Town Square ~ Notice Board (Maelys, Mist; Soryn; Jobe; Aseyu; Moobly, Nora; Mael; Ellya-Salaenel, Sarquoql alias Ren 4)

Maelys' held an open hand to her mouth. Clenching it, she said, "Red crests denote moufreta from the Abyssal continent. Their bites and claws carry a potent, enfeebling venom, and they're more skilled at wielding their fire breath than their lesser cousins. They are also much more intelligent, too."

The maid turned towards the green-scaled dragon man, "I'll admit that the valkyrie and I are oblivious to anti-magic. Anti-magic is subtle until encountered. Unless of course, you're dealing with anathema-class anti-magic substances, in which case, you've got more problems than not being able to use magic."

She crossed her arms once more, her frown deepening as she chimed in on the discussion on extremists. "Magic-using religious extremists... while they don't use magic alone, that is... unfortunately a topic I am familiar with. Among other ne'er-do-wellers. For some its either exploitation— or extermination. That is why places like Aria's Sanctuary exist."

Mist gave a slow nod, "Aye."

The valkyrie frowned slightly at Jobe, "Pigplants? Never heard of 'em," she said.

Maelys raised a finger, "I'd presume by the name, they're like the mageia roza, only pigs instead of people." She turned to Jobe, "Are they more pig or plant? If the latter, then what kind of plant."

Mist then stared at Sarquoql for a good couple of seconds. "You're not fifty meters tall and capable of ending civilizations..." she paled slightly, recalling her first encounter with a leviathan in human form and the flat of her tail-blade, "are you?"

Meanwhile, Moobly and Nora joined in at the tail-end of the goings-on. "So, it seems that two groups will be going boar hunting," said Moobly, "It will be nice working with you all."

Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay, Aynara, Shale; Mind-Controlled Bandit)

The reassurance wasn't very effective for the two girls. With twitching mouths, they forced faint smiles. "We'll stay out of your way," said Cynthia. Worry crossed both Cynthia and Diantha's faces as the chimed in with a "You don't say," at Aynara's rather worrying disposition.

Rainforest (Leto)

The humanoid lamprey had enough of having to endure the scary point-blank loud noises coming from Henry's weapon. Scrambling out the seat, she vaulted over the passenger side door and bolted into the woods.

Wasteland: The Scar

Sallara eyed her bracelet again, this time warily. "Think it could affect these as well?" She wondered aloud, still looking at the pearls on her bracelet, tinted purple. So much power, so much anger... Sallara couldn't even fathom its extent.

The tiny tear Varla offered was tempting, but at the same time she wasn't if she could stomach an experience like that. Sallara looked back at Nerea and Lerna. "If anyone else is willing to take the chance, I'll do it too."

East of Town

The explanation that the creature was indeed carnivorous but had already eaten didn't put Nasur at ease. Nor did the creature itself, yawning and showing off its fangs and wings. "Well, I hope it's trained. It wouldn't want to, I'm just skin and bones." He assured himself.

Arnaya called up to him and gave him a warning about the weapon he had. Which she emphasized by shooting herself.

KABLAM!

Nasur recoiled, startled. "Well, I get the point!" He exclaimed back, outraged. "You didn't have to shoot yourself to prove it!"

He took a deep breath to recompose himself, and went on, a little more calm. "I know how dangerous a weapon can be. I'm not a fool." Irresponsible maybe. Nasur made sure to ommit any time he had waved a wand or a blade dangerously near a servant's face.

Another girl, apparently using a stone to heal Arnaya's wound, picked up Nasur's curiosity. He tentatively walked up to her. "How did you do that? Are you a healer?"

[Town Square ~ Notice Board (Maelys, Mist; Soryn; Jobe; Aseyu; Moobly, Nora; Mael; Ellya-Salaenel, Sarquoql alias Ren 4)]

Satisfied she didn't have any further pressing questions to answer, Aseyu said, "I'll be back soon."

After a bit^note let's not worry about the logistics here she returned with a jungle camouflage outfit she'd obtained in America that, aside from the splashes of hunter's orange, looked more like a military outfit than one meant for hunting. A hefty backpack, pants, a shirt, and a vest with a number of pockets, all made of a cheap but resilient material invented in the mid-21st century. She still had her staff, as well as a 10mm pistol holstered at her side; though no marksman, she could use it competently enough. "Disappointing, I know," she said, indicating her current, unflattering outfit, "but I'm not ruining a good outfit, and unfortunately, I have to wear something."

Aseyu turned to Jobe and said, "I'm ready to deal with these... pig plants," Aseyu said, tapping her staff fondly, "whenever these fine people are ready to go. Just a few questions. Hers," she nodded at Maelys, "and, while we're at it, anything relevant we should know about them, compared to non-plant pigs? Like, anything they'll shrug off that'd put down an ordinary boar, or anything that'll take them out fast?" After a moment's thought, she added, "how do they taste? I had my hopes up for bacon..."

Aseyu then took a few moments to consider the newcomers. The one, Nora, was literally half Aseyu's age, at most. Aseyu would be leaving her alone. As for Moobly, Aseyu eyed her with some mild interest; she wouldn't initiate anything, but the option was very much on the table. She gave them a salute and said, "pleasure to meet you. Aseyu ul'Valmoth vash'Suela."

Edited by KillerClowns on Oct 14th 2019 at 3:05:32 AM

_{^< cont. from} East of Town - Disturbing the Peace _{^> Joseph, David — Adam, Amy, Jackson, John, Marie, Maya, Nick — Arnaya, Maequoql, Zip — Claire, Nasur}


Joseph nodded, more knowingly than he'd care to admit. He considered relaying his own experiences of the day: how it was his fault—his hesitance, his neglect, his unpracticed shooting—that the thief got away in the first place. How he couldn't save David from the sand pit, nor himself from the carnivorous sand blob. How wrong he felt just being around so many seasoned adventurers.

But he closed his eyes and kept his mouth shut, letting all those anxieties dissipate. When he finally spoke, it was to say, "Hey, if they're slowing down for you, it's only 'cause you're too important to leave behind. When you got taken up to the ship, do you have any idea how crazy everyone went? They were practically clawing themselves to bits trying to get you back." He lightly flicked his finger against Adam's chest. "They need you. You're essential. Heck, I think you're what holds it all together."

He turned his long face upward, gazing pensively at the dimmed sky. "And I know it sucks to be out on the bench, but it's... it's okay, too. What happened with the bug isn't your fault, and nobody blames you. It could've happened to anyone." He looked back down at Adam, searching his face. "It's not your fault."

After Adam asked his purportedly dumb question, Joseph paused, tilting his head this way and that way as his eyes shifted from nothing in particular to nothing else of the same sort, before slowly shaking his head. "I've been meeting a lot of new folks lately— today especially," he added with a nod towards Arnaya, "plus there was that whole time a couple months back where I, y'know, kept losing track of where I was. But, uh... no Henries spring to mind."

Something clicked in his head. He squinted at Adam, asking, "Is this abou-


KABLAM!


Joseph flinched hard enough to just about fall over where he stood. He found himself in a half-hunch with his knees bent, his tail arched like an upside down fishhook, and his hands out to his sides, feebly stabilizing his midsection.

Moments later, David scrambled back into view from around the butte, gun in hands, aimed toward the ground. He quickly surveyed the group from a distance then made a three-limbed scamper towards them, stopping near medium sized rocks and shrubs along the way to survey the area again. Finally, after Arnaya had been healed, he got close enough to holster his pistol and speak at a level-ish tone.

