taut with his pinkies alone.
When she finished, he crossed his eyes slightly, staring in a thoughtfully unfocused manner down the length of his lizard schnozz. "I won't tell him," he whispered back, "but... can you tell me why you think something's up?" He shot a quick glance at Adam, "I haven't exactly been watching his every move, but he seems normal to me. But maybe I'm not the best person for the job. I mean, I know Adam, we're buds and all, but I can't imagine I know him better than any of you do."
Following some more rustling, rummaging, soft grunting, and loud humming, David reemerged head-and-torso from the back flaps of his truck, suddenly sporting an oxblood shirt with a black necktie and matching suspenders. The fur around his head even seemed slightly less tousled, albeit still carrying signs of the day's weathering. He hadn't been in there for more than a minute and a half.
Without any ado, he announced, "The derringer and semi-auto are accounted for, but it looks like she's still got hold of my shotgun. Whether or not it's loaded..." he let out a whistling breath, "I'll have to check up front, maybe jimmy my way in if need be."
this place needs me hereThe Necropolis ~ Ossuary Roof (Akane; Syrni Sandra)
Above Syrni Sandra's shoulderblades, her muscles were sore with residual tension from their earlier spasms against the stone floor, she deadpanned "Ow, ow, ow" as they were probed. Between her shoulderblades were the coin-sized magnets buttoning her clothes together. Along her shoulderblades and ribcage, her muscles were mostly okay-ish. The long muscles stretched along on either side of her spine were taut as a bowstring. She hid a blush at the exploration of the squishy flesh between her ribcage and pelvis. She twitched and squeaked when Akane's probing fingers found a particularly sensitive line situated in a ring just above her pelvis.
The oni blinked, tilting her head. "A gas giant? Odd... I suppose?" she said, slightly perplexed.
Syrni Sandra explained, "Gas giants — that's what we call those great big enormous planets that are almost entirely atmosphere with an unknown center. In some cases, they're a few steps away from being stars."
"Hmm," Syrni Sandra mused, "Complete exoskeletons reinforced with bits of endoskeleton. Almost but not quite what I'm looking for. I've also seen complete endoskeletons reinforced with bits of exoskeleton."
"Undead shark wizards? Sounds like there's quite the story behind that mention," Syrni Sandra smiled.
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
[Wasteland]
Marie slowly removed her hand from Joseph's cheek. "Arnaya said his thoughts are shielded beyond human capacity, so that tipped us off that something might of happened. Her species read minds." She took a glance at Adam, who was standing idly by the truck, then turned back to Joseph. "Plus, you two need some catching up to do. He's missed you so much, and he wanted to spend time with you. This could be a perfect chance for you boys to hang out again." She winked, "Don't worry, if something happens, we'll be there for you. Our group abandons no one."
Adam, meanwhile, looked down sadly at his hands. Why were his friends on a hush hush? Why were they suddenly willing to have him separate from the group? There was no way they wouldn't need his archer skills for something like this.
Unless...
They think I'm going to ruin something, don't they? he thought, ...Did I mess up again? Why did I think I wouldn't screw things up this time?
"Wait," John said, bringing him back to the present, "If she's armed, then maybe you guys might need an extra gunner. Who knows what she can do, especially if she's desperate."
"I'll go with them," Nick said, "Hey, if she tries to make it to town, I'll knock her down."
John held his nephew's shoulders. "Nick, she has a gun. Your metal fists can only deflect so much!"
"I have gems!"
"If she grabs onto them, you're all fucked." He sighed, "Look, maybe I should go. Try to at least knock the gun out of her hands."
Nick sighed. "God, uncle, you worry too much! Fine..." he then walked over to Adam and put an arm around his shoulder, "If you go with them, then I'm going with Adam and Joseph."
Adam's whole face turned red. "N-Nick?"
"Besides," Nick said, oblivious to his reaction, "I wanna teach him how we take care of thieves and bad guys back at our home. It'll be badass."
"Then that leaves us with the truck," Jackson said, "You better be bloody careful, Nick. I don't want to leave this world with less people."
"Can we do less standing around, now?" Maya said, "God, did we suddenly forget that we have someone on the loose? Go get her!"
