Thorite flashed Lionel a quick smile before turning to Ilse with a wide grin. "Hey, glad to see you're alright!" he said, watching his wisp go bob around Ilse's feet inside his shoes before it floated back up to sit on his hat.
"And, uh, you know. Danger around every corner, cliffs dropping off, youma saving a life instead of ending it, the normal Rift stuff," he said lightly.
Even so, she tried her best to stay calm while Aquaused the communicator to reach out to the other groups. While her attention was split between the conversation and keeping an eye on Radon Lavendulan did hear that one of the other teams did find a youma that had fallen from a height that caused a crater upon impact.
There was a chance that the bat youma was in fact telling the truth. However, the tracks she found just abruptly ended, there wasn’t evidence of a fight or if there was then perhaps she wasn’t skilled enough to have identified it.
Radon could have picked it up and dropped the other youma off the side of the cliff. A lot of things could have happened. But her gut was telling her that there was more to Radon than appeared to be. That uneasiness only solidified her resolve when he stared at her, not the General beside her, and began making more clicking sounds that she couldn’t understand. Likely making threats if she had to hazard a guess.
Nembus rolled when she landed, letting out a quiet yelp as she hit the ground of the level below. Unpleasant. But at least it wasn't up there, where they had come from, and she reflected on how very dead she would be if she hadn't been in a bubble and hadn't been inclined to run the moment she saw so many youma descending all at once.
She shivered.
She wasn't entirely convinced they were going to make it out of there alive. Hopefully, no one else had any starseeds on them. Hopefully, no one else got any ideas. Hopefully, no one would decide that it might be worth their time to simply reach into her chest and pull out the sparkling prize that sat inside.
Nembus carefully covered up the hole in her own chest with her hand as she glanced back to the lieutenant she pulled after her.
"Are you okay?"
Nembus was a little breathless, admittedly, but she would find her balance soon enough. It helped that they were no longer in imminent danger.
Roselite’s heart gave a happy lurch when he overheardKamacite’s, Faustite’s, and Bloodstone’s voices through Jet’s communicator, glad to know they were all alive (and hopefully still in one piece). He knew they would be, given their power and experience, but one could never be too sure in here.
“Um…” Roselite fumbled with his own communicator, forever anxious as he joined the conversation, unsure if he should, being only a Lieutenant. “The fur we found… I think it might… I mean, it looked odd, so I—” Would like to be able to speak a complete sentence, please. Roselite swallowed and forced himself to continue. “It looks odd, like there’s some residue of feathers. I… it’s hard to say for sure, but…”
Roselite stopped again, uncertain. He didn’t want to be wrong and broadcast his failures to everyone. He came on this mission because he thought he could be useful. He’d hate to prove otherwise.
The fear of disappointing anyone was crippling. Roselite cast his eyes down to the clump of fur in his hand rather than meet Jet’s gaze.
“General Jet already sent his youma to track it,” he finished lamely.
Should he be speaking for a General, especially when that General was right there? Probably not. Roselite swallowed again and mumbled a sheepish, “Sorry…”
Lilith moved with Aquamarine and Lavendulan, and was, in the moment, happy to be the pretty translator with no other use. They would remember her later, she was sure, especially if she had occasion to use her magic.
Even youma, she suspected, would be afraid of drowning.
She tilted her head to the side, and this time, once Radon was done, she translated more directly--"'It fell the way all things fall. It fell like agents fall. It was attacked and then pushed,'" she translate,d and then--she couldn't help herself. She let out a very undignified snort-laugh at what Radon said to Lavendulan, but she turned to trhe captain and translated faithfully, even if it was a bit of a struggle to not giggle. Honestly. To pass that kind of thing through one of the people Radon was insulting!
"It says that you, Captain, 'should not trust the human ones.' General Aquamarine and I, I assume." She turned back to the bat. Batted her eyelashes as innocently as possible. "Does that well and convey your intent, Sir Youma?"