"Is someone throwing clay pigeons around here? Just what in the dankest depths of hell are you shooting at?"

"Uh," Joseph glanced around with uncertainty, then gave a quick nod at Arnaya, "herself, I... I think?"

David turned to Arnaya, intense incredulousness widening his dark eyes enough to fully see the whites encircling them.

East of Town ~ Returning to the Trail (Claire; Aynara; John, the Hunters; Nasur; David, Joseph)

Claire gave Nasur a long, blank look, as the man was apparently worried about being on something's menu— worries well-founded from the sudden assault by the rock monster earlier. "I eat meat," she deadpanned.

She waved a hand through her bangs, "Besides, like you said, you're too scrawny to be on anyone's menu."

And then Arnaya shot herself.

The witch-thief flinched at the noise but recovered quickly. "Whoa! Not even Maelys would go around shootin' herself!" exclaimed Claire as she backed away, hands raised, "And here, I thought I was the crazy one."

She lowered a hand to rummage through her satchel, before pulling out a small vial of a deep crimson liquid. "Need a potion?" she offered.

Edited by WillDeRegio on Oct 16th 2019 at 9:09:19 AM

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite

Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho, Mequoql, Seenarnha, Blackthorn; Henry, Possessed!Joseph, Possessor!Arku; Mind-Controlled Bandit)

"Precisely," Morpho interjected.

Morpho wanted to ask Bonnie a few questions, like if she had assumed that Morpho didn't have a perfectly logical reason for attacking Mael, if she was biased against mechanical lifeforms, and if prejudice had made her assume Morpho was malfunctioning and running amok. But Henry spoke first.

"Finally!" Mequoql and Seenarnha chorused.

"And how do you expect to club Mael in the head if you're too busy barfing or passed out or desperately consuming food and water?" Mequoql wondered, sort-of-accidentally broadcasting it telepathically.

Meanwhile, Seenarnha reached into Blackthorn's saddlebags. She pulled out an array of microchips entwined in filigree strands. Morpho helped her wrap them around the moonstone. Seenarnha extracted another, more extensive sensor array, but when Arku said his piece, she tossed the conglomeration at Mequoql with a distracted "Here, put these on," and ran to the medical pod, activating the el-kor field with a signal from her comm-chip and a theatrical but superfluous snap of her fingers.

The el-kor field sprung into its hollow formation, but Maequoql managed to send down a pod with a mind-controlled bandit at the last second.

Seenarnha's psychic talent of quarantine barriers manifested its telepathic application as she slipped into the mindscape. As Arku "talked" to Joseph, Seenarnha quietly fenced off Arku (trying not to interrupt him) so that she could herd him into her mental honeypot that she'd originally set up for Sarquoql.

Aynara could feel on her telepathy that they were now within shouting distance of Haydn and Wilhelmine, so she silently sent her idea over the comm-chip to Arilay and Shale before nimbly climbing up to jump from rooftop to rooftop. She started to pull ahead of the group.

Shale waited two seconds before speeding up her scooter to almost keep pace with Aynara. Arilay, towing the pod, started looking left and right for a handy alley wall to lean on.

Spotting Haydn and Wilhelmine from her perch on the rooftop, Aynara loudly yoo-hoo-ed, "Ae-kaelae-roni~!"

Surprised by Aynara's exact choice of words, Arilay failed to watch where she was going as she gawked. Almost immediately, she stepped in a pothole and fell on her face.

Shale braked her scooter, lowered her forehead onto the scooter's dashboard, and shook her head.

As Amy ran over, Arnaya said, "Stop, you're messing up the—" Too late, she was healed. "...Demonstration," Arnaya finished.

Nasur recoiled, startled. "Well, I get the point!" He exclaimed back, outraged. "You didn't have to shoot yourself to prove it!"

He took a deep breath to recompose himself, and went on, a little more calm. "I know how dangerous a weapon can be. I'm not a fool."

Upon hearing various people pipe up with concern, Arnaya said, "That wasn't the only point of my demonstration, everybody, I was also trying to demonstrate how useless guns are against a vampire like me. The only reason I'm able to get away with shooting myself in the gliding membrane is my accelerated healing. That's what I was about to demonstrate next, Amy, so your concern and moonstones are utterly misplaced." Her claws tore through her own cheek, showing a glint of molars before they sealed up faster than Amy could fire up her moonstones again.

As Arnaya licked her own blood off her claws, she asked Claire, "What does that potion do?"

Zip lost interest in the fuss and bother, and curiously sampled some nearby vegetation.

Then Arnaya noticed the new dark blue stain from Amy's hug. "Oh for heaven's sake, Amy, you smeared my blood on your skirt! Do you have any idea how much trouble you're going to be in if any other vampire sees or smells that and jumps to the wrong conclusion?"

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Oct 25th 2019 at 7:47:41 AM

[Wasteland]

"So you're being a showoff. Again," Nick said, rolling his eyes, "Couldn't have you done something less dangerous as all hell?"

"Was also risking the chance of losing our thief another part of the demonstration?" Maya asked. She threw her hands up and marched forward. "Look, I don't know about y'all, but I'm going on ahead. We've been standing around in two spots and our worst enemy is still out there, and I am not risking him hurting anyone else. Bye."

"Maya!" Jackson said, chasing after her, "For God's sake, follow the motto!"

John sighed and turned to mist, following the two.

Marie face palmed, then turned to the others. "Don't rush, guys. I know they won't go far. I know my friends quite well."

Amy frowned. "I'm sorry...I just wanted to help." She looked down at her skirt, and her frown quickly disappeared. "Oh, this? That's no problem! I can clean that right off!" She closed her eyes, the moonstones glowed, and within seconds, the stain was gone, as if it was never there. "Ta-da! See?"

She then turned to Nasur, looking thoughtfully at the sky. "Hmmm, I guess you can call me a healer, though the credit goes to the moonstones. All I did was think about what I really wanted, and then it happened!" Her eyes widened. "Oooh! Do you need a hug too? If you got hurt during the fight, I can fix that!"

Now that everything had sort of died down, Adam turned his attention back to Joseph. "Well...that was something. So, the others panicked when I left?" He looked down, a small smile on his face. "That's kind of nice to hear. At least I know now I'm not unwanted..."

It still sucked that he didn't have his bow, but at least his friends still wanted him around, so that was something to make him feel less insecure. But now he had to set that thought to the side, and focus on another important topic.

"About Henry...I think his last name was Bensen?" He tapped his chin, "I don't remember too well, but it started with a B. I'm asking because...we met another version of you, except you had a lisps, and you were traveling with him. You guys were close friends, and I was just wondering if you remember any of that."

Ghost Town (Haydn, Wilhelmine; Aynara)

Wilhelmine glanced upward at the rooftop vampire. "Your deviant friend seems to be shouting from the rooftops," she told Haydn.

Haydn scratched his left temple, perplexed by Aynara's antics. "Is she going on about some kinda pasta?" he asked, to which his commander shrugged. "Um, okay?" he shouted back in reply.

Wilhelmine sighed, before Manifesting another of her telekinetically controlled Macht spears. "You seem to be made for each other," she said, oozing sarcasm, "Both of you are being entirely too noisy. Or have you forgot this place is swarming with bandits— and we kicked over their nest."

Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay, Shale; Mind-Controlled Bandit)

Cynthia offered a hand to help Arilay get up from tripping on a pothole. "Are you alright?" she asked, before adding, "What is she doing?" pointing towards the rooftop Aynara had claimed ahead of them.

