_{^< cont. from} Forest Truck, En Route To Grasslands _{^> Henry, Joseph — Bonnie, Carol}


"Well, you are the closest we've got to an expert," Henry conceded, "I guess we can cross 'bit by a were-salamander' off the list."

Joseph snorted.

"Was that a laugh?" Henry asked, fixing his friend with goading eyes and a barely constrained smile.

But Joseph was having none of it, mouth set in a solemn frown and gaze quite deliberately averted.

"Right, 'course not, what ever was I thinking." He turned back to Bonnie, "Well, if he did blaspheme the god of woodland amphibians, I somehow doubt he did so knowingly. The lesser gods, whomever they be, don't have particularly big followings back where we're from. No pamphlets or anything."

Feeling a sudden chill as his energy dwindled, Henry shifted his kneel to a sit, bringing his knees up closer to his chest. He nudged Joseph through his blanket, asking, "So what do you think? Did you steal your local Satanist's spot in the lunch line? Forget to hold the door open? Some serious infractions, you know."

Joseph was quiet, his gaze looking less deliberately averted, and more distant, lost in an abstract focus. "No..." he murmured, so quietly it was nearly drowned out in the noise of the truck.

"Hm?"

He continued, speaking as though he were half asleep. "No I... I never did anything thu anyone. I juss... mind my own business. Thass it."

Henry tilted his head, the faint traces of amusement fading from his face. "Hey, hey, I know. I was just kidding. Maybe it was just the wrong place, the wrong time. Under the wrong stars. After getting up on the wrong side of the bed."

"My bedth pressed against the wall. There's only one side."

"Okay." Henry nodded, gently reaching his cleanest hand to pet the back of Joseph's head.

Joseph, still seemingly half sunk in his own thoughts, suddenly snapped to attention. With some effort, he turned his head slightly to try and look at Henry. "Uh... I'm still in here, you know."

"Okay." Henry nodded, continuing to pet him.

"It's just, you're um, you're petting my head. Like- like a... like a pet. You're petting me."

Henry lifted his hand away, looking genuinely surprised. "You don't like it?"

"What? I-" Joseph turned his head even further, brow pushed to the extremes of abject confusion as he studied his friend for those long few seconds.

Then he burst out laughing.

"Hey, come on now, it's an honest question," Henry said, glancing at Bonnie and barely holding back his own laughter.

In the middle of his laughing fit, Joseph felt something strange across his whole body. As much as he thought he'd be used to exotic sensations warping his body by that point, this new one was unlike any he'd yet experienced. Not a growing or a tingling exactly, no lapse in his senses, no uncanny rigidity. It was more like a setting in, as if there were trillions of microscopic screws dotting every surface that made up his body, and each was being tightened. Not all at once, but in a wave, radiating out from his unseen innermost to the ends of the claws that sprouted from his fingers and toes, the rounded edges of the nostrils that sat upon his blunt snout, and the very tip of his long tail.

He let loose an odd sounding groan that didn't come close to conveying the oddness he'd been feeling for the past few hours, and finding that his limbs were no longer locked in their rigidity, swiftly slid down onto his chest with a half-swallowed "oopf."

"Joseph? Joe? Joe?" Henry's voice came out in tightly clipped bursts. He tapped Joseph's side through the blanket, nearly jabbing in his worried fervor.

Joseph let out another sound, something between a low moan and a sigh. He felt lighter, freed from some burden he'd grown so accustomed to, he'd forgotten it was upon him at all. With the wave of a magic wand, relief flowed through him. It almost excused the wind he'd knocked out of himself, thanks in part to an ill-timed bump of the truck.

"Hey talk to me man, what's the matter? What can we do? Is it something else starting up? We're here for you, okay? Is it-"

"It's..." he wheezed.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, aw," he reached out, grabbing the edge of Henry's shoe like he'd done before, squinting up at him through untold volumes of pain, "Henry, it's-"

"Yeah?"

Suddenly, his expression resolved into an almost comic neutrality.

"I think it's over," he stated, as plainly as though he'd just been idly remarking about the weather. Looks like sun. Oh yeah, and I guess I'm fine.

Henry took several seconds to process just how thoroughly his leg had been pulled, his face starting from 'shocked', knocking like a pinball between relieved, surprised, annoyed, dumbstruck, and gleeful, finally settling in a mishmash of all six as he grabbed his hat and chucked it at his stupid salamandrine friend.

"Dick! Oh, it's over! It's over!" He stood up and grabbed Joseph around the wrists, lifting him partway into the air. Grinning, he nodded at Bonnie, "Alright, grab his legs, let's dump him."

Edited by Ryuhza on Aug 4th 2023 at 10:35:34 AM

WFS Hummingbird (Claire; Nasur)

Claire visibly cringed, sucking air in through her teeth. "Ouch. That sounds a bit... personal. The automatons I'm familiar with are leagues more loyal than that. So much so, they practically have loyalty built-in... which... might explain what happened." She cringed more, backpedaled, and focused on the other topic at hand.

"That's... one word for it. Ghouls. I could tell you a few stories about them..." said Claire.

Shaking her head slightly, she balled her fists, her knuckles turning white, "I abhor those who do that to their own kind— I've, uh, been tasked with dealing with the..." she inhaled sharply, "Individuals responsible for doing that to vampires. Turning ordinary fold into mindless beasts— unforgivable."

Among what Nasur said, something had clicked causing realization dawned on her, "You. Were exiled. Damn." She mulled over it a moment before shaking her head, "Anyway, if you've got the coin for it, you could keep yourself stocked up on aether potions," she said, pulling another vial of blue tincture from her bag.

[Hummingbird-Dorms]

While the other teens were discussing the plan, Adam felt strange again, and turned away. It was much stronger than it was back at the pod. He held he chest, trying to figure out why he was feeling this way. They got rid of the gem, right? He should be safe, right? His panic grew. M-Ms. Arilay? Ms. Varla? Help me, I'm scared. Something's happening and I—

Suddenly, everything stopped. He no longer had that feeling...or any feeling at all, for that matter. His mind went blank, and he was staring off in the distance, completely silent.

"Adam?" Nick asked, getting his attention. "You okay?"

"...I'm fine." Adam said quietly, "Just tired, you know? I think I'm gonna call it a night." Without another word, he laid on the bed and closed his eyes, drifting to sleep.

"I think we all should," Marie said, "But remember the plan, okay? We have one shot at this, and we can't afford to screw it up."

Maya looked at a sleeping Adam with uncertainty, but otherwise, signed nothing.

Everyone else got into their respective beds, and fell asleep.

Ok, NOW I'm done. Do what you will with this new development. -dramatically walks back like I'm going in the shadows but I hit my back against the wall- ow.

Edited by Masterofchaos on Jan 23rd 2021 at 8:41:11 AM

_{^< cont. from} WoF Scouter Hummingbird, Sick Bay _{^> David, Joseph — Arilay, Aynara, Varla — Claire — Nasur, Sallara}


"...g'night." Joseph breathed, before returning to his puppet-like drape against the wall.


David glanced at Maya as she passed. His ASL remained a little rusty, but the entirety of her body language told him enough. He'd been given worse from people he'd felt closer to for far lesser offenses. He'd faced worse teeth on that very day. There was no sting, just another drop upon the wearisome weight he'd long grown used to lugging around.

Dispelling the sensation with the closing of his eyes and a whisper of a shake, he returned his attention to Arilay and the tidbit of information she had just shared about a second Joseph. It came so suddenly, so bizarrely, and so seemingly designed to contradict him that he was all but certain she had just made it up on the spot. But then, surely the Web of Friendship could do better than that. Surely they didn't think he was so gullible.

"Ah-hm..." he murmured, one hand pressed against his hip and the other bracing his mouth and whiskers in deep, deep contemplation. "A second Joseph T. Weller. Who encounters your public enemy number one and—somehow—escapes. And now you suspect that he, this Mael, is—as a matter of pride—going to hunt down this Joseph," he gestured at the moping lizard-boy at the far wall, "all the while being pursued by your team and entangling himself with Maya, Amy, Adam, their friends and close relations?"

