Something that’s always been a part of Cobble’s character, but tends not to come up, is that she’s trans. On left is her as a young adult, on right is her now.
She never really felt comfortable with herself growing up, but everyone around her just kind of went “Ehh he’ll get over it.” So eventually she said “fuck it” and took a chisel and a lot of ale and carved herself like a goddamn marble statue. Everyone else just had to deal.
She’s still larger, boxier, and has a lower voice than most other granok women, but it would probably only be noticeable to fellow granok. Not that they’d say anything -- she carries a gun the size of a full grown human man. Worse than that, she’s nearing 700 years old, and no one wants to be scolded by grandma.
I’ve seen some people doing this, so I figured, why not. Wildstar characters!
Delphie Jensen aka Digits: an Exile street-rat who spent her youth skulking around spaceports, picking pockets and honing her hacking skills. Enjoys money, computers, spooking people from the shadows, and also money. Good friends with Cobble Jones.
Cobble Jones aka Granny Buckshot aka Nonnie: An elder Granok woman who followed her son off of Gnox after the war. Studies botany, specifically growing of food on spaceship greenhouses. Also studies putting bullets into Dominion skulls.
Keros Redkind aka Sharkface: A dishonored draken who, unable to complete his warrior trials, left and become a repairman. Now he runs a refueling outpost in Malgrave, along with his Freebot friend. Convinces himself he’s okay with being a loser.
Ciel Lyreleaf aka Eyebrows: Short little aurin with a surprising mean left punch. And a right punch. And kicks. A sort of esper-monk. Can be serious and quiet, but is kind. Should brush their hair more.
Zeke Renjovna: A mordesh gunslinger punk, chronically in pain and 100% done with everyone’s shit. Loves the ocean and has an interest in aurin mysticism. Friends with Ciel.
Where the Justice Team works with the Snuggly Jabbits to attempt to find Adessa. This is a nearly 50 page chatlog so I am so, so sorry if your readmores do not work.
A mass text is sent out in rapid fire to pretty much every living person on Wylion's contact list. The message is simple: HAS ANYONE SEEN ADESSA? WHERE IS ADESSA? SHE'S NOT HOME. SHE'S NOT HERE. THERE'S NO SOUVENIR.
Shortly following is another barrage of texts. HAS ANYONE SEEN HER? ARTHUR IM COMING TO YOUR HOUSE AND SO HELP YOU SHE BETTER BE SLEEPING THERE OR I WILL
A text reply from Arthur appears shortly after on Wyl's screen. "Come right in, I'm upstairs. She's not here."
A reply comes swiftly enough from Ravil, of all people. "Neither hide nor hair of swamp maiden fair has this bard beheld on his journeys. He would surely have remembered!"
Kyrize follows up the barrage of text replies with: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S MISSING!??"
Wylion doesn't even bother to filter through her messages, and instead just sends out large, group texts. "SHE'S NOT HOME. SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE THE SOUVENIR. NO SOUVENIR. I'M AT ARTHURS. SO HELP ME."
A not-so-swift reply comes from Granny Jones: "I haven't seen little Adessa since yesterday. Where does Arty live again?"
== ARTHUR'S HOUSE ==
Wylion Glittergale appears in a fit of minor hysteria, a sloshing pot tucked under one arm as she fiddles with the door. "ARTHUR? ARTHUR, WE GOT PROBLEMS!"
Wylion Glittergale slams open the door with a fist and nearly trips over the threshold. "ArTHUR!" She yells again as she stumbles to the table and slams the pot onto it.
Arthur Kinlay is pulls his pistols out from his desk and quickly inspects them. "Upstairs!"
Wylion Glittergale scrambles up the steps two at a time, partially using her arms to get to the top. "Arthur!" she gasps once more, sliding the cracked datachron across. "THE...The POTLUCK!"
Arthur Kinlay's datachron is on his desk, shuffling around from the constant vibration from Wyl's messages. "What happened?" His voice remains surprigingly calm considering Wyl's panic. He turns, taking his vest off before grabing a coat from a hook on the wall, slipping into it.
Wylion Glittergale rolls her hand at her face as if trying to catch her breath. It takes her several stutters to get it under control. "Adessa's gone. She's GONE! We got...They weren't /there/ at the /potluck/. I can't--"
Ravil Raindance: raps politely on the door. "Hark!" he exclaims dramatically, "There is a knocking without! What manner of miscreant, do you dare wonder, comes hither, seeking passage beyond?" Somehow, Ravil's theatrically-trained lungs overpowers his teensy tiny knocking by a considerable manner.
Wylion Glittergale grips the railing with one unsteady hand and yells down the stairs. "DOORS OPEN!"
Kyrize Thornwick makes his way to the steps and pauses when he hears the odd language from a fellow Aurin, ears swiveling forward.
Arthur Kinlay fastens the stachel-belts across his chest. "What happened whe nyou got there, when did you see her last?"
Cobble Jones pokes her head in the door, and spots Kyrize, "Oh good, I found the right place."
Wylion Glittergale's hands resume cartwheeling in front of her face as her little lungs flutter. The shocks set in real good.
Kyrize Thornwick swivels an ear towards Cobble as he looks up the stairs, head canting to one side. "Did you get the messages too?"
Cobble Jones waves a little scrap of paper in the air as she steps fully into the house, "I did, indeed!"
Arthur Kinlay takes a deep breath and repeats his question, more slowly. "Where did you see her last..." He turns back to his desk, picking up the pistols and putting them firmly in their holsters.
Wylion Glittergale snaps from the shock with a rattling shake down to her tail tip. "At home," she says in a squeak. "This morning! I--... Arthur I think they found out." A feathery ear twists down to the talk down the stairs.
Ravil Raindance: "So too was this bard met with tidings most dire!"
Cobble Jones looks down at Ravil, "My, aren't you a little plum! Are you a friend of Dessie's, too?"
Kyrize Thornwick peers at the scrap of paper for a moment, nodding slowly, and looks over to the unknown Aurin. "Ahh...yes--Wylion? Arthur?"
Wylion Glittergale: We're up here!
Arthur Kinlay furrows his brow at Wyl'S words. "The Cartel? How?"
Wylion Glittergale buries her hands fists deep into her ponytail, her fingers raking through the length nervously as she paces to the desk. Her eyes glaze over as she searches the floor for the memories. "I don't KNOW! I was so...so careful. She said she'd be going on a job and that we'd meet up for the potluck with her coworkers, but they weren't THERE. No one was! And there was...there was a message on the Cartel line."
Wylion Glittergale: There's no SOUNVENIR, Arthur! She said she'd get me a SOUVENIR!
Ravil Raindance: "A passing acquaintance only, alas - our paths, hers and mine, have but seldom intertwined. But if Wylion seeks this bard's aid recovering her wayward companion, however could he refuse?"
Arthur Kinlay flicks a glance towards the stairs when Kyrize calls out to them but barely nods to aknowledge him. He opens another drawer, pulling out what looks like modified energy cells and stashing them in two of his coat's satchels.
Arthur Kinlay: What was the message?
Cobble Jones: A little thesarus, too! Aren't you sweet. Come along, I think everyone's upstairs.
Ravil Raindance: "Aye, such discourse can surely wait - Wylion would be better served, methinks, were we both included in the conversation."
Cobble Jones gives Ravil a pat on the head as she passes.
Wylion Glittergale pulls out the cracked datachron again, her index finger wavering over the buttons as she slides from screen to screen. It takes her several nerve-wracking moments to get to the recording. She places it nervously on the desk and hits the 'play' button.
Arthur Kinlay raises a brow as he sees more people comming in. "...looks like everyone got the memo.." He turns his attention to the recording as soon as it starts.
Kyrize Thornwick stares at the two with worry when he arrives at the top of the stairs, ears standing rigidly in alert. He moves aside to let the other two pass.
Cobble Jones leans against the railing and waves.
The Datachron says: ....flames. Entire forest is on fire. Where Sloppy Jaloppy and them suckers went off too, I heard. Whole damn place is a mess. Bad raid, but it happens.
Cobble Jones: Oh, dear. Did her good luck soup not go over well?
Arthur Kinlay: She was on that raid?
Kyrize Thornwick glances to Cobble and flattens his ears.
Wylion Glittergale jerks her head to Cobble. Her hands open and close. "Yeah, I guess! Even the Snuggly Jabbits are missing! They had to be in on it!"
Kyrize Thornwick: Snuggly Jabbits?
Arthur Kinlay frowns. "Missing? Do you know where they usually hang out?"
Wylion Glittergale snags her bottom lip between her teeth. "Mmmhmmm," she whines loudly, the nervous pitch hitting frantic levels in her throat. "No! Well...I don't know, Arthur! This was gonna be my first time meeting them up front."
Wylion Glittergale: I had my soup and /everything/ and no one was /there/. The entire room was empty. I triple-checked!
Ravil Raindance: performs a sweeping, theatrical bow. "Whatever aid you might deign ask of this humble bard, he shall gladly render - though of this particular tale, he regrets to say he knows little and less."
Wylion Glittergale snatches the datachron back from the desk and stuffs it up her sweater. "We gotta...We gotta find her. She doesn't just go /missing/. That's my gig!"
Arthur Kinlay opens yet another drawer, staring at it as if pondering it's content. "Do you know where she usually goes to meet them? Otherwise we'll just have to hope we're lucky. Know their names? I just got Brutus."
Kyrize Thornwick 's tail twitches anxiously about behind him, the fur on the tip of his tail standing on end. His eyes widen as he nods, "right! Where do we start looking?"
Wylion Glittergale: I-I don't know! I don't know where...or when... The Cartel thinks they just had a bad raid at this...this place out in Whitevale.
Ravil Raindance: "Fret not, fair Wylion. No single stone shall be left unturned in our furious wake. From the highest cloud to the deepest ocean shall we scour, if such is what thy wayward companion's timely rescue warrants!"
Cobble Jones: She hasn't gone and gotten herself wrapped up in a gang now, has she?
Ravil Raindance: did not jump
Kyrize Thornwick frowns, the tips of his ears wilting. Sucking in a breath, he straightens up and looks between Wylion and Arthur. "I can help track her down. Everything leaves a trail."
Wylion Glittergale snags her fingers through her bangs in a rough rake again. She looks to the trio by the stairs without really seeing. "It's not like that!" She practically hisses, tugging through a handful of tangles. "The Cartel doesn't care! Sloppy's a bad guy and a piss poor excuse for a raider. Everyone knows that! He'd sell his leftie for a shiny gold coin."
Wylion Glittergale: I dunno what Dess thought she'd gain signing onto his team, but if the Jabbits coaxed her into it...
Arthur Kinlay takes out two knives from his desk. One is clearly a large hunting knife, the handle looks worn but solid, the second one is thinner, with an odd cylindrical grip. After a moment he puts the odd one back in the drawer and slides the other one in a sheath in his coat. "We'll hit the bar at Thermock and ask around. Kroggs are usually memorable, might be lucky."
Ravil Raindance: "If 'tis an audience with the Darkspur you seek, mayhap we might endeavour to look the part? Tongues are oftentimes more inclined to wag at the behest of friend than foe."
Wylion Glittergale slams her teeny tiny fists on the desk. "No! There's no time for that! I'm telling you, Arthur, we gotta move /now/. The forest is on /fire/ and if Dess is caught up in that..." She leaves the rest unsaid, but the desperation is clear.
Arthur Kinlay snorts. "You keep haverin' like that 'round 'em you won't even finish one sentence your cover'll be blown."
Arthur Kinlay looks at Wyl again. "you know where the raid was?"
Wylion Glittergale taps a claw over where the datachron is stored. "That's what I'm telling you!"
Wylion Glittergale: Not that it's /hard/ to find. Cartel's letting it burn out before they try to salvage.
Ravil Raindance: sneezes rather more dramatically than is necessary. His very stance changes, becoming a sort of stationary swagger. He cants his head to one side, challengingly. "That right, pal?" he addresses Arthur in a thick spacer's drawl.
Kyrize Thornwick flicks his ears back and frowns in concern, only to get sidetracked by Ravil's sudden change. Raising an eyebrow, he cranes his head forward in attempt to peer over the railing at the Aurin.
Wylion Glittergale waves a hand vaguely at Ravil. "Yeah, he's talented and all that. He was gonna help me bust out Adessa that one time," she hastily adds.
Arthur Kinlay nods. "Alright we start there then. Let's head out." He starts heading for the stairs and pauses, facing the gathered people. "Better. Now, just one detail, if we DO meet Darkspurs on the way, I'm not a Justice. In fact, noone here's ever had any dealings with Justices. Clear?"
Kyrize Thornwick sighs. "Thermock--Whitevale?"
Wylion Glittergale sets her jaw as she wanders to the stair. "Nearby," she clarifies as she slips around everyone.
Ravil Raindance: "Ya got that one right, buddy. Any dealin's /I/'ll ever have with Justices are gonna be conducted through th' business end of my blaster."
Ravil Raindance: winks, just to let Arthur know he's still in-character.
Cobble Jones: Aren't you a talented little thing!