Diantha wiggled her nose, "Judging by everyone's reactions, I think... she's doing something absurdly silly," she said, stopping a few paces ahead of Shale.

Edge of the Sun-Dry Sea (Pilot 0037, Novia; Moquoql)

With the harnesses disengaged, both child pilot and computer girl rose to their feet, the latter still a bit unsteady on her feet. The boy left the dropship first, with Novia tottering after him. She tripped and was dangerously close to falling over.

Turning around, the boy rushed to her aid, only to find out she didn't need it; she regained her balance on her own. Giving an annoyed grumble, the boy extended an arm to help her, to which the girl graciously accepted. The two left the dropship with no further incident.

Novia gazed at the wreckage of the panzerfaust for a moment, before saying, "We should start by reconstructing the chassis— for that, we should remove the upper section from leg units."

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

Overhearing Mequoql's mental musings, Bonnie allowed herself to dwell on Henry's predicament for a moment before voicing her thoughts. "Well, assuming we aren't able to fix these gems, having Henry use them would cause him to suffer those side-effects— the first time. So, why don't we have him use the gems once before he sets off back home."

She turned towards Henry, "Assuming you don't mind having to do that."

She then frowned, "But that leaves the problem that Mael might not come after you right away. He could wait until you're asleep—"

"Bullshit," interjected Carol, "'ow's some guy supposed t'know that kinda minute detail?"

"A person like that would have the resources to know things like that," replied Lily, "as Bonnie said, paranoia-inducing."

Bonnie lowered her ears and shook her head, exasperated. "Let's not carry on with this," she said, "Henry has enough to worry about as it is."

Carol sighed, while Lily nodded in agreement.

Edited by WillDeRegio on Oct 27th 2019 at 9:57:29 AM

[Notice Board]

Fuck. It was what Mael thought. This would backfire on him so badly...wait. His gem wasn't glowing, and so far, he hadn't seen another Web of Friendship person respond to his presence.

"My lord," Melissa said through the earpiece, though no one else but him could hear it, "Please be on the lookout. The people after you are trying to capture you by using the other thralls. I'll try to derail them as much as I can."

Relief swept over him. His thralls were still...well thralls. His plan was still being set into motion. On top of that, now he knew what to look out for on his journey. No matter what they threw at them, he wasn't going to back down.

He gave a pleasant smile at Aseryu. "A pleasure to meet you as well. I am Jonathan Hart, a newcomer in this city. I'm still new to the boar hunting bussiness, so I'll leave it to my friends to give advice."

You ALMOST gave me a heart attack. He chastised Sarquoql via thought. I already have your sisters on my ass and the last thing I need is any hint of our magic being disrupted. Warn me next time.

Edited by Masterofchaos on Oct 28th 2019 at 8:27:27 AM

Rainforest (Henry, Swanwhite, Leto)

Swanwhite barely heard Lectri's distant whinny. She raised her altitude before bugling back, the noise necessitated more dodging of Henry's Sabertooth Boomstick. Suddenly, Leto escaped the metal cage on wheels and fled. Swanwhite was proud of Leto and turned midair to fly after her.

Swanwhite could feel one of her masters, Murquoql, eavesdropping through her eyes and ears.

Soryn started idly twiddling his staff in one hand, sending the large heavy chain floating to lazily coil and uncoil around his free hand and up his arm. "Venom, you say?" Soryn recalled, "I don't recall feeling any symptoms of poisoning, so I doubt the moufretas had red crests after all. Even if they did, I doubt I'm in any danger of keeling over anyway. When I tried to save Jenny's life, I cast a bunch of detox spells, but they all boomeranged back to me instead. How unfortunate for her."

When the maid said "Anti-magic is subtle until encountered," Ellya-Salaenl let out a single bark of disbelieving laughter and crossed her arms.

"You mean to tell me that you can't feel the telltale fatigue and nenro congestion?" the Mayatan woman asked incredulously. "How do you expect to know where to help repair your local bits and pieces of the universe and extend its lifespan for a little while longer if you don't feel the cosmic fatigue?"

Aseyu came back with a jungle camouflage outfit that, aside from the splashes of hunter's orange, looked more like a military outfit than one meant for hunting. A hefty backpack, pants, a shirt, and a vest with a number of pockets. Soryn wasn't an expert in fabric identification, so all he knew was that it wasn't Etroshkan water spider silk. Aseyu still had her staff, as well as a pistol holstered at her side. "Disappointing, I know," she said, indicating her current, unflattering outfit, "but I'm not ruining a good outfit, and unfortunately, I have to wear something."

Soryn remarked, "Even though your new outfit may not be as showy as your previous one, I happen to have a... ahem, personal interest in outfits like that." The very tip of his tail twitched like a cat deciding whether to start stalking.

Eagerly, Jobe Pearson explained, "They're pigs with green photosynthesizing skin, and in the case of the wild ones, thorns in strategic places. Not really enough plant to tell for sure which plant without a plant expert, which I am not. I just breed and train truffle hunters." He scowled in remembrance, "Well, I try to breed them, anyway. Damn that fucking Lunkhead and his bastard piglets!"

Sarquoql opened his mouth, but what he was about to say was rendered moot by Jobe's next words.

Jobe coughed, "Pardon my language, ladies and gentleman. I try not to cuss, but if it paints a literal picture, the words just kind of slip out."

Sarquoql had less reason to object to cuss words used in that context than ones used gratuitously. He shut his mouth.

Jobe warned, "Because they can photosynthesize their own sugar and oxygen, pigplants have endurance out the wazoo. Any strategies based on tiring out ordinary pigs will backfire spectacularly on pigplants in the daytime, and night isn't much better because usually they've had all day to prepare. Pigs are smart, but pigplants with extra fuel for their brains have the potential to be smarter."

Jobe continued, "As for the taste, the only part of them that tastes like vegetables is their skin, the rest of them tastes like ordinary pig, with potential for more extremes in the fat and muscle textures depending on how much sun, food and exercise they get."

"One more thing, these are wild male boars that were never castrated, so assuming we do execute them and eat their meat, you'll be able to taste the testosterone. Some folks might not like that."

As Mael introduced himself to the group as Jonathan Hart, Sarquoql silently repeated Mael's alias to himself a few times.

"You ALMOST gave me a heart attack." Mael chastised Sarquoql via thought. "I already have your sisters on my ass and the last thing I need is any hint of our magic being disrupted. Warn me next time."

"I DID warn you!" Sarquoql thought back, "What more do you want, a 'do not swallow' label on a stapler?"

Sarquoql wished that he could boast about the time he actually did end a few civilizations, even if it was only temporarily. Darn that meddling underground resistance finding the Web of Friendship members he'd scattered! But boasting about that would just invite trouble from multiple directions, so instead he answered, "Prairie-dash Anthromimic dragons don't grow that big, otherwise they—" Oops! "I mean we— wouldn't be in the Anthromimic group. Besides, that sounds like a rather inconvenient size — no offense, Soryn."

Slightly puzzled, Soryn responded, "Uh, none taken, I guess. I'm not projected to grow that long, I'm less than half that length." Soryn realized something and did a double take. "Wait, I haven't introduced myself yet, how did you know my name?" He glanced at the Mayatan woman and guessed, "Telepathic relay?"

Belatedly remembering his alias had not yet been introduced to Soryn, Sarquoql said, "Uh, yeah," then locked gazes with Soryn and added telepathically, "Actually, it's me, Sarquoql. I'm in disguise, so please don't blurt it out."