He rubbed his chin, gazing off in ponderous thought. He clicked his tongue. "Huh. It sounds as though the danger is far more pressing than I'd initially been led to believe. Then I suppose we'll just have to give him a disguise, change his name. Say, fix him up with a straightjacket and he might just pass for an eel. Surely there's a will-warper out there who's made an eel out of some poor sap. Can't be any more outlandish than that story. Honestly, Arilay."

As attentions turned back to Sallara, and she nearly tripped over herself to offer the Web carte blanche on repayment, he interjected with a tight, toothy smile, "I'm sure the Web acts with some form of compensation for their deeds already in place. If this is the look of an ill-funded operation," he cast a glance around the room, "I'll eat one of my hats. No, Sallara, I'm certain your gratitude is tip enough."

From then, he waited patiently until an appropriate time to speak again arose, his gaze occasionally drifting to Joseph while he mulled over the second point Arilay had made. When opportunity presented itself, he spoke.

"He's been with us for a few months, but today was to mark the first push beyond your basic acclimation. I thought he'd rise to the occasion." David exhaled in a huff and shook his head, "But it all went sideways three steps out of the gate. Sure, I made mistakes. Plenty I could have done better; I'm still figuring this out too. But they were hardly fair circumstances. It's as though you're trying to teach a kid to swim in a public pool, only for them to electrify the thing once you're waist deep. The sheer hostility of that desert was greatly undersold. I would have never brought him out there, understand? Never. Not with his fledgling aptitude. I'm not strong on the idea of sheltered training, at least not in excess, but that is just the opposite extreme."

He brought his padded thumbs over his eyelids, rubbing with a sigh. "It's been a long day. For the both of us." He lifted his head slightly, taking note of Joseph, still present. Still melting against the wall, but present. "I shouldn't have called him a doormat. There are things that he needs to hear, but I shouldn't have..." he dragged a hand down the side of his face, "Heights alight, it's been a long day."

"What we need is a refresh. A centering. Some sense of normalcy and a good night's rest. Then we can try this again. Or try something different. Something better. We'll figure out a way to make this work. This is about more than taking a pill to make him a martial genius. He's not going off to war, he's living with us, helping with our scrappy business. Sometimes it gets dangerous; today moreso than usual, and I'll teach him how to handle these belly up situations if I can. But if I can't teach him, if I can't communicate with him in a meaningful way, then the whole thing's a bust."

He closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head in a sort of flourish, as though he were drawing in the scent from a flower, or listening to a particularly wistful piece of music. "And maybe it is a bust. Maybe that's our eventuality. But I won't presume it so, not on such thin evidence. No, I won't give up on him. What kind of a man would I be if I gave up on him, just like that?"

David looked once more to his dejected companion, then lifted his gaze to meet Arilay as levelly as he could. "Arilay, may I just ask you plainly: what will it take to get Joseph and myself back on the ground, back into town, tonight?"

Farms ~ Bus (Maelys, Mist; Aseyu, Ethani; Soryn; Jobe; "Jonathan Hart”; Moobly)

Hearing the description of the rewards for Varla's bounty, Maelys and Mist both nodded. The first sounded impressive at first, but after a moment of thought on the subject, both women silently agreed that an atomic manipulator would be highly sought after if word got out.

Thirty years of youth were functionally useless on the women whose expiration dates were most likely coincided with the literal end of the world, which didn't seem likely in the near future.

As for the last reward... it seemed enticing enough to keep an eye out for the mermaid.

Finally, there was the matter of Soryn's own reward... which made it seem the bounty was being hosted by the likes of an organization similar to either the Balamar Empire, the Absolute Orthodoxy, or any number of cartels. This made the two women extremely wary of the whole situation.

In life, Maelys had practiced suppressing her own libido. In undeath, said libido was nearly non-existent, and, barring that one time with the mating turtles, candlelight, and petrichor, she hadn't figured out how to reactivate it. Not that she was hard-pressed to figure that out. As such, she was unfazed by Soryn's pheromones. The same couldn't be said for her comrade-in-arms.

Maelys shrugged, before putting her hands behind her back. "Well then. I suppose fashion houses could be doing it for the art, considering some of the things I've seen." The smartphone, while decades more advanced than anything the undead maid had seen, was a simple curio to Maelys. She drew closer to observe while keeping an eye on Mist.

Having Soryn flick his tongue at Mist did the trick, snapping her out of her fugue. "Right, sorry, there was a mission. Lots of spiders," she said, repressing the memory for the time being. "Story for another..." she started, before being fully distracted by Soryn.

Her body tense, eyes wide, breathing heavy, Mist drew closer to Soryn. And closer. And clo—

*Whap*

Maelys slapped Mist in the back of her head. However, something bumped her elbow, causing her to use more force than intended.

Mist ended up bumping into Soryn, with the valkyrie inelegantly locking lips with the snake man. This lasted all of two seconds before Maelys pulled her off of Soryn by the collar of her brigandine vest.

"Now is not the time for flirting, you two," said Maelys, "She's next to useless if she's off pining in the woods." Gesturing towards the door, she added, "In case you haven't noticed, we have arrived."

As she headed back down the aisle of the bus, she said to Aseyu, "We'll pick up where we left off later."

Ghost Town (Haydn, Wilhelmine; Aynara, Shale)/(Cynthia, Diantha, Vampire)

Wilhelmine glanced down at the ground. "I just hope I don't end up regretting this..." she said.

Cynthia and Diantha came around the corner of the building, hailing down Shale.

"We had originally planned on exploring around the town," Diantha said, "With the bandits gone and things settled here, we figured we might be able to do that," she said.

Wilhelmine raised an eyebrow, "What are Cadian recruits doing here?" she asked.

Farms ~ Spaceship (Nora; Ellya-Salaenl, Sarquoql alias Ren 4)

Nora's eyes widened, "Your babies have psychic powers?! Those don't usually manifest in folks until they're a few years old or older."

She frowned slightly, "There are generally two routes I know of psychic training: boarding school and boot camp, depending on whether you have the money or the talent," she said, before adding, "Otherwise... folks just don't receive training. Besides, psychic powers are generally kept hidden. Too many... superstitious folks.

"Speaking of which, my group can't really go places without gaining mean looks. This town is one of the few places where that doesn't happen," said Nora.

With their arrival at the farms, Nora got to her feet and waited to disembark.

Truck ~ En route to the Grasslands (Bonnie, Carol; Henry, Joseph)

Bonnie tapped her chin a few times, nodding along with the information provided by Henry. "Can't rule out the divine at this point..." she muttered. At the tail end of the speculations, she added, "There's a reason, and I'm sure we'll be able to figure out what that is. And from that, perhaps find a way to permanently turn you back human," she told Joseph.

Bonnie sat in silence, watching as Henry proceeded to pet Joseph on the head. At Henry's aside glance to her, she quietly, "I like head pats."

Noting Joseph's odd behavior, Bonnie drew near, with her magic at the ready. However, when Joseph gave the all-clear that his transformation was over, Bonnie powered down her spell circles and brought her hands down to a resting position.

"We're traveling at speed," Bonnie stated, staring at Henry. "While I'm not against causing harm in call of duty, I am against harming someone for comedic cruelty," she said, unflattered at Henry's attempts at humor. "We're not chucking him because he no longer needs a nurse, damn it."

"Eh, lighten up, would ya?" Carol said from the driver's bench, "Cut 'em some slack, it's been a rough day for 'em."

Bonnie remained quiet for a moment, before agreeing begrudgingly, "Oh, alright."

Edited by WillDeRegio on Jan 28th 2021 at 10:27:59 AM

Rainforest ~ Clearing (Lerna, Leto, Nerea; Maequoql, Murquoql, Lectri, Swanwhite)

Her point made, Murquoql took a thoughtful bite. "Well at least now you're aware enough of the problem to do something about it. There is already opposition to the genocidal species. We're trying to teach that opposition how to be more effective, but that's a whole other problem."

Maequoql got a message from Arilay and asked, "Speaking of problems, did Sallara ever get a chance to tell you about hers? She just asked our leader Arilay for help and now Arilay is wondering who else is available."

The Necropolis (Fuyumi, Junko; Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara)

With Junko transformed and Fuyumi keeping her eyelids frozen in place, Syrni Sandra wondered, "How do we safely find out whether or not they're hostile? Any ideas? There's a way for Jen Jara and I to test their speed, but the test is irresponsible in the presence of other people."