Arthur Kinlay nods. "Let's meet there, Wyl can lead the way." He makes his way down, making a short detour by the kitchen to grab his fire extinguisher.
Kyrize Thornwick nods, though he's too worried for awe at the moment. Twisting around on his heel, he follows Wyl and Arthur.
Cobble Jones: You're a handy one, aren't you Arty? I only have a flamethrower, unfortunately.
Arthur Kinlay: Hah! Fightin' fire with fire is a fun concept.. 'Cept when it's actual fire.
== WHITEVALE, UNDISCLOSED LOCATION ==
Arthur Kinlay pulls out a scarf and wraps it over his face, masking his nose. "Whatever happened here, it sure went to shit."
Wylion Glittergale crunchesh er way across the snow, hoisting her own scarfmask. "...No kidding."
Corvic Mordacci's eyes search the surrounding area. He unclips his resonators and holds them tight, gloves creaking slightly as he squeezes. He hangs back near the back of the group.
Wylion Glittergale flutters her ears close to her skull, the nervous whine picking up. "Adessa?" she calls out testingly.
Arthur Kinlay scans the forest, or what's left of it anyway. "Alright folks, look for anything that might give us an idea of what the hell happened."
Cobble Jones , lacking a convenient scarf, brings her gloved hand to her mouth instead.
Kyrize Thornwick swivels his ears back against his helmet as he makes his way forward, nanites activating with a whirr. Creeping slowly along, he makes his way into the trees.
Corvic Mordacci: So. What do we already know?
Wylion Glittergale tugs the scarf down her neck. She purses her lips, letting her ears crane just high enough to listen. A sad, mournful bird whistle calls out.
[ROLL] Corvic Mordacci rolls 10 (1-20). Kyrize Thornwick rolls 49 (1-100). Arthur Kinlay rolls 9 (1-20). Cobble Jones rolls 15 (1-20). Kyrize Thornwick rolls 15 (1-20). Ravil Raindance rolls 3 (1-20)
== A keen nose will pick up the smell of gasoline on the trees. Someone tried to set the entire forest on fire, but it simply was too cold and the trees to wet to really be effective. ==
Wylion Glittergale looks up to Corvic, quickly tugging the scarf back over her mouth. She's not crying, you're crying. "Adessa went missing this morning. There was a bad raid...."
Corvic Mordacci: Raid? What kind of raid?
Ravil Raindance pulls his collar closer about his face. "Such a desolate stage that laid out us. 'Tis this bard's fervent hope that fickle fortune has not been so coldly cruel and miserly with her /clues/."
Wylion Glittergale: The Darkspur! They were... They were going to raid some competition for profit. Adessa went with and--
Wylion Glittergale motions uselessly in front of herself.
Cobble Jones sniffs the air, then covers her nose again. "Smells like a garage over here. Like gas, rather."
Wylion Glittergale: Hey, what's this?
== The Bunker is sealed tight, and the snow around it is melted. A cursory touch of the handle reveals it is strangely hot. Dozens of footprints lead off in a line to the forest. ==
Cabal Chernovya keeps herself hidden like hell when actual people happen upon-- whatever it is /she/ happened upon. Her shoulders twitch and she seriously resists the urge to start scratching at herself. Nanites are the worst.
Arthur Kinlay perks a brow. "Looks like a bunker entrance... This what they tried to raid?" He kneels before the entrence, touching the surface and frowning.
Wylion Glittergale nods solemnly. "There's gotta be... gotta be something."
Corvic Mordacci makes a low, synthetic thrum in his throat and decides to hold off on the questions for now. His eyes keep wandering up and around at the trees.
Ravil Raindance: "So it would seem. But methinks we shall not know for certain until we tear free the lid and let light reclaim whatever lurks inside."
Wylion Glittergale trundles off through the snow, her tail practically dragging. Every now and then she lets out another sad, trilling bird whistle.
Arthur Kinlay stands. "Yeah, I don'T have nearly enough ordinance to crack that thing." He glances at Cobbles. "You?"
Corvic Mordacci eyes the line of tracks leading off through the snow. He motions to it. "Follow the Footprints?"
Cobble Jones nods to Corvic as she swings her gun off her shoulder, "Mm, that was my thought.
Arthur Kinlay looks down at the footprints at the Mordesh's words. "They do lead away... might be whatever these guys wanted to raid actually came out and fought back."
== The slush of snow and dirt leave deep ruts in the drifts where dozens of foot prints tread. The paths diverge. One leads to the charred remains of a smoking field and the other to the frozen pond. Whatever was dragged out of the bunker was bleeding. Or at least several someones. ==
Cobble Jones follows the footprints!
[ROLL] Wylion Glittergale rolls 9 (1-20). Arthur Kinlay rolls 17 (1-20)
Corvic Mordacci lifts a resonator and makes a scan on the blood spots, attempting to determine the race/races of whoever had left it.
Kyrize Thornwick steps lightly along the trail, head swiveling towards the pond. Straightening up when Corvic passes he decides to follow the Mordesh.
Arthur Kinlay follows Wyl and Cobbles for a bit.. then stops and frowns, staring at the large tree.
== Corvic: The blood traces can be identified as a dozen independant signatures, maybe more. Mostly human, some lopp, and an aurin or two. ==
Arthur Kinlay clears his throat. Loudly.
Corvic Mordacci frowns and looks down at the results of his scan, but doesn't voice them yet.
Kyrize Thornwick swivels a twitching ear towards the field.
Ravil Raindance: "Would that we were left a lofty perch for you to scour. Surely even winter's veil could hide little and less from thy piercing stare, whitest Wylion."
Cabal Chernovya stares back at Arthur uselessly, fidgeting, until she makes a cheep of frustration. She straightens up while doing so, her hands held in front of her, shuffing off the nanite cloak like a dog getting rid of water. "In all /fairness/ I was hiding because it's a healthy thing to do. In a situation such as this."
Cabal Chernovya keeps her hands held up. NO WEAPONS. ALL IS SWEETNESS AND LIGHT.
Wylion Glittergale huffs quietly to herself, turning to look at Ravil. "Right...Thanks." She looks up to Cobble, pointing towards the smoke line straight ahead. "I think there's... what is that?"
Wylion Glittergale: YOU!
Cobble Jones hears a new voice! She pivots around and levels her gun at Cabal.
Cabal Chernovya looks over at Wylion. "What?"
Arthur Kinlay raises his brow, sceptical as always, but doesn't level his guns at her, so there's that. "And you ar-..." He stops and looks at Wyl. "You know her?"
Cabal Chernovya perks up immediately. "WE'RE FRIENDS," she says, far too loudly to be necessary.
Wylion Glittergale puffs up instantly, marching her way up to the mordesh. "YOU ARE NOT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Cabal Chernovya: Of course I am, sweetness, don't be silly. ... I'm hiding.
Wylion Glittergale is the angriest little bird. Her tail thrashes in the snow as she practically LEAPS at the mordesh. "WHERE'S ADESSA?"
Cobble Jones lower's her gun a fraction -- Wylion's got this.
Cabal Chernovya doesn't bother cringing, her hands still held in front of her as though that's going to do a single thing to stop Wylion if she becomes a projectile. "That's... what I feel is the question of the evening, seeing as you've drummed up a posse of people."
Kyrize Thornwick circles around and keeps watch while an ear remains turned towards Wylion's screeching. Lovely as it is.
Arthur Kinlay: What are you doing here?
Wylion Glittergale is worse than a projectile. She's the kudzu plant of Aurin and wastes no time grappling at Cabal and trying to scale her, feet digging into her stomach to rattle her by the collar.
Arthur Kinlay: Wyl!
Ravil Raindance: diplomatically attempts to defuse the situation by setting a hand on Wylion's shoulder. "'Twould be a shocking twist, this bard feels, were /Cabal/ in possession of the answers you seek!"
Cabal Chernovya keeps her eyes on Wylion, because her teeth are probably sharper than Arthur's. "I was trackIECHCHRHG--" She immediately starts shrieking and flailing, trying to dislodge the little aurin. "STOP--STOP--"
Corvic Mordacci: Wylion...it is strenuous to speak while shaken. Stop.
Wylion Glittergale SHAKEY-SHAKES, going incredibly red in the face. She stops, huffing. "Wait, what was that?" She keeps where she is, though.
Wylion Glittergale leeeeans forward to push her nose against Cabal's. "Tracking /what/."
== Distant voices can be heard. ==
Cabal Chernovya thumps her palms uselessly against Wylion, wheezing angrily and only toning down the really pathetic slapfight pats when Wylion lets off. She jerks back when she's the victim of Lady and the Tramp nose pecks. "Ehghrh-- tracking?"
Cabal Chernovya ends that on a winning smile full of sharp, sharp teeth.
Cobble Jones lowers her gun completely now, "Oh, THIS is Cabal! How nice. Don't shred her up too bad, Wylion dear."
Wylion Glittergale clearly this is not what she wants to hear. Her eyebrows flatline and a growl picks up in her voice. A tiny, rattly thing.
Cabal Chernovya puts both of her hands around Wylion's middle and attempts to brute-force dislodge her. "Yes, hello, Nonnie," she says deferentially. "I was tracking your much more charming and effortlessly winsome better half, Wylion, let -go-."
Wylion Glittergale lets go reluctantly, acting much like a rag doll now that someone is man handling her. "Did you see her? What do you mean /tracking/?"
Corvic Mordacci's head turns toward the sound of new voices and he squeezes the handles on his resonators. "There are more people approaching."
Ravil Raindance assists Cabal, /gently/ endeavouring to peel the aurin free. "Thy victim's words would be better heard were she /not/ so relentlessly shaken and stirred."
Kyrize Thornwick backs up towards Corvic and turns his head to the side to look over at the Mordesh with Wylion, ears flicking back uncomfortably. "They are being too loud in a dangerous area."
Cabal Chernovya keeps Wylion held aloft like she's the new queen in the circle of life. "I had nanites placed on her person that were temporarily deactivated," she says like that isn't alarming in the slightest, clamming up when it's suggested more people are heading over. "Can this wait for later?"
Arthur Kinlay looks at Corvic. "Wha-.." He frowns again, peering northward. "Great... You guys knock it down a notch... and get out of sight."
Cobble Jones: Yes, shoosh, all of you, unless you all want to be good luck stew.
Cabal Chernovya splays all of her fingers, dropping Wylion like so much refuse. "You don't have to tell me twice," she mutters, her body starting to flicker as her nanites begin to activate.
Corvic Mordacci follows Arthur's lead and cozies up closer to the tree.
Arthur Kinlay lowers his voice. "Kyrize, think you can take a look at who's comming?"
Ravil Raindance nimbly darts into the nearest form of cover - which just so happens to be the interposing bulk of a suddenly very popular tree. He cranes his neck around the corner, attempting to get a better peek at the approaching party.
Kyrize Thornwick shuffles on past the group to follow Arthur's suggestion.
The voices in the distance begin to come closer, in just enough range that it can be said that there are at the very least two of them. They seem to be staying as quiet as they can be, which is to say not very quiet at all. They are most definitely coming from the field.
Wylion Glittergale thumps onto her feet, quickly to regain her balance. She snaps around on her heels, looking particularly like an angry puffball of feathers and white fur. She doesn't even bother to hide. She is wearing the Darkspur suit, after all.
Cobble Jones sidles up next to the tree but, given her size, is still plainly visible to anyone with working eyes.
Corvic Mordacci presses up against the bark, making use of the little hollow that the tree provides.
[ROLL - PERCEPTION]Kyrize Thornwick rolls 16 (1-20)
== Kyrize can see three figures in the distance. One of them is very, very tall. The figures are wearing Darkspur coats. As Kyrize scoots further, the voices become a little clearer. ==
Wylion Glittergale hisses at Kyrize in a whisper. "What is it?"
Kyrize Thornwick swivels his ears forward when he sees the figures and shakes his head at Wylion question. "Three beings, one tall," he whispers back before scooting further ahead.
Wylion Glittergale follows after Kyrize, marching and slackening her posture into something more comfortable. She rests her palms on the holsters of her gun and calls out. "I know you're out there!"
Ravil Raindance casually saunters out from cover, stepping around the tree as if interrupted mid-search. He, too, follows after Wylion.
== The voices stop almost immediately. ==
Cabal Chernovya takes this opportunity to slink behind the rest of the party, now that the white whirlwind isn't on her case.
Arthur Kinlay covers his face with his hand. Wyl! GDI!
Cobble Jones reaches out a hand to get Wylion to wait, but she's already gone.
"... Who's out there?" calls an authoritative, deep voice from the field.
Corvic Mordacci waits, and watches, still getting very personal with the tree.
Kyrize Thornwick flattens his ears.
Wylion Glittergale totally has this. "Who the HELL do you think is out here?" She growls, "You got FIVE SECONDS before I call Boss Hog on your ass and you see what your own ass tastes like!"
Cabal Chernovya listens merrily to the screaming. "She's the very picture of subtle," she tells Arthur in an undertone.
Arthur Kinlay mutters in his hand. "The worst thief."