"Ah." Soryn nodded in revelation. He didn't break eye contact, staring back with a cheeky I-dare-you smirk. He silently added, "That explains my deja vu. Nice glamour, your face looks very handsome." His smirk turned even cheekier, "Too bad I can't see the rest of you under that spacesuit." His face returned to serious in less than a second. "Is the glamour why Miss Aseyu's anti-magic had you so spooked?"

Accustomed to Soryn's flirtations, Sarquoql ignored them and added, "That and the archaeologist is under my control, and I don't want to lose her. By the way, flirting with her is a waste of your time... for multiple reasons, if you know what I mean."

It was a good thing that Soryn was a frequent practitioner of accelerated telepathic conversation, or the pause would have been noticeable. Soryn introduced himself, "For those of you who didn't already hear it or get the handy telepathic exposition from this lovely Mayatan woman here—" Ellya-Salaenl fidgeted and took a step closer to Nora at Soryn's words, "...my name is Soryn, genetically engineered serpentine wizard at your service." He carefully bowed, pleased that his wounds didn't act up this time, and flourished his staff.

"Ellya-Salaenl is my name, I'm an archaeologist and this is my hired bodyguard clone, Ren 4."

Sarquoql added, "If any of you—" starting with Moobly "—are confused about me being a clone that's not a plant, well, long story short, a team of mad scientists figured out how to clone dragons, so here I am."

Soryn flickered his tongue, sampling the air, and glanced queryingly from Sarquoql to Mael and back.

Sarquoql answered the silent question, "Yes, he's under glamour too."

With that suspicion confirmed, Soryn said "A pleasure to meet you, Jonathan Hart," as he slithered over to Mael. Soryn lowered his voice to a murmur, "Your movements and your smell imply that you're not as old as you look." He reached to try to shake Mael's hand, noticed the amethyst and grinned, "Nice jewel, sir." Soryn took a risk and whispered an innuendo, "Care to show me any others that perhaps run in the family some time later?" Innuendo dropped, he prepared to pull back out of punching range, just in case.

Aynara took a moment to snicker at the results, both near and far, of her Teasing from Behind the Language Barrier. Then she leaped off the roof, gliding and aiming to knock Haydn to the ground suggestively. She was prepared to cheat her landing with her telekinesis.

Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay, Shale; Mind-Controlled Bandit)

Arilay was already halfway up by the time Cynthia offered a helping hand. Arilay waved her off as her nanobots finished rearranging. "I got this."

Diantha wiggled her nose, "Judging by everyone's reactions, I think... she's doing something absurdly silly," she said, stopping a few paces ahead of Shale.

Shale sent her hoverboard forward again, going around Diantha.

Arilay remarked, "Silly? No, more like vulgar. Either she's thinking with her hormones or she's trying to get Haydn to think with his hormones."

Town Square ~ Notice Board (Maelys, Mist; Soryn; Jobe; Aseyu; Moobly, Nora; Mael; Ellya-Salaenel, Sarquoql alias Ren 4)

Maelys stared at Ellya-Salaenel for a few seconds. "Quoi." She shook her head, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand. Cosmic fatigue?"

Meanwhile, Mist joined Soryn in the appraisal of Aseyu's new attire. "Oh, not at all," she told Aseyu "though, if you're going for stealth, you might want to ditch the orange. It stands out a bit." It took her a moment, but something the woman had said caught her attention, "Unfortunately?" she said, raising one eyebrow.

Towards the discussion on pigplants, Maelys nodded. "So, they're more like wood elves than mageia roza. More pig than plant. Intelligent and full of stamina... hmm. No matter," she said, "I'm a decent shot."

Mist held a hand to her mouth in thought, before saying to Sarquoql, "Well, I guess our dragons are different. They're generally start at fifty meters, and go up from there."

Closing her eyes, she crossed her arms, “Anyway, I know a leviathan (they're kinda like dragons). Her true size is about a hundred meters, but she mostly goes about in a more human-sized form (easier to navigate Sanctuary that way). She has to trade off her strength and durability, though her chest can still deflect blades and bullets."

The valkyrie tapped her finger to her lips a few times, "I suppose, if a leviathan could do that, a dragon could pull it off too, and probably without the loss in power..."

At the idea of mad science and duplicating dragons, of all things, subtle horror crossed Maelys' face, while not-so-subtle horror crossed Mist's.

Maelys shook her head, "Remind me to never introduce Aura to you— she doesn't need to know how to clone dragons. I don't want to have to clean up the mess."

Ghost Town (Haydn, Wilhelmine; Aynara)

Realizing that Aynara was gliding towards him, Haydn actively moved out of the Mayatan vampire's way. "Oi, watch where you're goin' there, sweetheart."

Wilhelmine growled, rolling her eyes while keeping her spear trained on Aynara.

Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay, Shale; Mind-Controlled Bandit)

Feeling a bit dejected, Cynthia lowered the hand. "Oh, okay," she said.

Diantha turned her attention towards Arilay. "Oh," she initially remarked, before her eyes widened, "oh my— shouldn't we stop them?" she asked.

East of Town

Nasur turned to Claire, giving her a deadpan look. "Well, yes. So do I. Sometimes." He stammered the last part. 'Last time' was a long time ago. "Haven't had the chance to for quite a while." He added.

Looking at Arnaya's wound, he agreed with Claire's offer. "I think the potion is a good idea. Just in case."

Nasur turned to Amy, now genuinely curious. "Oh, I'm fine, thank you. Just some bumps and scrapes, but they will heal. I've had worse." He shrugged. "But what did you mean about the 'moonstones'? May I see them?"

Town Square ~ Notice Board (Maelys, Mist; Soryn; Jobe; Aseyu; Moobly, Nora; Mael; Ellya-Salaenel, Sarquoql alias Ren 4)

"Yes, unfortunately," Aseyu said to Mist. "I guess you could call me a sartorial minimalist."

Then she indicated the orange patches, and said, "anyways, these are an American tradition. Something about how animals see it as brown and preventing accidental shooting deaths." It was clear she didn't know the details off-hand.

Then she turned to Soryn and said, "as for you... personal interest? Is that how your people say fetish?" Still, she flashed him a cheeky grin, clearly amused by this. She'd tried much stranger things in her time.

"The taste," Aseyu said to Jobe, "won't be an issue. I've had plenty of wild boar in my time. As for the cunning and endurance... that might be trouble. Thanks for the warning."

Aseyu also noted Sarquoql's slip, the "I mean we", and filed it away in her memory for reference.

Edited by KillerClowns on Oct 31st 2019 at 11:21:44 AM

_{^< cont. from} Forest, Edge - R  oll  tion _{^> Henry, Joseph/Arku — Bonnie, Carol, Lily — Mequoql, Morpho}


"What?" Henry asked, squinting with growing confusion at Mequoql and then Bonnie. "Are you...? Is this some kind of a test or...?"

He sighed, touching his forehead as he continued as patiently as he could manage, "People, I've already used those gems. I accidentally sent some of them to a hiking trail near to where I live. I know I told you," he pointed at Mequoql, then turned his finger to Bonnie, "and you... pretty sure you were the one that healed me afterward. I've already been through the side effects."

He stooped over his bat, leaning on it like a walking stick as he grumbled, "But no, I'm the one who's missing memories."

_{^< cont. from} East of Town - Talk Talk _{^> Joseph, David — Adam, Amy, Jackson, John, Marie, Maya, Nick — Arnaya, Maequoql, Zip — Claire — Nasur — Bandits: Mulligan, Clancy}


David's incredulous stare relented with an eyeroll.

