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 Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:11 am
 Where: The fringe of the swamp When: A short while after the rebels' escape
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 12:14 am
Ephias slogged through the swamp, his thinkpan about as clear as the water that slopped up around his boots. So much had happened in such a brief amount of time. He had hardly made contact with the initiative than it was infiltrated, attacked, and evacuated. He had been hurt. Etsali had been hurt. People he did not know but probably should have had been hurt. Then there were all the bodies that had left behind. How many had been left for dead? The thought make his digestive cavity churn. What was more, he had discovered the initiative was in possession of a mother grub... and that the leader of it all was a mutant. It was so easy to paint the situation in black and white, but the reality was so much more complicated than that. There was no clear right and wrong, and motives which he had assumed were pure were tainted by dubious variables. He should have expected as much. He had always known that things would never be as simple as they seemed. Yet even so, he felt so... under-prepared. His thoughts had settled into a murky quiet. While he had ample time to grapple the ethical quandaries his mind projected, he did not have the heart for it. He was physically and emotionally exhausted, and second guessing himself would only distract him from the danger of the situation. Not that this particular moment seemed especially dangerous. Beside him, Wolly trundled through the swamp, the bottom half of his woolly self dragging through the sludge. On his other side, the creaky wagon carrying the mother grub splashed through the marshland. With every lurch and bump a chorus of squeaks and chirps sounded off. Its passengers were not having the best time.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 2:04 am
Voscil took another step forward through the mud laden earth as she tried to ignore the occasional squish of her shoes. The yellowblood looked uneasy; her eyes would occasionally dart from the mothergrub and her brood, to the face of the other trolls around them. They were so farther from the city she knew and loved so well...she felt the beginning of despair eating at her pump biscuit. What if she was stuck in this icky, warm and awful smelly swamp forever? Could she go back to her life the way it was before this?
The fear of the unknown was a far-cry from palatable and left behind a bitter after taste. Her thinkpan whirled and churned with discord.
A little plop sound followed by crying made her look up. She'd been marching along in a daze really. Voscil rather quickly discovered the source of disturbance. One of the wigglers had fallen off the wagon. It was frustrated and stuck in the muck. Her eyes went wide as she walked towards it. Staring for a moment, Voscil's fingers trembled restlessly. For the first time in her life she didn’t rush. Lifting the squirming troll up off the ground, she was rewarded when it ceased its angry squalling. Still, Vos held it at arm’s length not wanting to actually be touching it. She made a face at it, and found it in her to laugh when the gesture was returned. Gently, she set it back among its companions and quickly moved elsewhere.
Mamaju stayed close to Voscil, with only the occasional limp. Her eyes traveled to the sight of a rather muddy looking lusus whom looked familiar. Voscil dear, is that your friend Ephias’s lusus? Her voice rumbled soothingly. Mamaju's nose brushed her daughters arm to direct her attention.
Surprise flickered across her previously distressed features. There, not too far from the wagon was the figure her mother had mentioned. "WOLLY!” She cried with delight. Running over she gave the lusus a quick hug, burying her face against some of his clean pillow of soft fluff. “Wait, does that mean..?” Vos’s head poked from around the redbloods guardian looking for her friend.
The last time she’d seen him was during Bloodfest, and he’d grown a fair amount since then. “OH! Hey Ephias! It's good to see you again.” Voscil exclaimed, quickly bouncing towards him sending a bit of mud splashing wildly. She remembered he didn’t like being touched; he’d been upset the last time she tried. Instead of throwing herself at him, she patted in his general direction via the air. While she wore a smile for him, it didn’t reach her eyes. Voscil was afraid, although she was sure she wasn't the only one. He looked worse for the wares, and that scared her even more. "A-are you okay?" She added with uncertainty laced in her tone.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 2:09 pm
A familiar voice pulled Ephias from his stupor. Blinking, he glanced around. Some of the clouds faded from his eyes. Suddenly there was a streak of black and gold, and then a troll had thrown herself around his lusus. Wolly let out an alarmed bleat. His tone turned merry as soon as he recognised the yellowblood wrapped around him. He nuzzled her forehead, smearing swamp slime over her face. When Voscil turned to address Ephias, he nodded. Albeit he was a little baffled by her curious gesture of patting the air. Was something there? Was this part of a secret handshake? Maybe he was supposed to respond in kind? Pulling his a hand out of his pocket, Ephias patted the air next to her head. “Hi V-Vos,” he said. Wolly butted the young troll warmly in the back with his muzzle. “Wolly says hi too.” An affirming bleat. Ephias looked down to meet the yellowblood's gaze. It felt weird to be talking down to her. Not long ago, they had been eye to eye. Now he stood at least a half a foot over her. It never occurred to him before, but there was an obvious age difference between them. Not that it mattered. He may have been a little taller and a little older, but she was still his friend. It was too strange to think of her as something as vulnerable as “child”. As Wolly rambled over to shyly reacquaint himself with Voscil's lusus, Ephias made conversation with the yellowblood. “I've uh... been better,” he said, touching the scarf wrapped around his arm. “But what about you? I didn't really expect to see you...” He trailed off. Here? In such a dangerous situation? With the rebels? It felt condescending. “I guess we have a lot to talk about,” Ephias admitted.