Jen Jara suggested, "I suppose it would also be irresponsible to leave without the answer?"

Syrni Sandra confirmed, "Yep, who knows what poor unsuspecting schmuck might run into them next?"

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

Moquoql measured the cockpit with a glance to see for herself what Novia was talking about. "Hmmm... this could be a problem..." she muttered quietly. Then she glanced over her shoulder and wondered when Shale would teleport Haydn and Wilhelmine over and who they'd be arriving with.

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite

Evacuating (Bonnie, Carol; Henry, Joseph)

Mequoql and Seenarnha overheard with their telepathy a few passing thoughts from Henry about transformation comics. Mequoql made a note to speak with the group. Because Bonnie, Carol, Henry and Joseph didn't know that Mequoql's ancestors had seeded some stories on Earth for specific reasons, it couldn't occur to him what those reasons were. She needed to enlighten them, especially Henry and Joseph.

Battle (Lily; Morpho, Mequoql, Seenarnha, Blackthorn; Reluctant Crimson Spitfire) vs. Undead Crimson Spitfire

Seenarnha was about to explain to Lily how the Web of Friendship had sufficient finance by selling maps and collecting life debts, but her scout flight revealed that the undead wyvern was closer than she'd expected. She commanded the living wyvern to hold the undead one in place, leaving the details of how up to the animal.

Blackthorn pulled up out of his dive to evade the green fog. Morpho wanted to dodge too, but the moonstone hadn't quite finished Arku's new body yet. Mequoql guessed that the fog would commandeer the body and leave no metaphysical room for Arku, so she threw up a telekinetic barrier before Morpho could make a dome out of himself.

"Hurry!" Morpho urged, watching the sensors under Mequoql's fur.

Mequoql focused harder until the body was stabilized, then as Morpho picked them both up and ran, she telepathically opened a wider channel than usual to Seenarnha and called down it, "ARKU! Get over here!"

Seenarnha telepathically reinforced Mequoql's metaphysical path and opened the way for Arku as Blackthorn landed to blow the fog away from Mequoql with a few flaps of his wings. Watching the first few attacks, Seenarnha raised an eyebrow at the ineffectiveness of Lily's headshot. The most recent time she'd seen a headshot fail on the undead was when she was studying the cursed ship and crewmembers stalking Varla.

Seenarnha reached into her saddlebags and pulled out an energy sapper. Once she extended the handle, it looked like a cattle prod. She spun the little setting wheel off of "technically living", past "lifelike" and all the way down to "obvious corpse", stopping before reaching the "rotting" and the "animated skeleton" settings. Given the size of the beast, Seenarnha figured she'd need to discharge the battery a few times, so her telekinesis scooped a moonstone out of its campfire and plugged it into the soft supplementary socket. Now the battery would discharge into the moonstone.

Blackthorn took off flying again, trying to get Seenarnha close enough to prod the undead wyvern.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Jan 23rd 2021 at 3:25:16 AM

_{^< cont. from} Forest Truck, En Route To Grasslands _{^> Henry, Joseph — Bonnie, Carol}


Henry's exuberance quickly simmered down. "Okay... okay," he reassured Bonnie, a hint of concern slipping into his voice, "I'm only fooling around, you know. I've seen him this far, I'm not about to actually throw him from a moving vehicle just because he's more knuckle than head."

"If I can keep the blanket, I think I'll be fine," Joseph offered, seeming less than perturbed about the supposed threat, even as he dangled in Henry's grip.

"Not a chance; that's the people's blanket and we're reclaiming it shortly."

"Hey, I'm a people," came his ill-thought-out retort.

"Sure, one peop- ...person. With company." Henry lowered him back down to the slightly less tenuous security of the truck bed, "It's not getting any warmer out here any time soon. Come on, spread the love."

"'Spread the love,' that what you call petting my head?" Joseph grumbled as he rolled himself over and tried to find a comfortable sitting position. Between the bumping floor, tangling blanket, and large tail which—by the time his transformation had ceased—reached somewhere around five feet in length, it was slow, clumsy going.

Henry scoffed, holding up his hands like he'd been caught stealing from the cookie jar. "Look, I'll only do it upon request from now on. Some people do like it, alright? So... be the odd duck if you choose, just don't lay it at my feet."

This elicited another poorly restrained giggle from Joseph. In truth, he was happy enough just to be back in control, free of the blind impulses, sudden contorting and rigidity. Henry could pet him night and day for all he cared, able as he was to swat his hand away if he so chose. Yes, he could swat with bliss, or not swat, with equal bliss. His hands, strange and clawed things though they were, were his. His arms were his. His shoulders, his head upon them, and all that fell below. It was his, and there was something euphoric in that. In knowing and feeling it.

It probably helped that he had a blanket on. And if nothing else, the otherworldly forces acting upon his body had gotten the blood flowing. Why not spread the love?

Henry grabbed his backpack and slid it over next to Joseph, who had found some semblance of a comfortable position arching himself like a lazy crescent moon, his tail nestled only somewhat awkwardly between his legs, and the base of his back resting against the cushion Bonnie had provided. The truck was no bean bag chair, but it'd do.

"Alright," Henry dropped down next to Joseph, using his backpack as a similar, semi-cushioned back support. He gestured at the blanket, "if you'd be so kind."

Joseph would be so kind.

"Wow,'' Henry exclaimed almost as soon as he was under the blanket, "some lizard you are," he looked at Bonnie, nodding his head at Joseph, "This guy is practically a furnace."

"Lizard now? I thought I was a were-slalamanner."

"Debatable— lizard, salamander, furnace... I'm sure we'll figure it out. Hey," he bent his head back, calling jokingly to their driver, "who's got the marshmallows?"

Henry glanced at Bonnie again, and again, his jubilance was swiftly tempered. His smile dimmed to something more serious. "Been a little preoccupied. I'm sorry." He cast a glance out the back of the truck. "Are you worried about your friend? Lily, right? She's still out there, holding off those dr- ...wyverns."

Joseph remained silent, ashamed that, in his own relief, he too had put aside thoughts of those that had helped them, of the danger they were still in. Put aside. That's a nice way to say forgot. He sighed quietly, then made to offer all he seemed to have at that moment. He lifted the other side of the blanket, patted the open space next to him, and shrugged. It wasn't much.

Farms (Maelys, Mist; Aseyu, Ethani; Jobe Pearson; Mael alias Jonathan Hart; Nora, Moobly; Sarquoql, Soryn)

Soryn noted that he'd successfully disturbed Ethani, Maelys and Mist with the news of potential termination looming over his head.

Jobe noticed too. "You seem far less disturbed by the prospect of your termination than they do."

Soryn shrugged, "I had time to get resigned to it. This is your first time hearing about it. That's just how my commissioners treat vat-grown beings." Now to see if this would turn the disturbance to outrage.

Jobe thought to himself, "Well, this explains Soryn's live-fast-die-young demeanor."

Ethani interjected, "Soryn, I know you are..." she glanced at Mist, "preoccupied. But when you have time, I'd like to talk about this opportunity further. I don't think the bounty on offer will work for the Empire, given our unique situation, but I'm sure we can work something out."

Soryn disclaimed, "I don't have any pull in changing the bounty, but I can put you in contact with those who do."

Soryn's attempt to pull Mist out of her memories, apparently involving spiders, worked better than he'd calculated. He'd just found out how to get her aching for a kiss. But he couldn't get distracted by the same pull, his training forced him to stay alert. The bus was halting and Maelys was approaching with obvious intent. Spying an opportunity, Soryn reached with the tip of his tail as Maelys drew her hand back and carefully timed his nudge to her elbow...

Mission accomplished. Soryn didn't need more than half a second to leave behind a smear of pheromones that couldn't go airborne. He didn't linger for two seconds, now was the time to leave Mist wanting more, not give her all she wanted. He quickly flipped himself right-side up again — backwards, up and away, leaving Mist unbalanced right before Maelys reached out for Mist's collar.

Jobe and the bus driver were left blinking, wondering if they really had seen exactly what they'd just thought they'd seen. They'd both been at bad angles and hadn't seen every last detail, and Soryn had moved pretty quickly.