"You are a telepath, aren't you?" he asked, cheekily tapping his head. "How about a word of warning before you fire off a weapon that a whole lot of us here would call deadly."

He looked down at his shirt and trousers, sighing at the sight of plentiful dust and some light scuff marks born of where the fabric had caught against the desert floor in all his hustling. He glanced again at Arnaya, then discreetly walked to stand at her side, lowering his voice.

"...speaking of communication, and all its wondrous uses, if you've got doodads on your ship, or vampire senses, or, hell, even a knack for spot-on hunches that could have spared us an hour of chasing our tails and disturbing the local wildlife, that would be great to know ahead of time."

He began his habitual whisker preening as he continued, looking up at Arnaya and musing, "This is becoming all too routine, isn't it? You, and I, and these perennial holes in our communication. I wish you'd listen. You've got ears, haven't you? And a decent head between them, I hope."

He glanced with idle curiosity as Maya stormed off from the group, seeming intent on letting her will alone guide her to Mael.


" 'Not unwanted' is putting it real lightly," Joe said, smiling with just a little self-satisfaction as his friend began to cheer up.

His smile vanished as Adam continued, setting stir a mild existential panic that had just begun to coagulate.

"Oh god, I forgot about that," he said, planting a hand between his eyes as they stared out in vacant alarm. "Yeah, they uh... they told me up in space- in the spaceship that there was another... me, just mulling about down here. And it sounds like he- I- h-" Joseph paused, squinting up at the thought-filled sky for a moment before settling, "...he. It sounds like he hasn't been a giant talking lizard for long, 'cause the whole 'talking' part kinda took a bit." He grinned a wide, toothy grin. "Who'd have guessed?"

Then he folded his arms, furrowing his brow and shaking his head, "And he's friends with a Henry Bensen? That's so weird. I just... I have no clue who that is. Gah," he shuddered, "this whole thing is so weird. I mean, there's another me out there. What am I supposed to... to- t- y'know, do about that?"

East of Town ~ Returning to the Trail (Claire; Aynara; John, the Hunters; Nasur; David, Joseph)

Claire stared at Aynara's wound as it healed up, before glancing down at the potion. "Nevermind then." She held it closer for Aynara to see, "It's a Healing Potion— but it don't look like you need it."

After another demonstration of the Mayatan vampire's regenerative abilities, Claire smirked, "You heal fast—" her eyes narrowed, "almost as fast as a vampire lord. You're not a vampire lord, now are you?" she asked, tensing up.

[Bulletin Board]

"Jonathan" looked, unamused, at Soryn. "Innuedo. How mature."

He then turned his attention to Aseyu and smiled.

"That shouldn't be too much of a worry. I'll make sure that our task won't be too tedious." He chuckled. "You'll just have to wait and see."

Short for Mael cause I got the block for him, lol

[???]

Inside the ship, Melissa kept a close eye on the group. Several of them had started to move away, much to her relief. She was wondering if they were truly committed to finding her master or that thief like they claimed to be.

She couldn't activate Adam just yet; they were already on guard, and were limiting the open opportunities to do so. She knew that if this plan needed to work, they needed to be derailed as much as possible.

Using her previous knowledge from her last work environment, she began messing with everyone's scanners. While Mael was still helping in the city, to the others, he would be close. Very close. She only hoped that at least one person would take the bait and hurry on ahead to the dead end...

Edited by Masterofchaos on Nov 10th 2019 at 3:50:13 PM

Edge of the Sun-Dry Sea (Pilot 0037, Novia; Moquoql)

Moquoql followed Novia in the interest of keeping slack in the cord connecting them. She was about to lunge forward when Novia almost lost her balance, but Novia caught herself before Moquoql's hands or telekinesis had a chance.

"Watch that last step, the dropship is still hovering," Moquoql belatedly warned.

Comm-chip still remotely connected to the dropship, Moquoql was able to feel the dropship's tractor beam as an extension of her telekinesis. With the tractor beam doing the heavy lifting, she felt around for the release mechanisms.

Seeing Haydn dodge and Wilhelmine point a spear at her, Aynara changed her mind and swerved towards Wilhelmine. With one outstretched hand, Aynara snagged the spear just behind its head. She used her telekinesis to steady herself as, still hurtling forward in midair, she swiftly brought her knees to her chest and her hands below her knees, thus collapsing her gliding membranes. As her velocity changed from forward to down, Aynara acrobatically swung her feet to land further down the spear shaft. Only then did she disengage her telekinesis to slam her weight down on the spear. Between Mayatan bones being mostly hollow like birds and her weight loss from the fire, she was down to a hundred pounds and her ribs were showing.

Spoken words were too slow, so Aynara telepathically projected, "I am watching where I'm going, Haydn. And you, Wilhelmine, I will pretend that you pointed that spear at me to facilitate my landing, because if you point it at me for the obvious reason again, then either I or my twin will enact the usual threat response and forcibly postpone your plans to continue breathing, do I make myself clear?"

Ghost Town (Haydn, Wilhelmine; Aynara)

The sudden shift in weight on her telekinetically controlled spear brought sudden realization to Wilhelmine. The Mayatan vampire had not just telepathy, but telekinesis, which to the Balamarian lieutenant, seemed Impossible... As far as she knew, one could only have one psychic ability, barring the freakish monstrosity of a deviant known as the Ubermensch.

Her momentary distraction caused the spear to drop to the ground. Swiftly dispelling the first spear, she Manifested another in short order, floating at the ready. I'm not one to casually lower my guard, she thought.

"What is it with you and feisty ones, Brandt?" she said aside to her junior lieutenant, to which he gave a weak "Meh," and a shrug of his shoulders.

The high elf woman proceeded to move her spear to her hand, before placing the butt of the spear on the ground. She then turned to address Aynara, calmly saying, "My apologies."

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite

Joseph's Mindscape (Joseph, Arku, Seenarnha)

Seenarnha had been lurking, her presence and some of her barriers in the mindscape represented by floating panes of glass-like crystals duplicating themselves with every flip. After Arku's monologue, she finally showed herself in the mindscape, one pane of crystal not in the formation transforming incompletely into an avatar of her body. It was solid-looking except for the remaining patch of transparency forming a window on her torso, showing what looked like leafless blackberry vines entwined around her metallic-looking rib cage. Her lungs and six-chambered heart could be glimpsed working behind the tangle. She stretched out her hand, and from her fingertips sprouted a thin spiderweb blanket that wrapped around the Arku-cloud. A blackberry vine sent a new shoot bursting out of her skin and crawling down her arm. The thornless tip inspected the closest part of Arku, then dug itself into Seenarnha's thumb and sprouted thorns before it stopped growing. Seenarnha's eyelids twitched in pain.

When Seenarnha was certain she had hold of Arku, while Joseph could still hear her too, she said, "You mentioned the Will of the World? Singular world? Well, doesn't that place you in a pickle, now that you're on a different world? My friends have flown in a spaceship from star to star to get here, and Henry and Joseph named their previous recognized location as a land I recognize from a planet that is not this one orbiting a star that is not this one."

Joseph's Mindscape (Joseph, Arku, Seenarnha) -> Seenarnha's Mindscape (Arku, Seenarnha)

One more tree sprouted from the forest. In stark contrast to the others, this one was almost a willow, but with long ribbon-like leaves. It leaned over Seenarnha and Arku, spreading its branches and extending its leaves down as a curtain between them and Joseph, marking the transition of Seenarnha pulling Arku out of Joseph's mind and into her own. From Joseph's perspective, the tree and the floating crystals would fade away.