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Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:52 am
Voscil’s eyes gleamed with amusement when the other sort of seemed to return the gesture. She shook her head, laughing at the other. “I only did that because you said you didn’t like being held onto silly!” She replied puffing up her cheeks at the other briefly before the childish look evaporated. As she spoke with Ephias, the yellowblood pet Wolly before he shuffled off to go see her mama.
Mamaju nudged Wolly as he approached a coy look on the beasts face. She'd helped him during the underground adventure but he was still so nervous around her even after all this time. Then again she was a predator, and had eaten creatures like him before. However, the shy creature was regarded as a friend to her troll meaning Mamaju treated Wolly accordingly.
Looking away from the pair of lusi Voscil frowned, rubbing at her arm looking uncomfortable. “I’m okay mostly, Mama kept me safe.” She explained hiding her scraped up arms behind her back as she held her hands, rocking on her feet. “Ephias…did I make a bad decision?” She blurted out, looking at him nervously. Instead she held her chin up and made eye contact with the redblood. “I mean, I wanted to help my friends. I was scared and ran to help. But doesn’t this mean we’re one of the outlaws. Isn’t that really bad?” She inquired her eyes searching, trying to come to terms with the situation. Even with Reemus’s words in her mind, she wanted to hear the redbloods input.
She trusted Ephias absolutely with everything they’d been through, how could she not?
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Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 4:10 am
Ephias maintained his usual neutral expression as Voscil spoke. Her words however caused him some trepidation. Her phrasing almost made it sound like she had no choice in the matter, like she had been cornered into her current predicament. She said she wanted to help her friends, but Ephias had not informed her of his plans. That meant... Ephias stumbled as he stepped in a pool that was deeper than he expected. Shaking his boot out, he focussed his gaze on the ground in front of him, or rather the sparse patches of ground scattered between the marsh water. When he was certain of his way again, he turned his attention back to Voscil. “You came with the military,” Ephias said, speaking slowly. It was not an accusation. It made sense after all. He had first met Voscil at a government mandated expedition. He should not have have been surprised to see her at another. If anything, he should have been surprised to see her walking alongside him. Mostly though, he just felt guilt. “Probably,” he replied. Her questions forced his own doubts to resurface. “It's d-d-definitely dangerous.” They had learned that much from their retreat through he tunnels. “But to be honest, I don't really know. Intrinsically being an outlaw is b-bad, but the reason for being one may-may not be. What I do know is that the way things are now... is wrong.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 5:08 am
Voscil had to admit; not having it sugar coated made the situation less artificial to her. It put everything into a new perspective, which she was grateful for. Her brows creased together in consideration, trying her best to examine the meaning of his words. It took her a little bit to respond, but Voscil slowly nodded her head. "Yeah I came with the empire, but..." She trailed off looking ahead with a distant look in her eyes. "Yet, here I am." She replied giving him a curious look when he mentioned how wrong things were. How many times had she been afraid or nervous some troll would get angry with her? Far too many to count. Being against the empire wasn't exactly something she'd ever thought that closely about before until now. Her fear of becoming some military weapon vaguely ate at the back of her thinkpan in addition.
Free thinking was a weird concept, and it made her pump biscuit skip a beat. "I-I guess as far as we've all come, and everything I've seen? I don't think I want to turn back Eph." She still sounded hesitant, but a smile had found its way onto her features. Voscil moved to his side to walk and talk, needing to expend her restless movements somehow. "I mean, even if this is scary." She finally admitted as he hands dangled at her side, loosely balling them into fists. "I want us all to be successful and I can help with that! At least I'd like to think so." Vos held her chin up a defiant look in her eyes, she could be as fearful as she wanted but they were in this together.
Alone it was easy to feel overwhelmed, but his honesty reminded her of the need to look outside herself. "Say, was anyone else with you? I mean with the battle going on it was hard to keep track of everything really." She added suddenly, nipping at her bottom lip as she peered up at the older troll.
