"Oh. Okay!" He enthused immediately. He liked the idea of exploring! Indoors, no less, where there wasn't any sand and maybe they had air-conditioning! Reemus, slightly unusually subservient to this lowerblood at this point, didn't see anything wrong with the idea; nothing else was going on and, hey, maybe they could help or something?
He then looked to his lusus with a big smile and hope in his eyes, looking for her permission. On any other day, Gillian would love for her pup to play with someone his own age and species, and it would help with his recent simpering moods over the drought, but...she looked at the hole and whined a little, asking him how she was supposed to follow him in. The hole was much too small for her, and it wasn't like she could barrel down the front doors to keep up with him.
"Awww, I'll be fine," Reemus said, already moving to boost Nervit into the station. "If anyone tries to mess with us, I'll- I'll- bite 'em!" He stood with his back to the wall and his hands clasped so the orangeblood girl could push off his palms into the hole. He had seen it in a movie once or five times. "Just- just pretend I'm at the store or somethin'!"
Gillian pointedly let him know that this wasn't like waiting for him to grocery shop at all. But she wasn't growling or pulling him away, so the mustardblooded tyke ignored her, instead speaking to Nervit again.
"C'mon now, let's give it a burl! I'm Reemus, by the way, mate."
TanuKyle
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 4:41 pm
Voscil's gaze shifted to the Redblood when he asked about identifying the plants. “Nope, not a clue on that one man. That knowledge check its in my spell book.” She teased, reminded of her favorite Flarp persona she played as. Her reply was followed by a wide toothy grin. “It's okay. We’ll figure it out I’m surrrrre~” She extended the last word as she bolted to keep up with them.
For what it was worth, they were making progress in exploration and undetected to boot. “You think anytroll in town might know a thing or two about plants?” Voscil added her voice trailed off as they entered the next area. Voscil peered around the massive chamber, including the pipes and how still more plant matter seemed to be growing out of the pipes by the looks of things. Without thinking she darted around them to go inspect the area much like she had before. “I’ll scout ahead!” she called already on the move.
Once she'd found a piece of pipe containing a plant growing from it, she crouched down and managed to snag a piece of plant matter. Perhaps they could use it as a comparison to the one they'd grabbed already. “So. Do you all think we should use another sample like this, so we can compare to the other room?” She inquired clearly excited at the prospect. Granted the sample she had retrieved wasn't as neatly extracted. Vos had tugged at it until it gave, giving the plant stock a fairly sad and worse for the wear appearance.
(( sorry I'll try and not let my next reply be as delayed guys! ))
Athene was glad to be out of the crowd, although she was sure she'd be back in awhile later. It was ridiculous, the lack of water, although she was glad she'd managed to find Vremea in the crowd at least. That had been enough of a challenge.
"It has been too long." Athene agreed, moving forward to give Vremea a quick hug. She was glad to see the troll again, although she moved a little awkwardly after the hug. It was still a little weird to get used to from being so emotionally distant. "We've been okay," She started, although began to frown, "He's gotten older you know, though, and I've had to go find him a few times. I'm a little worried, you've probably come by all the times I've been out finding him. The shop itself is okay." She admitted, looking worried.
"That's not why I came to find you though. Did you get one of these?" Athene asked, pulling the letter out of her bag and showing it to Vremea. If she had to get going soon, she wanted Vremea to know about this at least.
Mili gripped the edge of her whiteboard and stared at the crowd. Their anger spilt over and rubbed against her, and it quickly made her want to join. Nodding, she wrote a quick message and held it aloft so that that guards could read it:
Green Minuet rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1Total: 1 (1-4)
Green Minuet
Greedy Trickster
Offline
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 5:28 am
∞ Ephias Sagine
First there was the WACKY weather disaster. Then there was the slow rebuilding process. Then there was the surge of refugees from Old Hemisect - sorry, Civisect City. Now there was a drought. Normally Ephias was a patient sort. He could tolerate being let down, disappointed, and pushed aside. That was just the way life went as a lowblood. Somewhere though, somewhere he had to draw the line. And like Chittentown's water supply, his patience was running out.
