As graceful as the Mauvian was in the low-gravity environment, floating in an elegant roll through the static tear as he taunted Reggie... he suddenly wasn't. Someone had turned the heavy back on. With barely time to eep in shock, Orias plummeted like a rock through the new jungley nighttime expedition show or whatever it was. After all, he WAS dangling a heavily-muscled man on the end of his new favorite scarf. Thankfully his feline reflexes kicked in during the fall, and in a dazzling display of dexterity and quick reactions the boy swung, bounced, and rolled off branches and trunks to land in a low crouch in the underbrush. The length of his scarf coiled in a loose pile about him, obviously having come loose from Regula.
"Crikey!" Orias exclaimed in his best Australian accent. "What kind of namby nature show have we-"
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR.
The volume and intensity of the reverberating cry made the cat's teeth chatter. Monster flick. Of course, it couldn't just be a nature documentary with fun accents.
"What kind of sick b*****d TV are you?!" Orias shouted to the sky, referencing the television, of course.
The answer was a rumbling thump of a footstep that actually lifted him ever so slightly off the ground. The beast, whatever it was, was close. His companion was nowhere in sight, despite the Mauvian's night vision serving him well in the foliage. Right, time to run. Yet again there was a convenient tear in reality ahead, but it looked rather far this time.
Taking off in a quick dash, the youngster vaulted his first creeping tree root... only to smack flat on his face on the other side. He hadn't quite cleared the obstruction. What a silly mistake, surely he'd been distracted by certain death chasing after him. After all, the staticy doom could be seen in the distance as well. Yes, that was it.
Like lightning he was once again on his feet, surging forward in a sprint. This time it was a hanging vine that caught him in the side, sending him careening to the damp soil once more.
"Hellfire and damnation!" Orias cursed, thumping a fist into the dirt. "Stupid gravity, turn back off! I was as graceful as a swan! They would've written ballets about me!"
Clearly the after-effects of the low gravity had taken their toll on the lad, as he was having far more trouble running through the jungle than he should have. He was making progress, but frequent trips and stumbles were occurring. The roars were much louder now, so close that Orias could swear it was right behind him. Thankfully his amazing scarf of courage kept his spirits up, but that wouldn't really matter if he became monster food. To top it all off, what felt like a shearing talon raked through the air just behind the running feline.
The swipe caught at the scarf, tearing a jagged hole through the fabric!
"Noooooo!" the juvenile shouted in despair, briefly overcoming his feet's sudden stupidity to vault forward in an impressive display of acrobatics.
Balancing on one hand while flipping over tripping roots, his free appendage flung everything he could possibly find and throw back into the stampeding evil shadow that had rent his beloved accessory nearly in twain. He knew it wouldn't really accomplish anything, but he was hoping against hope he'd stub some monster toe with one of those rocks. That jerk deserved it.
"Reggie!" he shouted, focusing on running and stumbling around again. "Don't get eaten, head toward the liiiiiight!"
With a full dive, Orias launched himself into the void tear that lead to the next channel. World. Hell. Whatever.
Whilst the sensations of passing through the second tear had been very much like passing through the first one, the surroundings that Ashley now found herself in couldn't have been more different as the strange barrenness was replaced with what very much appeared to be some sort of forest.
It was dark and the forest foliage was dense and pretty hard to see through, although Ashley was pretty sure that she could just about make out another of those strange tears up ahead in the distance.
She pointed it out to her sister, at the same time as telling Harriet to stay close to her, because it made sense for them to make their way over to it as quickly as they could–
And before something else happened.
The roar put paid to that hope, even before it had fully formed, the ground trembling as something big headed in their direction, as things snapped and crashed in their wake.
Ashley grimaced momentarily and reached out to grab her sister's arm, before doing her best to tug her sister towards the tear in the distance.
To be honest, Harriet had no real idea what was going on–
First they had been at the charity benefit and then some place in the middle of some old fashioned buildings.
Then there had been astronauts and little green men shooting at them and now - now they appeared to be in some sort of creepy dark forest.
At least she wasn't alone, because she wasn't sure what she would have done if Ashley hadn't been with her.
Grey eyes followed along as her sister pointed towards what appeared to another of those strange tears in the distance and Harriet was more than happy to comply with Ashley's request that she stay close–
She hadn't expected the sudden crashing, that started up from somewhere behind them as things snapped and the ground trembled.
What was that?!
A part of her wanted to look behind, but a much larger part was afraid of what she would see, even as Ashley reached out and grabbed her arm before tugging forwards–
But even with her sister by her, the path towards the strange tear wasn't an easy one, as it seemed to contain every single vine, every single stump and above all every single rock with all of them just waiting to do their utmost to trip her up.