Ravil Raindance: leans in to Wylion. "You know these guys?" he whispers, though he drops in-character, "Or are we bluffin' our way through this'n?"
Cobble Jones mutters under her breath, "I don't know, I think she's very convincing."
Wylion Glittergale shrugs up a shoulder at Ravil, muttering, "No idea. But if they're anything to do with the Cartel, they'll smarten up."
The voices take on a more hushed, frantic tone. Finally, a dark Krogg comes into view. He stares up at Wylion. "Listen, we've got a right t'be here, same as you." the deep voice calls.
Arthur Kinlay: Oh she is, here's hoping they'are' Darkspur.
Cabal Chernovya raises her voice slightly, "Of course you think she's convincing, you're the kindest person here, Cobble. She's going to get sniped."
Arthur Kinlay drops his hand, brow rising. "Maybe not... Kroggs generally mean Darkspur."
Wylion Glittergale squints at the Krogg. A flicker of recognition passes by her face. "You think so? I don't recall ANYONE sending you guys out here! Who-- Who the hell is that back there?"
Kyrize Thornwick crouches low to the snow while staring at the Krogg.
Wylion Glittergale points vaguely behind him towards the two other figures. "The HELL did you guys do? Shit's on fire, shipments lost! You guys fucked up /royally/."
Another voice pipes up. This one is deeper and is -actually coming from the Krogg-. "We ent SENT here!" he says, his words spaced out a little more than average. "We-"
Corvic Mordacci waits and listens. His job usually comes -after- shit hits the fan.
"Fuckin' stars, Brute," snarls the first voice. A semi-balding human steps out from behind the Krogg, smacking him hard in the side. "What the fuck did I tell you? Let me talk. Let me fuckin' talk, why is that so hard for you to figure out."
Cobble Jones raises her gun, quietly. Hopefully the others don't look through the dark to see the giant stone woman leaning on the tree.
A pair of blue ears appear on the other side of the Krogg, who looks down at the human like a kicked puppy. "Boss, I ent sayin' anything. Nothin' -bad-."
The human cups his hands over his mouth and calls to Wylion. "Don't know who y'are, but get your ass over here."
Cabal Chernovya: Seems legit.
Cabal Chernovya says that as flatly as she can, itching her fingers along her forearms.
Wylion Glittergale bristles up next to Ravil, one hand darting out to SQUEEZE the bejeesus out of his arm. There's only one team like that. "YOU WANNA GO, MAN? I GOT EIGHT SLUGS AND A LOTTA SMOKE UP MY ASS OVER THIS DEBACLE!" She side-whispers on. "That's them. That's Adessa's co-workers."
"And I have NO FUCKS TO GIVE, LADY."
Wylion Glittergale: OH, IT IS ON.
A third voice joins the conversation. It's got an ekose accent. "Carlos. Seriously?"
Corvic Mordacci glances down at Arthur. He mutters quietly, through tight, sharp teeth. "Did you send them into this situation specifically, Kinlay?"
Arthur Kinlay's eyes widen at the mention of Brute's name. He walks out of cover, guns in hands but pointed down. "Brutus? The Jabbits?" He says as he approaches Wylion and Ravil.
Ravil Raindance daintily peels off one of his gloves and starts nonchalantly clipping his nails with an espernetic bowie knife. He offers the trio a cursory glance of unconcerned contempt. "Know what /I/ think?" he suggests calmly, radiating cold menace.
"Ah," the human - apparently Carlos - says, leaning back on his heels and putting his hands on his hips. "I see our reputation preceeds us. Who's askin'?"
Corvic Mordacci grits his teeth as Arthur moves away and fiddles with the settings on his resonators instead, back pressed up against the bark.
Kyrize Thornwick keeps his ears flat and tail low to the ground while considering the nearby cover of the trees.
Corvic Mordacci mutters. "I have no idea at this point. I believe it is still beneficial to conceal or numbers."
The ekose steps out from behind the Krogg, both hands on a datachron. She doesn't seem to be paying any attention. "I'm, uh. Pretty sure we en't got time fer this, ey? En't we got somethin' we should be LOOKIN. FER?" She nudges Carlos. Hard.
Wylion Glittergale huffs and puffs and does a lot of posturing. It deflates slightly when Arthur stands up to the bat. "You guys haven't seen Adessa, have you?"
The Krogg speaks up finally. "Y'all know Lil' Momma?" he calls.
Wylion Glittergale: Of course we know Lil' Momma! I'm HER Momma!
Wylion Glittergale stuffs her hands into her pockets, head bobbing back to the other. "We got a whole crew out here. Boss Hog hired 'em on to clear up this fucking mess."
Corvic Mordacci lifts an eeybrow in the direction of Cabal's voice. "That is an inevitability I am not impatient to reach."
Ravil Raindance: "What we /know/, pal, is that there's been a serious, Grade-A fuck-up here. And while /you/ might not have any fucks to give, believe me when I say boys and girls, Boss Hog's got /plenty/ ta spare."
Ravil Raindance: "So, how 'bout y'all stop yammerin' and start 'splaining, eh?"
Cabal Chernovya hooks the toe of her boot around her opposite ankle, having as much of a whine to her voice as she can without raising it to a logical speaking level. "It's an inevitability, isn't it, with them being very-- brute-force. About things." She pauses, "They tried to get me blown up once."
Cabal Chernovya: This is payback.
Corvic Mordacci blinks, and strains his ears to over hear the distant conversation. He's still muttering in a quiet thrum "Intentionally?"
Wylion Glittergale hisses in the back of her throat. She holds up her hand. "Have you seen Sloppy Jaloppy's crew or NOT? I ain't dancing around these words. /YOU GUYS/ were missing today and that colors me suspicious."
The three move foward towards the group. The ekose woman pockets her datachron with a disgruntled sigh. "Look," she says. "We have nothin' t'do with this fiasco. We're lookin' for our greenhorn, ey? We're tryin' t'figure out what kinda bounty these guys was takin'."
Arthur Kinlay sneers a bit. "Yeah, we know her. Known her longer than you have, actually. An' seein' how she keeps sayin' you folks are just about the sweetest things since sugar, I'm hoping you'll be helpful right now."
Cabal Chernovya shrugs her shoulders, despite being invisible. "I mean, probably," she says, because saying 'no' makes /her/ look like the bad guy.
"We was just lookin' fer Lil'Momma," Brutus says mournfully. "But all we found is all this ash and piles over here."
Wylion Glittergale: Ash?
Arthur Kinlay mutters under his breath. "When's the last time you seen her?"
Wylion Glittergale deruffles almost instantly. She turns around, waving her hands at the group. "Come on out! It's safe. Probably."
Corvic Mordacci just makes a noncommital hum and a little shake of his head. He cranes his head to listen. It sounds like a story but now is not the time to ask.
"Yesterday." Carlos grumbles. He pats his hands together and something black flutters off of his gloves. Dust?
Cabal Chernovya sighs melodramatically and shivers out of the nanite cloak, "Finally."
"So who are YOU people?"
Wylion Glittergale: I'm Wylion. Wylion Treepollen. You might have /heard/ of me.
Cabal Chernovya itches at her sleeves while strolling over, fingers twitching. She stops up behind Arthur.
Cobble Jones comes out of the shadows, gun held at the ready but not pointed at anyone.
Corvic Mordacci steps out from the tree. At least they have the advantage of numbers. He stays in the back.
Arthur Kinlay holsters his guns. "We're people trying to find what happened to Adessa."
Kyrize Thornwick flattens an ear at the word 'probably' and scoots back towards the group. His nanites power down with another soft whirr and he appears!
Ravil Raindance: "/We're/ the guys who happen ta be askin' the questions. But as yer askin' so nicely... Name's Aster. Aster Nightbloom. I'm one of Boss Hog's, shall we say, /specials/. You /won't/ have heard of me."
Wylion Glittergale: AND what the hell happened to Sloppy Jaloppy. He's gone off the damn deep end this time.
"Aww, Miz Treepollen, we don't know anything." Brutus says, putting his hand on his meaty, nearly invisible Guy-Fieri-esque neck. "We couldn' get in the downstairs."
The ekose jabs a thumb back towards the way they came. "We did find. Uh. A whole lotta fucked up, if you're asking me."
Ravil Raindance: "Start from the beginnin'. Every little detail that pops up. I'm, if you'll excuse the shitty pun, all ears."
Wylion Glittergale: Heh...That was actually clever.
Cabal Chernovya sidles behind Nonnie and her very large gun, resting her hands on her hips.
Ravil Raindance cocks his head attentively to one side as he returns to oh-so-casually filing his nails with a conjured knife.
Wylion Glittergale shakes her head, regaining her composure. She turns around. We're still on the hunt. Check that field and hurry it up! You, Sparky--' She points at Cabal. "--Check out that door."
Cabal Chernovya: What? Why?
Carlos straightens up a little at Ravil's imposing voice. "Look. We told her not to go out with Sloppy, arright? She kept talkin' about all kindsa money from the bounty he was lookin' to grab. We've found nothin' but bodies so far."
Wylion Glittergale: 'Cause you got cables coming out of your head! What do you THINK?
Cabal Chernovya: ... First of all.
Wylion Glittergale: THEY'RE CABLES, GET HUSTLIN'!
Cobble Jones: She does have a point.
Cabal Chernovya holds up her index finger. "That's judging a book by its cover, and SECOND OF ALL, I expect payment forthwith."
Ravil Raindance: "An' just what bounty was Sloppy lookin' to nab, huh?"
The ekose raises her eyebrows at Wylion.
Cabal Chernovya pivots and stomps off into the treeline like she's being inconvenienced.
Wylion Glittergale: I expect you to bite my ass. You'll get paid AFTER.
"Fuck if I know, but it doesn't look good."
Cobble Jones follows along after Cabal, because someone should.
"We found some shackles," Brutus says helpfully, pointing back towards the field. "Lotta shackles. Lotta burn marks, lotta piles."
Cobble Jones: Why -do- you have cables on your head?
Corvic Mordacci: Piles of remains?
Cabal Chernovya sighs and stares down at the door, her only friend in this frigid, unforgiving wasteland full of bitchy aurin. "This is like asking a maestro to conduct a children's choir," she tells Cobble.
Arthur Kinlay rubs his face wit hhis hand, muttering something about Adessa and quick cash schemes.
Wylion Glittergale directs her attention to Corvic and Kyrize. She sets her hands on her hip a la wonder woman and points to the pond bed. "You heard the idiot! Check it out!"
Cabal Chernovya: And it's for on-the-fly data transfer, dear, don't be silly.
The ekose nods at Corvic. "-I- think so."
Arthur Kinlay: Darkspur bodies? Or others?
Ravil Raindance: "Guess no-one ever told Sloppy that the bigger the payout, the bigger the bodycount, huh?"
Cobble Jones: Really? Right into your head? Goodness.
Corvic Mordacci blinks at Wylion. After a moment he plods through the snow toward the field without argument.
Kyrize Thornwick flattens his ears at the RUDENESS, but welcoming the break he turns stiffly on his heel and marches off behind Corvic.
Cobble Jones scans the forest while Cabal does her computer thing.
"It's startin' to look like they all got massacred, or there were a hell of a lot more of 'em than we thought." Carlos says.
Cabal Chernovya rubs her hands togetrher and thumps her seat down on the top of the bunker door, appraising the screen. "Well, to a servo jack in my skull," she corrects, "but, you know, yes."
Brutus elbows Carlos. "Yeah, boss, but the SHACKLES."
Arthur Kinlay furrows his brow. "Show me those bodies, and shackles."
Carlos doesn't even beckon, he just turns and walks back towards the field. Brutus follows behind him, and the ekose follows up.
Corvic Mordacci treads steadily through the snow into the field, not shying away from the first of the 'piles he comes upon.' He kneels to inspect it more closely.
Wylion Glittergale: I'm gonna go make sure Wires McShitface isn't fucking up. You guys have fun.
Cabal Chernovya fishes around in her jacket's many pocketses, removing a spool of wire, some pliers. She pulls her datachron from her hip and sets it next to her while she starts muttering to herself in Mordescu as she presses her fingers to the sides of the bunker door.
== The field is in shambles. The snow has been burned away entirely, other than some very suspicious looking piles stacked up very high. One of them has been dug out, and there's a whole lot of ash underneath. The trees are still smouldering. ==
Cabal Chernovya: starts unrolling the wire from the spool, judging the length. She unwinds it a couple more times before snipping through it -- with her teeth, which is horrible. "I wasn't a part of whatever happened here," she's careful to clarify.
Corvic Mordacci does a scan with his resonators, seeing if they will pick up any bio-sigs from the ashes.
Arthur Kinlay: Bloody hell... someone was thorough.
== There are obvious char marks from a seemingly large cargo ship that must have taken off from here. There is a ventilation shaft POURING smoke from behind the pond. ==
Ravil Raindance nudges the Mordesh with an elbow. "This ash mean anythin' to you?"
Wylion Glittergale drops the act as soon as she knows she's safe. She titters around the bunker, testing the puddles around the door. "Sorry...Sorry. I gotta keep up the act around the Darkspur or I'm dead meat."
