Summer Bugs (8 ) : Last year, one of Destiny City’s historic trees came to life after a lengthy hibernation, and it is livelier than ever. And, thankfully, mostly devoid of strange pods. Unlike the brown, soccer-ball sized pods from last year, these are all small and rarely larger than a tennis ball. The downside is that they have also been found in small clusters in surrounding trees as well. Sometimes, the hard-shelled pods tremble and twitch. Sometimes they split open and an angry cicada crawls out. The pods leak a strange, acidic sap that is strong enough to cause skin agitation–and in some cases there are even reports that it’s burned through wood or fabric. The cicadas are covered in it. Unlike the last generation, these cannot spit acid but it is still incredibly unpleasant to come into contact with them. They are food oriented and will come after everything they think can be eaten–food, clothes, hair. They are little more than a nuisance and never seem to stick around for more than a few days. Maybe it’s a sign that nature is healing–or maybe it’s a sign that there’s still something worse to come.
All the things he'd learned of Earth and it's ever shifting wilds; its fast-seeming to him evolutionary traits. Where between one blink and the next, an entire species could change. Between one year and the next! Wasn't that fascinating? Wasn't that worth learning about? If not the people of the place; who to him felt like a well meaning plague at the best of times, and a mass of chaos heaven-bent on their own destruction at others.
Then at least the other species that inhabited it---
They were maybe worth his time, they weren't cruel, or needlessly snippy, or even intelligent enough to know better! The creatures lived, and grew, and change sans-sentience of any sort.
So quickly---
It made him introspective to consider it all, what he took for granted in his own life, for he felt like was still young even compared to some he knew personally. So very young, especially with his slight centuries scaled against those like The Commodore, or their fled into the ether 'King', or the Council itself. People that he might've deemed 'ancient' by his own thinking. It made him want for familiar company, a simple mission, something strange enough to be worth exploring. He remembered these from last year, smaller things from books, reports on the T.V -- he'd thought they had life-cycles and hibernated in the dirt for extended periods of time?
But not here in D.C, apparently. For it was this time last year that there'd been unrecorded levels of insect-like chaos. It seemed to Tenoch that those sorts of events stayed largely unrecorded, that they were so common, myriad, swept under the rug, that the people of the city went on mostly oblivious to them. To the great, strange, quasi-magical changes they could've represented! Either that? Or there truly was a hyper-evolutionary species of cicada, just, crawling about and changing its size as it pleased to fit -- stars knew what -- weather patterns? Food shortages?
It hardly mattered for all of Tenochs curiosity, for the way he reached out tentatively to Nessaela. For if a bug could do it at such a rapid pace, than surely their people could study that, take advantages from it? When one faces dying after millenia, what is there to do but adapt to it?
And adapt at speed...
He made the message he sent out to her over his ComTech short, sweet, too the point. He picked an hour late enough to not have to worry about keeping up even the mildest of glamors. He'd filled his holding space with nets, bottles, small sandwich snacks and gear. He wondered if it might be worth it to take one of the creatures home? That or -- well -- there was nothing wrong with turning a mission gone south into an impromptu picnic under the shade of an ancient, seed bearing tree. He hadn't asked how her projects were going -- how things had gone with the commodore -- any number of brewing, nancent asks that always felt less important after the moment had passed. That left his mind sometimes as soon as he thought them, if he didn't take the care of writing them down.
In the height of summer, at peak darkness, with little more than the moon, stars, and the light from his wrist to make clear the path from the roadside and into the field of ancient trees, of course that felt like the best time to make a point of asking such things. He nearly sighed at his own folly, starring off briefly into the line of tall, gnarled shadows with limbs that ached to reach the sky; for how heavy they seemed from a distance, laden with something he hadn't quite yet discerned the shape of.
Not that it mattered yet, he'd see it soon as his partner in exploration arrived---
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2024 11:47 pm
Since she'd become a corporal Nessaela had not really been the most social of the Vanguard. She had essentially locked herself into a world of growing research of what secrets the caves that were near the reservoir had in store for her. The one bonus of her being promoted was that she was now able to safely enter the body of water at the reservoir without the entity in the water bothering her. There was still however the sense that the creature simply did not wish for her to continue in accessing the cavern system from below. Success was success but failure still rankled at Nessaela. Even with all this additional power within and there were still obstacles to overcome.
The beeping of her Comtech had the corporal push aside the large map she had been pouring over before she felt her lips quirk upwards in a smile. It seemed like only one individual could get that sort of reaction out of her and even as she hustled to pack everything up into her desk did her fingers construct a message in return signalling her willingness to accompany her fellow cadet on the mission that he'd chosen to embark on.
"Not like I can let him get into mischief without me," she murmured to herself even as she marked the coordinates down that indicated the spot where Tenoch would be waiting ... for her.