Butt here were more people now, dropping down from above, and she felt a little rush of fear. If they were here, things must have gone very badly elsewhere. She kept her features composed, though, nodding a greeting to Faustite and the others that accompanied him.
"Sorry, Sir," Lionel addressed Chalcanthite, "didn't see anything in particular."
There were little pinpricks of pain in his shoulder, but he took a deep breath, and flashed Haymitch a smile. "It's fine. Not too bad at all," he said, and he reached up to gently skritch the small cat behind his ears. "But we're okay, and we made it, and it looks like our group found something pretty interesting without too much damage."
Ilse raised her eyebrows. "Is that normal Rift stuff? You seem to know so well, Lieutenant, I'm impressed," she said. Ilse knew very few ways to be, and lightly playful was one of the easiest for her to fall into.
"Well. Let's not fall behind. It sounds like the big, important Generals are sorting things out and we'll be moving on soon."
It was a rough landing, but Amazonite liked to think she took it well, tucking and rolling and coming to a quick stop.
Things looked much less chaotic here, which she appreciated, except--her eyes drifted to Faustite, and. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, and it seemed as if his fires might be stoked.
She could understand. She, too, felt a sort of fury at their fellow General.
Still, she didn't want to see what happened when a man made of fire erupted, so she drew her frosty presence around her once more--surely there would be time to rest and recover--and moved over to him.
"Faustite," she offered, "come here. Close to me. Cool off. You look like you're running a bit overcharged."
Jet grit his teeth as he could see what Aquamarine was seeing. It did look like it was molting, and the youma itself was imposing enough without attacking them.
Be careful, he thought to Aquamarine, not at all liking how close he was to the questionable youma.
He heard the voices of Kamacite and then Faustite, and breathed out a little relief to know they were still alive, although there was no telling what shape they and their teams were in.
“He’d be pretty useless if he couldn’t,” Jet admitted in response to Faustite, holding the communicator up to speak again, not feeling guilty at all about expecting to be disappointed in his youma’s abilities. Other than saying creepy things and blending into the shadows, what was the point of being a dog if he couldn’t match scents?
Jet glanced over at Roselite when he shared his observations, and took a step closer to look at the clump of fur he found to see what he was talking about. “You’re right. Good job, I missed that,” he admitted just to Roselite. “Don’t apologize. I’d rather you speak up, anyway. Thank you.” Because he was too busy trying to make sure no one else got pulled into holes by strange youma. He didn’t even care that someone else was joining in on the conversation. Whoever it was, along with Kamacite and Faustite, seemed to have encouraged the rather quiet Roselite from saying something. If he hadn’t, they might have missed the information.
“We’re still heading along the path we started, but Arles went back the way we came,” Jet said into the communicator.
----------------
Moving up the western path to the quickly growing group was a shift in the shadows and then a voice in the minds of those around Aquamarine, Lavendulan, Lilith, and Reidite. It would be wise not to trust the human ones. Humans can be cruel. Deceitful. Presumptuous.
Hello, lovely one, the voice continued but this time in greeting, just as the shadow and star dog appeared behind Aquamarine, its nose against his backside. If only because he knew how annoyed Aquamarine would be. Teeth were shown in what could have been a snarl or a smirk.
Followed the scent here from the other path.
Sunshine Alouette
Strickenized
noir songbird
Shanyume
Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:28 pm
General Aquamarine HP: 100/100 - western path; bat youma continues to be sus
Feathers, clumps of fur, clumps of fur with feathers, more and more the evidence seemed to point to the bat youma, which continued to lose fur at a rapid pace.
And yet, Aquamarine could not completely convince himself of it. Suspicions were one thing; he had those in spades, watching Radon as if he expected the beast would attack at any moment. But drawing a firm conclusion in a place like the Rift, against a youma he’d not faced before, seemed foolish. Youma were not all unintelligent. What if they were meant to set their sights on Radon while their prey lurked elsewhere?
What if it was the youma that was nothing but dust below? What then?
Aquamarine swore low, under his breath.
He ******** hated this.
