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 Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2022 5:32 pm
Sessrumnir had been gone for a little more than ten minutes and Alastor had already turned to say something to him twice. If he angled himself just right, he could even see where he’d disappeared off to, but he wasn’t going to stand there and just gaze after him the whole time he was gone. They were trying to be productive, trying to find answers.
Some things were easier to do when you didn’t have an entourage of Pages following you. Lucasta probably would have been enough to keep an eye on them, but when they had no answers and no ‘normal’ up here, it was better to err on the side of caution.
Alastor remained while Sessrumnir went to investigate.
Just in case.
It was probably for the best; even with Amarynthos trying to be on his best behavior and sticking close to Ephesus, his curiosity was getting the best of him, and sometimes he seemed like he wanted to wander a little closer to things than Alastor thought was safe. But, he hadn’t done anything to endanger them, and he seemed to draw himself back. He was just restless. Probably a little worried.
Alastor couldn’t blame him. He was restless, too.
Even Ephesus looked like he needed a good distraction. He wanted them to stay on their toes but he didn’t want to wear them out. Or let them get into trouble.
But, he needed a distraction. He didn’t know about Lucasta; she seemed far more composed than the boys. So, he considered for a few seconds, and planted his hands on his hips while he mulled over their options.
“Ephesus. You know how to play tag, don’t you?”
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Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2022 9:03 pm
Everything was just so interesting. Sure, there were people who had given up their lives to Chaos, but there were also talking robots and cool buildings (although they all looked in bad shape) and spaceships and a beautiful sky that, if they were alone, Ephesus would have suggested to Mary that they lied on the ground to stare up at the stars.
He was worried that something might happen, or that they would run out of food before they found a way to get home. That one alien man with the horns seemed nice though. And it seemed like he had access to food. Maybe he had a spaceship.
Had anyone asked him how he got there? Maybe he could help them get home.
But then again, Ephesus was very new to everything and probably didn’t know enough about how things worked, so he kept his thoughts to himself. He didn’t want to seem stupid.
Ephesus was trying to distract himself by sitting with Mary and swinging their feet in unison over the edge of some rubble they were sitting on, but he perked up when asked.
“Tag? Yes, I believe so,” he said, not sure if there were rules he didn’t know. He cast an anxious glance at Mary, and then at Lucasta. He was worried about Sessrumnir, but the others seemed not too concerned.
Although Alastor seemed a bit anxious.
And Mary was rather restless.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 3:06 pm
Lucasta spent a good deal of time staring at her hands.
Hands, not paws. Hands like humans had. Hands like she hadn’t had in… well, Lucasta didn’t know. She couldn’t exactly remember. Certainly she’d known it was possible; there were plenty of Mauvians who walked around with hands instead of paws. It simply hadn’t been possible for her until now.
So she stared a bit, then a bit more. She examined her nails, and the rings on her fingers. She ran the digits through her hair. Hair, not fur. Except she still had fur on her ears and tail. But the hair itself was new. And the clothing. Lucasta wished she had a better reflective surface to take a good look. It seemed mirrors here were few and far between.
Was it vain of her to want to appreciate this new form?
Did it matter? She was glorious. Why shouldn’t she exult in that?
“Are there not different ways to play tag?” she asked, turning one hand so she could study the back of it, then the palm.
Lucasta thought there might be several different methods, but she wasn’t clear on the rules. Ganymede’s children were always running around the backyard playing games. She suspected they often made up rules as they went.
“I don’t know that this is the time or place for it, but if you simply must sprint about and make trouble for yourselves, I suppose I can’t stop you.”
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 3:47 pm
Amarynthos leaned against Ephesus as he looked between the three in front him. His eyes drifted to whoever was speaking, but it was clear that his interest had been piqued. He sat up a little straighter and tilted his head as he looked at Alastor expectantly.
“Why, do you want to play?”
“I was thinking about it. We were in the middle of practicing. It got a little cut short.”
“Oh, that’s true. But tag’s a game, it’s not training.”
Alastor raised a brow. “I would argue there are many different skills required in tag that could be beneficial while you’re out patrolling.” He glanced at Lucasta, who had been lovely before but was lovelier now. “You practice your agility and your dexterity, your teamwork, your evasive measures, your critical thinking, your reaction time. Training doesn’t all have to about brute strength.”
Amarynthos crossed his ankles together as he leaned forward. “Oh, that’s a good point. I never thought of it like that. I could play tag. Not it. Oh, and Ephesus is not it, too. Lucasta, do you want to play? Or are you used to being in that form, too?”
