[LOC] The Root

[kamileunaire]

Larque's blood pusher was pounding so hard he could hear his pulse in his ears. Out of nervous habit he had begun to chew the inside of his mouth, and he could taste blood as he hung behind the destroyed chunk of wall, watching as Tamiya approached the grisly scene like a robot. He wanted to tell her to stop, and insist that they keep moving, but he knew it would be a waste of breath to make such a suggestion. It was why she'd wanted to come in the first place. He stayed put, mad at how jumpy he felt, angry at the way he nearly leapt out of his skin when Mantismom finally (and unexpectedly) crawled up to the room they were in, too nervous to let the youngsters out of her sight for too long.

Larque was no stranger to death. Old Hemisect was full of violence, and he'd seen his fair share of it...but this was different. These trolls hadn't been outmatched in fights, or struck down during territorial disputes. Even the strongest wouldn't have been able to survive an event like this, and the sights and smells made his stomach sink. These trolls had not deserved the end they had received. If the military couldn't even make a building to last, it was no wonder Old Hemisect was in shambles, he thought with bitter naivete.

After taking a moment to steel his nerves, he leaned around to keep an eye on Tamiya. She had explained her ways to him in great detail some time back, during their second or third meeting, and her beliefs were still puzzling, to say the least. His instincts had begged for him to ditch her, but fate had tied them together, just as she had with her strange ritual, and his lusus seemed to hold the belief that she would have some influential effect on him as a friend. It wasn't that she was a cruel person...but the things she'd told him never failed to set him on edge. It was a lot to digest, and now he would get to see her in action, exhaling quietly as his lusus aided in freeing the body.

Larque watched her ritual in silence, knowing not to ask questions or interrupt. His brows furrowed, and when she began to cry out, he was distantly reminded of the racket he had heard during the tea party they'd had during their last visit. It was all so strange to him still, and he had become so focused on her that her lusus' arrival gave him a start. He'd already begun to back up, even before Kabukidad had turned to hiss. Well, he'd had enough, and they wouldn't need to ask twice. With a quick nod, he backpedaled before turning, intent on exploring in another direction while Tamiya regrouped. Mantismom slunk after him carefully, and after a minute or two, his wandering brought him to a smashed window.

He used a solid piece of rubble to clear the bottom edge before carefully climbing through, and instantly regretted the decision as he was hit with another wave of putrid death-stench. Of course. "<********. We shouldn't be here." He growled irately, talking to himself as he tiptoed through the room, mindful of the floor. There was a dresser on one side, the first lootable thing he'd seen since their arrival, and he was intent on giving it a check. Mantismom stood watch at the broken window, a bit too large to follow Larque through.

larque and tamiya are togetherrrr  

[zeflamigo]

Everything happened so fast, the purpleblood spotting them, Vremea sweeping up her lusus and rushing Odette to safety. The fear ringing in her head made her thoughts cloudy, but with Vremea she knew she was safe. The yellowblood had brought Odette back to the first room they found. The stench of death was hard for Odette to bear, but knew it was probably harder on Vremea. She was amazed that her friend would sacrifice in such a way for her.

Vremea let swanmom down and Odette rushed to her, hugging her tight. "I-I'm okay," Odette answered. She wasn't unfamiliar with running away from highbloods, though her blood-pusher was still beating fast out of fear for her lusus. She reached out to the shaking lowblood and touched her arm. "Vremmy, are you okay?" Odette asked with concern. "Th-that purpleblood... she was a kid... she can't give us too much trouble." That wasn't necessarily true. "Well, not when we can run faster."

Odette stood and outstretched her hand for Vremea. "Now, let's keep moving, there might be more looters around..."

Odette led the way this time, and somehow she ended up back at the garden they just ran away from? She couldn't believe she was lost already. This adventure was definitely not going as planned.  

[seekingCylem]

[ Didero's breath caught in his throat. His pants were cold and heavy with the sensation of this... Didero refused to call it anything but sludge. There were spatters of sopor slime of course, but the reddish hue...

Didero pulled his scarf up over his face and breathed into the thick fabric. He'd come in through the ablutionblock. Pipes had definitely burst. Maybe the water was just rusty. Yeah. That had to be it.

The smell of the neighboring room was sticking to Didero's nose. He quickly moved further down the hall.

Hatoful Dad was eager to keep moving. The palpable danger in the area was enough to keep him quiet, but he still bopped around anxiously whenever Didero slowed down.

