Running was a thing that Dictys was
vastly improving at, of late.
That was the trouble with things like these. Dictys always signed up, eager to prove emself and get handed that captaincy, and then realized afterwards that there were things that trolls in the military were expected to do, that
Dictys shouldn't be expected to do. Ey was going to be promoted, ey'd thought. Ey didn't need to do this gruntwork! And yet...and yet, here was Regina Marian herself, dirtying her own fins. Somehow Dictys felt wrong protesting. If the queen could do this, Dictys could do this, and better than anyone else here! Right? Ey'd have to. How else could ey get that captaincy, and then that ship?
Ey held Mommydaddy tight about eir throat as ey ran, eager to get away from whatever that hand had been. Their little fin was wiggling in Dictys' finger - how funny, Dictys thought. Except Mommydaddy was nervous, too.
Where are we going, Dictys? they signed. Where
were they going? Deeper, deeper into this thicket...
Ey'd lost sight of eir teammates long ago. Did it matter? If they all ran
straight they'd reunite on the other side - and there had to be another side. Alternia wasn't eternal.
"Deeper," Dictys said, and ey ran. Around the pair, the dead white glow of the plants faded, and something deeper bloomed. That meant no less dangerous, though - the path was far from clear, and the vines and thorns seemed, strangely, to
move. Right into Dictys' face - oh, that was a
fin it'd scratched - augh!
Ey stumbled into a stop, reaching down and rubbing helplessly at eir thumbnail. That thorn had gone right
into the little gap - oh, what if there was a splinter
here? Never mind the scratches building up on eir strong swimmer legs, or the thick trunks whacking em in the guts. This was
pain, fresh and sharp, and it was pain, again, when ey gathered emself to run again and realized that Mommydaddy...was absent.
No, no, no. This had already happened once, in what was now known as Civisect City.
No. Mommydaddy wasn't lost. They were smarter than that. Dictys could head forward into the brush - green, green,
green - and so would Mommydaddy, and on the other side they'd both emerge, and they'd be safe. Dictys had asked too much of eir lusus already. It was bad form for a captain to ask eir recruits to do...to do more, proportionally, than ey would do emself. If Mommydaddy gave this much of themself for Dictys' sake, then Dictys would do the same.
When the plants...stopped, should have been the word, but they hadn't stopped: just made a clearing for themselves. There was a chamber. Dictys tumbled out and saw Regina standing side-by-side with Lorata, still sans lusus, and...and...Eostre Diazzi and that Aandes fellow ey'd met at that
horrid gerbil affair. And someone tall, and green, and with pale, glowing skin. Something out of a television show, or a dumb novel.
What ey didn't see was white. What ey didn't see was Mommydaddy. Ey'd have let out a wail but there'd been enough time for screaming. Dictys had to search with resolve, especially while Regina was...
dealing with the man, in her own way.
So as the trolls behind em (before em?) spoke, Dictys turned back and searched through the vines on the floor and the mean-looking shrubbery, wishing that ey, too, had a psychic connection with eir lusus. Dictys had a responsibility to them!
Where were the nice plants from the beginning? The lovely dead ones who led the group's way here?
Where was Mommydaddy? Where were the rest of the people sent to search for water? Perhaps they'd found where this...this troll was storing it, or perhaps they'd stopped like reasonable trolls once they'd come across the pools of water and begun the slow trek back to retrieve harvesting tools. Dictys had to comfort emself with that.
Mommydaddy...
People were talking. Trolls were pouring in after Dictys - none with a lusus chaperon. Dictys looked from troll to troll, stumbling about in the back lines, and yet...
The rainbow drinker was saying something. It didn't matter, because the plants were shaking, and suddenly all Dictys could see was white. Well, no - it was white, mixed in with the green of vines and branches twined around lusii like...like tentacles. Dictys breathed deeply and began the search.
Around em trolls were beginning to fight, or weaving in and out of the mess of lusii themselves. To Dictys it didn't matter.
It wasn't until the drones started arriving that Dictys spotted Mommydaddy, small and soft, and ey lunged for them. Knife, knife...oh, ey hadn't lost it. Breathing a sigh of relief, ey pulled it out and cut carefully at the vines holding them down. Oh
no, their eyes were closed, and...were they breathing?
As the little vine across their chest (was it a chest? Guiltily Dictys remembered ey knew next to nothing about eir own lusus' anatomy) was cut free, lovely violet blood spilled.
Thorns. Ugh. Well, whatever. Mommydaddy was here now.
"We need to -" Dictys began, and Mommydaddy opened eir little, little eyes. Dictys hadn't realized until now how
miniscule eir own lusus was in comparison to some trolls'.
Fight, Mommydaddy said, and dove in.
That wasn't what Dictys had meant to say at all!
ooc info
HP: 40/40 (missed first round; sypon/ami let me know what to do later i guess ;; )
damage done: n/a, freeing post!
stuff: novice agility b
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