Wolly trotted a short distance behind Ephias, glancing anxiously from side to side as they passed through the crowd. His ears rotated back and forth, flattening against his head whenever someone shouted nearby. The sheep lusus let out a bleat akin to a sigh. This was not exactly what he had meant by the suggestion that Ephias should get out and socialise more.
“I'm sorry. I know you don't like this, Wolly.” Ephias said. Wolly lifted his ears hopefully. “But let's try to stay for j-just a little while.” The sheep drooped. Ephias rubbed at his eyes. Two days without sleep. Two days without sleep and several more without a reliable water source. “I don't know what else to do,” he continued. “I'm thirsty and you are too. Unless something changes...” His voice cracked and he turned his gaze down towards his sneakers. The troll looked so dismal that Wolly wanted to run to him. Instead he took a tentative step.
“No,” Ephias said, expression reproachful and his tone sharp. Wolly's eyes grew large and misty. The troll pressed his hands to his face.“N-no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I'm... real-really frustrated right now, Wolly.” His fingers pushed against the edges of his eye sockets. “I'm frustrated, and tired, and above all, I'm worried. I'm worried about what will hap-happen if things don't change soon and I f-feel like I should do something about it and...”
Ephias was interrupted by a gentle bleat. He felt a gust of warm air on his fingers. Pulling his hands away from his face, he stared into the eyes of Wolly. The lusus met his gaze, unblinking. After a moment, Ephias felt calm again. “Thank you, Wolly,” he said, patting Wolly's muzzle. It was the lightest of pats but Wolly took what he could get. He wagged his tail in pleasure.
“Now then...” Ephias glanced around at the crowd. There seemed to be little order to the protest but they did have some kind of chant going. After listening for a couple rounds, Ephias joined in. He was perhaps less committed than he could have been though, keeping a sharp eye out for any hostile movement.
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 10:59 am
Vremea felt her pull her into a hug, making the yellowbood feel happy— it had been a long since she'd last seen her trusted tailor. She had almost forgotten how close they were in the rush of the last disaster, with Milieu and Odette... Watching her pull away and also look a little awkward, Vremea's eyebrows slid up, until she heard what came after. "Oh, no..." Vremea said softly, eyebrows creasing in worry. Her lusus... Now all Vremea could think of was in Swanmom, the poor thing, and Vremea looked down sadly. "I am so sorry. Let us hope nothing happens to him. If you need help searching, please, notify me and I shall help you. I am sure Odette will be willing..." She mumbled, then pat her friends shoulder.
Hearing her words, Vremea's eyebrows bent in confusion before her eyes widened considerably at her sight of the letter. "I— er... yes, yes we did. Odette received one as well... I..." She pursed her lips, looking down before rubbing her neck. "I have not gotten the chance to read it, as I had to go to work..." She looked down at it, taking the letter gently, reading it over little by little. This writing... The color— jadeblood? "I... This is jade writing..." Vremea said, eyes widening as she looked up to Athene. "Why would there be..." Her heart was pounding in her chest— what could this mean?! That fire had been... Oh god. What if he wasn't dead? A tightening feeling squeezed her chest, making her purse her lips and touch the words on the paper. "What could this mean...?!" She asked, befuddled. She was so confused— this jade blood acted nothing like the old one, or maybe the old one changed...? It had been many sweeps after all...
Whoever works in this room is important. Probably the overseer, or the lead whatever. It's large, open, and with one wall a giant window, looking out into the vast hall with the station's pumping machines. Like everywhere else, it's empty. A pen lies on the floor near the door, and paper is scattered across the desk. Most of it is undecipherable to the laytroll who knows nothing about flange pumping ratios, but all the reports written in red ink with bolded words and underlines show a worrying trend.
Aandes followed Sascha through the hole, trying to avoid the dirt and dust off of his rather clunky boots. Aandes had decided that Sascha's style, while practical, was solid. He certainly had an identity.
Crawling into the plant was the simple part - from there, avoiding any others would have to do. Aandes figured he'd go straight for the throat.
"Hey. What about we head straight to the end? I bet the other kids will be working their way up. We should hit the big stuff first."