Edited by Masterofchaos on Jun 10th 2019 at 3:44:44 PM
Author's note: To enhance your reading experience, listen to this
Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay, Shale; NPC Simon the Bandit)
Arilay did a double-take at Cynthia's confession, and silently asked over the comm-chip, "Shale, did you check her earlier?"
Shale answered, equally silently, "Not thoroughly." She took one hand off the bandit's head to let Cynthia choose whether or not to grasp it, while remaining stooped over to keep hold of the bandit. The next instant, she flattened her antennae against her head just before a rapid crunch-crunch-crunch-crash sound happened in the distance.
Arilay could tell from satellite images and the locator beacons on her drop pods that one had smashed a hole through the roof and top two floors of the Ghost Town's motel. She put it on the back-burner of her attention and exposited, "He doesn't mean you. There's at least two guys somewhere in the local galactic cluster who can control minds. One of those guys seems to be human but he has silver eyes. He turns his victims' eyes silver to match his when he puppeteers them, so please forgive our paranoia at the news of your single silver eye. Probably nothing to worry about, but I didn't get to be leader of the Web of Friendship without a figurative diploma in paranoia from the school of hard knocks." She pointed to Shale's hand outstretched towards Cynthia, "Sleutrienns like Shale can check for, and release someone from, mind-control."
Shale kept her antennae flattened against her head, there was something happening elsewhere that would be very rough on her antennae if she had them up and sensing. She asked, "While we're at it, do you two have anything you want to interrogate Simon about?" Realizing she name-dropped without context, she clarifed, "Simon the bandit."
Simon the bandit groaned with exasperated dread at the possibility of continuing to stay squashed under a heavy weight for further interrogation.
Motel
with Eldritch Anchor (Aynara in a Dropship)
The instant Aynara returned to consciousness, the Eyes and Teeth assaulted her. Her body convulsed, her binaural beat screams were distorted in the thickened atmosphere as her mind tried to reflect the torture back at the Eyes and Teeth as best she could. The Howling Void noticed the tussel and started singing, only to be quickly driven away again by the Eyes and Teeth.
Aynara ripped her own mind in half before the Eyes and Teeth could do so for her. Her bloodthirst and its associated predatory instincts were now at the forefront while her sapience bided its time. It was a familiar arrangement she'd learned to recreate from Moon Alignment Nights, she knew she had a fighting chance of pulling herself together only if she'd personally started it. Her initial plan had gone sideways like she'd been warned would happen in her prayers, for plan B she'd need to interfere with herself at critical points.
The thickened atmosphere needed to return to normal before the drop pod would let Aynara out. In the meantime, she snarled and continued convulsing, this time also foaming at the mouth, as the Eyes and Teeth continued probing her. The Sick Bay A.I. had no clue what was going on here, as Aynara was still wearing the spinel that Mael had left behind.
The Ridge -> South (Mustang herd -1 Red Shirt, Whisper, Skvader'')
Angel stumbled again. His hoof simply hadn't had the chance to heal, and there was only so many times one could use adrenaline to cheat more use out of an already sprained joint. This time, his trip sent him falling to the ground.
The first elder moufreta had sent the flames, the second elder moufreta was ready to take advantage of whatever would happen next. It didn't waste any time pouncing on Angel.
There was nothing the rest of the herd could do except keep running while the juveniles emerged from the tunnels to demand a share of the flesh of the fallen one. The horses kept running, leaving the argument far behind them...
R.I.P. Angel
Forest's Edge ~ Campsite
Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho, Mequoql; Henry, Possessed!Joseph, Possessor!Arku; Rebecca, Michelle)
He closed his eyes, and for a second it seemed as if he may have actually taken her advice. But then he began shaking his head, slowly at first, but quickly building into a frustrated frenzy.
Mequoql privately thought to herself, "Sheesh, civilians!"
"The truck is not as important as other concerns. We'll get to it later," Morpho explained.
"That's mine," Morpho laconically explained, "It's to heal his ears with." Among other needed functions.
"Some emergency must have necessitated them leaving with No Time to Explain, like what happened with me." Mequoql hypothesized.
Mequoql sighed, "Again, I had to chase him with No Time to Explain. I'm not sure where I was either, I had no time for sightseeing while chasing him."
Morpho was abruptly reminded of the meat he himself had set to cook on the shoulderblade and briefly checked to see how done it was.
