#herlyn plot

[ladytrollfishes]

Shits about to hit that fan

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[ladytrollfishes]

Surprise!

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[ladytrollfishes]

Oops.  Also screw tumblr and this fuzzy crap. I gotta pay more attention to image size in the future i guess.

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[ladytrollfishes]

And so it begins. This is it! Here we go!

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[ladytrollfishes]

Physeli: Put the Pieces Together

Daginy hasn't contacted you in a week. 

 It's not that unusual for them to disappear. They do their own thing and they're good at it. But a week? Even at their most moody, they'll at least contact you whenever you need an update on what they're working on.

You check the blogs and sites they often contribute. Nothing. Well, writing was hard and time consuming, and even if Daginy was prolific, it wasn't as though they could always churn a piece out every week. 

 You make contact with a few of the regulars, to see if anyone has seen them. Nobody. Okay. Unusual, but did not mean something was wrong. 

 You start investigating. The last project they had been pursuing was an illegal helmsman slaving ring based in a mechanics shop. Scanning the feeds for the past two week, you find a small article about the arrest and dismantlement of the ring. So it was done and Daginy never contacted you? 

You stand and stretch your legs, and grab the grub with the last backup of Daginy's palmhusk data before settling back in front of your husktop. It's not difficult to trace the last known location of their palmhusk. The signal stopped near the coastline, next to the harbor, one week prior. 

You frown, and check the date of the slaving ring's dismantlement. They disappeared afterwards, but not by long- only a day. The article is only a short blurb. Daginy would have covered it in more detail. You sneak yourself into the Alternian Police Department's digital database. 

18 people arrested, 4 confiscated helmsmen. The helmsmen were due to be shipped from the Granite Guts Space Port in the city. The same harbor that Daginy disappeared from. 

You curse their stupid grey ass out to the two moons and back then call Alnica.

That's the port where the Greyhound got caught earlier in the sweep. Your information on their security is out of date because there was no way they hadn't patched any existing security holes.

More importantly, there's no record of an arrest in the books, no unknown child in any of the APD jail cells or in an interrogarroter's chair. What you do know is that the man who runs the harbor has a hatchmate and that hatchmate is Interrogarroter Lyrian Aubade. You know they both will want to know how a kid got into their things. 

You have no doubt that Aubade would want that information from them.  You have no doubt Daginy destroyed their palmhusk and any subsequent notes, because otherwise half your network would already be dead. 

 Daginy- if they weren't already dead- was still in there.

[ladytrollfishes]

Daginy: Get Caught

It's not the only time you've snuck into this particular facility. 

The harbor's a vast sprawling thing clinging to the side of the coast, a giant shipping facility that saw more than a hundred cargo ships come in and out every day. Underneath the harbor, a twisting labyrinth of tunnels kept the building above dry when the tides came in. 

You've got a copy of the map, your lockpicks, a rasp, a first aid kit, some granola bars, your phone and your strife. Hopefully you won't need the last one. 

 This is the plan: 

 The central office should have the cargo shipments and destinations. Each bay has a list but there are too many of them to sort through before your target leaves the planet. 

 Once you've identified the location of the four missing trolls, you'll plot out the nearest sewer entrance, observe the patrols, and depending on how long you at have, sabotage security. 

Once that's done, you get to the trolls, pick their locks or file through them if you need, get them to the waterways and get out. 

 It's feasible, really. You just can't take more risks than are necessary. 

 You arrive at the hatch closest to the central office. You change out of your wet boots and clothes and captchalogue them, and climb up into to service hatch, into a small space behind a hidden door. 

You put an ear to the wall, listening for footsteps. Nothing. You close your eyes and take deep breath. You’re doing this. 

The next breath and you’re invisible. One more and you open the panel, peeking outside. Black boots step towards you and a hand reaches for you. It brushes your hair and your breath catches in your throat. 

“There!” someone yells, and you dodge another grab as you duck into the wall, hoisting and twisting yourself so that you can throws yourself down into the waterways. 