The pair came across the nutritionblock. The ceiling had caved in here, but the rubble had piled up enough that Didero figured the area was fairly stable. Something was glittering near the cabinets, so he needed to take a closer look.

There were a bunch of kitchen utensils scattered among the wreckage. A number of cabinets had been taken out by the debris. Didero wondered how much of this was from upstairs.

Hatoful Dad perched on the edge of the remaining counter top while Didero picked through the rubble.

The handle of a fairly nice kitchen knife jutted out of the side of the pile. Curiously, Didero pulled it out.

Didero paled. The knife blade was... dirty. Didero laid it gently atop the rest of the trashed silverware.

He looked up and around for a way out of this particular hiveblock. Nothing to see here! ]

 

[thyPOPE]

Alifax...okay, it was probably true that Alifax would look down on another troll for trusting too easily. But Alifax was not in the habit of having or keeping friends (or at least - not friends who didn't FLARP, and especially not friends who were younger than himself - and he was even less familiar with the concept of, well, small talk, and so he felt satisfied with Kursha's answer. Though it was perhaps unfair - trouble had excited even Alifax, when he was younger, and it did seem as though Kursha was more thrill-seeking than most. Besides, it was probably a pretty dangerous ruin, and if it'd been structurally unsound before, it was worse now. Before he could phrase that thought into something that sounded much more polite, though, Kursha's quick ears had already caught the gentle cooing of the dove - as had the colonel's.

Alifax was not himself particularly bothered by the colonel's attempt to take it for a meal (he presumed), and nor was he interested in fighting a lusus for the right - Alifax had, admittedly, tried the same himself before. It did turn out that squab was not particularly rewarding a catch: usually, birds could fly, which made them inherently more difficult to take down, and feathers were much more annoying to deal with than fur when it came to cleaning a kill. Besides, doves were small, and did not yield much meat other than the breast. Rabbits and fish were both much more optimal prey.

But when Kursha began dashing upwards, Alifax followed him part of the way - he was not as nimble as someone Kursha's age, of course, but he did feel as though he should at least make a cursory attempt to spot him, so to speak. He watched the greenblood dash up the wreckage and back down again with the - injured, of course, Alifax noted - bird in his hands. "A bird?" he answered. He wasn't sure what Kursha wanted by it. "You were very quick," he said, wondering if that'd been what Kursha had meant by the question. And, well, Kursha had been: the Colonel had gravity on its side, as well as actual flight rather than quick legs.

He'd read, occasionally, of birds being used to ferry messages, or trained to hunt - although of course Kursha had the Colonel for that, and the dove did not look fierce. Perhaps Kursha intended to nurse it back to health and then hunt it for sport within a confined area? That might be an interesting highblood game. Kursha was probably on the lower side of green, but he was probably wealthy enough for that pastime to seem worth its while, Alifax thought - to be honest he was not especially skilled in discerning how many beetles a particular troll was worth, though. Being redblooded himself and technically unemployed to boot, he'd never had enough beetles to his name for it to really matter.

Alifax is traveling with Kursha (Katanari) * U *
Personal inventory: n/a
Group inventory: n/a  

[Magician Arcana]

Never one to be left out, the little troll found herself clinging to hunks of the collapsed hive. Voices echoing from within cued her in that others were there. Wherever there was. Or here was. Eh, it didn't matter much.

The first room she got into smelled.. Awful. Mili gagged silently and covered her nose. Tears began to collect in her lower lids as he eyes shuffled from side to side for an escape. Something was rotting in here, or rotten. Was it a dead troll? Had... Had someone been killed? Whatever enthusiasm to explore was lost. She scuttled out and decided to go to a new area when she was able.  

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

“Of course I was!” Kursha sneered. He was very good at climbing things. His climbing on top of the rampaging lusus during their pursuit of the WACKY weather device should have been a perfectly good example of that. “Anyway, I was talking about the bird, stupid.” He glanced back at the tiny creature cupped in his hands. It cooed feebly. Kursha felt a stab of pity. Then a shock of incredulity went through him. Pity? Pity?! This bird was evoking strange emotions from him. It was dangerous to keep around. Yet Kursha could not bring himself to offer it up to the Colonel. Nor could he leave it behind on the ground as then he would be leaving it vulnerable to get eaten by something else.

This was getting ******** ridiculous.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Kursha interjected. “We’ll bring it with us for the time being. I found it, after all.” As he tucked the bird in the crook of his arm, he shot Alifax a look that was possessive, threatening, and challenging all at once. Then in the distance he saw the Colonel ruffling her feathers. Kursha suddenly remembered where he was… and who he was with. “Besides, it might be fun for target practise later,” he added with a grin. But behind his smile he felt ill. Something about shooting the vulnerable animal just did not seem appealing.