Mequoql said, "I told you my guess already. As for the guts, I have a plan for those." It involved fooling Mael, at least for the couple of moments it took to spring an ambush, if he ever came to track her down.
When Henry expressed his wish to take a gem and go home, Morpho distracted him from the gemstone fire by volunteering, "I'll help you look for the gem that Carol threw." He had no intention of letting Henry grab it, though.
Meanwhile...
"Of course it's not meant as a preventative, it's beer," Mequoql sneered in disgust. "Don't bring it onto my home planet, you'd be arrested for transporting illegal weapons past the border."
"Homeopathist?! NOW you tell me!" Mequoql burst out, pulling her own (slowly frazzling) ponytail in frustration. "You have wasted my time, hyping up a homeopathist's product as important." She was about to telekinetically grab the approaching moufreta's tongue, but instead she was startled by an incoming portal.
"What's going on here?" Michelle said in her thick Toronto accent. "What's been going on here, anyone got the local goss."
Mequoql was in a combat-ready stance, claws out and teeth bared at Michelle. "Watch where you teleport, I nearly tore your throat out in surprise!" she warned as she sheathed her claws. To answer Michelle's question, Mequoql put together a telepathic Exposition Beam, summarizing her escape from Mael's mind control and fleeing with Morpho, Bonnie and Carol into the forest, gaining and losing company along the way. She also summarized her tentative, half-formed plan to use the clearing and its gory debris to fake her death and hide the group in the forest just in case Mael was tracking her down, and the interruptions that had prevented her from starting that project. When she was finished, she approached the medical pod.
"Joseph..." he began, expression falling into and out of winces, as though by the whim of a roiling tide. "...Joseph sleeps now. You know well I am not him. I am Arku. Still."
He lifted his head and raised his voice slightly. "Thought sifter, see my truth. It was never my intent to bring any of you to harm. I deceived for fear's sake, not enmity. I sought discretion above all else, and with those stones I believed I could spare you the burden of wondering. I wished you no suffering. The very opposite."
A troop of remote-controlled medical nanobots carefully entered the ear canals to survey the damage and report it to the computer controlling them.
Mequoql's telepathy expanded from its hearing-assistance connection to probe and assess how much veracity was in Arku's statements. But she momentarily didn't care, as her Tranquil Fury over the attempted memory-erasure returned and would not settle without a guilt trip. "Regardless of your intentions, the end results were damaging. You alienated those whom your erasing worked on from those whom your erasing didn't work on. You made Henry lose his close friend. That is all. Your. Fault."
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Jun 13th 2019 at 7:09:54 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Mequoql, Morpho; Henry, Joseph; Michelle, Rebecca)
"You brought beer, I'm happy enough with that," Carol said to Rebbeca. She then proceeded to open the back door of Rebecca's car, and grabbed a case of beer.
"Look, I don't know what your deal against beer is, and why you're so damn obsessed that it's a weapon, but I want a drink, and 'Enry over there clearly needs a drink before 'e starts screamin' at trees or somethin'," she said to Mequoql.
Meanwhile, Lily, seeing as Mequoql had the newest arrival covered, returned to attempting to calm Henry down. "You've had a bad day. We've.. had an eventful day as well. We're trained for situations like this, you're not. We shouldn't hold you to the same standards as us." She bowed her head, "I'm sorry about that."
She took a deep breath, "Look, we'll get you home. I promise. However, Mequoql and Morpho are treating these gems like they contain the plague. So I suppose I'm going to have to have to bury my academic curiosity and strongly suggest against using those gems to go home."
"We will find you a way home. Right now, I suggest taking a seat in the back of our truck," she pointed towards the old-fashioned but durable-looking military truck, "There's a town nearby, rather civilized, rather ordinary. I'm sure it is much, much more stable than this clearing with all the... fuss that had happened. There also seem to be some rather knowledgeable people there. We can head back and find you a way home from there."
She glanced over towards Carol by Rebecca's car, "Look, I think Carol's going to be bringing over some beer. In this case, I'd recommend having a beer to calm your nerves. Just one, though, so you can still think clearly."
Meanwhile, beside the Arku-possessed Joseph, Bonnie was peering at him from a safe to her understanding distance. "So... what are you and why are you in this... Joseph person?" she asked.