As Maelys spoke, Soryn heard yapping and bass barking in the distance and promptly pressed as many coils in the back as he could against the ceiling and walls to get out of Fog's way.

Soryn warned, "And in case you haven't noticed, you're standing in Fog's way right as some very excited dogs are trying to spread the excitement to her."

Now Jobe heard the barking too. He realized his dogs had heard the bus, so he gasped "My dogs!" and hurried out of the bus to intercept them.

The bus driver reflexively pressed the button to open the huge cargo bay doors that took up the entire back of the bus, thinking he would be sparing Maelys and Mist from a trampling by an oversized canine if the dire wolf had an alternate route. But the thunking whir of the broken mechanism reminded him why he hadn't been able to open the cargo bay doors for Soryn the first time around. So the bus driver facepalmed. His forehead felt the string around his pinky. So that's what that string was for.

Meanwhile, the spaceship was so quick to land by the bus, Jobe yelped and dodged even though he was nowhere near any danger of being squished or burned by the engine convection.

Sarquoql vaulted out of the pilot's seat and was the first one out the spaceship airlock. Even though he already knew the answer, he asked Jobe, "What's the hurry?"

"My dogs," Jobe summarized, "I gotta settle'em before they jump and lick you to death."

Sarquoql idly thought to Mael, "I bet you and I could settle the dogs faster."

[Farms]

Throughout the entire ride to the farms, and on the farms, Mael was completely silent. In his head, he was wondering if he made the right partnership. This whole boar chase was not him; aside from the fact that there was a high risk of ruining his fine outfits, he didn't feel like he was getting any closer to finishing his job. There was a high chance that the kids were going to get away, and here he was, chasing after mindless animals.

And then the dogs got excited. The smelly, mangy dogs.

Very well, he thought, his face stoic but internally sighing, But we are making this quick. We've wasted enough time as is.

_{^< cont. from}Seenarnha's Mindscape _^> Arku


In his time alone, Arku paid little mind to the mayhem outside of his birdcage. He'd long since drawn his smoky substance away from the pond, the lens through which he might view the world beyond. He did not dictate any great testimony for Seenarnha's pen and paper, though he recognized its function. Instead, he turned his focus inward, beginning a long, meditative exercise in disappearing.

His form had long since split from a rounded cloud into dozens of wisps, each floating away from the light at the cloud's center. The further they traveled, the dimmer the light grew, bit-by-bit, as though smothered by the very space it occupied.

Soon the wisps disintegrated into tiny particles, every speck drifting ceaselessly, bound to great distances and travels certain to outlast lifetimes, unabated as they were. His identity was sent just the same, shunted from its chamber to the far vacancies of imagination. He envisioned void-like forces, opening within each particle and imploding the tiny remnant, sucking them into dimensions beyond microscopic. Vanished. Pulled, as though by osmosis, through the membrane of the universe.

The only word of purpose that carried through it all was persistence. Summoned up once within that bright light and fixed there; bade to share its fate, fading away. Withering into a faintness so insubstantial, its existence became indistinguishable from its absence.

And there was nothing.










If the exercise was ever meant to free him, it seemed he would need more time, more isolation, or the help of an unearthly force. For when his name was called, he heard. And so he was. Present and accounted for.

'Arku,' the voice called. 'Get over here,' it commanded. Energy, and such anger. I should be so angry. I am dead and I am not gone. I am dead and I am trapped. But all Arku could manage was indolent defiance, awaiting the inevitable pull. As the leash takes.

Rainforest ~ Clearing (Lerna, Leto, Nerea; Maequoql, Murquoql)

"When I return to my palace, I shall begin mobilizing my forces. It is high time I rejoined the world, if such threats exist," Empress Nerea said.

She then nodded at Maequoql, "I am familiar with the nerro girl's plight. With the 'skrarr' I believe she called them. If she requires assistance, I am willing to lend what aid I can offer," she said, before gesturing towards Lerna, "While I must get my sister home, I can offer my servant for the time being."

Lerna looked up from wolfing down cooked moufreta. She nodded hastily, beaming with stuffed cheeks.

Necropolis (Fuyumi, Junko; Jen Jara, Syrni Sandra)

Junko glanced out into the night, "[They've got us surrounded, and my gut says they're not here to say hi,]" she said, cracking her knuckles.

Fuyumi nodded, "[Aye, I'm picking up on a chilly malevolence all around us,]" she said.

The statues stood motionless, as the cold air slowly filtered through the grounds.

Having enough of waiting, Junko struck first, cocking a fist back, before focusing her will into a punch. A blazing ball of tightly-packed flames was sent towards one of the statues. It struck true, splashing across the covered face of one of the statues.

It had no effect.

Junko frowned. "[Huh, figured that would get a response out of them,]" she said, adding, "[I really don't like being on the defensive like this. If you got a plan, do it,]" she told the Void Maidens.

Truck ~ En route to the Grasslands (Bonnie, Carol; Henry, Joseph)

Bonnie's ears drooped as she looked away. "I— I figured that," she told Henry.

Gesturing towards Joseph, she said, "You don't have to worry about a thing, keep the blanket as long as you need it." Resigning herself to the truck's seating, she smiled softly.

Starting at Joseph, she chimed in, "Well, unlike other reptiles, lizardfolk are endothermic— they produce their own heat. That and salamanders have either water or fire affinities. It seems like in Joseph's case, it might be the latter," she offered as an explanation for Joseph's body heat.

Bonnie then glanced towards the back of the truck. "I'm not terribly worried," she said, "We're all training to deal with things like that, and Lily's the ace of our group. She'll be fine."

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite ~ Battle (Lily; Seenarnha, Blackthorn, reluctant Spitfire) vs. Undead C. Spitfire

Lily was, in fact, not fine.

Jarred to her senses by the impending danger, she fired her flight gear to evade the undead wyvern's maw. However, she took off a few seconds too late, as the wyvern's jaws clamped down around her left leg's flight gear.

Fortunately, the equipment was sturdy enough to take this kind of abuse. Unfortunately, this also meant that Lily was trapped in the wyvern's jaws.

She was subsequently jostled around like a rag-doll as the living wyvern roared, slamming into the undead wyvern's side. The undead one retaliated, spinning around to drive its barbed tail directly into its face.

Lily struggled to bring her weapon up as everything was in constant motion as the two wyverns fought until bright red scales filled her vision. Caught between a rock and hard place, Lily had nowhere to go as the undead wyvern proceeded to ram the other wyvern headfirst.

Awash with a general, overwhelming sense of pain from the resulting collision, Lily was barely able to note when she was finally freed as the wyvern's maw as the beast roared. Falling to the ground, she was subsequently kicked in the process, her weapon being wrenched from her grip in the process.

Hitting the ground, Lily ended up rolling several times before coming to a stop. Staring up at the branches above, she noted how hazy they seemed. Then the pain hit her. All over her body, from her head to her chest, to her left leg, her shoulder, and her forearm. Focusing, she fought to ignore the pain, like she had done so many times before in situations like these.

Groaning as she hauled herself off the ground, she glanced around for her gun. Spotting a few feet away, she hobbled over to it. Finding her left arm didn't want to cooperate properly, she grabbed it with her other arm, and returned to fighting the wyvern.

Taking to the air once more, she made sure this time she was well outside the biting range of her target. Lily fought her dislocated shoulder to aim her rifle, preparing to launch a spell a the undead wyvern, as the green fog rolled in beneath her.

Said fog rolled over the modified moufreta corpses, causing them to twitch as they were reanimated by the necromantic fog.

Edited by WillDeRegio on Feb 3rd 2021 at 9:01:34 AM

_{^< cont. from} Forest Truck, En Route To Grasslands _{^> Henry, Joseph — Bonnie, Carol}


"Well, uh... I like to swim, too," Joseph said. "But I s'pose I arready did before this happened."

"Do you feel like there's a fire in your gut? Or lungs? Somewhere in that," Henry wriggled his arms free of the blanket and circled his hands in front of his chest, "that core region?"