“Let’s get a move on. We’ve wasted enough moonlight already on this crap.”

- - -

The small party had progressed onwards through the rubble and then into the hivestem itself. Kursha had pushed for them to investigate the inside, despite the potential dangers, and Alifax had relented. The Colonel was left behind outside; with her great wingspan flight would be impossible indoors and she would have had to hop along behind. Instead she followed their progress by watching them through the windows and the gaps in the walls. She swooped by periodically, clearly agitated.

Kursha and Alifax had only gone a short ways inside when they discovered a vault against the back wall. It was partially covered by a piece of rubble but with some effort they were able to push it aside. (Pidge had momentarily been set off to the side, out of harm's way). When it had been cleared, Kursha paused. Did he really want to know what lay behind that door? This was a disaster zone. His eyes flickered over to Alifax. Then he laughed and wrenched it open. He would take on whatever came out of it!

Or just simply take, since what came out was shiny, shiny beetles.

Kursha is travelling with Alifax (thyPOPE)!
Personal inventory: n/a
Group inventory: Pidge and beetles.  

[thyPOPE]

Somehow Kursha's testiness didn't manage to surprise Alifax, although he supposed the bird being the subject of interest did. "It looks injured," he said politely, hoping that was the response Kursha was hoping for.

Let it be said that Alifax would never have dared object to Kursha taking the pigeon for himself - for one, it wouldn't yield much meat, and for another, he certainly didn't have the funds to keep a pigeon. Besides, the little greenblood seemed fixated on it for some reason - something that, Alifax found, surprised him. Perhaps it was the cooing, or that the creature was a bird, like Kursha's own lusus. Alifax could not say he found it appealing, although he didn't find many things appealing. And so he merely nodded, edging along after Kursha, with the Colonel an ominous shadow.

It was fortunate for the pair that the rubble seemed fairly, well, safe, for now. They'd seen nothing much of interest and Alifax was glad for that, because with the Colonel left behind it'd probably be up to him and his meteors to fight any battles. He liked the heft of them, though: he'd only tried them out for the first time at the WACKY disaster, and they seemed to work well for him. They took to flame well, too, although that was probably not a good idea in such a confined space - or with Kursha near.

With a start he realized Kursha was pulling madly at a safe nearby, and Alifax rushed to have his meteors at the ready, only to realize that, well, it'd only contained beetles. There was no way Kursha would notice him taking any, right? Well, the greenblood would probably notice, but there were so many of the bugs that it probably didn't matter. And besides, it wasn't like Kursha's reflexes were that good. He tucked them carefully away into his canvas pockets, and then hefted his meteors again when it seemed like the air had been cleared. "Perhaps there'll be more of those," Alifax commented, only joking a little. More money was always a good thing!

He supposed now it was time to start heading deeper into the rubble: it seemed safe so far, anyway, and the outer bits of the ruins had likely already been looted.

But fairly soon they came across a clearing, and a pathway...up? Alifax began climbing in earnest, fairly confident that Kursha was already doing the same, and they emerged on the rooftop of what had been the Root. On top, there were...plants? Did plants grow on buildings? The Root had collapsed only recently; it was rather soon for Alternia to begin reclaiming it. But as he edged closer, he realized that the plants had some order to them: they were gardened, like that little hooded orangeblood he'd met had liked. Someone had already been here, though, and that had been throwing Alifax off.

"Those look useful!" Alifax said, a note of cheery surprise in his voice. Alifax did not himself garden (or cook, at least not to the point where he had any sort of concern about aromatics or flavor), obviously, but his training with the military during the mother grub saga had left him with more than a passing familiarity with salutary (and unsalutary) plants. He snipped some arnica and horsetail, and then paused before turning toward the small feverfew bush and rather shamelessly harvesting its parts.

He gave the herbs he didn't recognize a wide berth, assuming (in many cases erroneously) they were poisons.

[Alifax is traveling with Kursha (Katanari)

Personal inventory: n/a
Group inventory: Pidge, beetles!]  

[purplerosesbeauty]

show spoilerhide spoiler

The investigation is rough and dangerous. Wires and sharp pieces of shrapnel stick out everywhere, making care a necessity. Unfortunately, with one false step you were not as careful as you could have been. You fall into the pit of the building and get wedged in. You won’t be able to get out until someone helps you, and you won’t be able to roll to explore your surroundings in this state.