The Necropolis ~ Ossuary Roof (Akane; Syrni Sandra)
Akane paused. "Ah, that would aptly describe Grandia. It's a workout collecting methane there, so I've heard. They frequently request oni, since they can work longer there." She returned to relaxing the tense muscles in Syrni Sandra's back, before heading lower.
She gave a nod of her head at Syrni Sandra's interest in the undead sharks. "Ah yes, a few of those confounded things had lost their way from Abyssia. They're just skin and bones, hard to put down, and annoying as all hell. Most folks stay away from them, but these ones kept attacking merchant ships. Since they were in my territory, I had to deal with them."
Having parsed Syrni Sandra's subtle energies, she reasonably deduced where her sacral chakra was. Channeling yoki, Akane prepped a simple, temporary sealing spell. She then lightly jabbed the Void maiden in her spine, applying the seal in an attempt to suppress the Viporis' libido. "Now, how's that feel?" she asked, grinning.
Edited by WillDeRegio on Jun 11th 2019 at 4:57:43 AM
Sun-Dry Sea ~ Panzerfaust Crash Site (Pilot 0037, Novia; Moquoql)
"Oh! Sorry for startling you." Moquoql tested the detached cockpit's weight. If it was heavier than herself, her telekinesis had no chance of moving it.
The Necropolis ~ Ossuary Roof (Akane; Syrni Sandra)
Syrni Sandra gave a contented sigh and relaxed into the massage as she listened to the description of Grandia and the brief tale of undead sharks. Suddenly she felt a jab on her lower back. "Huh?"
"Now, how's that feel?"
"Weird," Syrni Sandra reported. Her hormones were severely off-kilter, trying and failing to recover from what was so suddenly missing. And then she felt a terrible stabbing pain starting at her ovaries. She clutched herself and corrected, "No, more than weird. It hurts! Make it stop! Make it STOP!" The pain was starting to slowly spread to the rest of her reproductive system.
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, Common Room (Jen Jara; Krakka'a, Shade of Osiris; Alexa, Cody)
Krakka'a's eye twitched as the small human spoke.
"I know...you did not...just call me...a DINOSAUR!"
LET IT GO, KRAKKA'A. HE'S A CHILD. HE DOESN'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE
"Well then, someone needs to educate him." He raised a menacing claw.
THE ONE WITH FEATHERS CAN TELEPORT.
Krakka'a paused, claw still raised. "Tele-what now?"
OH, SO NOW YOU'RE LISTENING TO ME?
"You're in my head. You're hard to ignore. Now what is this imaginary word you just used?"
TELEPORT. SHE CAN MOVE FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER WITHOUT PHYSICALLY PASSING THROUGH THE SPACE BETWEEN THEM. YOU WERE TOO BUSY ARGUING WITH ME TO NOTICE EARLIER.
Krakka'a looked at the feathered one, but said nothing.
EITHER THAT, OR SHE CAN MOVE FASTER THAN EVEN I CAN DETECT. IT'S UNLIKELY, SINCE MY PANTHEON HAS DOMINION OVER TIME, BUT EITHER WAY, IF YOU TAKE ANY AGGRESSIVE ACTION TOWARDS THAT CHILD, IT WILL LIKELY END BADLY FOR YOU.
"Let's say I believe you. Why tell me? If you hate me so much, and she can do what you claim, why not just let me try and fail?"
YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND.
"Then I see no reason to listen." He turned his attention to the others in the room. "You know what I see? I see two mammals whose mouths are bigger than their brains, and an abomination against nature who clearly doesn't understand her place on the food chain. In short," he began advancing towards them again, "I see three creatures who are in desperate need of being taught respect!"
I DON'T THINK YOU ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT THAT WORD MEANS.
Smaller River (Arnora; Maequoql's psychic presence)
Arnora continued to cast frantic looks in every direction. Where was that voice coming from? She had heard of people who heard voices in their heads, but those people were usually hallucinating. "Oh gods, I ate the wrong mushrooms again, didn't I?"
Smaller River (Arnora; Maequoql's psychic presence)
"Good guess, but I don't think so. Did my sister Mequoql converse with you like this when you were with her?"