He didn’t know Mauvians had different forms, it was all new to him. He thought, if he suddenly got turned into a cat, he’d have absolutely no balance and would probably run into anything. He didn’t know if it would work the same for her, but he wasn’t planning on doing anything that would exclude her.
“Not it for Lucasta if she plays,” Amarynthos chirped, just to make sure he had all his bases covered. “And if you’re going to be it, Alastor, you’re going to have to like, play with your eyes closed. You have way too many advantages. You’re bigger than us, you’re in better shape, and you’re like, much stronger. I won’t have any fun if you tag me immediately, so we have to make things more fair for everyone.”
Because, he was definitely thinking about he would stand up against Alastor and not just worrying about Ephesus.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2022 9:21 am
Effie couldn’t help but watch the Mauvian woman curiously. She’d been a cat, and he would have been happy to have her in his lap so he could pet her, but she then turned into, well, she looked like a human but with cat ears and tail, so that was pretty cool. And she was really pretty. She looked like she might get cold easily though.
He couldn’t help but smile in amusement when Mary called for them all to not be ‘it’ except for Alastor, but he was a little worried about him getting hurt. Even if it was absolutely true that Alastor was bigger and stronger and faster than the rest of them. Maybe Lucasta was faster, but she also didn’t have any shoes, so that was going to be dangerous too.
“Do you really think he should close his eyes? He might trip on something and get hurt,” Effie whispered quietly to Mary. He didn’t think he would get very far when it came to tag, and he wasn’t very good at running, but he would do his best! He suspected he might end up being ‘it’ for a while if he was tagged.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2022 5:12 pm
Lucasta considered Amarynthos’ question.
This form didn’t feel unnatural, though it was certainly new. She liked to think she had a good grasp on it without needing much practice, but she also hadn’t done anything more strenuous than stand there examining her hand. There may very well be a point to Amarynthos’ concerns.
Not that she would ever admit it.
“Very well,” Lucasta said.
The game was silly, but it would keep her moving. And Amarynthos was kind enough to designate her “not it,” which would hopefully give her the chance to work out any surprises or complications offered by this form before she had to do more than evade. The worst possible moment to discover unknown limitations would be in battle. Tag was harmless.
Unless she lost. Lucasta hated to lose.
“I’m certain Alastor is capable enough not to be taken out by a bit of debris,” she reassured Ephesus.
The soft one, she called him in her head. They were both a bit soft with youth, but Ephesus had a gentleness about him that made him seem even softer still. Between the two, she expected Ephesus would be the first to dissolve into tears the next time a fight broke out.
He was fortunate he had so many people looking out for him.
“Shall we play by the basic rules, or do you have other ideas?” Lucasta asked Alastor.
She shifted on her feet, bouncing from one to the other, testing her legs, her range of movement, prepared to make a run for it at a moment’s notice.
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:18 pm
Alastor considered his answer briefly and then said, “Let’s do the basic rules for now. Except, if I catch you, I’m going to pick you up. And if you can wriggle out, I’ll let you go and come back for you.”
“Are you sure? I’m really good at wriggling,” Amarynthos said, but he didn’t protest. If it would reassure Ephesus that Alastor wasn’t going to hurt himself by closing his eyes, he could work with that. And Amarynthos could definitely sabotage Alastor, no doubt about it. “Actually, yeah. Let’s do that. But if you can’t catch all of us, you have to buy us a pizza.”
“Oh. But I’d buy you a pizza, anyway.” And, it was Michael’s money, and he would certainly feed the boys.
“No, that’s not the point–it makes it more fun if we win the pizza. Or whatever Lucasta wants. Ephesus, come over here with me for a minute.” He took his hand and pulled him close so he could offer a quiet plan. “If he gets too close and grabs you, I’ll come rescue you,” he promised. “I’m going to try and distract him. I don’t think he can grab all three of us, he’s only got two arms. So if he catches me and you, let’s just weigh him down so Lucasta can keep away.”
Alastor watched as the boys started putting some distance between them; he took the opportunity to glance at his phone. There was a brief second of alarm when he saw Sessrumnir’s message, but he relaxed quickly–and immediately looked up to make sure Amarynthos wasn’t wandering too far.
…He also made sure there weren’t any robots in the area. Lucasta wasn’t so far away, so while the boys were planning, he showed her his phone so she could read the message, too. He didn’t say anything about it, didn’t want the boys to overhear anything and worry, but he wanted to make sure she knew what they might be dealing with, too.
At least they seemed to be alone out here, away from any immediate threats.