Cerise kinda felt sorry for all the dead trolls. Well more like, 'haha that sucks for you', because she was a sociopath. Her hivestem was perfectly functioning, and probably wasn't going to break like this one. Cerise did relish the idea of exploring a creepy destroyed building though, especially with her best friend and moirail!

"Hey, hey, Nahori, do you think we'll find a lot of dead trolls? Or do you think drones already took away most of the bodies?" Cerise asked blundering her way through the building, as she began to pick through the rubble. A false step left her slipping into a small pit and getting stuck. s**t! She knew she should have worn better shoes, but she really liked her flats and didn't think this would ever happen to her. After a bit of a struggle, she quickly realized she couldn't move or pull herself out!

"Nahori! You gotta pull me out, I'm stuck!" she yelled, feeling really ******** stupid. She just stepped foot into the building and already she's fallen. Her lusus just sorta stared wide eyed and blankly, tilting her head. What a useless lusus, without proper arms to pick her out of the rubble. Cerise huffed a bit. At least Nahori would get her out.


Cerise is travelling with Nahori (saedusk)!
Personal inventory: n/a
Group inventory: n/a

 

[Sypon]

Tamiya had recovered enough to stand. The well of emotions she had felt was… Different than she’d practiced. The balance must have been restored. She had only settled the karmic force of one body and already she was emotionally drained. Tamiya wanted to go home.

But, her duties called. Kabukidad would have none of her dallying, and soon he supplied her a fresh tub of paint to reapply her garish mask. Larque had gone somewhere in the distance, and Tamiya would follow him soon enough. She made a good decision in bringing him along. He was occasionally slow to realizing her intentions, but even so he showed great promise. He’d take hold of his destiny yet.

Standing up, Tamiya felt aches and pains from her tumble. She hobbled towards where Larque had gone off to. “Larque?” She called. Her voice was strained, but softer than her usual high pitched squeak. She spotted an open window, and an enormous insectoid scythe shifting from within. A sigh of relief. Mantismom.

Tamiya beckoned to her lusus and hopped down near the window. Whatever was inside was stinking – badly. Tamiya covered her nose with her long sleeves, nearly gagging. She handed some herbs to Kabukidad, and he took them inside to deliver to the dead. “If you are in there, I am going to look just outside of this bucketlicking window.”

She returned her head back outside to get a breath of fresh air, thank gog.

But it wouldn't be long before a whirling Alternian aircraft took to the skies. Tamiya gasped and hopped back into the stinking respite block and took shelter in the hive's ablution trap, laying on its side. Kabukidad had, at least, just finished dressing what one could only assume were bodies inside of their recuperacoons. Faint colored stains absorbed into his canvas flesh, and he smelled of blood and herbs. He sat next to his charge. Tamiya stuttered, vaguely blushing under her make-up. "Never mind! I am in here now, ********, if you want Tamiya's help you're welcome to shoot me an ask! Assuming Nitori doesn't come valiantly to the rescue first and you're in a pinch for time o' course surprised )  

[kamileunaire]

"I'll be out in a minute!" Larque called out cautiously, rifling through the drawers of the dresser. He only stiffened for a moment as Kabukidad entered the room, and watched him spread the herbs, before returning to the task at hand. After a moment or two of hunting through the compartments he huffed, unimpressed. Plenty of baubles, but no beetles or anything of value. He shoved the last drawer shut and turned to leave the room, eager to do so in order to escape the horrid stink of it.

However, the moment he reached the window he was bombarded by the sound of the chopper, and ducked down beneath the sill, growling to himself. What would they do to them if they were found, he wondered? Tamiya could use her blood color to get out of trouble, but would that sort of excuse work on drones? He idley pondered the possibility of trying to play themselves off as survivors, but that sounded stupid as well. When the whirring of the helicopter blades finally faded, he scrambled up and out of the window to look for his companion.

"Are you okay? Do you think they saw us?" He asked, glancing around. He caught sight of the hem of her robes, and wandered over, a scowl on his dirt-smudged face as he stooped down. "What're we gonna do if they find us here? We could get in big trouble." He commented, wondering why it hadn't come up before. The security around the place seemed strangely lax...where were the drones? The construction areas around Old Hemisect had more drones than this place did.

larque is with tamiya  

[Sypon]

"I am unharmed," Tamiya muttered. She removed herself from under the ablution trap. Kabukidad slunk into the room, his neck trained on Larque. Tamiya seemed puzzled for a moment before regaining focus.