Seenarnha's Mindscape (Arku, Seenarnha)

The ground at the foot of the tree changed. The tree roots sunk, taking the ground with them and making a shallow dip with the trunk at the center. Moss grew until it was as thick as a mattress. The curtain of leaves thickened, enclosing the two in an intimately small green sphere.

Seenarnha blushed blue, "Pardon me, I made this setup to hold... someone else. I'll change the wallpaper."

The simulated daylight faded into nighttime much brighter than a single full moon could illuminate. When Seenarnha parted the leaves and stepped out of the nest, a night sky was revealed, with twenty-four moons, and stars shining far more brightly than the ones on pre-civilization Earth. The willow-like tree was still out of place in the new forest of almost-birch. In the moonlight from multiple directions, each leaf threw multiple dappling shadows and made a background against which Mayatan fur was mostly camouflaged.

Physical Realm (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Morpho, Mequoql, Seenarnha, Blackthorn; Henry, Possessed!Joseph, Possessor!Arku; Mind-Controlled Bandit)

Seenarnha was in a trance, her eyelids briefly twitched in pain.

When Henry reminded them that he'd already been through the gems' side effects, Mequoql said, "We don't know how fast those gems escalate back to repeating those side effects, especially since Seenarnha has her suspicions that the gems escalate at different rates based on as-yet-unknown characteristics of the user. But escalate they do, as I felt for myself in the pursuit of Arku." By this point, Mequoql was now covered head-to-toe in stickers, each with a sensor and a small transmitter.

Morpho held what looked like a magnifying glass, alongside an array of what looked like cell-phone-sized seismographs. Already familiar with the baselines that Seenarnha would want to establish, Morpho started recording. He instructed, "Mequoql, first use your own telekinesis to levitate the gem three inches above your palm for three seconds. Then instruct the gem to levitate itself three inches above your palm for three seconds. Repeat it three times."

Author's note: Masterofchaos, I might need your help with the gem test, especially once Mequoql gets to the part where she restores lost memories.

Arnaya bristled at Nick calling the gun dangerous. She scoffed, "You're in more danger from living weapons than from these easily busted machines."

As Maya, Jackson and John peeled off, Arnaya resisted the urge to trip Maya. Marie had a good point, and besides, Arnaya had a little-used secret trick that she'd stolen from the books of a wizard who had turned himself into a dragon. With Zip providing the cornerstone ingredient, they'd catch up with the thief in no time.

Amy cleaned herself up, and Arnaya scrutinized her for any signs of magical backlash or missed spots. Then she scrutinized Nasur to see if he was about to drain a moonstone into mundanity.

Arnaya bristled again at David's words. "Excuse me? Let Me Get This Straight..., you climbed up the Butte for a better view, that I can understand, but when nobody saw the thief, instead of doing the obvious solution and going back to the beginning of the thief's scent trail where you already know there are clues to find, you went gallivanting off to the other side of the Butte, where the chances of finding clues are slim to none? You don't get to blame me for your own lapse in judgement! Especially while I was busy arranging an emergency extraction to get the contents of this—" she rattled the tiny box in front of David's nose "—out of Adam's neck!"

Speaking of Adam, he'd just found out that this Joseph didn't remember the other Joseph. Interesting, so neither Joseph remembered each other. If there was indeed time travel involved, there was also memory obscuration involved. Arku might be to blame for that.

Arnaya responded to Claire, "Well, that depends on what exactly you mean by 'vampire lord'. I don't proclaim myself ruler over anybody or anything, if that's what you mean. But if you're talking about power and might, I've cannibal-drained some select vampires to assimilate their powers."

Arnaya could feel her twin's hunger and lost weight. The blood that Aynara had consumed was almost enough for her to recover from today's incidents, but "almost" wasn't good enough.

Arnaya continued, "Now, about that potion, I don't need it but my twin does. She got caught in a fire and tortured by an Eldritch Abomination today." She took the potion. "We have a shared metabolism, so if I drink the potion she'll get the benefits." She refreshed the connection...

...and then downed most of the potion. "Aw man!" she complained, disappointed by the cherry flavor, "It tastes like a halfhearted knockoff of heartfruit!"

Suddenly, Arnaya yanked a dozen scales off of Zip's coronets with her telekinesis. He squealed in startled indignation, then raised a forehoof and started licking one of the sore spots, glaring resentfully. Arnaya interrupted his licking to drip the rest of the potion onto his tongue. He swallowed it, and the scales grew back.

"Let's regroup and follow that thief," Arnaya started walking along the thief's trail. She plucked some leaves, the same number and size as the dragon scales, and began scratching identical runes into the leaves with her claws.

As she gathered the power to prepare a hologram of the thief's past movements exiting David's truck, she felt the moving edge of her telepathic field slide to cover a patch of ground where there was a familiar presence...

chase music

Shale shook her head and flapped her hand dismissively, but then purposefully zoomed off ahead on her scooter.

Arilay elaborated, "Aynara is dealing with Haydn, Shale is dealing with Wilhelmine." Suddenly she noticed something. Her sensors were registering human and amethyst several buildings away, but simultaneously, Arnaya was sounding the hue and cry over the same presence a mile east of town. Clearly one was fake, perhaps even both. She notified Arnaya before making her own plans.

Arnaya yanked some more stealth energy from her twin's filched spinel and spread it over the entire group. She quickly pressed a scale and a leaf into the wall of each of the three medical pods and set them to follow Zip. Meanwhile, she telepathically instructed the group, "Adam, I want you in Zip's saddle. Now! The rest of you, take a scale and a leaf each and hold onto both tight. No Time to Explain why." Her telekinesis distributed them to the group. Arnaya had prepared extra scales and leaves just in case Nasur drained the fuel out of his assigned scale early. The runes on the leaves would make the dislodged scales boost their carriers' speed and stamina to match Zip's, at least until the energy in the scales ran out. But the runes would only activate if their carriers were running.

Arnaya activated the hologram, showing the thief's route away from the butte, confirming she went nowhere near the wildlife that David and the others disturbed on the other side of the butte. "Run. Run as fast as you can and don't stop no matter how tired you think you're about to get." She started running after the hologram. "You'll see what I did to help you run. That thief is headed for town and there's a one-in-three chance that Mael is following her!"

Aynara's display of multiple powers rattled Wilhelmine. Aynara was unphased by Wilhelmine dropping the spear, as that was what she was expecting to happen. In the time it took for the spear to fall, Aynara released her hands from the spear and sprung from a crouch to standing with hardly a change in the elevation of her head. Her stare at Wilhelmine remained unbroken throughout the landing and the threat, and a sadistic grin bloomed at the sight of the second spear.

Aynara's sadistic grin slipped into a disappointed frown at the reorientation of the spear and the calmness of Wilhelmine's apology. But then she was distracted by the sensation of her twin drinking a healing potion. The frown disappeared as Aynara sighed, "That's better!" Her ribs disappeared under the regrowing proper amount of flesh. "All right, fine, apology accepted."

"By the way, you don't have to worry about the bandits, watch this." She pointed at the clock tower, "Oh look, a new sniper..."

A bloodcurdling scream of agony echoed from the top of the clock tower.

Aynara smirked. "Not anymore." She had no reason to disclose that she'd merely dislocated his wrists, instead of doing worse injury or killing him. If they couldn't sense that for themselves, then as far as she was concerned, they deserved to jump to whatever conclusions they would jump to.

Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay; Mind-Controlled Bandit)

At the sound of a scream from the clock tower, Arilay didn't react beyond deadpanning, "Showoff." She was still distractedly mulling over what she was about to do as soon as the group caught up to Aynara.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Nov 18th 2019 at 8:08:44 AM

[East of Town]

Amy held out some of the moonstones out of her pocket, showing them to Nasur. "Ta-da! Powered by thought! Be careful if you ever use them, though. When you use them the first time, you'll get sick, and then you'll get thirsty, and then you'll get sleepy! But after that, everything will be fine!" She smiled, "We have to give that warning to people so they won't be confused!"

Adam blinked in confusion. He doesn't remember Henry? How could that be? The two were practically inseparable, and Henry protected him from Mael. Surely someone like that wouldn't be forgotten...right? Something was up, but he would have to think about it later; right now, his friend was having a bit of an existential crisis.

That was nice. He tried to cheer him up and as a thanks he gets something that questioned his very being. Now Adam felt bad for bringing it up in the first place.

"Hey," he said softly, "It'll be okay..." he put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure we're going to get an answer about this. In fact, I promise you we'll get this worked out, alright?"

He knew that it would barely be reassuring, but what else could he say that would make him feel better? He didn't know.

Marie sighed as she stepped in front of David and Arnaya. "Listen, it would be nice if I could go one day without everyone being at each other's throat. We have a common enemy and the last thing—" Her words were cut off by her beeping scanner. When she looked at it, her eyes widened in horror. "Oh my God!"

"What, what is it?" Nick asked...and then he received Arnaya's message and instructions. "Oh, shit! We gotta hurry!"

Adam nervously got onto Zip's back, but that nervousness quickly turned into excitement, despite the circumstances. "Cool! I get to ride a dragonhorse!"

Amy put her moonstones back in her pocket, then headed over to Joseph and held his hand. "Come on, Adventurer! We got a thief and mind controller to stop!"

Without any other words, after grabbing the scales and leafs, they followed Arnaya towards their destination. It felt amazing to be able to run as fast as a horse.

Jackson, John, and Maya also received the message and sprinted even faster towards town, helped by the scales they grabbed. Still in his mist form, John could feel himself getting more and more drained by the minute, and hoped that by the time they found the thief and Mael, he could just lay down soon...

Edited by Masterofchaos on Nov 18th 2019 at 1:34:30 PM

East of Town (Arnaya, Zip; David, Joseph; John, the Hunters; Claire; Nasur; Mulligan, Clancy) -> Town

Fast-forwarding the hologram, Arnaya kept running. She noticed John's energy flagging and telekinetically yanked a scale off of where Zip's wing joined his shoulder. He squealed in pained indignation again. Snatching a leaf mid-leap, Arnaya's telekinesis punched a different rune, this one for flight, into it. She passed the new scale and the flight-runed leaf to John. "Grab it!"

Zip was chasing along behind everybody else, keeping an eye on them, well aware that Arnaya was in the Lead Mare position and had placed him in the rear guard position. Zip was glad he didn't have a bridle on, he was a bit disgruntled at having a stranger plonked onto his back.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Nov 18th 2019 at 9:25:00 AM

Large River (Morag; Ozurr; Rosalind)

Morag shook her head, "If 'twas a few minutes ago, then ah haven't seen them. Ah lest saw th' ither lassie aboot a few hours ago."

She proceeded to bow her head, "A'm sorry if 'at doesn't help." A few seconds passed before she rose her head, adding, "Ah wouldn't min' taggin' alang tae help. While a'm use tae travelin' alone, ah prefer th' comfort o' ithers," she said, offering her aid to the strange, yet not-so-strange, pair.

Rainforest (Leto)

Continuing to take Seenarnha's advice to heart, Leto continued aimlessly throwing herself further into the jungle. It wasn't soon that whatever little sense of direction the sea priestess had was completely lost, as she circled the same set of trees twice over, before dashing off further into the heart of the rainforest, leaving tiny scraps of her shredded outfit snagged on various tropical foliage.

Ghost Town (Haydn, Wilhelmine; Aynara)

Neither of the lieutenants were disturbed by Aynara's bloodlust. In fact, Haydn found it a tad bit endearing, in an off-duty sort of way, while Wilhelmine mused on the thought of how the Mayatan vampire would fit well among the Balamarian shock troops. Assuming of course, that Aynara didn't suffer from the sheer lack of motivation that plagued many in the ranks.

So much could be done if they put their minds to it, Wilhelmine thought wistfully.

"Impressive abilities," she told Aynara. "Now, I'm sure there is more to this than you dropping in to say hello— correct?"

Ghost Town (Cynthia, Diantha; Arilay, Shale; Mind-Controlled Bandit)

Meanwhile, the adventurer-in-training duo were a bit perturbed. Initially hesitant, they both picked up the pace a little.

Large river (Morag; Ozurr; Rosalind)

Ozurr examined the newcomer carefully. She didn't carry herself like a Fae. The only time he'd ever seen Fae that didn't carry themselves with a supreme air of haughtiness and arrogance were the ones his father kept locked up in the torture chambers, and he tried to spend as little time in there as possible. How he wished Thassilae had been able to stick around to teach him how to use his Third Eye properly.

Then again, she had said something right before they had parted ways: "Trust your instincts. With powers like ours, they're usually right."

His instincts didn't seem to be screaming anything about this newcomer.

Ozurr knelt to speak to Rosalind. "What do you think? My..." he tapped the center of his forehead, "...my instincts say we can trust her, and an extra pair of eyes and hands certainly couldn't hurt."

Larger River (Ozurr; Rosalind; Morag)

Under the cover of a common thinking gesture, Rosalind pressed her thumb and curled forefinger to the skin between her lips and nose, subtly massaging the muscles keeping her fangs retracted. It helped that she really did need to think. The stranger had seen Varg, if the "grayish lassie" really was Varg, way too long ago to give a clue. That left the question of why Jann and Varg had disappeared so suddenly still unanswered.

Rosalind's other hand strayed to her neck, seeking the protection amulet Jann had given her... and that was when she found it no longer hanging there. Tears returned to her eyes again, and it took herculean effort to cry quietly instead of bursting into loud sobs.

Despite her emotional distress, a century's worth of practiced paranoia kept her alert enough to listen to Ozurr's query about whether or not to trust the stranger. Rosalind wiped the tears from her eyes and scrutinized the stranger, only then noticing the feline ears. So that was why the stranger smelled slightly like cat. That was identity-scent, not history-scent like she'd previously assumed. Hesitatingly, Rosalind murmured to Ozurr, "I... I have never... never seen anything like her before... I... guess I can trust your judgement... I wish I could trust her directly... Trust isn't easy for me, because of my past... well... anyway... that's as good as it gets for me."

Trembling, Rosalind tried to steady her voice, but it still quavered as she called out to the stranger, "W-what's your name?"

The hunger was finally sated. The horses had grazed their way downstream, leaving a trail of devastation on the first soft vegetation they had found in the canyon. Even the skvader had contributed a little bit to the consumption. Horses were supposed to have at least a little food in their bellies at almost all times, and they'd had trouble getting that ever since being chased away from the previous river by the Sabertooth Airbeast.

Zing got a summons from Murquoql, who had finished clearing off the floor of the drop pod, and prepared himself for transport. The drop pod's teleporter, only capable of summoning, whisked him there.