Truthfully, Harriet wasn't sure just how Ashley seemed to be traversing the path so much easier than she was, her sister's grip firm on her arm, even as she stumbled over yet another rock.
And whatever was behind them seemed to be getting closer - close enough for Harriet to feel the things hot, wet breath on the back of her neck - along with the grazing sensation of claws.
Ashley continued to tug her forwards, the tear still so very far away as Harriet did her best to keep on following.
Arian wasn't quite sure how he had managed to make it to the tear, but somehow he had done so–
Only to find that his surroundings had once again shifted when he came out of the other side.
He was in a forest, the trees so tall and the foliage so dense as to make it hard for him to see that much of it–
And it seemed like he had somehow managed to lose track of both Anxo and his cousin at some point whilst crossing - well okay make that tumbling - through the strange tear, although he could just about see what appeared to be yet another of said tears up in the distance,
He'd started walking, it making sense that Anxo and Saffron would probably do their best to head for the tear too, only to feel the ground start trembling as a roar ripped through the air.
A part of him wished strongly that he could power up, but caution had him hesitating as he had no idea of who was around and whether it would even work, although at least Liryn hadn't been around to be caught up in whatever this–
Arian gave up, not really able to think of a name, just glad that the little tabby bob-tailed cat wasn't involved because the other probably would have probably gotten it into his head to try and charge whatever it was that was causing the crashing that was coming from somewhere behind him.
Well at least he was hoping that the small mauvian hadn't been pulled into all of this because he was pretty sure that Liryn had given him more than enough grey hairs over the years - he didn't need any more.
The shift in surroundings from moon surface - or at least what appeared to be some sort of moon surface - to what was very much not a moon surface was something that at this point probably shouldn't have surprised her.
It surprised her, Saffron's brown eyes staring up in disbelief at the tall trees that rose up and upwards before shifting around to take in the dense vegetation that made it hard to take in too much of her actual surroundings–
And then surprise was replaced by panic as she realised that she appeared to have become separated from Arian at some point whilst passing through the strange tear that had brought her from 'moon' surface to well here.
Eventually however, Saffron thought that she saw Anxo (or at least someone who kind of looked like Anxo) in the distance up ahead heading towards what appeared to be another of those strange tear things and Saffron did her best to follow after, in the hopes that she really had spotted Anxo and that her cousin was with him, making a note to herself even as she did so that she wasn't going to say anything about the after some fruitless and frantic searching that had been the initial result of her panic–
And then the roaring had started up from somewhere behind her, the ground trembling as something started to head in her direction, even as things started to snap and crash.
Saffron tried to up her pace as she continued to push towards the strange tear and (hopefully) her cousin and his boyfriend, but it was easier said than done, the outfit that was perfect for the dancing that she had planned once again catching her out as everything single root and stone seemed to malice her–
And the thing behind her, whatever it was seemed to be gaining on her, enough so for Saffron to feel the thing's hot wet breath on the back of her neck as she continued to do her best to make a push for the strange tear.
Kapoodles
Arian's post can be found above, happy to tweak as needed once you backfill
Somehow, Mi-Hi wasn't too sure of the how, but somehow she had managed to make it over to the tear and was now in a forest.
A totally not creepy forest.
She shook her head a little at the thought, knowing that she wasn't really managing to kid herself because the forest that she had somehow come to find herself in was actually pretty much the epitome of creepy, especially given the way that the tall trees combined with the dense vegetation was making it really hard to see much of anything–
Well at least apart from what looked like another of those weird tears up ahead in the distance.
Mi-Hi started walking towards it, hoping that it would lead to a way out and it was at that point that the roaring started up.
The roaring was following by snapping and crashing as if something very large was making its way in her direction–
Not that Mi-Hi was about to look back and check though, as she instead pushed herself into a run towards the tear as the crashing started to get closer.
She found herself stumbling a couple of times, but for the most part the path was actually not so bad and it seemed to be leading towards the tear that she had first caught sight of.
Mi-Hi continued running - after all the source of the crashing and the snapping was still heading her direction–
And she really, really didn't want to come across anything that could make the ground tremble as it was trembling face-to-face,
Whatever this phenomenon was, Chip found it fascinating. It was also a little dangerous, he had to admit, so didn't object to basically being a dangling accessory for Meztli...he should probably ask the guy's regular name. Something for later.
For now, he really wanted to pull out something to handle this creature baring down on them...but this whole 'unpowered form' thing was so very inconvenient.
"Easy for you to say, kid," Vem replied, glancing back, and narrowly avoiding slamming into a tree. What was going on? None of this made any sense at all.