Joseph looked down, pinning the blanket between the base of his long jaw and neck. He tried to focus on just his body. On the blood flowing throughout. The little processes and microprocesses he'd never understand. Those mystery pings of pain in his skin. The stiffness around the tips of his fingers where his claws poked out. The weird, extended way air traveled through his nostrils. The sheer space between the muscles at either end of his mouth. His massive, stupid, clumsy tongue. The absurd feed of sensation from the back of his neck down. It was overwhelming. All too much to let in at once.

"I- I dunno what I feel. I mean, I on't feel like anything I know. But I on't feel all that different, either. I'm functioning, I guess. It doesn't make sense."

Henry studied him for a moment, tipping his head to one side. "Makes sense enough to me, considering everything."

"Right..."

"So no fire?"

Joe shook his head. "Not that I can tell. Juss normal-hot."

"So no fire-breath?"

"What?"

"Just a thought."

Turning his attention to Bonnie, particularly after she declined to share the blanket, Henry tipped his head back, eyes narrowed at her in a scrutinizing stare. "Is sitting out in the freezing weather also a part of your training?"

"Hemry, c'mon," Joseph whispered, "leave it alone. If she uzzn't want to, she uzzn't want to." He was beginning to feel quite self-conscious about the whole thing.

"Yeah but-" Henry shook his head, "look, I know to you and your wyvern-slaying friends we must seem like a couple of weenie civilians who need just every care and comfort, but we can still share a blanket for pity's sake. There's plenty of room. And aren't you cold? This guy here doesn't bite. Hasn't yet, anyway."

"Shht up Herry," Joseph pleaded, dragging his hands down the sides of his face.

"I'm sorry it's just... it drives me right up the wall when someone is too humble, or polite, or shy, or tough, or whatever to accept a bit of human kindness. Er- person kindness. I mean, what's the big deal? What are you getting out of that?"

Joseph had resigned himself to staring hopelessly at an empty bench, setting his sights as far away from Henry and Bonnie as he could. Maybe she just doesn't want to, his thoughts screamed at Henry.

WFS Hummingbird (Arilay, Arnaya, Zip, Varla; Sallara; David, Joseph; James, John, the Hunters; Claire; Nasur; Captive Bandits including Tom, Mulligan and Clancy)

Arilay knew how long it takes for humans to reach NREM-3 sleep, the ideal window of opportunity for Adam to sneak away without the rest of his friends noticing. The questions were whether or not Adam knew this as well, and whether he knew how to adjust the estimations to account for the effects of unfamiliar beds. Either way, the clock was ticking to either wrap up the latest Salsa Incident or pull some members out of it. But which members?

Arilay queried the ongoing incidents. Falalma was staking out the HQ air shafts in case Salsa tried to run through the ventilation system — the sooner Falalma's gambit paid off, the sooner she could start shadowing Adam. Failing that, Kynn Derra had just gotten back from mapping a black market. Perhaps octopus-like traits on a humanoid alien wouldn't garner the right kind of curiosity from David and Joseph, but Kynn Derra could put what she learned in Spy School to use on Adam at greater risk of detection than Falalma.

What about certain genetically enhanced animals, what would David and Joseph think of them, and which ones could most easily change objectives? Rat-plant Chlora Phyllis and spy-mouse Opal were busy searching in the depths of HQ's machinery for sabotage, along with the two-headed snake Wyla Wyra. The rest of the uplifted snakes had taken over chasing Salsa after that conniving little squirrel made fools out of the cats, who weren't sapient enough to converse with David and Joseph. Viendra the vixen was off on Planet Camelia, helping the Camelians search in and around the crash site of an enemy spaceship for survivors, but the spaceship she'd taken there was one of the last few remaining places that they hadn't tried juggling Varla's tank-tank to yet. It would take a coincidence or two, but hypothetically, Viendra could catch Salsa, or something could happen there to pull Salsa's pranking attention off the Web of Friendship and onto someone else. Perhaps Viendra could get the right kind of attention from David and especially Joseph.

Bouncing off of David's comment about funds, Arilay said, "The best way you can pay us back is for you and your country to become stronger, more able to fight off intruders. I have a long list of our enemies for you to beware, but I wouldn't ask you to catch them if you can't, and I wouldn't ask you to tangle with them before they start planning to tangle with you."

Arilay pondered, "I think we'll probably have enough time for a full night's sleep, but I'll have to double-check my estimates with Ella-Maria. I'm waiting on specific news, and she has an uncanny knack for predicting the timing of news. I don't know how she does it with just a human brain." The specific news was not only when the seaworthy spaceships could pull away from the latest Salsa Incident, but when selected individuals could pull away too.

Varla piped in, "I'll copy-paste the aquatic setup of my dorm to the guest dorm across from mine and show you how to alter it to your tastes."

[[quoteblock]]"Oh! Actually, there is something else I would like to discuss." She held out her necklace again. "This necklace is precious for both my people and the skrarr, it seems. I was thinking if perhaps I would be able to.. use it against them?" She wondered aloud, partly to herself, and partly asking for Arilay's opinion.

Varla ventured, "I would definitely like to run some tests to find out what you and your necklace can do, in the morning."

Arilay proposed, "You could tell us during waking hours more details about what happened with your home being invaded, or you could dream through the memories alongside one of my Mayatan crew members. Oh, have you talked with Lerna and Nerea about this? I don't know if they'd be willing to help you."

Faced with David's skepticism and demands, Arilay thought out loud, "It sounds like I can kill three birds with one stone — if I designate you two as bait, I'll have to return you to the ground and you might have the opportunity to see for yourself what Mael is up to, which is one way out of a few that I've calculated to dispel your skepticism. So, I'll send you down with a portable alarm or a bodyguard or both."

As she spoke, the storage door opposite the teleporter pad opened, and one mechanical arm on the ceiling reached in and pulled out what looked like a robotic canary. She handed it to Joseph, telling him, "This alarm will call us if it detects specific enemies or its sensors break. I assume you have pockets big enough to hold it?"

Truck ~ Grasslands (Bonnie, Carol; Henry, Joseph)

With her knowledge of salamanders, were or otherwise, limited, Bonnie refrained from saying anything else on the matter for the time— she was more knowledgeable of the medical physiology and arcanology of humanoids. Although, she thought to herself, Joseph is humanoid enough...

Henry's attention to her snapped her out of her thoughts. "Oh," she said, "I didn't realize... that it's... freezing?" she half said, half asked, glancing towards the back of the truck. True, it was nighttime, but it didn't seem that cold to her, "It's not really that cold out by Cadian standards."

With Henry's further ranting, Bonnie's ears drooped, as she resigned herself to the offer of the blanket. Getting up, she headed over to Joseph's side, putting the were-salamander between herself and Henry. Getting under the blanket, the heat Joseph was putting off was quite evident.

"Oh, wow, you are quite warm. Hmm..." she noted.

Meanwhile, Carol called out to them from the driver's bench, "Y'all 'right back there?" she asked, to which Bonnie answered, "Yes."

The truck carried on into the open, moonlit grasslands, leaving behind the sparse trees.

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

"This unit can shed its limbs to fit back into the box if needed," Novia offered.

The boy stopped, turned, and stared at Novia. "Wot," he said, not quite parsing what Novia had said. "People don't do that," he said.

To which, Novia simply replied, "This unit is not people. This unit is a facsimile of a Silver Witch."

Large River (Morag; Rosalind)

With Rosalind finished drinking the blood of one corpse, Morag nodded and moved in to butcher it.

The catkin extracted choice cuts of the moureta, along with a few bones, sinew, scales, feathers, and large sections of skin, which she cleaned, prepared, wrapped, and stored away. The remaining parts of the moufreta she cut open for the eventual scavengers to feast upon. This didn't take long for the experienced hunter.

With her work done, she repeated the process on the eviscerated corpse she had seen Rosalind turn down. Noting the leaking bowels, Morag opted out of harvesting meat, deciding that she already had what she needed from the first moufreta. Instead, she collected the less edible materials that could be put to use in various forms of crafting.

WFS Hummingbird

"That's a... good idea." Sallara tried to give David some reassurance. "I don't think either you or Joseph are failures. You just went against more than you could handle. I'm sure tomorrow will be a better day for both of you after some rest, and today's misfortunes will be washed away by the tide." She finished by giving him a reassuring smile.