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, Coffin Room
"Get around the corner, Cody. I'll deal with him," Alexa murmured to him. He did so, visibly shaken. She stepped in front of Jen Jara and toward the enormous pterosaur, her expression calm. She laughed loudly, consciously altering her voice as she did so. "I'm afraid you've underestimated me....and now you're going to pay the price..." she hissed. She collapsed to the floor and began to writhe about. The shapeshifting cloth that covered her expanded outward and continued to provide cover as she transformed. Underneath it, her body elongated into that sleek greyhound-like shape which she had become accustomed to. Scales emerged from skin and phalanges elongated into claws. Most would infer that such a transformation would be extremely painful, but hers was exactly the opposite, as she continued to laugh while doing so. Finally, the cloth that obscured her form from sight tightened to become a leotard of sorts as she stood up on all fours. To her surprise, she was only about a foot shorter than the sneering pterosaur. She looked up at him and bared her fangs in a predatory grin.
"You wanna try that again, sweetheart?"
Edited by Mroh on Jun 11th 2019 at 7:46:47 AM
The Necropolis, Cody's Cove, Coffin Room (Jen Jara; Krakka'a, Shade of Osiris; Alexa, Cody) -> Staircase to the Coffin Room (Cody)
Alexa sent Cody around the corner and got in front of Jen Jara. This latter action caused Jen Jara to huff a bit in mild annoyance.
While Alexa was transforming, Jen Jara thought "Aaand now I gotta babysit her while she transforms. I'm gonna Dope Slap her when this is all over, never sacrifice tactics for theatrics."
Jen Jara took a page out of Aynara and Arnaya's book when she smiled with saccharine menace. Then she sprung into supersonic action, with anti-airshock features preventing sonic booms. It took her the split-second between one of Krakka'a's heartbeats and the next to hop, teleport, aim a single gauntleted knuckle at the inside corner of Krakka'a's eye, and teleport again to land protectively in front of Alexa.
She'd picked her target carefully — there was a sweet spot to poke right next to the eyeball that would cause the sensation that the eyeball came much closer to popping out than the actual medical risk.
Jen Jara taunted, "Tough talk coming from a guy cramped in a room too small to fly in. I, on the other hand, have all the mobility I need to do worse than that."
Alexa was back in action, Just in Time to add to the taunt, "You wanna try that again, sweetheart?"
Jen Jara's stomach growled again as she sidestepped to get out of Alexa's way. Giddy from Alexa's rumbling and the prospect of a fight, she continued, "Go ahead, make my day. The sight of a flightless prey like you is making me hungry..."
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
It's a bird.
Grasslands -> The Larger River (Jann, Varg; Rosalind; Ozurr)
"Crowmother, eh?"
Varg threw a quick glance at Ozurr and shrugged before climbing into the driver's seat of the vehicle.
"They can't all just be people with horns..."
At Varg's side, Jann's eyes went wide for a second as the true meaning of Rosalind's words dawned on him.
"I... didn't realize things were quite that bad," he said. "I mean, our world..." He briefly looked at Varg. "...isn't perfect by any means, but yours sounds like it's recovering from some huge disaster."
He scratched his head again, as his sympathy for Rosalind and her home was joined by a familiar spark of scientific curiosity.
"Are the ghouls - uh, zombies, right? - and undeath in general new things in your world by any chance?"
The vehicle made it's way south across the landscape, precariously shaking and creaking as it did so, and the tall grass soon gave way to the banks of a large river.
Edited by Corvidae on Jun 12th 2019 at 1:20:10 PM
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
[Spaceship]
Mael rolled his eyes.
"It doesn't matter," he said bluntly. "Let's just get this tour out of the way."
You could've fooled me, he thought, You acting like a jealous boyfriend threw me off. Bah, forget it. And no, I was not referring to mind control. I'm a lot of things, but I'm not vile enough to mind control someone to fall in love or lust with me, especially someone who's a lesbian.
Without another word, he followed the archaeologist to the section of a road that was between a hotel and a restaurant. This must be the place that they have to stop by, he guessed.
He then turned to Sarquqol, noticing the odd expression on his face.
What are you doing?
Writer's block, sorry.
Edited by Masterofchaos on Jun 1st 2019 at 12:30:34 PM