Rainforest, Drop Pod (Murquoql, Lectri, Zing; Mind-Controlled Bandit) -> Catching Up to Swanwhite (Murquoql, Lectri)

To get Swanwhite, Murquoql could have flown off on Lectri and left the dropship by itself to guard the deadly mirage, but she wanted a biological backup guard. When Zing hopped out of the drop pod, a medical pod appeared directly behind him, so Murquoql secured the controls and closed the dropship door. The dragonhorses could open it if they wanted, it was just that Murquoql felt better with two locked doors between Mael's thrall and freedom than one.

With Zip taking over watch, looking for incoming disturbances and inside disturbances, Murquoql sprung into Lectri's saddle and they flew off to catch up to Swanwhite.

Swanwhite flew above the treetops, her ears just as helpful as her eyes in tracking Leto. She pondered on whether or not to make any noise to alert Leto.

All Soryn got for his trouble was a sarcastic "Innuendo. How mature." At least it was better than a punch.

Soryn shrugged, "If you don't like it, blame the ones who paid for me, they made my genetic engineers rush my growth."

Ellya-Salaenl said, "Cosmic fatigue is primarily caused by entropy and anti-magic. I would love to explain more—" Sarquoql impatiently tugged on her mental leash, "...but It's a Long Story and we have boar to hunt."

Sarquoql grimaced at the ignorance on display. Ellya-Salaenl shook her head, disappointed at Aseyu's fumbled explanation. Jobe looked at them both and asked, "Do you want to do a proper explanation or shall I?"

Ellya-Salaenl started, "I'll do it, I've got the images straight from the animals' eyes," but before she could begin, Aseyu had already changed the topic.

Soryn casually corrected, "No, just me, and only when I don't feel like being blunt." With hardly any change of emotion he added, "I don't even have a 'people'. They all died in their genetic vats before they could be, what's the word, born?" He paused in contemplation for a Beat and then shook off what little melancholy there was. "Oh well, I don't think I could have handled having hundreds of cousin equivalents anyway."

Sarquoql noted the way Aseyu was looking at him and felt like kicking himself. But instead, he kept his poker face and double-checked his mental shields. The sooner he could herd Aseyu into a spot where the Web wouldn't notice him putting her under mind-control, the better.

Sarquoql nodded, "Plenty of Anthroshift dragons can do that, at the greater risk of outing themselves as dragons."

Soryn piped up, "Don't let her near genetic vat controls, then."

Ellya-Salaenl started her own explanation on orange and hunting. "I'll try to keep this brief. Using orange for hunting didn't start exclusively in America, wherever that is. Various species on various planets discovered and exploited this bit about orange at different times." She searched through her own memories for a specific scene that she'd reconstructed with the cooperation of the Sleutrienn involved. Into everyone's imagination, she telepathically projected an image of a bright reddish-orange ostrich-like bird with a bulging head standing in front of trees, and said, "This is a message runner bird as seen by a Sleutrienn, who can see red like a lot of people here do." Next she telepathically projected an image of the same bulgy-brained bird at a different angle, this time the orange was drastically faded into a shade of dirty grayish yellow that didn't stand out as much against the tree bark. "This is the same message runner bird, this time as seen by its feline predator, the feathered manticore, that can't see red." She stopped projecting the image and summarized the story, "Because of its color, the message runner bird was able to sneak past the manticore, get the Sleutrienn's attention first, and get to safety with the Sleutrienn." She concluded, "That's why orange is a useful color for hunting, it's selective camouflage."

Soryn nodded. "In light of that, Aseyu has the right idea, I think a little makeover for myself is in order." With that, Soryn started digging his fingernails underneath the scales starting at his waist. As one hand circumnavigated his waist below his belt, the other worked his staff. He briskly tapped his staff's obsidian tip against his scalp, censoring his quick change of hair in a thick layer of foamy suds. When the bubbles cleared in a matter of seconds, the blond tips had turned black and the black roots had turned red. With a blink, he switched his heterochromia so that the blue was now on his left and the green was now on his right. He transfered his grip on his staff to his tail, so that both hands could loosen his snakeskin. He glanced at the darkening sky and adjusted his slight tan to be one shade darker. With his scales loosened, he slyly peeled them down in a manner reminiscent of a striptease, revealing new color underneath. Gray swirls gave way to corresponding shades of green, but the darkest shades of gray were instead replaced by dark red swirls with brighter red iridescence gleaming in the streetlamp lights. He looked to see if anyone was reacting.

A police officer patrolling on foot did a Double Take, trying and failing to not make it obvious that he was unsure of whether or not to put a stop to the public display.

Ellya-Salaenl was unimpressed, she rolled her eyes at Soryn and, with pointed timing, made a bid for Nora's attention. Ellya-Salaenl gently elbowed Nora and teased with a wink and a grin, "Oh, by the way Nora, yes I did say 'spaceship'." She pointed to her spaceship parked by the crater with a slight giggle. "What, did you think I walked here?"

Sarquoql did not want to burn what little daylight was left waiting around for however long it would take for Soryn to finish shedding his skin at this rate, so he exclaimed, "Get on with it!"

Jobe gave a grateful glance at those words.

"Spoilsport," Soryn stuck his long forked tongue out at Sarquoql, keeping it still to make it clear that he was not doing it to sample the air. But he still hurried up his now perfunctory shedding anyway.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Nov 20th 2019 at 6:00:39 AM

Large River (Morag; Ozurr; Rosalind)

Morag's sensitive hearing, combined with Rosalind's scrutinizing gaze, caused her to be very aware of the fact that her ears were showing. Eyes widening, she hastily tugged her hat down in a fit of panic. Oh no, not agian... she worriedly thought, remembering the past times she had been mistaken for a cat sidhe, and subsequently violently harassed.

She managed to calm down, realizing that the woman was rather calm around the frost giant, something that wouldn't sit well with people who despised fairies and their "ilk". She wasn't likely to get shot, stabbed, or poisoned by them. Probably.

With the timid vampire reminding her of the lack of introductions, the catkin collected herself. She held a hand to her chest, "They ca' me Morag. Plait tae meit ye," she said, adding a formal bow.

"A'm a catkin, in case ye were wonderin'," she told them, gesturing towards her now concealed ears.

Wasteland ~ The Scar (Lerna, Nerea, Cuddles; Sallara; Varla)

The Abyssal Empress placed a hand on Sallara's shoulder. "There is more than magic that makes a person," she told her.

She and her servant then each took a drop from Varla.

Nerea sampled hers, suddenly sensing a raging fury build up inside her. Which proceeded to freeze over, as she recalled the reason for her self-exile. All her rage and fury could do naught against a dragon's might, even as it effortlessly destroyed her navy and washed away entire towns with a single pass of its ethereal breath.

"Would this amplify my magic?" she asked Varla, "If so, there is something that I would most like to vent your rage upon.”

She was then distracted by a shrill, menacing giggle coming from Lerna. Her servant was grinning, with small discharges of orange emanating from the corners of her mouth. Nerea frowned, promptly stating in a very no-nonsense manner, "No more for her, then."

Meanwhile, Cuddles crawled up Sallara's offered arm.

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

Bonnie slapped her forehead at her gross oversight. "Ugh, how could I have forgotten that already? I'm sorry, I suppose you're free to go— though we'll have to wait for..." she trailed off slightly as she looked at the stickered-up Mequoql, "them to give you the all-clear on using a gem."

Meanwhile, Carol tossed her coat aside and rolled up the right sleeve of her shirt, before nonchalantly reaching her hand into the campfire in an attempt at retrieving a gem.

Edited by WillDeRegio on Nov 22nd 2019 at 5:00:52 AM