== Corvic's scan is going to pick up a number of different DNA signatures. A number probably in the double digits. ==
Corvic Mordacci: One moment *waits for his scan to finish*
Cabal Chernovya strips the wire with her fingers. She places her right hand against the side of the dimmed bunker screen, walking her index and middle finger until she finds the port she'd felt earlier. "It's fine, cherub, I'm glad you didn't get gutted." The grin she flashes Wylion is, for once, not entirely offputting.
Brutus walks over to the pile of ashes and starts digging around in it. The ashes - and some clothing scraps, and pieces of metal - fall onto the ground, and he turns around, holding a pair of shackles. "See."
Cabal Chernovya: This is a newer bunker, it'll be a bitch to break into, but it's doable.
[ROLL - TECH]Cabal Chernovya rolls 14 (1-20)
Arthur Kinlay walks up to Brutus and holds out his hand for the shackle.
Corvic Mordacci: These ashes contain numerous distinct DNA signiatures. As did the blood leading from the bunker. We are likely looking at a very high number of victims
Brutus drops it into Arthur's hand.
Arthur Kinlay inspects the shackle, looking for any sort of marking.
"Slave trade, probably," the ekose speaks up from behind Arthur.
== The shackles have no markings. ==
Kyrize Thornwick claps a hand against his chest, ears and tail falling at the news. His tail frizzes up and starts twitching, and he quickly flicks a button on the side of his helmet to mute himself.
Wylion Glittergale peels one of her gloves off, looking to Cabal. "So you said you had nanites on her? Does it...Does it say where she is?" She asks hopelessly.
Corvic Mordacci speaks quiet and soft in response to the Ekose. "That would be my assumption as well."
Cobble Jones: Why did you have nanites on little Dessie, by the by?
Cabal Chernovya stuffs the other end of the wire in her mouth for a lack of having unlimited hands, running her fingers through her dreads. They stop on one in specific, and after she judges the port end of it, she simply pops the dread off the headdress like a wriggling eel. "Yesh," she says through a mouthful of wire, "When they're back up from whatever's deactivated them."
Cabal Chernovya: Oh, because I was hunting her down, Nonnie.
Arthur Kinlay grits his theeth, tossing the shackle to the ground. "I'd expect that from Osun... but not here. Fuckin' hell."
Ravil Raindance is very glad that his shades mask his eyes - as it stands, he manages to downplay his alarm into a disdainful sniff of disgust. "Whole lotta prisoners, looks like. An' they wanted them disposed of inna hurry. What're we lookin' at here? ICI black op cells? Marauder slavers?"
Cabal Chernovya says that like it's obvious.
Cobble Jones turns around, slowly.
Cobble Jones: ...Why?
Cabal Chernovya spits out the wire and goes to work feeding the snipped end of it into the dread. "Because I was going to pull a /prank/ on her, don't sound like I'm a murderer. Gracious."
Arthur Kinlay: If this was a slaver hideout then... *He grimaces* You'Re probably looking at their 'cargo'.
Wylion Glittergale: It sounds /kinda/ murdery-y.
"Could be any of em, I 'magine." Carlos says dryly. "If we could just get in the damn bunker, we might be able to find somethin' a little more worthwhile."
Corvic Mordacci: The cartel is known for slave trafficking. Why wouldn't you expect it?
Cabal Chernovya: I'm happily harmless to those who don't deserve my hatred.
Wylion Glittergale pauses. "Do we fall into that category?"
"Even Lou Ann can't get into it," Brutus says sadly, pointing to the Ekose. She pops a gum bubble.
Cabal Chernovya perks up, done with the sloppiest jury-rigging of wire-dashery possible on the field. One end of the dread clicks into the 'chron, the other into the side of the bunker's dead screen. "For the moment, though I hardly know you. You fall on the friendlier side of the coin." She taps the screen of her 'chron twice to activate it.
Wylion Glittergale: That's fair. I...hmm.
Arthur Kinlay shrugs. "What can I say, I'm a hopeless optimist." He really isn't.
Carlos gives each of them the once over. "Which group did'ya say youse was part of, agin?"
Arthur Kinlay looks back at Corvic. "The scan give anything useful?"
Wylion Glittergale draws her bit of scarf around her mouth, sniffling into it. It's cold, okay? "Thanks."
Cabal Chernovya: I didn't plan anything beyond finding where she lived and spooking her. When my nanites disappeared off radar entirely, my interest was piqued.
Wylion Glittergale: Do you... What do you think happened to them? Is it supposed to do that?
Corvic Mordacci clips on a resonator to reach into his pocket. He pulls out a small, softball sized scanbot and thumbs a button on the side. It hovers into the air and bleeps.
Cobble Jones: While it is useful to us for the moment, you really need to get a new hobby, Cabal dear.
Cabal Chernovya flicks her free hand at Wylion like she's shooing the very idea of thanks away. It's implied merely by being in her presence, obviously. "Now let's see if I can figure out why we're locked out. Nn, I think the nanites probably experienced an elecromagnetic pulse or something. They'll come back online eventually."
Cabal Chernovya: Always do.
Corvic Mordacci: The signiatures consist of DNA from various races.
Arthur Kinlay turns his gaze to Carlos. "None. We came for Adessa, not the Cartel. Well... 'cept shorty behind me I guess."
Ravil Raindance: "Me? I'm one-a Boss Hog's specials. I help... Nudge things along, y'might say. Don't worry 'bout these schmucks - they're workin' on my dime."
Corvic Mordacci commands his scanbot. "Scanbot, collect and catalogue all DNA signiatures within the area."
[ROLL - TECH] Corvic Mordacci rolls 10 (1-20).
== No Adessa here. The scanner might pick up that they were unhealthy, these ash piles. probably gonna die anyway.==
Wylion Glittergale hunkers down onto her heels, burying her nose into her leather bound knees. She rocks nervously from side to side, ocassionally lifting and folding her ears tight. There in the snow, she begins to shake.
Cabal Chernovya turns to wink at Nonne for just a moment. "I'll pick up something more mundane when I'm well past old age, alright?" Her 'chron beeps and twitters away, working on whatever program Cabal's activated. Looks like it's going through a bunch of security codes and trying them at random.
Ravil Raindance gestures to his compatriots with a sort of aloof shrugging motion as he speaks.
Carlos seems to easily accept Ravil's words. He just grunts and moves over to the scorch marks. "Somethin' took off from here, that's for sure. They musta made a quick getaway."
Corvic Mordacci's scanbot humms and floats around, projecting its scanner over the piles of ashes. Meanwhile, Corvic scrolls through data on a little projected screen from his resonator. "Scanbot. Cross-reference the bio-sig data with Patient 7045. Search for a match."
Arthur Kinlay looks over to where Carlos motions. "Right, and they burnt the rest of their 'cargo', what they couldn't bring with 'em."
Cabal Chernovya's datachron chimes around the same time that the bunker's digital screen flickers to life.
"Something huge," Lou Ann says through her bubblegum. "Could be they took somma their cargo with them, ey?"
Kyrize Thornwick swivels an ear towards Ravil though his face remains tilted towards the pile. The sad, sad pile that makes his ears wilt and frizzed up tail twitch in rising anxiety.
Cobble Jones takes a knee next to Wylion and pats her on the back.
Carlos nods grimly at Arthur.
Wylion Glittergale buries her eyes into her knees, her breath shortening with each poorly hidden cry. She pulls herself back onto her feet when the PING is heard and she lifts her head. "Is it open?"
Cabal Chernovya hrms to herself, leaning over to peer at the screen. "Yyyyyes," she decides. "If there are boobytraps beyond the blast door, I've no idea. But this part's open." She thumps her foot against the door a couple times, CLANG CLANG, pushing away and sliding off into the snow with a little oof.
Arthur Kinlay rubs his forehead, cursing under his breath. "Well... other than whatever result the doc's scans will give, doubt we'll learn more from this bunch. Let's go check on the others, see if they got lucky with the bunker."
== Clanging noises are heard from the general direction of the bunker. ==
Arthur Kinlay: ...sounds like they might be.
Corvic Mordacci's scanbot finishes its search and makes a series of bleepings. Corvic looks over at it. "Match not found. Adessa is not here."
Brutus practically has to kneel down, but he manages to pat Kyrize on the shoulder sympathetically. A little too hard, perhaps, but he's trying.
Wylion Glittergale wipes at the corner of her red-rimmed eyes quickly, snuffling back a line of snot. She nods with solidarity as she tightens the scarf on.
Arthur Kinlay nods at Corvic's words, sighing in relief.
Cabal Chernovya pushes herself to her feet and brushes the snow off her coat-tails.
Wylion Glittergale: Good. Let's get it open.
Ravil Raindance: "Let's mosey on over an'see what Ms Treepollen picked up."
The Jabbits follow the rest of the group.
Arthur Kinlay: Anything?
Cabal Chernovya: Brute-force attitude before beauty, Wylion.
Cabal Chernovya flicks her fingers at the bunker. Go on, Platinum.
Wylion Glittergale clambers up onto the bunker d oor and grabs hold of the wheel. She strains against it, slowly letting it squeak open.
Corvic Mordacci lingers at the pile for a moment, then trails after the rest of the group. He would sift through the data later, catalogue, and list it. It is probably the closest thing to identification these poor souls will ever get.
[ROLL - PERCEPTION]Arthur Kinlay rolls 18 (1-20). Cabal Chernovya rolls 13 (1-20). Cobble Jones rolls 11 (1-20). Kyrize Thornwick rolls 8 (1-20). Corvic Mordacci rolls 11 (1-20). Wylion Glittergale rolls 16 (1-20). Ravil Raindance rolls 20 (1-20)
==A plume of smoke RISES from the cracks around the door, a blast of heat following hot in its wake. Something is still burning down here, consuming what little oxygen remains. They will have to work fast in order to avoid smoke suffocation...or get very inventive.==
There's a collection of rocks nearby. There's something red poking out from the bottom side. Paint? Blood? Cabal's nanites suddenly kick back to life. Adessa's signature has been found. ==
Cabal Chernovya lifts her hand and covers her nose with her wrist. "Ech. You have fun with that."
Arthur Kinlay winces at the blast of heat. "Shit, they burned that too... Here, Wyl, take this." He picks up the fire extinguisher from his back and tosses it over to her, aiming for the snow beside her.
Cabal Chernovya freezes up, her shoulders hunkering up like she's a stretched-out vulture of some kind. "Mmn?" she says, looking around.
Wylion Glittergale straightens up, flapping a hand over her face as she's hit with a blast of smoke. She hacks up a loud cough, stumbling and aiming for the extenguisher.
"Well. So much fer living people." Lou Ann says sarcastically.
Arthur Kinlay's eyes catches something odd nearby. He makes his way toward a rock formation, kneeling before it.
Ravil Raindance coughs and splutters, fanning the smoke from his face. "Kinda hard to see down there. Rocks. An'... Paint? Blood?"
Wylion Glittergale: Don't...Don't say that.
== The paint is on the bottom ==
Lou Ann just turns her half lidded eyes down at Wylion and says nothing.
Cabal Chernovya lifts her datachron and taps an app on the screen, scrolling down on a very... very long list of coordinates.
Ravil Raindance: "Yo, Doc."
Arthur Kinlay starts digging through the rocks to find out what the red thing is.
Cabal Chernovya goes 'Mmmmn,' again, louder this time as her eyebrows pop up. "So, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news."
Carlos follows in Arthur's shadow.
Wylion Glittergale stares at Cabal. "What."
Ravil Raindance: "Reckon this is a job for the scanbot, wouldn't you say?"
Ravil Raindance points down the blisteringly hot entrance hatch
Cabal Chernovya points at the mouth of hell itself. "Nanites," she says, by way of explanation.
Kyrize Thornwick flattens his ears immediately upon realization and takes a step back from the bunker, tail poofed up and lashing.
== The underside of the rock is painted with a large red star. ==
Wylion Glittergale's tail flaps once against the snow. She goes very still.
Brutus seems to be hovering around by Kyrize and Ravil.
Corvic Mordacci nods and instructs his scanbot to float down ahead. "Take temperature and atmospheric data. Analyze for survivability."
==The Scanbot would reveal the temperatures are blistering. Survivability is minimal.==
Corvic Mordacci's scanbot obeys, floating ahead down into the bunker entrance.
Arthur Kinlay frowns at the symbol. "Well that's something..." He looks over his shoulder. Noticing Carlos, he stands and shows him the red star. "This ring any bells?"
Corvic Mordacci hums and looks at the readouts as the transfer to his personal interface. "Survivability is minimal."
Carlos seems much more interested in the bunker, but he tears his eyes away and raises his eyebrows at the rock. "... Fuck me. That's the Redstar Cartel, brother."
Wylion Glittergale's heckles rise along the back of her tail. She tightens the scarf tighter and, without another word, leaps down the tunnel.
Cabal Chernovya whistles, matching Wylion's descent. "There she goes."
Ravil Raindance grimaces, leaping down after her.
Kyrize Thornwick would gasp in surprise but he's currently muted! He dives after the other two Aurin, cuz Aurin party.