"I suppose you are right in that." Sallara replied to Arilay. "We have to get stronger to fend off our enemies. I'll... have to see to that once all this is over." Sallara was far too aware of her limits. The magic she could do was very limited, now more so since she was out of water, and she had never been expected to fight on her own. "I'm not much of use in combat, but if I can be of use in any other way, let me know."

Varla's offer of an aquatic environment where to rest was something that Sallara was definitely not going to let pass, but before she could express proper gratitude, Arilay asked her another question."Nerea?" Sallara pondered, suddenly remembering the other two merpeople she had met back on the surface. "I think I had mentioned it to her, but not the details. If she is willing to help, I would also be grateful to her. As for the necklace..." She held it out once more, herself looking straight at it. "My father told me it was 'the key', before sending me away. From what I remember, it is meant to be a guide to something, or somewhere... That I don't remember what it was." She admitted. "But whatever it is, I should get there before the skrarr get even near."

Finally, she turned to Varla. "I would be delighted to take you on your offer." She said with gratitude. "May I ask where the dorm is?"

Sick Bay

"Oh, I wasn't talking about automatons." Nasur explained himself. "Just flesh and bone servants. And friends. And family." He said the last word with particular venom. "Of course automatons would be more loyal than that. They wouldn't turn on you unless you asked them to."

"But yes, I admit it. I... am an exile!" He replied, with an overdramatic tone. "My own family turned on me! Robbed me of my titles and position! And sent me off with the criminals! To starve into madness or be eaten by something bigger. But I won't give up! I will survive, go back, and reclaim my rightful place among my family! And make those traitors pay for plotting against me."

"But sorry, I don't have any money on myself." He quickly added, back to a casual tone. "Can't I pay with something else?"

_{^< cont. from} Forest Truck, En Route To Grasslands _{^> Henry, Joseph — Bonnie, Carol}


"Must be long winters in Cadia," Henry supposed. "A lot of snow, maybe. Winter can bite in Issaquah— doubly so at night, and triply so under the canopy. But these woods," he nodded out the back, "are something else. I mean, being visited by wyverns is testament enough to that, but even before then, before we ran into you or anyone else, that cold hit me. Not actually freezing, no, but... it felt like it should have been."

He was silent for a long moment, staring out at the tunnel before them. That long tunnel of time and trees, well beyond their reach. Useless, but to ponder the ripples left in their wake. "I knew something was wrong. But we kept going."

Joseph maintained his aversion to all other persons in the vehicle for as long as he could, lasting just up to the moment Bonnie sat down right next to him. He'd made the offer himself not more than a minute earlier, but after Henry's dutiful mountaining of the molehill and a cursory reacquaintance with the abject strangeness of his changed body, the idea seemed impossibly bad. And though even his deep well of embarrassment should have long run dry from that day's events, and though Bonnie had been nothing but kind and polite—particularly to him—in the time he'd known her, he couldn't help but feel unbelievably tense as she sat down next to him. Nonetheless, he pulled together a small, self-effacing smile and tried to narrow his narrowed shoulders even further.

When she affirmed Henry's loud observation about his body's warmth, he only murmured a quiet, "noted...", wanting very much to crawl into a hole and bury that warm body.

He closed his eyes. Relax. Why can't you just relax? You've been beyond all of this. There's nothing to be afraid of. He breathed a small sigh. Easier thought than felt.

"See, isn't that better?" Henry said, mouth cocked in a half-smile. When Carol called back, he followed Bonnie's 'yes' with, "Oh, absolutely, except I can't seem to find the waterbed."

Joseph gave him a look, clear enough even on his salamandrine face.

"Aw come on, I think it'd be a nice addition."

Joe simply glared out the back of the truck for a while. Finally, with understated effort, he met Bonnie with a sideways glance, held only for a moment, as though just looking would risk weirding her out. He spoke quiet, tentative fragments. "Sorry about... din' mean to force you over... y'know, over here. Just... hope iss not too warm."

Henry leaned back, covered his eyes, and swore under his breath.

_{^< cont. from} WoF Scouter Hummingbird, Sick Bay _{^> David, Joseph — Arilay, Aynara, Varla — Claire — Nasur, Sallara}


It was all David could do to not bite clean through his tongue for all the holding it took. Several variations on, of course, what's the point in helping someone if you can't spend them later? led the charge, and something had to be said of her uttering 'kill three birds with one stone' and 'designate you two as bait' in the same breath. Did it never occur to her how badly that sounded?

But he managed, letting his feeling out in a sharp sweep of his tail—once to the left, once to the right—and a slow but mighty heave of his small chest.

"Bait..." he repeated, the word dripping with all the sentiment he'd left unstated. "If that's what it takes."

He wasn't sure how much less expendable another member of the Web was compared to a pair of uncooperative guests, but if he had to make a bet...

"Both will do. If this Mael character is down there, hiding in the brush and waiting to pounce, then we had best take every precaution."

In truth, he was more concerned with the likes of sinking demons and vampires; the likes of which he had no weapons to harm. He could not forget how quickly Arnaya had knocked him to the ground. The gut numbing futility as his arms passed right through her, unable to push her off. Unable to stop what was happening. The help that came too late.

For several seconds he lost himself, tensed and tightened, like a tortoise trying to hide in a shell that wasn't there.

Sallara's voice shook him free. He offered her a meek smile. "One strives to be a bit more than a complete failure." Then he made to follow after Arilay as she brought Joseph what appeared to the aforementioned alarm. But a few steps away he stopped, glancing back over his shoulder at the Onden princess. Without much forethought, he returned to stand before her. "This may be our parting," he said, then reached for her hand, taking it between his own, one atop and one below. They were smaller than human hands. They were soft, and warm. "Good luck Sallara. Please be careful." A pause and then, more quietly, "Thank you for speaking to me."


Joseph had finally turned himself around by the time Arilay approached, a light imprint of the wall still lingering on his face. His last exchange with David laid deeper.

At her questioning, he fished around in the baggy pockets of his shorts, fingers meeting with a rattling box on one side and a cold, uncomfortable hunk of metal on the other. "I can make room, but I've got to ditch the gun or the bullets."

David trailed in from behind Arilay, propping up an empty holster under his arm. "I can take that shooter off your hands."

Joseph hesitated, unsure if he was being tested somehow. There wasn't anything obviously needling or passive-aggressive in David's voice. The offer was spoken plainly. But he'd always been difficult to read.

"Really?" He didn't disguise his skepticism.

"Really."

Joseph eyed David for a wary second, then reached back into his pocket and withdrew the revolver he'd been entrusted with earlier. He made sure to pop out the cylinder and check that no bullets had somehow snuck into it since its initial pocketing, then, with his thumb around the trigger guard and the barrel pointed at the floor, he handed it over to David, who wore a small smile, genuinely pleased to behold even the smallest fruits of his tutelage.

"I can use it if I need to," Joseph asserted, before taking the canary-shaped alarm, "I just... just need room."

"You aren't a doormat, Joseph. I shouldn't have called you that. I made another mistake. I lost my temper. I sometimes forget I have one, if you can believe that."

Joseph blinked. He tilted his head. He waited.

David nodded slowly, "it's time we got back to town."

"That's it?"

"Hm?"

"That's all you've got to say?"

"No, that's not it. There is more to be said, when it's safe to do so. Right now we need to keep our wits about us. I want you alive and in one piece, alright? Vigilance-"

"You really suck, you know that?"

David stared blankly at Joseph. Something in his chest hurt.

Wordlessly, he secured the revolver in his holster, then looked up at Arilay. His question wasn't demanding, but his eyes had grown so tired. "Where do you intend to put us down?"

Farms (Maelys, Mist; Aseyu, Ethani; Jobe Pearson; Mael alias Jonathan Hart; Nora, Moobly; Sarquoql, Soryn)

Ethani said, "Before you do that..." She considered her options. She wanted to stay in others' line of sight, for now, but preferably not be overheard. She started considering where she could walk to, before realizing there was probably only one hopefully-reliable tool for this job.

A voice echoed in Soryn's mind. <In truth, I'm not sure your organization can offer much payment to us. The technology I've seen from you and your ally thus far show signs of dangerous levels of magical dependency. Every magical device and every wisp of magical energy from another world we've taken to our own has crumbled quite rapidly. And even if that weren't the case, your masters' willingness to dispose of you so casually displays a stunning lack of vamaq.> To herself, she thought, not to mention competence.