You land with a splash and start running. How did they know where you were going to come out? Behind you you can hear splashes as security drops into the waterways and give chase. 

You don’t bother with invisibility. You can’t mask all the ripples when you’re running in water and they’re too close. 

You dash around a corner, closely followed. This is bad. The maze of waterways sprawls open, complicated as a nightmare. It wouldn’t be long before you ended up in a dead end. 

It’s something, really, to see the end before it comes. You know you’re doomed. The knowledge won’t stop you from fighting as hard as you can, but at least you can take precautions. 

You take your palmhusk out and glance at it. No signal, which figures. What it does have is the wealth of your data; your contacts, some of your notes, and location data. You absolutely cannot let anyone get their hands on it. 

The next corner you round, you smash the palmhusk against the wall, cracking it open before you drop it into the water and keep running. There’s a pang- you’ve been through a lot with that palmhusk- but there’s more things to worry about than that. 

Your pursuers are way too close behind. None of you are wasting breath on yelling, but they are taking swings at you. 

You duck under a blow and trip, plunging face first into the water. Before you can even choke on dirty water, an arm grabs yours, yanking you out. You snatch your notes from your coat, the ones you take in your little notebooks, and toss them into the water too. The pages would melt, the ink would run. Weeks of work. 

“Dammit!” your captor snarls as he grabs your arm and twists it up behind you. You grit your teeth as you grunt, bracing yourself against the ground. “Smart though, to get rid of the evidence. Not that it’ll help you.”

Your other pursuer splashes water in your face and snickers when you flinch. 

“Come on,” she says. “Let’s get them back to base.”

They pull you bodily from the water and start marching you back the way you came. 

[ladytrollfishes]

Daginy: Remember the day everything changed

Flames. Your hive.. it was in flames. 