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Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:02 pm
Ephias mulled over the subject. Despite her impetuous nature, she grasped the meaning behind his words more quickly than he would have guessed. It showed growth in her character. He only hoped that her decision was not an impulsive one. While he was glad to have her support, if it was merely a result of whimsy then he was to blame. And she had already made one mistake on account of him. At last he gave a slow nod. As the wagon continued to trundle through the swamp, Voscil breached a different subject. This question fortunately was easier to answer than the last. “It was,” he agreed. All of his concern had been focussed on one troll and he had nearly lost sight of her several times. “Etsali came with me. There were a few others, but I don't know if you would kn-know them. Milieu, Vremea, Keionx, a couple of trolls that Etsali recognised...” He glanced around to point some of the trolls he named out, but the group was too far spread.
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Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 5:31 pm
It was great to be coo'd and cuddled a lot but Ephias wasn't treating her like a wiggler! A measure of pride swelled in her, her cheeks tinged a golden shade. Sure it was knocking on wood really, but for Voscil it was a wakeup call. "I'm really going to miss being in the city if we can't go back...but I feel like this is the right choice? I dunno. If culling my friends is what it meant to serve and be loyal..! I don't want to be a weapon for the military." She started to say, not wanting to elaborate on one of her deeper rooted fears besides her hatred of plants. Shaking her head Vos frowned, wrestling with her thoughts. All the goods in the world didn't replace those of friendship bonds she finally reasoned.
Either way she was going to lose something as she saw it anyway. "I guess I'm right where I need to be..." She finally finished before going quite, only the occasional sound of a faint electrical hum could be heard from her. She took another few steps walking along. It felt comfortable for silence, at least for the moment.
Abruptly Voscil reached out to her companion. Her fingers grasped at his jacket sleeve and gave it a gentle tug. "Ephias? Why did ya not come with the army? Uhm I mean I'm just kinda curious why were you with the rebels to begin with? Also I bet we should find the others huh? So! Let's walk and talk?" Besides 'things were bad' curiosity had again enticed the yellowblood. So she rambled out her thoughts contents before letting go of his sleeve her head tilted. All lower cast had their struggles; that was a no-thinkpaner. So what else if anything was there? She wasn't sure she understood all her emotions and feelings right now, but at least Voscil could ask for a little more insight. Soon they would go find the others. Vos just had one more question before they rushed off.
Then with any luck they'd locate some of the trolls mentioned among their scattered forces.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 1:40 am
Feeling a tug at his sleeve, Ephias flinched, startled. During Voscil's stream of consciousness he had zoned out in a way, still listening, but removed from the world around him. Glancing down, he saw the yellowblood clinging to his arm with a troubled expression. He did not pull away. “Etsali went on to scout ahead,” Ephias said, scanning the terrain. He turned his gaze to the stars and made a quick mental calculation. “She was head-headed north so we should meet up with her soon...” Truthfully Etsali had been gone a good deal longer than Ephias would have liked but he knew she was capable. He had faith in her abilities. Even so, it could not hurt to check in. Increasing his pace, Ephias swung right of the caravan to follow Etsali's tracks. Tromping through the mud and reeds, he considered Voscil's question. He did not want to give her an incomplete answer. After a length, he spoke. “For a long time, I've known that there is an... imbalance. In Chittentown it isn't s-so bad, but in other places you see things. Th-the media always justifies it, but there are a lot of cases where people suffer j-just because of their blood hue. I used to ignore it. I thought maybe they were just o-outliers and even if they weren't, there was nothing anyone could d-d-do about it. It's too long a story to get into the details but the reconstruction project... the-the battle at Old Hemisect really opened my eyes. I was with the military back then too, and even though we won, I noticed how much we lost in the pr-process. All the lowbloods who lived there previously were displaced and hive vouchers were given on a f-first-come, first-serve basis.“I guess I was in denial after that. I-I knew that there was a rebel faction, but I figured that they were going to do more bad then good. Change was impossible. At least in my lifetime. Then I met y-you and Zindel, and we made it through the caverns below Chittentown together. We were all only kids, but d-down there, with only a handful of other trolls we made a-a difference. Afterwards, I started looking for opportunities to influence the p-people around me. I uh... admit I was n-not v-v-very successful, but I wanted to do some good for someone. So then, when I met Milieu and she told me about the initiative... I don't know. I felt hope-hopeful.”Ephias paused to recollect his thoughts. His shears jangled noisily against the buckles on his pants as he walked. “There are a lot of people out there who feel the s-same way,” he continued. “And a lot more who feel powerless to do anything about it. B-b-but no one is really powerless. And if I can be a part of something that helps those people and makes the world better f-for everyone else... I'm willing to try. I don't know if the initiative is the place to make that change, but for now it's-it's what I have.”They had made good progress. The caravan was lump on the horizon behind them and they were well and truly in the thick of the swamp.
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