She then continued "aloud". <Which leaves us at an impasse regarding Varla, I suppose. You are not a subject of the Qorisyane Empire, nor of our enemies, so I am not obligated to help or hinder.> Well, that wasn't quite true. Soryn's aggressively flirtatious nature irritated her; while she tried not be as misandristic as the old-school Qorisayane matriarchs, her culture's attitudes has inescapably seeped in. Behaviors she wearily tolerated in Aseyu were far more grating coming from a man. So Ethani would default to helping Varla if she stumbled upon the two in a duel. Unless Varla somehow annoyed her more, but that seemed unlikely. <Likewise, I cannot accept any bounties from those lacking vamaq, for reasons that should be obvious. However, if you can think of any way that would assist the Empire, I could be authorized to assist you with dealing with your masters in a way that removes such unvirtuous individuals from a position of power. Raw, non-magical materials and technology are what we really want right now, unless any Terran agents show up and need dealing with, though we also have some devices we could use the expertise of post-FTL experts on.>

Suspecting Soryn might respond to her insults towards his masters by drawing close, whether attempting to flirt or fight, she also made a point of surrounding herself with entropic energy. Not much — the grass around her was not visibly rotting, though there would be a noticeable patch where the grass didn't quite grow properly in time — but enough to make the magically sensitive respect her personal space.

Apologies if Ethani's personality seems to have shifted a bit; it's been a while, and both her position in the story proper and Qorisa's political scene have changed. Her core tenets — patriotism and loyalty to Qorisa despite certain reservations about its current leadership, and a contempt for "warriors" and would-be "badasses" with no sense of duty, professionalism or discipline — remain the same, though. Aseyu will come later.

Edited by KillerClowns on Feb 21st 2021 at 9:23:32 AM

WFS Hummingbird ~ Sick Bay (Claire; Nasur)

"Ah yes, family." That struck a chord with Claire, "At least you've got a family to go back to," she said. "I used to be a wanderer before I met Aria, ever since I lost my home, my family, my hometown. Same reason as you, though, the traitorous bunch."

As for recompense, Claire waved a hand at Nasur, "That's not necessary at all. I'm more than willing to part with one of those— I keep finding them in the damnedest of places."

Truck ~ Grasslands (Bonnie, Carol; Henry, Joseph)

"Well, snow usually covers the ground winter long, so, I suppose so," Bonnie said as she listened to Henry. "You've had a rough day," she stated, "though we aren't far from town. So, you won't have a rough night out here. We'll figure things out tomorrow morning," she said, trying to assure Henry and Joseph.

Carol was about to call back "Are you serious?" before catching what else Henry said, causing her to instead laugh about it. "With me around, a waterbed wouldn't last a week," she said.

There was a moment of silence until Bonnie caught Joseph's aside glance. She shook her head, "No, it's not too warm," she told him.

_{^< cont. from} Forest Truck _{^> Henry, Joseph — Bonnie, Carol}


Henry raised an eyebrow in Carol's general direction, before realizing what she was getting at. "Oh yes... the poking. The poking."

"That's a relief," Joseph said to Bonnie, crossing his arms beneath the blanket, " 'cause I don't ezzactly have a dial."

In retrospect, it seemed like kind of a dumb thing to ask, and he certainly felt so for asking, but Bonnie's answer did help him relax nonetheless.

A few moments later, he felt a very light, rapid tapping on his shoulder. He turned in place slightly, shifting his head enough to get a fix on Henry without colliding with him. He found some success in keeping his head pointed down and his eyes looking up— awkward looking, maybe, but surprisingly not the great strain it would have been with his old body.

Silver linings.

Henry's face was caught in an uncharacteristic show of sheepishness. "Hey, I..." he spoke in a very hushed whisper, though it was unclear who he thought he'd be able to conceal his voice from, packed together as they were. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable just now— either of you. I'm sorry about that. I just thought..." he rolled his eyes, "well, I thought what I thought and then I spoke. You know how it is. Remember that time after we went to go see The Fugitive? That guy at the gas station? The one who got really upset?"

"...You did give away most of the movie."

"Yeah, but that's all. The way he reacted you'd think I burned his house down. I didn't ask him to listen in on our conversation."

"You weren't ezzactly whispering."

"Okay, but it's JUST a movie, not-" Henry caught himself, stopping before he got too excited. "...not the point. Point is, I should have just said sorry and left it alone, not take a stand on what is and isn't worth getting upset about."

"I almost thought you guys were going to slug it out."

"So did I!" he admitted, then sighed, shaking his head, "I don't know, man. I don't know. It gets late and I lose touch with my better angels. Then it's just me and this gas can, ready to self-immolate whatever the occasion. It must be stupid late right now."

"It was late when we left," Joseph recalled, sounding distracted, like he was only half paying attention.

"God, it was. Well there you go. Clearly I need an early bedtime."

"That was the last time we caught a movie."

"The Fugitive?"

Joseph nodded, eyes unfocused, like he was only half present.

Henry paused, recalling the past few months in his own head. "Huh. Yeah." Taking notice of Joe's rather distant expression, he added, "Hey, it wasn't all that long ago."

"Guess not."

"I still see you."

The sudden statement shook Joseph back into the moment. He turned slightly, giving Henry a questioning look.

Henry pointed square at his friend's long, salamandrine face, dancing his finger up and down and nodding. "Right there. Unmistakable.''

Joseph turned back away, centering himself so he could lift his head without worrying about bumping noses. He closed his eyes, but he couldn't hide his smile.

"Henry?" It was his best 'Henry' yet. "Can I be honest?"

"Of course."

"All this whispering is making me uncomfortable."

"All right, I'll stop."

A long moment passed in silence.

Joseph lazily opened his right eye. "Henry?"

"Mhm?"

"Just about everything is making me uncomfortable lately. You're okay."

Henry's mouth broke into a barely-suppressed grin. "Good to know."

Another few moments passed.

"You're a lot more than okay."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"OkayI'mgonnastopnow."

"Yeahmetoo."

"Okay."

"Yup."


Joseph didn't know how much longer he'd be awake, and he didn't mind not knowing. He didn't mind what Bonnie thought of his long, whispery exchange with Henry. He didn't mind the soreness his poor hide would have to endure the following morning. For a strange, stirring moment, he didn't even mind being what he was. It was odd what a few words could do. How he could pass through such a incredible and bizarre string of misfortunes, come out the other side, and feel lucky.

Truck ~ Grasslands (Bonnie, Carol; Henry, Joseph)

"Aye," Carol said, "Natural ability o'mine would shred one o'those— one o'the reasons I need my clothes fixed on the regular," she told Henry. She returned to focusing on driving across the grasslands to the town.

Bonnie yawned, half-listening to Henry and Joseph's whispered conversation. As they quieted down, Bonnie began nodding off, her head leaning on Joseph's shoulder as her eyes began to close.

[Farm—-???]

This was getting nowhere, and was just wasting time.

Stepping away from everyone's view in some trees, Mael pressed a button on his glove, and was instantly back on ship, his disguise now gone.

"My lord?" Melissa said, standing up, "What happened? Where's your partner."

"Change of plans," Mael said, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "Wanted me to do some pig catching, and that sort of thing is beyond me. Now, back to the matter at hand. Do you have any updates about our...problem?"

"They seem to have some sort of otter person and salamander like person travelling with them, but other than that, our trap is still inactive."

Mael's eyes perked in interest. "Really? Huh. That sounds like a new opportunity has opened itself to us. Keep a close eye on them. I want to see where this goes."

"Of course, my lord."

While she got back to work, Mael sat down and drank a large cup or Rose. It was just one of those nights, but tomorrow, for sure, he wasn't going to let his guard down again.

Ok now I'm just gonna wait for the Hummingbird crew and THEN I'm ready for day two.

WFS Hummingbird

Sallara smiled at David's gesture. She let go of her pendant and put her remaining hand on top of his, squeezing a little. "Good luck to you as well, David." She replied. "May the Mother of Tides watch over you." She looked at Joseph, and added. "Both of you."