“Don’t trust the ******** humans, it says,” Aquamarine muttered to himself.
Voices he didn’t know were filtering through the communicator as his team continued their cautious stare down with the bat. Aquamarine would have answered the question concerning the bat’s size if a snout didn’t greet him from behind.
With a jolt of surprise and an angry flush, Aquamarine whirled on Jet’s youma, snarling, “Do you mind?”
Creepy, disgusting dog.
Summoning what restraint he could muster, Aquamarine glared at the dog long enough to get his point across before refocusing on the mission.
Jet’s dog was following the scent. Jet’s dog ended up here. Which meant the scent he followed was…?
Aquamine turned back to Radon, speaking once again into his communicator, “Jet’s dog just got here. Faustite, what’s your location?”
All the while, he kept the mental link open with Jet, letting images pass through. If the bat youma attacked suddenly, at least Jet would see.
Guine
Jet, Jet's dog, Reidite proximity, sorry he couldn't respond to Bloodstone
Strickenized
Radon and Faustite
Noir Songbird
Proximity
Shanyume
Proximity
Quote:
Sorry if I missed anyone or anything, my baby has been a massive crank and I can't focus as well as I'd like, but I didn't want to leave anyone waiting. heart
Sunshine Alouette
Eternal Senshi
Offline
Strickenized
Garbage Cat
Offline
Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:40 pm
Radon HP: 4000/4000 (would probably help if I include this)
Snack got mouthy. A flash of leather and bone and its wings were unfurled, mouth opened, fangs bared, and it sounded an ear-rending shriek at Lilith. Afterward, it retained that posture, and watched her relentlessly. It waited for another word. Another derisive sound. Radon would so love a starseed dinner served up by inept Generals.
The group grew around it, but Radon remained still as a photograph. Waited. Listened. Its ears swiveled to follow the voices of officers as they slowly shirked their need for their communicators.
Every sigh sizzled; he felt it on his tongue. Words hissed and spat and popped like so much bacon in a pan. The heat was monstrous, consuming; he kept onward while leaned over, hoping that distracting himself with mission details would buy him recovery without discharge. He heard Aquamarine's voice, however distantly. Other voices, too, though those were less identifiable to him through the wash of static.
He looked back when he hadn't heard Taenite and Cymophane chatting at his heels. The pair trailed a dozen yards back, a shade paler from the mist. The corners of his mouth twitched downward.
Then Amazonite hailed him. She was the first to grow on him during the mission. He nodded his thanks as her chill enveloped him, balancing out the heat that mauled his insides. Felt the heat drop, felt his throat stop burning, though a raw, painful perseverance lingered like a residue. "Helpful when my instincts tell me to blow someone to hell," he replied sarcastically. Unlatched the choker, loosened and discarded the cravat. Would've shed more to Amazonite's frostbitten chill if it didn't mean losing the shirt. He wagered it wouldn't do to linger long in it; on fire or not, he could still freezerburn like a chunk of steak.
He looked about to ascertain their bearings. Distantly he made out figures ahead, and behind, he noted Nembus with a Lieutenant (Ransomite). He raised up a hand to acknowledge her, that she was okay, that more of their team survived that —
Brows furrowed with another flare-up. Right. Subject change.
The communicator grew clear again, now that heat wasn't distorting the signal. He wondered if it would go to s**t again if he stayed within Amazonite's chill. "Thanks, Officer." The other question was left unanswered; some large shape loomed by some people-shaped silhouettes, but Faustite couldn't say what it was. "Bring the youma pieces together. Have Arles sniff them, see if they're from the same creature. If they are, then it can't be the fallen one. We'd be holding dust." He spoke as he walked, staying close to Amazonite until the chill began to hurt and his communicator crackled bitterly.
Then it broke in his hand — cracked right down the middle. "******** me," Faustite muttered under his breath. Threw the halves over the side of the path.
Finally they reached Aquamarine's group. Quite a cluster about what was a disturbingly large bat youma that looked ready to fight someone. Lilith's nod was returned, but Faustite's attention was concentrated on their oversized conundrum. Aqua's request for his location was lost to the halves of his communicator, but Aqua already had his answer.