Arthur Kinlay grumbles. "Well it's better than nothing."
Corvic Mordacci had said that just as Wylion jumped. "WYLION!"
Brutus makes a sad sighing noise, and jumps in after the aurin. LOOK OUT BELOW.
Wylion Glittergale growls under her breath, her eyes already watering fully. She takes hold of the console, jamming buttons madly. "Adessa...."
Cobble Jones jumps in after the aurin, too. Nonnie's gotta take care of her fluffs.
Cabal Chernovya stares at everyone willingly traipsing into the underworld. "You're joking. You're joking, right?"
Cobble Jones lands with a loud CLANG.
Arthur Kinlay raises a brow at Carlos. "Never heard of 'em. Slavers then?"
Arthur Kinlay: Competition of yours?
Carlos nods. "Yeah. I mean, there's stories but no one really has a lot of information on 'em. Bad bunch, from what I've heard."
Corvic Mordacci yells, honest to goodness shouts down the tunnel" I SAID: SURVIVABILITY IS MINIMAL!" he growls, brearing his teeth. "Pestilence and Plague!"
Arthur Kinlay: Oh, good. "There's stories", nice way of saying they're sick shits.
"Stars, man, they're slavers. Of course they're fuckin' sick." Carlos narrows his eyes over at the rock. "We need to fuckin' find Lil' Momma."
Lou Ann walks straight past the Mordesh. She bumps shoulders with Cabal and raises a scarf to her face before following suit with the others.
Cabal Chernovya doesn't look like she wants to get anywhere closer to the bunker than she is. "My job was getting them in there," she blurts at Lou Ann's rapidly retreating person.
Corvic Mordacci continues to snarl as he digs in his pockets. He has them here somewhere. Fiinally he produces it: a disposable mask, like one you would use to proetct from flu. It's by no means a smoke mask but it might help.
Arthur Kinlay shives the rock into his coat. "Alright let's help 'em down there. See what's left. And yes, we will find her... AND the fucks who've taken her." He thightens the scarf around his face and climps down the hatch.
Carlos scowls at the mordesh. "You assholes coming or what?"
Corvic Mordacci snaps on his mask. It's a super stylish combination with his knitted hat. He throws a glance at Cabal then goes in after the others.
Cabal Chernovya throws her hands up. WHY IS EVERYONE GOING INTO THE RAGING INFERNO.
Cabal Chernovya mutters something very rude about everyone's mothers in Mordescu, zipping up the popped collar of her jacket and following the rest of the jackasses into the barbecue power hour.
Carlos jumps down last, grumbling about how he en't paid enough for this bullshit.
== WHITEVALE - THE BUNKER ==
Ravil Raindance eases himself down into the blisteringly hot environment, beads of sweat drenching his brow. But before he goes any deeper, he takes a deep steadying breath and manifests a bubble around himself, trapping oxygen around himself. Thusly equipped - however poorly - he continues his descent.
Wylion Glittergale takes hold of the lever, her palm peeling aroudn the rubbery edge. She slams it downward. The gateway doesn't respond immediately. A loud FWOOF follows as the airlock releases, and it slowly creaks open. The party is immediately hit with another wave of heat, smoldering ash powdering.
Ravil Raindance: "Stick close an' try not to breathe. An' those of you with big lungs - that's you Brutus - get the hell back up topside, capische?"
Brutus just blinks slowly down at Ravil.
Kyrize Thornwick reels backwards when the Darkspur crew lands, ears pinning and tail poofed up like a bottlebrush. He curls his claws inward and digs them into his palms, hands trembling as he watches Wylion work. Staggering back at the heat, he lowers his chin and moves forward.
Wylion Glittergale utterly ignores everyone and everyone. She seems to be operating on auto-pilot. She stalks ahead, nearly blind, whistling that shrill bird call.
Lou Ann smacks Brutus on the arm. "You HEARD 'im, Brute. Git back up and play lookout, ey?"
Ravil Raindance can't do much except press on. The bubble is taking /exhaustive/ amounts of concentration to maintain.
Brutus nods, seemingly miserable at having to be left out of the horrible, horrible fun.
==The door at the end of the hallway is completely blocked up by crates, cages, boxes, and containers filled with volatile gasoline. It’d take hours to sort through it. They’ll have to find another way.==
Wylion Glittergale raises her voice. "ADESSA! Can you hear me?!"
== No response ==
Cabal Chernovya hisses angrily about smoke inhalation, shoving her visor down over her eyes to avoid the needling, prickling feeling of the heat. She keeps one of her palms shoved up against where her mouth and nose are behind her collar.
Corvic Mordacci: We must move quickly. *yes thank you Corvic, helpful*
Wylion Glittergale's ears wilt a fraction, a violent spasm contracting he chest in a coughing fit.
[ROLL - PERCEPTION]Corvic Mordacci rolls 13 (1-20). Cabal Chernovya rolls 17 (1-20). Arthur Kinlay rolls 14 (1-20). Cobble Jones rolls 17 (1-20). Ravil Raindance rolls 17 (1-20). Kyrize Thornwick rolls 17 (1-20)
Arthur Kinlay keeps a hand over his mouth and nose despite the scarf. "...doubt she's here anymore.. but we might find a clue as to where they've taken her."
==A draft of cold air wafts down on them from above. A broken ventilation shaft looms above them.==
Wylion Glittergale: SHE HAS TO BE!
Cabal Chernovya's voice is a muffled rasp, "DON'T YELL. AIR IMPORTANT."
Wylion Glittergale reels on Arthur, her ears fluffing ten times their natural size. "She HAS TO BE!"
Lou Ann rolls her eyes.
Cobble Jones's headvines sway in the light breeze. She looks up to the vent looming on the wall.
Corvic Mordacci: We have fifteen minutes, maximum, before ascetic, astringent asphyxiation.
Ravil Raindance coughs. The bubble wavers for a moment, but the transcluent blue haze remains intact and solid. "Then let's getta move on." the aurin growls, both from effort of projection and to stay in-character.
Arthur Kinlay ignores Wyl's outburst for now, peering up at the ventilation shaft. "...Cobbles, think you can help me up there?"
Kyrize Thornwick tilts his head back to look over at Arthur, and then up towards the shaft.
Wylion Glittergale follows Cobble and Arthur's look. The mad hair raises again and she takes off, leaping on the box and scurrying near vertically up, using the bolts in the metal frame as hand holds.
Cobble Jones nods at Arthur wordlessly. Gotta save that oxygen. The pushes boxes aside to stand under the vent and help people up.
Cabal Chernovya hup-hups up and scrambles like a panicking animal up and into the vent.
Corvic Mordacci definitely needs Cobble's help, but he makes it.
Kyrize Thornwick follows everybody else, using Cobble as a nice tree to climb.
Cobble Jones didn't think this through. She can't hop up on her own.
== WHITEVALE - THE VENTILATION SHAFT ==
== The smoke is oddly thinner here, thankfully. The fire must be in another part of the hideaway. ==
Arthur Kinlay: ..careful in here.
Cabal Chernovya hovers near the entrance like a proper coward. Waiting for Nonnie. Yes. Of course. ".. This is going to break someone's arm." Cabal Chernovya: kneels down and offers Cobble her hand.
Corvic Mordacci pauses halfway down the corridor then comes back.
Cobble Jones takes her hand, but be warned that she is Very Heavy.
Kyrize Thornwick tenses up all over again when he's in the tiny shaft, tail twitching away. His ears flatten as he wobbles to the side, but he follows along.
Corvic Mordacci steps up to help Cabal. Heactually lays down on his belly to reach arms down. Harder to get pulled off this way.
Cabal Chernovya attempts to pull and just sort of. Scoots backwards inch by inch. "THANK you," she tells Corvic through gritted teeth while she levers backward. "Granok are HORRIBLE."
Cobble Jones: I just need a tiny boost, dears-- oof, that's it.
Corvic Mordacci just grunts. He's less -pulling- and more -trying not to be pulled-. He's offering himself as a handhold.
Cobble Jones gets hauled up, "You're not so delightful yourself, sweetheart." She directs at Cabal, all smiles.
Cabal Chernovya teeters back, nearly loses her balance-- does. She slides down a couple feet like this vent's now her own personal slide. The sound she makes at Cobble is incoherent but grumbly enough.
Corvic Mordacci stands and shakes his arm out. Nothing broken at least.
Cabal Chernovya slinks herself back up and heads down the cooridor like she didn't make an ass out of herself.
Corvic Mordacci: Everything has its drawbacks.
== A cursory glance through the bars reveals a console still glowing dimly, and lines of cages. Nanites are near! ==
Ravil Raindance It's a mite difficult to tell behind the smoked lenses, but Ravil's eyes are closed, his lips silently mouthing words - espernetic meditation, to assist with his flagging concentration. Keeping oxygen neatly trapped in a projected sphere is not as easy as it sounds.
Cabal Chernovya: audibly wheezes behind her jacket's collar. "That's the place."
==The grate sealing the end of the ventilation shaft looks flimsy at best and rusted with misuse.==
Arthur Kinlay puts his hands on the fence, peering out. "Great... monitor's still working." He pushes against the bars, testing their strenght.
[ROLL - STRENGTH]Arthur Kinlay rolls 17 (1-20)
Arthur Kinlay pushes the fence off, opening the way. He looks almost surprised. "Oh.. well.. alright then."
== WHITEVALE - THE SLAVE PENS ==
Arthur Kinlay: Watch out.. it's a drop.
Carlos elbows his way to the front, dropping down into the slavepens below.
Cabal Chernovya scowls at the drop and just. Gives into wretched impulse entirely, jumping.
Arthur Kinlay calls out. "Cabal, right? Take a look at that monitor?"
Cabal Chernovya: Right, right...
Corvic Mordacci kneels, slides his legs off, and drops to a dangle. THEN he lets go. He's a wimp ok?
Kyrize Thornwick shivers again and hobbles up behind Cobble.
Lou Ann jumps down with the others, following Cabal to check out the monitor. "... Looks fun to fiddle with, ey?"
Cobble Jones jumps down and lands with a thud.
Arthur Kinlay explores the room, inspecting the cages.
Ravil Raindance has no trouble leaping into the room, but hangs back until most of the group is through for maximum bubble benefits.
Cabal Chernovya squints uselessly up at the monitor, pulling out her much-beleagured datachron. "Always, darling," she rasps to the ekose, pointedly leaning away from her. "Time to play under pressure."
Wylion Glittergale leaps across the chasm onto the cages. She rocks a bit to the side, collapsing onto her knees. She's not handling the smoke very well, even with Ravil's assistance.
Carlos ignores the monitor entirely and goes to the other side of the room. "Where's the damn trackin' bullshit? Which onna youse is the tracker?"
Kyrize Thornwick freezes when he sees the cages, a shiver crawling up his spine and causing his fur to stand on end. Good thing he's muted. He shimmies along the edge and stares down at the group below, then over to Wylion.
Corvic Mordacci's eyes slide over the interior of the cages as he passes, looking for occupants.
Cobble Jones noses around the cages, then coughs heavily.
Cabal Chernovya breathes through her mouth like she's asthmatic, hooking her chron to the monitor with the same cord she used to get into this godforsaken place.
== The cages hold your standard fare for what you'd need to contain living people. No one is alive, but there are ample blood smears across the ground where people were dragged. A large basin on the other side is filled with hundreds of different kinds of hair. Oh, also there's a giant menacing Jolt-a-bot. Facing Arthur.==
Arthur Kinlay grimaces at the basin. "Corvic... err.. more -.. D..N..Ahhh..." He blinks at the bot. Oh, fuck.
[ROLL - TECH] Chernovya rolls 9 (1-20). Lou Ann rolls 3 (1-20)
[ROLL - DODGE] Carlos rolls 19 (1-20) Arthur Kinlay rolls 7 (1-20)
Wylion Glittergale wavers up onto her hands and knees, and then onto her legs. She shakes her head out, taking tiny little breaths. That's about when she spies the bot. Oh, good.
Kyrize Thornwick presses himself into the corner of his little perch, chin lifting and twisting away from the view of the cages.
Lou Ann frowns and elbows her way past Cabal. "Move," is all she says.
Cabal Chernovya is shouldered over and the moment that the ekose touches her, her stalker claws activate of their own accord. Which only makes her skitter back further, honestly, as she doesn't actually want to stab Lou Ann. "Personal space," she snaps.
==Jolt-A-bot instantly turns on the moment it detects organics. One large, metally claw CRASHES through the fence at Arthur.
Lou Ann looks up at the monitor and starts tapping away at it, dragging windows around. "I've heard of it."
There's a number of beeps. A whole lot of screens pop up, one by one, on the screen. "That's how it's done," Lou Ann mumbles, picking up a finger and following the text.
Arthur Kinlay barely manages to get his pistols out in time, unable to dodge as he's taken by surprise. The robo-claw slams into him, sending him flying against the wall. He slumps down, the wind knocked out of his lungs.
Cabal Chernovya: lets the ekose do what she damn pleases, as her datachron is still connected to the monitor.
Cabal Chernovya: What are you even looking for?