Aandes adjusted his clothes and took a sneaky look through the hallway. "What do you think, Sascha?"
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:31 am
[ Sascha nodded decisively. If they were investigating an industry they didn't understand, they may as well aim big.
"Well aren't you a straight-shooter?" Sascha tried to look surprised, but quickly lapsed back into an excited smirk. He gave the factory floor one last look-over. "If the worker bees aren't here, I doubt management is bothering to hang around. Should be as good of chance as any to check out the 'secure' locations."
Sascha rolled his shoulders and marched off in a random direction. He had no idea where the high-level offices would be, but nobody else needed to know that.
Thankfully it only took minimal wandering before coming across a rather spacious office. Sascha whistled upon entering. He doubted even the penthouse blocks of his hivesystem had ceilings this high.
As Sascha's gaze rolled down from the ceiling, he noticed the spread of papers. They were just messy enough to look strange against the wide, slick furnishings of the office. Sascha wandered over, a bit more carefully than usual. The atmosphere was spooky.
"...Lotta red ink for something probably not written by a redblood." Sascha mused while flipping over a couple of sheets.
Bagwormother nosed at a pen lying on the floor, but otherwise stayed on guard near the exit. ]
She replied politely, before hiking up her dress and stepping onto Reemus's linked hands. As he pushed up, she jumped, scrabbling for the hole and successfully pulling herself in. A whispered 'Yes!' was heard as she turned round, lying down and stretching her arms out (so that Reemus's weight didn't pull her down as it might if she stood up) and pulled him up (with quite a bit of struggling, as Nervit wasn't the strongest of trolls. Not weak, true, but more built for speed than strength.) Inching her way down the crack in the wall, she led them out to a great room, filled with machines.
Nervit blinked, and stepped aside to let Reemus into the room.
"It's....huge."
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 2:28 pm
"I will, next time." Athene promised, glad she did have some help now. She had felt partially responsible for the most part, that her lusus was just going off somewhere. The only reason she'd left Fluffdad for the moment because she was sure that he would stay behind and even if he did leave, she'd just find him again. He never did get impossibly far or at most, he'd make it back after a month which was always a little nerve wracking. If he did make it back this time. She pushed the thought out of her mind, focusing back on the letter.
"I... I'm not sure." Athene admitted at the last question, although she was glad both Vremea and Odette had gotten a letter. There were at least some other trolls who had gotten the jade writing. "But I plan to learn. I'm going, to where the letter says." She said, straightening a little at the proclamation. Even if the last run in with the jadeblood had been, well, a disaster, this still needed to be followed. She needed to find out what was going on and it was time to leave. "I just wanted to tell you, in case I.." Athene trailed off, swallowing, unable to finish the sentence. The words wouldn't come, but the intent was probably clear at the very least.
Keionx agreed that another sample would be a good idea, though she looked at the sample Voscil plucked with some misgiving. ”Indeed.” she said, carefully taking another sample that was more intact and passing it on to Alexin for safekeeping, ”Thou hast a good idea...”
A Clang echoed loudly in the pipe chamber and Keionx tensed, her hand on her sword. ”What manner of beast...” she began, but was soon answered.
A drone appeared in her view, it's hemoanonymous armor glittering dully and chitinously in the light.
”Shalt we leave?” she said a little anxiously to her comrades, crouching and heading to the other entrance to the pipe room, poking her head out to check and see if it was all clear...
Right into the crotch of one a very surprised drone.
Keionx reeled back, shaking her head in surprise before realizing just how screwed they were. She offered the drone a smile. ”Er... Apologies?” she said, backing away...
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 5:02 pm
Voscil's cheeks puffed up slightly when Keionx plucked another sample, but at least her idea had been praised. She relented; about to say something but the clanging in the distance of the massive room startled her. Eyes wide, she reached for her own pair of tonfa's nervous they had some weird thing coming at them. "We likely should -- wait what was that?" Vos frowned, a restless feeling causing her to shifted her body weight from one foot to another.
She had tried to reach for the girl as she went to peek around the corner. "Look out!" Vos called out in surprise. It all happened so quickly, even she didn't have time to react.