Ransomite felt the impact in his ankles, knees, and hips, wincing as he stumbled forward out of the roll he'd taken. He could hear Zebulon's laughter, the tease that he was getting too old for acrobatics. Ransomite had never been the acrobatic type in the first place, and being powered only helped so much with that.
"I'll live," came his reply to Nembus as he leaned over to dust himself off. He caught Faustite's hand-lift toward Nembus out of the corner of his eye, glancing that way reflexively. "It's not something I want to do regularly, though."
At least, not without some leg exercises and some tumbling classes.
Maybe he could ask Tobias if he knew any exercises for it. He didn't know what kind of leg and balance exercises came with being a tennis player, but it had to be more than what being a priest did for Ransomite...
Though it wasn't uncommon for a priest to work out semi-regularly. Something something God's temple something--
This lieutenant she had grabbed wasn't necessarily her direct responsibility -- he probably had some other captain or super that was watching out for him, she imagined, someplace or another -- but she couldn't get Faustite's words out of her head. She was a super senshi. She was supposed to have underlings. One of them was unfortunately Albite. But that implied she was supposed to, on some level, look out for these lowlier senshi and lieutenants.
Well. That sounded unfair. She hardly knew anything herself.
"That's good," she let out a quiet breath of relief. Nembus glanced up and hoped some of the others would follow in short order, though she noticed her general with some relief and offered a wave of acknowledgment of her own.
"Don't really plan on making a habit of that either, admittedly. These superpowers give us some superior jumping ability, but not ... that good." Not that she wanted to ever have the opportunity to jump from one level of the Rift to another ever again anyway. She honestly couldn't wait to be out of this place as it was. Seemed like a death trap. Seemed like, for some, it may have actually been a death trap. She hoped the other super senshi that had fallen down the hole was okay.
"We should probably join the others, ah?" she glanced back to him, before gesturing for him to follow as she headed toward Faustite. There were quite a few others near him. She recognized one of them as one of the other generals who had been at the mission briefing. "I'm Nembus, by the way. Corrupt Super Sailor Nembus, I guess."
Was there a giant bat near the lot of them?
amasis
ransomite
strickenized
faustite
Quote:
anyone else near faustite I think most of the thread is over there at this point??
Lavendulan was extremely unsettled by Radon's warning Should not trust the human ones which was then echoed by an unfamiliar voice in her mind. Instinctually, her hand rose to touch the silver cuff around her ear just to make sure the special piece of jewelry hadn't fallen off. There were only two she had ever used the item with which connected her mind to another and that voice did not belong to either of them.
Her lips pursed and the corners pulled downward into a deepening frown.
Why did it feel like Radon already knew she didn't trust General Aquamarine? From the beginning of this expedition, Laven couldn't really shake the feeling that the blond-haired general would be her undoing, both literally and metaphorically, before a youma so much as had a chance to kill her off first.
While she was trying to be a better agent by putting herself out there; unfortunately, when push came to shove, there were only two other officers that joined this crusade that she actually trusted; her General, Lopezite, and Captian Wolframite. Neither of which she had seen yet but that didn't mean they weren't on their way.
Soon enough Faustite, and a few others she only recognized as being present at the briefing and not by name, joined up with the rest of the tracking team alongside Aqua. This was probably the part where the Generals needed to deliberate amongst each other and decide what the next step will be. As it was, the General she was assigned to did not care much for her opinion and she did not have any useful skill like Lilith who could translate Radon's clicking.
The corrupt was necessary for this situation; Lavendulan, however, was not; and so she took the opportunity to step back and away from the growing group to scan the faces of the other arriving officers while still stealing side glances at Radon in case he decided he was bored, or hungry, enough to attack the weak or weary.
Do not trust the humans. Problem was, she herself was still half-human and she had no reason to trust him either...
-.- I should be banned from tagging after 10PM... sorry for all the re-quotes.