Hopefully there was a way out of this ahead...it certainly wasn't behind them.
This... Was perfect/. Zeke straightened, the uncurled cat now a spring poised for a strike, primed for the hunt, and not even a beasty unseen could jar him as he removed his high heels annd stoiwed them in his purse before moving. Ezekiel moved like oil and his toes wiggled in the grass before he prepared to move as a hunter, bright blue dress and ruffles be damned. The man mopved several steps, before low swearing caught his ears and he turned to look at Yolie,. and his predatory grin became warm and understanding as he moved, motioning.
"Take your shoes off. Thorns hurt, but there's something and I'd prefer you less likely to be caughtrt. I think losing you would kill Father." Zeke said softly, and leaned in, pressing a kiss to his cousin's forehead. She nodfded, removing her own shoes before his arm swept across her shoulders, and they moved.
It was not the easy path, or the fun path, and branches scratched at their legs as they moved, but their barte feet muffledd sound, prevenmted them from sticking in grass and mud, and Zeke was mindful of the brambles as Yolie followed. He did not drag her through the woods.
Cherish
It was a lovely night here. Minus the Thing, Cherrish accustiomed tyo normal gravity again readilyu, and wondered if this was because she was Limosa's senshi or because she was just adaptable. Regardless, she moved, smoothlyu and easily through the trees. No brambles caught her, no muck sucked her sneakers from her -- it was a buttery smooth walk as she kept alert for the undoubtable Kaiju skulking the woodfs. It had to be a kaiju. Everything was a fifties trope and she swore she'd be disappointewd if it was a squirrel and not some metaphor for atomic fission and destruction like Gojira.
Though she swore the monster was likely some guy in a rubber suit, and with that Cherish gave a mighty poor "HWRAAAA-REEEEEE!" in imityation of a kaiju was she walked, unmistakeably bad. But she was having fun wuith it, walking foir the new tear.
Thankfully it seemed like him and his cousin were easily able to avoid laser fire as they made it to the next tear. And thru it they went...again to that same odd electrical feeling. This time the world around them was very different. He didn't like it - didn't like the feel or the smell and it felt eerie as well.
Wild eyes looked around as he started to put things together. "Jurassic park...we're in the movie." One of them at least, which one he wasn't sure of nor did he care. He was understanding what was happening and he was grabbing for his cousin again. "We need to go - now!" And he wished he could go faster but his shoes slipped on things and he caught his toes on roots and he stumbled, nearly taking Hudson down with him. Scrambling to his feet as he continued on towards the next tear. It would lead them to another movie or tv show or something.
Oh god could he feel the panic rising in him. He needed to not only get himself moving but also his cousin, who seemed stunned by what was going on. Damn it how he wished he could power up - he could teleport them then.
Duncan Well, they were certainly out of space which was quite find with Duncan. He really did not want to have to try and dodge more of those lasers. But there was no time to rest, as it seemed a giant monster was in this one, and they had to run through the trees to get to wherever the next void was! After this he swore he was going to get better at this whole Knight thing. He did not want to be caught off guard like this ever again and have no way to do anything about it!
Blair Whatever the hell was happening, Blair wanted no part of it! Unfortunately she had to have a part of it as she had to run away from whatever was happening. Langoliers 2 or whatever. Unfortunately, she found herself losing her footing quite a few times, sometimes doing full-face trips as she ran through the forest towards where she thought the next tear was. She was pretty sure that it was in the opposite direction of whatever was making that awful noise and the static stuff.
Erich Erich wasn't having much luck either. As soon as he had jumped into the void he had landed in a large puddle of mud and had to take some time to finally get out of it. And now it was drying and he could tell how heavy it felt. Honestly, whatever the heck was happening, he wanted to punch it. Hard. But he wouldn't get a chance to. He was struggling to make it to the next tear in reality, and only barely making it. It took all of his energy to jump into the next one.
Nolan Unlike the rest of them, Nolan had found running through the forest much easier than trying to dodge lasers in space and trying to deal with the different gravitation. This one he was in his element. Sure, he wasn't much of a distance runner or sprinter or anything, but being able to keep his feet on the ground and not fly so high into the air, that he knew how to control. And with that he easily found his way to the next tear, sliding in just for show once he got to it.
Bernard Bernard could feel that his lungs were on fire as he continued to run. He had gotten to the next tear, but hadn't stopped running. And unfortunately with how out of shape he was, it was wearing quite a bit on him, and he hoped that this would be the last of them. He wasn't sure how much more he could take of it, especially if the next one they had to swim away from some killer shark or something! As he barely made his way to the next tear, he truly hoped that it would be the end of all of this.
Chip