"Fuck if I know." Lou Ann squints at the screen and blows another bubble as she reads. "... Looks like some old detail. Accounting bullshit."
The Ekose turns back towards Cabal. "Too much to look at here. Can you like. Suck all this up into your brain or something with those cords?"
Cabal Chernovya flicks at her datachron resting on the table. "Little sister's doing what she can. I'm not plugging myself into some strange contraption, though it'd be faster."
[ROLL - ATTACK]Arthur Kinlay rolls 19 (1-20). Wylion Glittergale rolls 9 (1-20). Cobble Jones rolls 5 (1-20). Carlos rolls 9 (1-20). Corvic Mordacci rolls 6 (1-20).
Corvic Mordacci grimaces and raises his resonators. He flashes a jolt of healing energy at Arthur and attempts to raise a tech shield around him. "Kinlay! UP!"
Ravil Raindance's ears quirk at the sounds of combat. His muscles reflexively tense, poised to spring - and he has to forcibly quell his instinctual desire to leap into the fray. The bubble is more important. But he can, at least, /watch/ the heroic deeds unfurling before his very eyes.
Wylion Glittergale staggers to one side, slumping off the cage in a brilliant display of grace and poise. Onto her face.
Arthur Kinlay raises his one of his pistols, taking a shot at the robot while leaning against the basin for temporary cover while he'S down. It,s surprisingly accurate!
Cobble Jones rushes over at the sound of combat. She nearly trips over Ravil, but corrects herself enouh so that she stumbles off tot he sides, rather than on top of the poor aurin.
Cobble Jones: Arty! Are you okay?
Arthur Kinlay: No! Yes! Maybe! Kill that thing!
[ROLL - DODGE]Cobble Jones rolls 2 (1-20). Arthur Kinlay rolls 9 (1-20). Carlos rolls 19 (1-20). Corvic Mordacci rolls 15 (1-20).
Corvic Mordacci darts forward and takes position behind the corner of the cage so that he has partial cover from the bot but can also access Arthur.
Ravil Raindance: scoots out of the way, arms outstretched, fingers clenching.
==Jolt-a-bot rips through the fence like a hot knife through delicious protostar butter, recollecting itself up to its old height. It's visors set, scanning for potential targets-- when it gets slammed in the torso with a magbullet. A shower of sparks covers across the floor. It POUNDS forward, flinging aside the cage to smoosh Cobble while taking a swing at Arthur.==
Lou Ann turns back to the screen. "... Here's something." she swipes across the screen and a photo of a lake comes into view. There's something on it. She uses four fingers and moves them apart - the photo zooms in on something dark in the water. "Some sunken ship out in the middl'a th'lake. Sounds like the person writin' th'report is pissed off. They lost a lot of cargo."
Lou Ann seems totally unphased by the sounds of COMBAT on the other side of the cages. "We picked the right side, ey?"
"VERY FUCKIN' FUNNY, LOU," Carlos screams back across the room.
Cobble Jones gets slammed into the wall behind her by the robot, hard. Something sounded like it cracked.
Cabal Chernovya keeps her eyes on the screen while her datachron ticks away, downloading anything and everything that Lou Ann's accessing. "Coordinates," she says, stepping up shoulder-to-shoulder with the ekose, committing those numbers to memory. "And I always pick the proper side, let the big guns battle it out."
Arthur Kinlay gets pounded against the wall again and let's out a painful yelp. Goodbye ribs.
Ravil Raindance vaults backwards, strategically angling the edge of the bubble so that it interposes itself between the robot and it's intended prey. Gritting his teeth, the aurin clenches his talons and /wills/ the espernetic membrance to strengthen, hopefully shielding the party against furious automated assault
[ROLL - ATTACK ]Ravil Raindance rolls 19 (1-20)
Wylion Glittergale meanwhile has picked herself up. Her bravado seems to be wavering in the face of the fact Adessa isn't, in fact, here. She leans up against the back of the wall, clanging the back of her skull against it.
Corvic Mordacci ducks and dives away as the cage he'd been hiding behind gets smashed away. He manages to avoid getting hit though and clicks his resonators. A surge of healing resonance fills the area for a moment, hopefully helping Aruther and Cobble out.
[ROLL - HEALING]Corvic Mordacci rolls 12 (1-20)
Kyrize Thornwick snaps his ears back when he hears the smashing of the cages and looks down at his poor friends having to deal with the robot. Then at the cages. His claws dig into the wall as he turns to leap across the gap to land on the opposite cage.
[ROLL]Arthur Kinlay rolls 11 (1-20). Cobble Jones rolls 17 (1-20)
Kyrize Thornwick totally misses the cage and crash lands on the floor beside Wylion. Go team.
Wylion Glittergale jolts in her spot when it begins to rain cute aurin men. Her foggy sights set on the back of Kyrize's head, then drift closed.
Ravil Raindance's jaw clenches, brow furrows with sheer effort of concentration - brute force mental projections aren't his forte. And the robot's impact leaves several cracks in the membrane. Presently harmless, but certainly ominous. "Shoot... The... Damn... Thing!" he growls hoarsely, in his feigned spacer's drawl, committed to staying in-character even in the face of certain doom.
Lou Ann turns to watch the chaos on the other side of the cages. "Didn't someone have trackers on Lil' Momma? Because I think it would probably be useful."
Cobble Jones is helped out by Corvic's healing just enough to pick up her gun and shoot a slug clean through the robot.
Cabal Chernovya holds up her hand like she's expecting Lou Ann to call on her, coughing. Her datachron bweeps merrily and Cabal immediately unhooks it, leaving the line running into the monitor like it's got a new tail.
Cabal Chernovya happily ignores her impending death to the left.
Lou Ann gives Cabal a half lidded stare. "... Oh."
Cabal Chernovya: They're in here insofar as I can tell.
Lou Ann calls over the chaos, "Uh. When y'all have everything all hunky dory over there, we got some information, ey?"
Cabal Chernovya finally turns to watch Robot Wars: Nexus Edition.
Arthur Kinlay breathes in sharply as Corvic's healing beam thing hits him, reducing the pain. He clenches his jaw and rolls to the side, trying to get some distance, before raising his other pistol. Runes flash briefly at the end of the barrel before it shoots out a blast of ice at the robotic terror.
Arthur Kinlay: GREAT!
Arthur Kinlay leans against the cage. "You can tell us all about it once we're done not dieing!"
Lou Ann seems to be okay with this. "Yyyyeeeup!" she says easily, picking up her datachron and returning to her game.
==The Jolt-a-bot staggers to the side in mid-swing of its second go around to pound town. The ice slathers across its side, freezing it to its spot and -- with an earth-shattering rumble -- Nonnie's Death beam craters its functional programming. It topples backwards against the wall.==
Kyrize Thornwick places his hand on the floor and gets to his feet, absently reaching out towards the cage for balance. His hand snaps back at the touch of the bars and he turns his head towards the robo battle.
Cabal Chernovya tippity-taps along her own datachron, because the big beefy members of this party clearly have this handled.
Corvic Mordacci is not done even though it looks like the robot is. He channels a slower, more steady beam into Arthur's torso now that the situation is less urgent. "Let's hope what they found was worthwhile."
Lou Ann peeks her head out once the battle is over. She slides over to the other side of the room, kicking an unconscious Carlos in the ribs on her way over.
[ROLL - HEALING]Corvic Mordacci rolls 18 (1-20)
Cobble Jones slumps against the wall with a sigh once the robot goes down, and makes no move to get up for the moment.
Wylion Glittergale seems to have reached a conclusion amidst her slightly delusional oxygen-starved brain. And that decision is to initiate Breakdown Protocols. She curls her arms around her knees and utterly collapses into her knees. Cue ugly sobbing.
Ravil Raindance's shoulders sag as he expels all the pent-up air from his lungs in a single breath. Tiny beads of blood dribble from his nose, sharp against the pallidity of his skin. The bubble teeters dangerously on the verge of nonexistence for a moment, but Ravil manages to keep it held in check - just.
Cabal Chernovya glances over at Wylion like this is interesting somehow.
Arthur Kinlay breathes in slow when the robot collapses and Corvic's healing rays hit him. "Stars above am I glad you came along, Doc."
Corvic Mordacci looks over his shoulder. He notices Ravi's exertion. "We should leave."
Kyrize Thornwick snaps an ear towards Wylion and turns on his heel. Leaning down, he holds out his hand for her to take.
Arthur Kinlay: Agreed.
Ravil Raindance: "Fervently does this bard agr-
Corvic Mordacci turns his attention to Cobble next, attempting the same thing on her.
[ROLL - HEALING]Corvic Mordacci rolls 16 (1-20)
Ravil Raindance: swallows. "I mean, 'damn right we should!'"
Arthur Kinlay holsters his weapons and staggers a bit back toward the others.
Ravil Raindance: eyes Carlos sidelong, hoping that the baldy-pated man has neglected to notice his slip-up.
Cabal Chernovya: drags her thumb down the screen of her datachron, looking up and around as she tries to center in on where the nanites actually /are/ now that death beyond smoke inhalation isn't in the cards.
[ROLL - PERCEPTION]Neneeko Wesshire rolls 19 (1-20)
[P]Corvic Mordacci: so carlos is unconsious?
Carlos narrows his eyes at Ravil.
Arthur Kinlay winces when he sees Wylion, then turns his attention briefly to Cabal. "Got everything you could?"
Wylion Glittergale rolls one reddened eye up to stare at Kyrize's hand. She shakes her head and slinks back amidst the safety of her knees.
Cobble Jones pushes herself to her feet, using her gun as a brace, "Yes, yes, out of here sounds like a good idea. Thank you, darling, I didn't get your name."
Cabal Chernovya nods. "Thanks to the ekose, though I eased the way in."
Lou Ann nods and gives a thumbs up. "I will say she didn't just stand there slack jawed."
Arthur Kinlay: Great.. let's get out.
Corvic Mordacci inclines his head to Cobble. "Corvic will do." It's also knitted on his hat, across the forehead, in messy letter.
Cabal Chernovya squints behind her visor. Ekose praise is the worst.
Lou Ann shrugs. "Although, her nanites brought us down here in the first place. So." She shrugs. Take this as you will.
Cobble Jones nods. Her glasses have fogged up from the smoke at this point, and she wipes them off with the back of her glove, but really only suceeds in smearing the soot around.
Carlos gives up on giving Ravil the eye. He looks around through the smoke. "In any case, she en't fuckin' here. This has been a goddamn ravenok chase, let's go."
Cabal Chernovya: Agreed.
Kyrize Thornwick steps closer and shakes his hand at her urgently, ears pinning.
Corvic Mordacci eyes Wylion. "Emotional distress, respiratory distress, or both?"
Lou Ann is the first to hoist herself into the ventilation system. "Get your tracking checked next time, redhead." she says, reaching a hand down to help whoever wants to leave up into the vent.
Wylion Glittergale wraps her tail loosely around her waist, her head rolling up again. Oh, there's the tears just flowing freely down her cheeks in ashy stains. She claps her hand around Kyrize's and pulls herself up onto her heels.
Arthur Kinlay climps up the cage, then takes a running start and leaps at the vent.
Cabal Chernovya scrambles onto the cage, muttering and coughing.
Kyrize Thornwick nods at her when she gets to her feet and tilts his head back to look up at the Ekose already heading into the ventilation. He tightens his grip on Wylion's hand before letting go, quite eager to leave this death trap.
Cabal Chernovya huffs and follows in the path of Arthur, way ready to be out of this shithole.
Wylion Glittergale looks down to the rest, motioning for them to go.
Corvic Mordacci steps over and gets the ladder, propping it against the cage to help with the climb.
Cobble Jones clambers up the cage and into the vent, more than a little awkwardly, but she manages.
Arthur Kinlay: C'mon folks, we gotta get out of here.
Corvic Mordacci: Wylion. Up.
Lou Ann taps the wall under her. "Let's go, Miss Whatever."
Wylion Glittergale: I'll be there in a--minute. Go on! I'm faster than you, anyway!
Arthur Kinlay stares down at Wylion. "Oh, oh no you ain't." He leans down and slips back down to floor level."
Corvic Mordacci narrows his eyes down at the whilte wings. "Now."
Ravil Raindance: "Judgin' by how ripe it's gettin' in this bubble here, a minute's a luxury we don't have."
Wylion Glittergale: Then GO!
Kyrize Thornwick swivels his ears forward and lifts his chin.
Wylion Glittergale stares at Arthur, her brows furrowing. She turns on her heel and paces back to the destruction zone and the barrel full of hair and bits.
Arthur Kinlay follows her. "You've got two choices. You get up there now or we're carrying you."
Wylion Glittergale: Go, Arthur!
Cabal Chernovya calls down the vent, "She weighs FIFTY POUNDS just PICK HER UP."
Corvic Mordacci watches the two below.
Wylion Glittergale 's shoulders shake as she grips onto the edge of the barrel, stuffing her hands through the hair and bits. "I'm not asking you to s tay--But if she's /DEAD/. I have to...I have to know." I can't-- Not again.