Your mouth doesn't seem to work as you stumble backwards, as the blueblood approached. He must have followed you home.  "Little dirteater thought they could hide behind the grey," he taunts, smacking a leather whip into the palm of his hand. "That'll teach you to sass me." You can't seem to focus on the threat, not with your home burning behind him.. your lusus-- your lusus was in there. The blueblood raises his hand, and you spare a moment's thought to throw light in his face. He yelps and stumbles back, just enough for you to plunge past him, into your burning hive. The heat presses on your face as you burst in and you bring your sleeve up to your face to keep from breathing too much smoke. You just needed to find your lusus and get out before you burned with everything else. You can't spare a moment to mourn, as your your childhood home, where you had spent the last seven sweeps, crumbles around you. Your lusus-- if she wasn't already dead-- you had to find her. The first room held your husktop and your games, your writing desk with the accumulated scribbles of the last week. The paper was already black, curling, as flames flickering up the sides of your desk.. It was your lusus' least favorite room, with nothing to grip. The door to the next room was open, ajar, and you burst into your kitchen which was already well ablaze. Heat scorches your ankles and you notice your pants have caught fire. You beat at it with your hands, putting it out, wasting precious seconds. You dash over to the sink, and throw the tap the highest it can go, wasting more time, but maybe it'd save your life. You grab your dish towels and thrust them under the stream, then stuff them in your pocket, putting one over your face. It's a good thing your hive is small. You run into your bedroom, and immediately spot your lusus, perched on top your bed side lamp that was slowly catching flame. Her mouth was open and her eyes were whirling, but you couldn't hear the grumbling noise you knew she'd be making over the roar of the fire. Relief nearly knocks you off your feet but you're more sensible than that. You need to get out. You hurry over, and grab her, fishing one of the damp clothes from her pocket and wrapping it around her. Above you, something creaks. You glance around, wildly, then a crack splits your ceiling. You throw yourself forward as your room collapses. Your lusus skids from your grasp and out of harm's way, but it's too late for you. Burning debris crashes onto your leg and you scream. Your lusus crawls back toward you, as you bite your lip so hard it bleeds, and tears bead at the corner of your eyes only to instantly evaporate. She places a padded foot on your face as you strain to pull yourself free from the debris. She’s too small to make it on her own.  You had to carry her if she was going to survive. Biting your lip and trying to ignore the flames licking at your clothes, you strain to pull free, wiggling the best you can until your foot pulls free from its shoe and pops out of the debris. It's broken, or at least badly sprained, and your pants are well and truly on fire now, but you can't take the time to feel the pain right now, otherwise the rest of the house would fall on your head. You grab your lusus and deposit her on your head, then scramble forward on all fours as fast as you can. At least it's less smoky down here. The floor is burning, and it sets your pants and sleeves on fire, and blisters the palms of your hands but you don't stop. You escape the kitchen just as it collapses, and you can see the finish line, into the cool darkness of the night. The ceiling of the last room creaks as you're halfway across it, and in desperation, you force yourself to scramble to your feet, throwing yourself into the cold just as the last remains of your hive collapse. The cold pavement underneath you is the best thing you've ever felt, and you roll flat onto it, facing the night sky. You cough and fresh air flooded your lungs, and maybe that was the best thing you've ever felt. There was pain stinging through your every nerve and throbbing in your ankle, but you were alive, and so was your lusus. You don't register the sound of footsteps till someone says, "So the rustie lives." The highblood. Your eyes snap open, and you try to sit up but a boot presses on your chest and forces you back down. "Didn't think you'd make it out again," the subbjuglator says, his voice soft and sickeningly sweet as he presses down harder. "I'm glad you're okay." You grab his ankle, as you struggle to take breaths, trying to shove him off. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a disrespectful little lowblood." He shakes his head. "Why don't you do as your superiors tell you and die?" He pushes harder, and you feel your ribs creak. You feel your lusus patting your face. You couldn't die now, not after having survived all that. You hold onto his ankle and uncaptcha your knife. He sees the flash of light and forces you down harder, and something cracks, just before you jam your knife into his calf, spraying you with dark blood. He howls and stumbles backward and you're free for the moment. Air rushes back into your lungs and you struggle to focus. If you could only turn invisible-- "Bitch!" he roars, and kicks you, sending you flying. You hit the pavement again with a grunt, the pain blurring your vision. There's a waddling white blur on the pavement; your lusus. You left her behind and now the tiny white lizard scrambling towards you. At the very least the subbjugulator seems to be ignoring her. His eyes glittered in the firelight with anger as he approached, holding the knife you stuck in his leg. You cough, and roll over, but you can't push yourself up. You have nothing. No strength, no focus, no weapons left. All there was left was to die, but at least you can go out stubbornly. It's a stupid gesture, but you manage the strength to raise a fist and flip him off. It was only too bad your lusus would have to watch you go, but at least she might survive. He growls, infuriated by even the simplest gestures of insolence, and lunges. "Hey! Stop that!" Someone blurs onto the scene, and punches him in the face. There's an obvious crunch and the subbjugulator falls to the ground. Your unexpected savior is a lowblood, yellow. She was on rollerblades, with twin blades strapped to her arms. Firelight flickers across her face, the shadows carving out the lines of cold anger down her cheekbones. "You have twenty seconds to justify yourself," she declares, pointing at him. The blueblood wipes off his bloody nose and stands. He draws his whip. "I don't have anything to say to you filth," he says, and spits in her face. Your lusus manages to get to you, so you scoop her up in your hands and try to sit up. You don't think you can run now though, as wounded as you are. If this lowblood loses, then you're still dead. The highblood tosses your knife to the side and draws out a longer blade to pair with his whip. The lowblood narrows her eyes for a moment, but doesn't move. Suddenly, her opponent yelps and drops the whip. It's smoking slightly. Faster than you thought a person could move, the lowblood speeds forward in a burst of smoke and jams the point of her blade into his skull, with a crunch and squelch. 