If the reason that prompted this little walk into the woods didn't pan out, well at least she would be out of her room for a while, getting some much needed fresh air and exercise. Well, maybe even some well needed company. Upon exiting their dwelling did Nessaela reorient herself with how late at night it was nad with surprising speed she circled around the home in order to head straight into the woods. Easier to avoid triggering her glamour if she disappeared completely into the unknown darkness that lay beyond. It probably took Nessaela roughly a quarter of an hour to follow the path that she was travelling on before she branched off into another direction as she neared the place where Itztenoch would have been waiting for her. The sudden appearance of a rather large and ancient tree marked her slowing approach before she began to search for the one who had invited her out here for the evening.
"Tenoch, I really hope this is not some form of an earth prank. Don't you dare think you can jump out at me shouting boo in order to make me jump."
Where was he? She had followed the coordinates exactly but even as she viewed the area Nessaela began to realize that perhaps her comrade was on the other side of the grove of trees. If that were the case then it was no wonder that she hadn't caught sight of him yet. She would have to travel through the grove in order to reach the other side and so it was with a quiet determination that Nessaela did just that.
"Nessa?" spoken into the void of root-mangled shadows, at the sound of crunching twigs, Tenoch narrowly dodged a low-hanging branch laden with suspiciously heavy looking pods. Moved another out of his way, lamenting his height in the moment even if he knew it'd benefit him later, for that was always the way of these sorts of tasks. Either his natural gifts would help -- or they would hinder -- there was never any way to truly know until he was in the thick of it.
As he trudged on he nearly reached out to use his coms again, but then he saw it---
A flash of green, a wisp of pastel blues. He let himself laugh as he took off with long strides down the ill-kept path. It felt strange to admit to himself that it looked as though Nessa's time on Earth had done her some good. His gaze full of admiration for the way she'd clearly grown into her own, secured a raise in rank. It proved to him that even in keeping to ones-self, growth could be found. That maybe his own failures had everything to do with *himself*; not the planet, not their people, not the home he'd left behind. It was a funny mix of sobering and delightful, a messy little swirl of feelings he felt deserved examining later...
Much, much later. He was happy enough to see her now, shaking the mouldering sense of introspection free of his mind and meeting with growing joy. He'd always liked her sense of humor. The easy comradery and tease they'd always shared. How she had remained a familiar enough to be nostalgic sort of grounding force in his life.
"Nessa! There you are---" and he slowed to greet her, his steps marred only slightly by drippings of what he assumed was sap and blooming fauna. "It's been too long, look at you. Soo--- I assume your talk with the commodore went well?" and how long ago had that been now? Weeks, months? He felt like time slipped here, far too quickly to track with how earth constantly changed.
tefla
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2024 10:49 pm
"Which talk was that?"
Nessa's gaze turned downward just for a moment as she recalled the one time where she had stormed off after their Astrayan adventure debriefing. But it was with that first discussion with Lyndin that at least she had been set onto this path of research. In that regard the research had eventually led to the second conversation with the Commodore, and her promotion. There might have been a trace of something in her voice, perhaps petulance, when making the comment back to Tenoch before she shook her head. It wasn't his fault that she still seemed to be in a bit of a funk.
"Sorry. That was uncalled for. I've been rather anti-social as it is, locked in a world of research, that I've forgotten how much I loathe research at times."
Now Nessaela really had a chance to peer around at their surroundings before she simply swept back a bit of the hair that was constantly in her line of sight before she sighed. Sliding an elastic off her wrist the corporal soon had the problematic strands dealt with before she gave a grin to Tenoch, "It has been way too long, I have to remember there's a whole world outside of my room."
He had to think, for there had been a few times it'd been mentioned hadn't there? Times certainly he'd felt the Commodore needed talking too. But to pin down when-- After the acquisition of the plant seeds, maybe? After the less than friendly bots from space? He looked into the middle distance of his mind and then, smiling softly, shook off her apology.
As far as he was concerned? There was nothing to apologize for, least of all him.
"Don't, I simply assumed you must have given your new status--" a wave to her form, the upgrade clear in her attire, in the way she held herself. He was proud, in his own way, hard as the words were to say aloud. He found always an absence of jealousy where his comrades were concerned, how he couldn't find it in himself to be envious of his pod-mates. Those he'd struggled alongside and landed with what felt like such a short time ago..
"All that time sequestered away must have done you some good, just look at you," and he wanted to hear more of what she'd worked on, on whatever secrets she'd dredged up that the commodore had found worthy enough to give her a promotion for! To gossip, maybe, about Earth itself -- about whatever she was into.