Arthur Kinlay frowns and reaches into his pocket. "She's not, we've already scanned the remains outside and she wasn't in there, meaning they TOOK her somewhere else and we have to GO FIND HER"
Wylion Glittergale 's ears pin back to her head as she practically crawls into the barrel. "YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" She hisses at him.
[ROLL - PERCEPTION] Wylion Glittergale rolls 8 (1-20). Arthur Kinlay rolls 16 (1-20).
== Something small and computery is in the bin with the hair. So is a massive amount of black, curly hair. And blood. When Arthur taps Adessa's information into his phone, a merry beeping fills the room - coming from the hair bin. ==
Cobble Jones: What's going on down there? We have to move!
Cobble Jones punctuates her sentence with a rattling cough.
Corvic Mordacci lets out a huff of breath and clomps down. He reaches into the barrel to pluck out a lock of the black hair and stuffs it in his pocket. Scan later.
There's a subtle creaking noise, on the very edge of perception - and the crack in the bubble starts to lengthing, splitting and meandering around the spherical surface.
Arthur Kinlay reaches into the hair pile and snatches the device, shoving it into his coat before unceremoniously grabbing Wyl by the waist and picking her up.
Ravil Raindance: ...Can't...
Wylion Glittergale makes a distressed screeching noise as she's hoisted. "Stop it!"
Arthur Kinlay: WE'RE LEAVING!
Corvic Mordacci mutters to Arthur. "Say the word and I can sedate her."
Wylion Glittergale: PUT ME DOWN!
Arthur Kinlay pretty much throws her over his shoulder as he walks back towards the exit.
Wylion Glittergale: I'LL BITE YOUR EAR OFF, I WILL!
Arthur Kinlay: AND I'LL KNOCK YOU OUT IF I NEED TO!
Wylion Glittergale doesn't really fight it, for note.
Arthur Kinlay raises Wyl as much as he can. "Corvic, grab her!"
Corvic Mordacci does so, hoisting her up.
Wylion Glittergale is the potatiest potato.
== WHITEVALE - THE VENTILATION SHAFT ==
Cabal Chernovya totally shot down the vent and is now jumping from foot to foot on the ground, waiting for the rest.
Kyrize Thornwick reels backwards. He can't stay in this vent anymore, and takes off!
Corvic Mordacci eyes the gap, stepping backwards to get a running start. He goes for the gold, still holding Wylion. He may need assistance not falling back down into the room. "Incoming!"
Arthur Kinlay braces himself for impact.
Wylion Glittergale: Put. Me. DOWN!
Corvic Mordacci: No.
Arthur Kinlay grabs Corvic by the arm when he lands, helping him NOT fall back down.
Kyrize Thornwick leaps through the vent opening to stumble and roll over the cardboard boxes before getting to his feet again, frizzed tail lashing behind him. He bolts on down the hallway, back to the entrance.
Cobble Jones: We're all here? Good!
Arthur Kinlay: Alright let's scram!
Corvic Mordacci nearly stumbles and slips, but is helped into the tunnel.
Cabal Chernovya: About time!
== WHITEVALE - THE BUNKER ==
With a tortured, strangled cry that echoes throughout the tunnel, the bubble shatters into a thousand slithers of unreality. The group escapes back out into the snow.
== WHITEVALE - UNDISCLOSED LOCATION ==
Corvic Mordacci feels like his skin is going to crack from the temperature difference when the hit the freezing air again.
Arthur Kinlay leans foward, hands on his knees, as they finally reach the surface. He catches his breath. "Bloody hell..." He glances at Kyrize. "....hanging in there, bud?"
Wylion Glittergale grumps miserably on Corvic's shoulder. "I'm not--I'm not--" she mutters to herself, hacking up awful phlegmy noises.
Corvic Mordacci opens his mouth to say something but devolves into a coughing fit instead. He still doesn't put Wylion down.
Cabal Chernovya heaves in air once she's out of that particular nightmare town, dropping down into the slush as if she wants it to take her away from these terrible decisions. She frantically starts unbuttoning her coat, getting stuck on the actual buckles themselves.
Cabal Chernovya: Are we quite done with DARING DO for the night?!
Cobble Jones leans against the log and lets out a series of heaving coughs. There's a stain on her back of whatever granok have for blood.
Ravil Raindance stumbles through the snow and slumps bodily against a log. He tears off his shades, exposing bloodshot eyes to the cold air. He stares skyward for several minutes, trying in vain to find his breath.
Arthur Kinlay breathes heavily. "That... depends on what.. you found."
Kyrize Thornwick wobbles beside the tree, throwing his hand out to brace himself against the bark with a trembling arm. Immediate danger out of the way, he collapses to his knees and just flops.
Cabal Chernovya: fights angrily with the bronze buckles and finally ARGHS loudly in frustration, pulling the damn thing up and over her head. She throws it at the stump to her left.
Wylion Glittergale sensing freedom, starts giving in to a little fight. Her arms grab onto fistfuls of Corvic's coat as she tries to PULL herself over his shoulder and onto the ground. "LET. ME. GO. NOW. CORVIC!"
Ravil Raindance: "Wylion."
Wylion Glittergale: DOWN.
Ravil Raindance's voice is quiet, bereft of energy. But sufficiently loud to carry.
Cabal Chernovya decides that wheezing and shaking is way preferrable to being trapped in that coat, huffing in as much air as her poor abused lungs will allow.
Wylion Glittergale like a disobedient log, lifts her head. "WhAT?!" she says, her voice all hell and fury and raspy death.
Corvic Mordacci is half hunched over by the time he's done with his coughing fit. HIs arm is still clamped around Wylion's leg. He stays half hunched, not wanting to make it easier for her to use gravity to her advantage. "Promise not to go back in."
Brutus appears from the other side of the trees. He lumbers back over to the group. "Find anything?"
Ravil Raindance: "If Adessa yet lives, she shall be found. And if she does not, if fickle fortune has placed her beyond our reach, hurled headlong back into the Weave's tender embrace - she shall be avenged. As shall the ashen multitude o'er yonder - a thousand stories, cruelly severed short."
Arthur Kinlay moves to lean against the heavy fallen log. He nods as Brutus appears. "Yeah... " He jerks a thumb over the log, towards Cabal. "Well they did..."
Cabal Chernovya glares at Ravil as if she wants to punch him purely for being the one closest to her.
Carlos coughs and leans on the fallen log. "You're. Joking." he glares at Ravil. "The fuck is this, a walking dictionary?"
Cabal Chernovya immediately transfers that hatred to Carlos.
Lou Ann spits out her gum onto the snow. "We got a lead, but most of it was rubbish."
Arthur Kinlay snorts at Carlos' comment. Then realises it's a bad idea and starts coughing. "What-.. what'd you find?"
Wylion Glittergale sinks her claws onto Corvic's claw, but for the time being she stops fighting to get on the ground. her head lifts and cranes to stare at Ravil, piercing right through with a simmering contempt. "If Adessa is /dead/--" she starts, but her voice carries an odd squeak and she falls quiet. "I'm not trying to kill myself. Put me down."
Lou Ann points to Cabal. "She's got most of it on her drivey thing. There's a sunken slaver ship in one of the lakes. Bunch of cargo went down with it, they never salvaged it."
Corvic Mordacci looks over to Ravil and nods solemnly. "Well said." He finally straightens and loosens his grip on Wylion's legs, allowing her to slip free.
Cobble Jones speaks between coughs, in a rasping voice, "Now, now, I'm sure she's not dead."
Carlos scowls at Lou Ann. "Redstar Cartel ship? That's murder."
Ravil Raindance: "Aster Nightbloom was a tiring role to play, alas. This bard is ever glad to be shorn of him at last."
Ravil Raindance cocks his head at Carlos, challengingly. He's too tired for pretenses. "What of it?"
Cabal Chernovya slowly pushes her visor back up until it touches her hairline, nodding in shivering agreement with Lou Ann. "It's a s-start to s-something."
Wylion Glittergale clambers onto the ground in a surly growl.
Lou Ann gives Wylion a look. What's wrong with this one? "My suggestion, get what info y'can on the Redstar. We're.. uh. Lower on the totem pole, but we'll look into it on our end for ya, ey?"
Arthur Kinlay runs a hand through his hair. "A weak lead is better than none..." He sigh and reaches into his coat, pulling out the small device he fished out of the hair basin.
Corvic Mordacci coughs again and clears his throat with a nasty gurgling.
Arthur Kinlay calls out. "Cabal."
Cabal Chernovya hnnnghnns in reply, hunkering down in the slush.
Wylion Glittergale wipes at her mouth, eyeballing Lou Ann sourly. And then Carlos. She sets her particular vehemence on him and marches up to him, four feet of hiccoughing fury.
Arthur Kinlay tosses the thingy weakly over the log. "That your trackin' thing?"
Cabal Chernovya watches the tracker thump in the snow and slide. She stares at it until she tips and thumps into the snow like a felled tree, reaching out to it. "Yyyyyyes."
Carlos keeps on coughing into his sleeve, narrowing his eyes at Wylion as she approaches.
Cabal Chernovya rolls onto her back and starts fiddling with it, crossing one leg over her other knee.
Arthur Kinlay nods slowly. "So she was in there..."
Wylion Glittergale loosens up her gloves finger by finger and slipping the leather from her sticky, sweat-slicked skin. She throws them on the ground, considers her claws, and then reaches up to GRAB Carlos by the coat and bring him down to her level.
Cabal Chernovya flicks her fingers on the side of the device, smiling fondly at it when it reacts -- the slight screen flickering, tiny fans whirring. "They might have put this there as a f-faint," she says, trying to ignore the oncoming hypothermia.
Carlos gets dragged down to Wylion's level. For once, Brutus steps up.
Corvic Mordacci takes out the lock of hair that he'd pocketed and holds it out with one hand while he scans it with the other. Just to be sure.
== Success. The jagged patch of hair belongs to one Adessa Cypersong. ==
Ravil Raindance notes Brutus' likely intervention and flicks his wrist, manifesting a crescent-shaped psabre. He tries to catch Brutus' attention, shaking his head solemnly.
Wylion Glittergale: Now, you listen to me and you listen /real good/, asswipe. You breathe a word of this to Boss Hog or any of the other Cartels, and your last living moment will be of an intense understanding of just /how/ displeased I will be. You help us, we get Lil' Momma back, and you walk off scott free. Got it?
Corvic Mordacci lets out a long breath through his nose and returns the hair to his pocket.
Brutus doesn't seem super phased by Ravil. But he does seem highly unnerved by Wylion, like a Great Dane and a chihuahua. A bird chihuahua.
Cabal Chernovya settles both of her feet on the ground and pushes, propelling herself towards her poor, misbegotten coat like a snake. "I like Wings. She's got spunk." She rests her head on her smoke-smelling leather coat with a pleased sigh, still fiddling with her tracking device.
Carlos looks momentarily surprised, but then his eyes narrow at Wylion. "Look, cupcake. We're in as much shit as you people are. I'm not fuckin' saying anything. You help us get Lil' Momma back, we keep our mouths shut."
== The tracking device is scratched up and has some blood on it, probably. ==
Wylion Glittergale manages something of an ashy-mouthed smile. "Good," she says, and then promptly SLAMS her forehead against his nose. "AND THAT'S FOR SASSING ME!"
Lou Ann speaks up from the sidelines. "Our day was as fucked as yours. We actually /care/ about the girl."
Cabal Chernovya wrinkles her nose and starts picking at the blood with her fingernails. She scratches it away like she's playing with a lotto card.
Arthur Kinlay groans. "Wyl, save your energy for the guys who took her."
Carlos reels back, hand over his nose. In no time, it's dripping blood. He starts swearing angrily. Lou Ann just looks on with the same half lidded stare.
Corvic Mordacci mutters in a quiet voice, half hoping no one will hear. But he can't keep it to himself. "DNA match confirmed. The hair is Adessa's."
Cabal Chernovya: /Obviously/.
Wylion Glittergale: Keep your mouth in check 'round your superiors. You'll get a lot further in life, buddy.
Wylion Glittergale rubs at the tender spot in her forehead as she turns and slinks over to check on Kyrize.
Brutus looks like he's going to pick up Wylion and shot put her until she says the word 'superiors.' He stops and just takes a step back, unsure of what to actually do in this situation.
Wylion Glittergale: Heeeey, you okay?
Lou Ann walks over to Carlos and just gives him the stare. "You deserved that, boss."
Kyrize Thornwick finally digs his elbows into the snow and pushes his chest up, head lolling forward. A floppy ear twitches towards Wylion.
Carlos rolls his eyes, and his whole head up at the Ekose. "Oh, fuck off, Lou Ann."
Arthur Kinlay walks over to the other side of the log to see Cabal. "So, big question. Are you gonna come with us to that ship?"
Corvic Mordacci just stands there like a lump with his resting frowny face. He stares straight ahead and doesn't seem all there.
Wylion Glittergale reaches forward to gently flick one of his ears. "We're done here, I think. You didn't--ah-- you didn't have to come. So. Thank you."