She felt a little more calm now that this issue seemed resolved. She turned to her other interlopers. "Let us continue our talk in a more 'comfortable' place, if you may. I would really appreciate it." She said and turned towards the hallway, hoping to be led back to her temporary quarters for the night.

Sick Bay

"Oh, well," Nasur replied at Claire's offer. "It would cost me absolutely nothing to take them from you in that case. I would love to!" He said the last part with a little too much enthusiasm, and he winced. Last thing he wanted was to sound too desperate.

He decided to go back to their previous topic. "Well, I do plan to go back to them, that is for sure. And I'm planning on having a long talk with those backstabbers." He said with added rancor. "How I'm gonna return... I'm still thinking on that."

"You are lucky found someone else to rely on." He went on. "I have been alone ever since I was expelled, who know how long ago." Time had lost its meaning when stranded in the intrincate network of caverns that surrounded Nocturna, and later in the sterile Wasteland. "At least until I met my new friend Joseph today." He added with pride. "Speaking of, where is he now...?"

Nasur looked around, suddenly wondering the whereabouts of his companion. But the place was deserted save for Claire and himself. "Where did everyone go?"

_{^< cont. from} WoF Scouter Hummingbird, Near Transporter Pad _{^> David, Joseph — Arilay, Aynara, Varla, Sallara}


Joseph's hands tensed, forming fast into half-fists. He glowered at David with his fiercest glare, one so rarely used that its effectiveness was more or less a mystery. His chest went tight, bracing for David's returning bite the same way one would brace for a punch to the gut.

But David didn't bite back.

He wouldn't even look at Joseph.

Before long, the heat in Joseph's head cleared away. The fire left his body, damage undone but for the confusing calm he felt in its place.

"...David?"

Without diverting his gaze from Arilay, the otterly man reached out and patted Joseph's arm. "We can talk more later. Just not here. Please, not here."

The fists were back, the flame reignited.

Not here.

The words echoed through Joseph's head, stirred about by the sharp and long drawn breath that coursed through him. David hadn't been so choosy about location when he'd decided to march over and chew his head off moments after parting ways with his long lost friend. And now after his breezy half-assed apology, he had the nerve— the utter nerve to ask Joseph for the same dignity that David had denied him.

For a moment, Joseph wanted nothing more than to lay right into him. To seethe and fume and spit back into David's face all the loathing he'd been given. To hulk out and arch his shoulders and shake his arms above his head and stamp his feet and gnash his jaws and slam his tail hard enough to send the ship tumbling out of orbit. He wanted to explode. Joseph wanted to explode.

But again, the moment passed. Not a limb was stirred. Not an ounce of air exhaled. And he knew he wouldn't do it. One moment later and he could hardly imagine himself thinking those thoughts, let alone acting on any of it. Maybe trading this kindness for nothing made him the better person, or maybe he just lacked the nerve— the sheer self-conviction that spurred David into doing what he did. Maybe it didn't matter. It was what it was. He didn't want to waste his energy yelling.

Besides all that, when he looked at David now, there was something odd about him. He just seemed so much smaller. Of course, he'd always been short in stature— even to Joseph, who was no particular giant himself. But he carried himself with a presence twice his size. More, even. Now there was nothing. Nothing but a small, mangy creature, out of place and drained of spirit. Like a little old man someone left on a bus.

So Joseph walked away, leaving behind only an echo. The quiet hiss of accusation.

"Not here."


Finally, in tentative, fitful measures, David twisted his head to look at Joseph, catching only a glimpse of a barren foot and his trailing tail as he disappeared around the corner. The ache in his chest spread.

He began turning back to Arilay, to listen more intently as they finalized the stipulations of his and Joseph's return to ground. On the way, his gaze passed over Sallara. And there it stopped. And there it lingered, longing for the minutes he had, not so long gone.


Elsewhere —> Near the Dorms

Despite feeling like he'd been up there for ages, Joseph's feel for the Hummingbird's layout was spotty at best, and he had no clue as to where Nasur had gotten to. It occurred to him on some level that he could just ask a crewmember for assistance. Hell, he could probably speak to the ship itself. But he was still feeling entirely too surly to be so sensible, and didn't want to let go of that feeling just yet, not if it meant being blindsided again.

Having little luck down the set of halls he'd blindly picked (boldly marching away demanded bold decisions without hesitation, no matter how necessary that hesitation may have been), he spied some kind of directory and studied it for mention of the dormitories. It was the best guess he had, and even if Nasur wasn't in the area, he knew a few someones who were. Maybe he could catch them for a proper goodbye before Shiny Happy People kicked in.

Unfortunately, the way to the dorms appeared to be in the exact opposite direction from the one he'd taken just after leaving David's side. Retracing his steps confirmed as much. He'd have to risk looking like a royal dipstick who didn't have a clue where he was heading, and while that may have been true, David hardly needed the extra ammunition. Still, the window of visibility was narrow enough that even with his rather vibrant outfit, he stood a chance of escaping notice. At least the notice he cared about.

So he crouched down into a leapfrog perch, angled his neck, and slowly leaned out until just one eye was visible to the room, and so too the reverse. The robot-canary-alarm doodad he'd pocketed poked into his leg a bit, but it was nothing he couldn't muscle through for a few seconds.

David was by himself, evidently having concluded whatever lingering discussion was to be had with Arilay, who had moved on to spin a different plate. Joe waited, and waited, but David never looked his way. David didn't do much of anything. He wasn't fussing with his appearance. He wasn't making conversation. He wasn't even making eye contact. He just stood where he was, occasionally touching a hand to his neck, and staring at the floor. Separated, and very much alone.

It was disconcertingly familiar.

I'll be quick. Joseph thought, before heading forth toward the dorms, making little effort to conceal himself. What was the point?

Before he could get too sunk into what he'd seen, his ears were met with a reward at long last: Nasur's voice, and speaking Joseph's own name to boot. He breathed a sigh, trying to exorcise whatever gloom was left in him. He blinked several times, he opened and shut his hands several times, then he put on a smile that wasn't particularly big, dumb, or even toothy, and rounded the corner.

Knocking on a nearby wall like a parent intruding into a teen's bedroom, Joseph leaned into the room, glanced between Claire and Nasur and said, "Thought I- uh... thought I heard my name." His gaze settled on Nasur and his smile brightened a bit. "And there he is! Just the blue dude I was looking for. Me and uh... David and I, we're about to get back down to Earth- or, I mean..." he closed his eyes, shook his head and waved in the general direction of the planet, "you know. Anyway, I thought I should come and say seeya. And thanks again."

He turned his eyes to Claire and, thumbing at Nasur, explained, "This guy saved me from a hungry sand blob."

WFS Hummingbird ~ Sick Bay (Claire; Nasur; Joseph)

Claire cupped her chin for a moment, staring intently at Nasur. She then gave him a faint smile, "Well, I wish you the best of luck with that," she said.

At Nasur's mention of everyone's absence, Claire glanced around the room, "Huh, I guess they're out doing whatever," she said, before making her way towards the hallway.

She stopped when Joseph poked his head in. She extended a hand towards him, "Name's Claire. I saved his hide from a rock monster." She stared at him for a moment, "I don't suppose— nah! Anyway, I've decided to serve as your bodyguard, what with this Mael fellow allegedly after you. I've had experience with scum like him, notably, one Dr. Fleischer."

Hummingbird (Dorms—Hall)

Yeah, so I'm retconning my last post. THAT thing won't happen with Adam until next thread day so yeah. Pretend that John and James already went down back to earth cause I'm too lazy to write them right now, lol.

Everyone stepped out the dorm room and heading down the hall, now disregarding their original plan. It just wasn't worth it. Mael needed to be stopped, yes, but they would rather wing it than deal with more insults and belittling.

Thankfully, the caught Claire, Nasur, and Joesph not too far from where they left.

"Hey, guys," Nick said, "We're going to get off this ship and head to the hotel back below. I don't think any of us can stand being here for another minute."

"Is that asshole David with you?" Maya said, but Amy didn't translate.

"We're still worried about Mael coming after you, but hopefully he won't bother you," Marie said, "He's our problem after all."

"Still, would you like some of our moonstones?" Adam asked, "I...I feel guilty that all of this happened, so the least I want to do is make it up to you all with some way of protecting yourselves. I-If you want."