"I will handle the drones should capricious muscleshittery arise," she began. She seemed sure of herself. "I do wonder why the drones have not come at ..." A curse caught in her throat. "...looters in greater numbers,"

It was quite strange. In a moment of solidarity, Tamiya wondered about the number of drones as well. She had been prepared to flash her caste if need be, but there were hardly any drones patrolling the area. She shivered.

"Let us move on. The bodies have been purified, and I assume you were unable to locate survivors or an alternate exit," she commented, neglecting the possibility of looting.

She stepped outside and looked around, soon spying an odd formation in the distance. "Over there looks promising," she commented. Immediately she whisped towards it, across a flat plane of the wreckage. It was a peculiar assortment of utensils. There were some pigeon feathers here and there. It was almost like the site of a ritual! Intriguing!

Tamiya clapped her hands together in what could be perceived as excitement.

(larquelarque)  

[kamileunaire]

Larque only grunted in the affirmative at her response, and tried not to look too skeeved as her lusus stared in his direction. He'd hoped that the flopping monster hadn't noticed him rifling through the dresser in the last room, realizing that the creature was probably a little wiser to his game than Tamiya was. Would he tell her what he had been doing, or ignore it altogether? Larque sourly hoped for the latter.

"Yeah. Pretty weird if you ask me." Larque glanced around through narrowed eyes. It was a looters paradise, really, despite the danger of it. He was certain he would be able to lift something good, they only needed to keep moving, which seemed to be exactly what Tamiya wanted. He motioned for his own lusus, who followed after them in silence.

Larque only gave a solemn nod in response as he continued to follow her lead. The greenblood still felt horribly tense, despite her confidence in her status, and hoped that it would save him as well, if the need arose. Keeping a sharp eye on their immediate surroundings, and casting paranoid glances over his shoulder every so often, he followed her toward the area she had pointed out.

As they drew closer, his expression seemed to lighten for a moment, until the highblood's clapping distracted him. "What is it?" He knelt, intent on inspecting the rubbish for more promising objects...

(tamtam)  

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

The greenblood rewarded Alifax's enthusiasm with a flat look. Nothing here looked edible. What was he so cheery about? Maybe it was a lowblood thing. Bored, Kursha sat down to play with the pidgeon as Alifax harvested the various plants. He was in the midst of investigating its wing—how was it, one tiny bird could make so much noise?—when the Colonel landed beside him. Tucking the creature in the crook of his elbow, Kursha sat up a little straighter. The Colonel nodded, but more tersely than usual. She was annoyed about the pidgeon no doubt.

“So... what is all that stuff?” Kursha asked when Alifax had finished. Generally, he hated to admit ignorance but the redblood's excitement had piqued his curiosity. Besides, he just wanted to make small-talk as they continued to explore He was beginning to realise that he knew virtually nothing about his taciturn neighbour.

The pair had descended back down into the ruins of the hivestem (just narrowly avoiding being spotted by the aircraft) when they heard a low rumble. Seconds later, the rumble was accompanied by a deep boom. The floor heaved beneath their feet. Kursha threw out an arm to steady himself but was thrown to the ground. From outside, there was the sound of an angry scream.

“What the hell?” He exclaimed when the building had ceased quaking. He pushed himself to his feet. “It was from this way! Come on!” Despite the likely danger involved, Kursha took off at a run. A flight of stairs later found him staring out into the abyss. Gripping the walls for support, he leaned out over the edge. The floor was a dizzying distance below. A fall like that would most definitely kill him. He pushed himself back towards the steps.

“Hey Alifax,” Kursha called cheekily over his shoulder. “You wouldn't know how to fly, would you?” The greenblood grinned.

OoC: Encounter ID change taken into account!

Kursha is travelling with Alifax (thyPOPE)!
Personal inventory: n/a
Group inventory: Pidge, beetles and herbs.  

[Hivestuck]

Katanari

There's a creaking in this well-traveled room... Perhaps it's been explored one time too many. The structure of the room is giving way. Beware!

((encounter id has been changed.))  

[Sypon]

"The utensils," Tamiya explained, "They are pleasing to me in this pattern."

She got up and looked around for the next place to explore. "Let us travel back towards the roof and then down onto the ground where there may have been spillage," she mused.

But the roof was no longer there. A cloud of dust was dissipating from the roof as the two came near it. Tamiya frowned. "This is not a structurally tight shithole we are all up in," she mused.

The night had worn on as the two traveled through The Root. The girl was becoming quite tired from climbing, hiding and her emotional outburst earlier. She sighed quietly.