Cabal Chernovya makes a blustery sound, rolling her eyes towards Arthur. She opens her mouth to say something -- and from the way her lips are downturned it's probably in the negative -- but her eyebrows furrow. "Are you going to force me into another burning building without a thought to the consequences?"
Corvic Mordacci: The ship is under a lake. It will likely not be burning.
Cabal Chernovya tucks the tracking device into her pocket, wriggling it down into her slacks.
Arthur Kinlay shrugs. "Seeing as it's sunken there's probably more risks of drowning than burning."
Cabal Chernovya: It might be a lake surrounded by fire, this planet's got all sorts of monstrous situations. Thanks for that, though.
Cabal Chernovya: Tchfhghn. I'll pack my rebreather while you all continue to rack up my /ridiculous/ commission fee.
Corvic Mordacci just keeps staring straight ahead, even as he'd talked. His voice was flat and monotone.
Ravil Raindance: "Nay, perish the thought! We shall instead appeal to thy better nature - coax the undercurrent of compassion to the surface!"
Kyrize Thornwick sloooowly rolls onto his stomach and pulls his legs underneath himself, sluggishly pushing himself up out of the snow. Reaching out for Wylion he attempts to pull her into a hug.
Arthur Kinlay: Look, I don't know what your relation to Adessa is, but I'm not rich enough to pay a professional, so it's up to you. I guess the best offer I can give you is you can keep whatever fancy tech might be laying in there, I don't give a shit about that.
Cabal Chernovya repeats the sound from earlier. TCHFHFNGHN. "I said I was going, didn't I?"
Arthur Kinlay nods. "But you also mentioned commission fee. Anyway, thank you."
Cabal Chernovya waves Arthur off with a grumble, attempting to worm her way back into her coat.
Wylion Glittergale doesn't resist the hug. If anything, she crumples up against him like the tiniest shaking leaf. Her nose buries in the space between his neck and shoulder and she just. Breathes.
Corvic Mordacci blinks and comes out of it looking around. "Is anyone in need of medical assistance?"
Arthur Kinlay turns around and walks over to the Jabbits this time. "So, you three."
Lou Ann hands Carlos a hankerchief. He pushes it up against his nose and looks up at Arthur. Brutus wanders over and looks at him, too.
Kyrize Thornwick wraps his arms and tail tightly around the shaking little birdy, still muted like a derp. He might be saying something, who knows.
Ravil Raindance: "Not Ravil. No feat of science can chase away the melancholy that clenches tight 'round my heart. Only a happy ending shall suffice."
Ravil Raindance eases himself back to his feet. "'Tis fortunate, then, that this tale is not yet spun."
Brutus looks, if anything, more sad than he has all night. He addresses Arthur. "Who are you, anyway?"
Cabal Chernovya finally makes her lazy way back into her coat, but once she's all cinched in she just lays there like a useless lump of Grismaran nothing. "Are you going to do the bard thing? You're doing the bard thing."
Corvic Mordacci looks to Ravil. "Indeed. I can provide no treatment for that."
Wylion Glittergale seems not bothered at all by the fact he isn't talking. Really, it's a miracle she hasn't just collapsed fully. Her arms grip around his back. "Thanks," she mutters into his shoulder again before lifting her head up to noseboop the end of his mask. Boop.
Ravil Raindance: "So cynical, Cabal. Has it not been said that all the world's a stage?"
Cabal Chernovya whines and tries to pull herself, turtle-like, into her jacket. "Dooon't."
Arthur Kinlay pulls out a datachron and fidgets with it. He raises his eyes to Brutus, his face seems calm but there's a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Someone very close to your Lil' Momma who wants to put some serious hurt to the guys who were stupid enough to take her away." He clicks on something, opening a page on his chron. "So, got a secure line I can catch you on?"
Cabal Chernovya pauses. "Also, it's good to see you out and about, as it were. Since the whole Direwolves... thing."
Brutus seems to accept this as an answer. He reaches into his pocket and pulls a datachron out with sausage fingers, handing it to Arthur. On the back, written on a postit, is a secure line connection.
Ravil Raindance: "Aye. And likewise - 'tis ever gladdening to see a face fond and familiar, paths again set to align and intertwine, after being so long seperated by time and distance."
Cabal Chernovya gives Ravil a thumbs up, her arm flopping back into the snow.
Kyrize Thornwick pushes his ears up back to neutral and unwinds his tail from her as he pulls his head back, chin ducking at the mask boop. He wavers a moment before turning his head towards Arthur, ears swiveling in the direction of the Krogg and human.
Ravil Raindance: "Methinks we can do a mite better than an upraised /thumb/, Dearest Cabal."
Ravil Raindance trots over and mercilessly subjects her to a full-on aurin embrace.
Arthur Kinlay's hand twitches slightly as he sees the postit, but otherwise he seems successful in keeping his cool. He enters the adress into his own datachron. "....I'll be in touch."
Lou Ann pulls her arms across her chest, not so much in anger but more to keep herself warm. "You need us, you contact us, buddy." she says to Arthur. She goes so far as to reach a hand out to pat his shoulder, but decides better of it.
Cabal Chernovya whines angrily as if this is the biggest trial she's gone through tonight, how dare he, what gives him the right -- but her arms wrap around him, too, as she sighs. "Please don't do the bard thing," she says halfheartedly.
Wylion Glittergale picks herself up again, tugging on the edge of the leathery jacket to snap it taut to her frame. She wanders over from whence she came -- that is, Corvic, and THROWS her arms around his middle.
Carlos pulls the bloody hankerchief away from his face. He looks at it, sniffles loudly, and then spits a wad of blood into the snow. "Where should we send her stuff."
Ravil Raindance: "Ravil was harbouring under the impression that you were passing fond of his theatric ways, his vast outpourings of verbiage. Do you truly mean to tell him that he has, all this time, been living a lie?"
Cabal Chernovya sighs and pat-pat-pats Ravil, very careful not to muss up his already considerably-messy hair. "Not particularly, but I haven't the patience for it between concentrating on breathing and not freezing to death, dear."
Corvic Mordacci gently settles his arms over Wylion's back, returning the hug. It's like hugging a board, as usual, but he tries.
Arthur Kinlay pauses a moment before typing out an adress, showing it to them. "There. And you can contact me at that number, too, if you find something on your end."
Wylion Glittergale buries her face into his stomach, whining low in her throat. SOOTHE HER, DOCTOR.
Carlos grabs the datachron from Brutus. "Give me that, you giant bastard," he snaps throatily. Is he holding back tears? He types the number into the chron and nods at Arthur, pocketing it again.
Kyrize Thornwick pushes himself to his feet and teeters back on his heels before swaying forward. His helmeted face turns towards the Jabbits, frozen ears twisting towards them.
Corvic Mordacci lets out a weary sigh and is still staring straight ahead. He sinks down to sit in the snow. Wylion will have to adjust her grip. But this way he can wrap his arms around for a more proper hug.
Wylion Glittergale does indeedly move her arms, throwing them around his neck and SQUEEZING him as much as her twiggy arms can. She seems satisfied.
Lou Ann turns and looks down at Kyrize. She blinks slowly and says nothing for a moment before saying "You folk should really get someplace warm. Seems like y'ain't used to bein' cold, ey?"
Arthur Kinlay turns toward Kyrize and nods. "Yeah... no. You gonna be alright making your way back, bud?"
Wylion Glittergale lifts her head. "I'll go with him!" she offers, removing one arm to wave. "I'm not-- I'm not staying on the boat."
Ravil Raindance: "Alas, bereft of mask and motivation, Ravil knows no other way to be - rife with bardic eccentricity. And thus shall his tongue persist to wag, unchecked and unadulterated. But if thine ears find his words displeasing, mayhap you could muffle them 'gainst thy bosom?"
Arthur Kinlay looks at Wyl and nods. "Good idea... I'm going back home, I'll... Thanks everyone for comming. We'll be in touch, soon."
Carlos frowns at Wylion. "Boat?"
Arthur Kinlay quietly makes his way out of the ruined forest.
Wylion Glittergale snaps to look at Carlos. "Yeah, you know. A thing you sail on."
Cabal Chernovya flatfaces and immediately pushes Ravil of her and into the slush. YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE THEY ASK FOR THE WHOLE JAR.
Carlos looks over at Lou Ann. "Wasn't Adessa going on about some stupid boat?"
Cabal Chernovya: You're too short for me, sweetling.
Lou Ann shrugs and returns to her datachron.
Kyrize Thornwick nods to the two of them and trudges off in a random direction, heopfully the way they came.
Wylion Glittergale, with one arm st ill looped around Corvic, turns finally to Cabal and Ravil. She just. Stares at them.
Corvic Mordacci slowly gets to his feet. He looks after Kyrize. "Kyrize?"
Ravil Raindance favours her with an impish grin - though it doesn'r quite meet his eyes. "Small in stature, mayhap, but /giant/ are his dreams."
Cabal Chernovya scoots herself up in the snow and stands to be fully out of amorous aurin reach, flipping her collar back up. "I'm heading home," she states flatly. "As lovely as this was, I'd like to take some time to fully block out the memories. Call me on my chron if you need me, screenname's public. Greyhat Grismaran, one word."
Cabal Chernovya sighs down at Ravil.
Cabal Chernovya: Myrnica's going to kick you in the teeth if she hears tell of your wagging tongue.
Wylion Glittergale slowly lets go of Corvic's neck when he st ands up. She putters over to Cabal. "Thanks, tall wire lady."
Lou Ann just watches them. She turns and puts her hands on her coworkers' shoulders, steering them back away the direction they came.
Ravil Raindance: "Myrnica knows well my manner - and that 'twas merely an effort to uplift the mood."
Cabal Chernovya sniffs at Wylion. "Yes, well, we'll put it on your bill," she says, shrugging.
Ravil Raindance: "But if Ravil gave offense, he apologises profusely."
Wylion Glittergale: Tch, that's assuming you can find my name on a public record. Which isn't likely.
Cabal Chernovya: I have my ways, Wylion. But we'll play this pro-bono for now.
Wylion Glittergale points a finger to one red eye and then points it AT Cabal. Her tongue dips out into a raspberry. "Bet you can't."
Cabal Chernovya barks out a laugh, "Don't make it a CHALLENGE, that I /actually/ jump for." She sidesteps poor, tiny Wylion and struts away, shoving her hands in her pockets.
Wylion Glittergale snorts back a snicker and turns to look at Ravil. "Sorry we almost took all your worldly goods," she offers.
Ravil Raindance: "Fret not, sweet Wylion. For 'tis not his mundane possessions this bard treasures most, but his wealth of words - and those cannot be so readily stolen."
Wylion Glittergale: Says you. I got a pair of scissors somewhere to snip a tongue.
Ravil Raindance: "Though you are more than welcome to make a spirited attempt."
Ravil Raindance outstretches his arms. "Or mayhap instead you might come hither and squeeze them from his lungs. 'Twould be a more pleasant alternative all around, no?"
Wylion Glittergale looks from Ravil's arms, to his face. She flatfaces so fast. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick with snip-snip goes the scissor tip if I have to." She about-faces on her heel and skimpers off.
Corvic Mordacci trudges through the snow after Wylion. He considers how difficult it would be to go bury those ashes...
★ Cobble! Give me a list of characters to ask about!
'Jones' is not her original surname. She and her son Garut changed it some time after they left Gnox. Mostly because their surname was shared with Cobble's husband/Garut's father, who refused to leave the planet with them.
Character list!
Delphie, Cobble, Qwin, Agki (draken), Ciel (eyebrow game aurin)
So Cobble Jones is an older Granok. Would be in her 60s if she was human (I think that puts her in her 600s but I keep hearing different things about granok ages.) She's a trans-woman. I'm super fond of the idea of a big living statue carving itself into the shape that it wants itself to be. Leave everything you don't need behind in the dust. (which is something she ends up doing more than once in her life, come to think of it.) She's a botanist and not very good with newer tech. Give her a good old fashioned shotgun, none of this laser nonsense.
Anyway, she had a kid. War of Gnox happens, and that kid joins in Durek's resistance, and is exiled with all the rest of them. Jones voluntarily exiles herself along with them, because in the end she values her child over her people's philosophy. It wasn't an easy decision to come to, by far.
...But that kid isn't around anymore. Something happened to them. I'm not sure what but they're probably dead.
Cut to about fifteen years ago. Delphie is around thirteen years old, a street-rat orphan kid that goes from ship to ship, space-station to space-station, stealing things to live. She meets Jones (probably while trying to steal from her) and the pair eventually become friends. Jones takes care of her, and tries to set her on an honest path, but it never quite sticks. At some point Delphie acquires a couple of robots and programs them to protect Nonnie Jones. She vanishes soon after.
Delphie, now an adult, had hitched a ride off of whatever space station they had been on. By stowing away on another ship. It goes well until the ship is raided by the Deadstar Marauders. Delphie is found, and offers to join their crew, as opposed to being thrown out the airlock. She remains with them -- where she earns her alias 'Digits' -- until about two years ago. Either something happened or she just up and ran away, I'm not sure.
Now she's on Nexus, rolling with the Direwolf Starship Brigade.