"I did miss you though, Nessa." He thought maybe he'd ask her later? Take her somewhere nice and -- no matter how much he loathed it himself -- pull a glamor on for the sake of milling about the nightlife the seasonal festival activities drew. Humans so much like bugs themselves, drawn to bright lights and sweet foods. "And hopefully you're not too sick of research to poke at a few bugs with me, for fun, more than science---Well, maybe just a little science?"
tefla
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2025 10:06 pm
Her eyes crinkled upwards in easy familiarity before lowering a little. She still found some things difficult to deal with, like for instance, trying to curb her recklessness, but it was nice to simply hear what sounded like genuine praise coming from a friend and fellow member of her race. Placing one hand on the hilt of her newly upgraded weapon she detached it from her hip before offering it over to Tenoch to examine if he wished, at the same time she found her voice and spoke, "it's not been an easy time away though. I miss things now that I wouldn't have before. It's like all my focus is on this one task I was assigned and yet I begin to miss other things that are happening all around us in the city, and the world beyond."
She moved to sit on the exposed root of a nearby tree before stretching out. She didn't have to fear that Tenoch would mess around with her upgraded blade but still she cocked her head to the side to watch out of the periphery just to make sure. There had not been a reason to test what possible new powers the blade carried as Nessaela did not wish to carry it with her on her dives and that would have been the only other time she would be out and about, "the new look came with the upgrade. I'm not sure I'm used to it yet and I often leave it behind. Haven't even field tested it on anything living as I don't want to make something or someone suffer just for curiosity's sake. I know that's possibly the wrong approach to take with my new status but I think it's the correct one."
Peering around at the clearing that they were in Nessaela took in the apparent ancient trees before turning to gaze back at Tenoch, "so, what sort of bugs are we talking about here?"
He envied her in some ways, yearned for that same type of singular focus, to be able to pour himself into a task and -- like so many of his fellows -- climb ranks, if not with ease than with purpose. But he so often felt listless, like one of the humans many floating ships, cast off to drift amongst waves both mild and rough, a slave to the currents of time and the whims of others because he was rudderless, had no true drive, when left to his own devices.
Which made small moments in-between the monotony of looking for himself, much like this, mean so much more. Especially when he could spend them admiring Nessa, when he could devote some amount of pride he lacked for himself to her and her ability to find a way to thrive in the face of all the adversity they'd crawled through both together and apart.
"Well, it's certainly a good look, and we may have some need to test it here soon? You see these---" Smiling softly as he crouched low near her, and indicated all that hung in the trees above, his gaze drifting between the pods of insects and leaves, and back to Nessa's regalia, her belt, the blade that he didn't quite wish to touch just yet. He'd always prefered a gun -- something that gave him some range and distance, he'd much rather let the blades be for those trained in them . "They're 'Cicada-like', but I wouldn't dare to call them true Cicadas. I can't discern if its the result of a migration typical of their species...."
Or if it was something more.
Because he could've sworn that last year they'd been larger, more virile, more aggressive in that when he'd stumbled upon them by now they'd already been awakened and buzzing like a swarm defending a non-existent hive.
Or maybe it was that they were just hungry and he'd come around dinner time?
"But what I've learned in my recent studies is that they come around on a nigh yearly basis. They seem to skip times here or there, whether that's due to the weather required for whatever their incubation period may be? Or something else..I'm deeply unsure...but the last time I was out here, they were far less pleasant to deal with than this." A brief one shouldered shrug, as he picked carefully through his response. He didn't want to outright ask Nessa to kill something, even something with as small an impact-death as an insect. Not if her feelings towards her new status leant towards -- well -- not passivity, he'd seen her fight, but a more defined use of what she'd gained?
Yes, he could get behind that.
"A bit like our kosopod friends, I think? Only far less on the all-consuming, acidic kind. Because they come and go and Earth still seems to be standing even after their departure...I would...however? Not mind at all gathering a sample or too, and then taking it home. I'll even take the empty pods...just out of curiosity..."
tefla
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2025 1:08 am
As Tenoch commented on how her new look suited her Nessa felt the slightest warming at the compliment before she gently took her blade back from her friend. Instead of clipping it back to her belt though she listened as to what Tenoch was saying before she nodded. If push came to shove, and she needed the blade to defend from the possible horde of insects that could be hiding then wasn't it better to keep it within reach of her grasp, just in case?
After putting the blade down on her right side Nessaela turned her attention to what Tenoch was explaining in order to get a read on the situation. The idea that these insects were not of Earth was interesting. Nessaela hadn't been with the group that had gone to the museum to fight Kosopods but that had ended with a few specimens being brought back down to Earth to study. Her gaze went to the nest-like structures that were in the trees above them before she activated her ComTech in order to at least see if these creatures appeared to give off any sort of potential signature that one could use to track them. When the screen remained blank Nessaela shrugged her shoulders before she hunkered down next to her friend.
"So it doesn't look like they have any discernible signature to lock onto. They seem to be more shy than before if what you say is true. How long did it take for them to become aggressive once you found yourself in their space?"
Nessaela once more cast her glance to the nests that seemed to be everywhere. What would it take to climb a tree and simply slice down a nest in order for Tenoch to study it?