It's over, so much faster than you thought it would. You were afraid you might have had to watch her long, drawn out death. She yanks her arm from the dead body, and lets it collapse without ceremony, shaking off the bits of grey matter and dark blood as if it were dust. Her strife disappears back into her sylladex as she turns back towards you. She squats down and holds a hand out. "Hey," she says softly, and you realize you've been cowering from her. "I'm Herlyn." You lick your lips and try to talk, but your throat is completely dry. She uncaptchas a water bottle and unscrews the lid and taking a sip to show you it's safe before handing it to you. "Don't drink it too fast okay?" she says. You look down at the bottle, hesitating, then took a small sip. The water was cool and slid cleanly over your parched throat. You take another mouthful, trying to control yourself. "Daginy," you croak between mouthfuls of water. "They/them please." "Nice to meet you," she says, "Only wish it could be in better circumstances. I'm going to help you okay? Is that your lusus?" She pointed to the lizard you cradled in your arm. You look down and nod. Your lusus was reaching for the water bottle so you cup your hand and pour a little in it for her. "We need to get you somewhere safe," she says, "You look pretty badly hurt, so I'm going to carry you okay? It's my moirail's place." You hesitate for a moment. You barely know this troll. But she was offering you some semblance of safety, and it wasn't like you had anywhere else to go. The still burning ruins of your hive wouldn't in the background wouldn't let you forget it. So you nod, and she scoops you up. "They'll come after me for his murder," you murmur and rest your head on her chest. She's really a lot taller than you. "He burned my hive down." "Hey hey, we'll figure it out when we come to it," Herlyn says, rubbing her thumb in circles on your shoulder. "Right now, let's just get you somewhere safe."

Herlyn: Get to safety. 

[ladytrollfishes]

Ferra was friends w/ Herlyn first. One of her oldest actually. Part of the shitty little street gang they ran around in before Herlyn adopted Alnica. 

She's the only one who Herlyn keeps in contact with now, and vice versa. 

Guess who had a pale crush on Lyn. This troll. But let’s be real who’s not pale for that crazy motherfucker. She never told Herlyn though, and got over it. Then she took up with this greenblood dude called Saiyle. They bonded over keeping other trolls out of trouble. Saiyle’s matesprit, Izinal was redblooded, and constantly in trouble because he couldn’t quite control his psionics. 

Then one day, Izinal went missing. Turns out he stepped wrong one too many times and got helmed. Saiyle didn’t take it well, and despite Ferra’s protests, ran off to try and get him back. 

She hasn’t heard from him since. Instead she goes out with Herlyn sometimes to play superhero and find lowbloods in trouble and give them a hand. Usually Ferra goes first because her way of doing things usually ends with less people dead. Herlyn comes in and beats people up if things don’t go so well. 

That’s how they meet Daginy, actually. Well, just Herlyn. Ferra wasn’t there the day Daginy met Herlyn for some unspecified reason and when she got back, Herlyn and Alnica were nodding along to a tiny hemoanon on Alnica’s couch speaking deep deep treason. 

There is a very large fight after this, which ends with a rather injured Daginy staring down Ferra and Ferra storming out of the apartment. 

It’s pretty obvious that Alnica and Herlyn got attached to Daginy real fast, so Ferra tries to figure them out. They hate it so much bc they already have privacy and paranoia issues. They’re way more stubborn than Ferra is too, so they just don’t give in. Ferra really really hates a mystery. They’re at each other’s throats a lot.  

They do get to know each other better after that, and sort of appreciate the intent behind the other’s actions, while thinking absolute shit at each other. They do tip into a pitch relationship, but it doesn’t work out because Daginy is incredibly ace and Ferra is incredibly not. They have to get Herlyn to act as an auspistice every so often, which she is surprisingly good at. 

Ferra is not a part of the Magpie’s reach. Not officially at least. Sometimes she goes and helps Daginy out every so often because they’re in danger so much of the time. It’s absolutely infuriating but Daginy appreciates it. They know Ferra’s sympathies lie with them, and that she won’t turn them in, which is honestly more than they can say for most people.