The drone that had emerged earned a weird look as it was all but crashed into by the orangeblood. The expression on her face turned extremely sheepish when she realized they'd been found. "Woopse...um yeah. Hi there. Nothing to see here. She quickly realized talking to the drone likely wasn't going to do any of her group mates a bit of good. Vos let out a dramatic sigh. "Looks like this might just be the end of the line guys..nice knowing you." She said added, backing up ready to make a hasty retreat.
DraconicFelinex
TanuKylex
Lirendex
(( Lol its okay! This is a really good conclusion to it me thinks :3 ))
Reemus was all too eager to hop up and scrabble up after Nervit as she pulled him to the hole. Gillian whimpered all the while. "I'll be fine, Muuuuum," he drawled into an echo as he slid up and into the hole. Once he made it up there, he followed the orangeblood on into the station. Ahhh, it was so nice to be out of the hot, dry air! The floor was cool under his feet, even. Moving bit by bit down the wall was taking forever. Reemus's excitement pent up more and more, right up until they finally made it into a larger space. Well, more like ginormous.
He jumped in from behind the quiet girl as soon as he was able, and was absolutely astounded by just how gigantic the space was. Just looking up was enough to make him feel tiny. "Cr-i-key! Lookit all a' this!" The kid bounced around the room, checking out pipes one by one, putting his hands on them, sniffing them, trying to climb one, even (until he fell flat on his butt with an OOMPH)
The machinery was also a super neat something! He had no idea what it did, or possibly could do. "Whoa...." He sniffed some of it, then pulled back with a snort. Nice to look at, but don't get too close, apparently. Reemus turned to the pipes again instead, then looked at Nervit. He pointed at some of the greenery pushing through the cracks. "Did ya see this mate?" He started flicking at the leaves a little. "We're in the bloody desert n' stuff's managin' to grow! Isn't it amazin'?"
TanuKyle
Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 12:01 am
Aandes smirked triumphantly. Straight-shooter. He'd keep that up for Sascha's sake. It seemed to be working, so why not keep going with it! Aandes nodded in firm affirmation and followed closely alongside his new yellowblooded companion.
"Dang," muttered Aandes. This was some swanky stuff. He hadn't seen luxury like this since Four Fronds, but it was so -- business-y. At the very least, it was a formal and important looking office. Aandes wouldn't have minded sticking around if he wasn't technically trespassing. He took a few steps around, running his fingers across the fine furnishings.
"I want this to be me." Aandes muttered as quietly as possible - barely registering that the words left his thinkpan through his whisper chute. Koalapops already looked tired, trying to follow behind the greenblood. He curled up in a well-stuffed leather chair and tried to take a power nap, for as long as the kids decided to explore.
He looked over at some of the papers, trying to discern their meaning. Sascha said something fairly astute and Aandes smiled slyly. "They're in the red, huh? 'Cause of the drought, or even something before that? Not that I'm a conspiracy theorist or anything."
Aandes sorely wanted to pocket the papers. There wasn't much of a likelihood that they'd lead to dirt, but there were likely names on those papers. First-hand proof of the tangled political web of an Alternian disaster could have been sitting in front of him. Aandes couldn't take it any more. He waited for Sascha to turn away and slipped some of the papers into his pack, rolling and folding them down carefully.
Alexin took the plant sample carefully from Keoinx, and put it in a different pocket than the first sample so that they didn't get the two mixed up. They were just about to suggest moving on when...well. Drone. Alexin snapped immediately to attention and shouted instructions...well, more like singular, and to the point.
"Run! See if you can get back to the exit!"
They were as likely to outrun the security drones as they were to suddenly sprout wings and fly but..hey, you could only try! Alexin started to dash for the exit, but was easily swept up by the security drone and handed over to another drone, who proceeded to cart the kid off to security.
One thorough telling off later, Alexin found himself deposited outside the front gate. They'd got off pretty lightly considering they were found inside a government building. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the security guard who the drones had taken him to had been significantly lowerblooded than him.
They decided to wait around for the others before heading to the library to check out the plant.