When he was sure she’d had a chance to read all of it, he turned his phone back to himself so he could text and typed:
Quote: Stay safe. We haven’t moved. Going to play tag but we’re fine. Boys are in good spirits but worried about you.
He pressed send but didn’t pocket the phone immediately and glanced at Lucasta. “I’ll let you know if I see anything weird.” He trusted that she would do the same for him. “We can call this off if something feels off.”
But, the boys needed the distraction. And, to be on their toes.
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 1:30 pm
Effie watched in awe as Lucasta started to bounce on her feet. She looked so cool and agile with her hair bouncing as she did. And her tail and ears looked so soft.
He got down off the piece of rubble so he could get ready too. If they were supposed to be running, then he wanted to be fast.
And not be a burden on the others.
But those thoughts momentarily left him when Amarynthos took his hand, and he leaned close so they could plot.
“Are you sure…? He might be able to pick up all three of us,” Ephesus said thoughtfully as he glanced over at Alastor, who was now showing Lucasta something on his phone. Actually, Ephesus was certain that Alastor could pick them all up.
“Okay, I can probably try to tickle him too, or something. Maybe he’ll let go of me and then we can run around him until he gives up?” Oh, that actually sounded kind of silly, but what else were they supposed to do while they waited for Sessrumnir to come back with answers on how they were getting home?
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 2:18 pm
Lucasta half suspected Alastor might use the opportunity of her looking at his phone to tag her, but the alarm that briefly overtook his expression said otherwise. She stepped closer to read Sessrumnir’s message; though she was able to keep her own expression neutral and unconcerned, she nonetheless scanned the area for any sign of inorganic life.
Nothing. So far, anyway. The robots knew this area better than either she or Alastor, or either of the boys.
“Not at all ominous,” she dryly muttered.
It didn’t require much thought to draw up some concerning conclusions. Their arrival was said to be foretold, and the robots were to somehow receive starseeds. Obviously, there were only so many places they could receive a starseed from.
That none of them could leave this place seemed to be ample evidence that Lucasta was making all the right assumptions.
She spared Alastor a considering glance. “I won’t let them run far. In the meantime, you might consider how and when you would like to inform them that our situation may be changing, and not for the better, it would seem.”
Not quite nimble-footed, but doing her best to appear so, Lucasta put some distance between them. She certainly had no intention of being caught first.
With a suspicious arch to her brow, she called out to the boys, voice still a bit dry with humor, “I do hope you’re not making plans to offer me up as a sacrifice.”
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 4:09 pm
Amarynthos turned to her and grinned. “No! But we do have a plan. You just try to stay away from him! Effie thinks he’s strong enough to pick up all of us, so just try to stay away. We’re counting on you to be faster than we are! Oh–Alastor.” He half turned to face him but hadn’t released Ephesus’ hand yet. “How long does a fight usually last?”
“For me? Not long. Maybe a few minutes.”
“Like, three? Five? Can we set a timer? You know, so we can prepare for a real battle. So we can get an idea for how to pace ourselves. I don’t want to burn out too quickly using all of my energy at once.”
Alastor looked at him for a few seconds and then nodded. “All right. Three minutes.” So Amarynthos, with all his years of baseball and track experience, could learn how to pace himself. He was amused, and could see Amarynthos from his peripheral–grinning and squeezing Effie’s shoulder like they’d already had a small victory. Alastor didn’t mind; he’d already gotten used to Amarynthos’ requests for ‘himself’, but he’d come to expect it from him; he was just looking out for Ephesus. And, it was a fair argument.
He kept his gaze focused on his phone, because there were parts of it that he really didn’t use all that often. The timer was one of them, but it was easy enough once he figured out where to go. With his eyes still on the screen he called out, “You’d best split up. You two are so close I’m pretty sure I could get you together,” he warned.
Briefly, Amarynthos lingered next to Ephesus, but then he smiled. “Hope you’re hungry,” he said pleasantly, confident that they could avoid him for three minutes. He smiled at Ephesus, and then Lucasta, before he trotted off a bit of a distance.
“Try to stay in this area though, okay? Don’t go further than that wall. And no hiding.”
Amarnythos laughed as he came to a stop when they were told not to go too far away, but he had strong suspicions that at least part of that warning must have come from Sessrumnir.
Alastor tucked the phone into the sash at his waist and took a few seconds to roll his sleeves up; the last thing he wanted to do was smack anyone with his sleeves while they were playing tag.
If he were playing seriously, the smartest thing to do would be to go after Amarynthos first. He was the loudest of them, and had the most experience. Ephesus would be distracted if Alastor was after Amarynthos so would be easy to grab afterwards, and saving Amarynthos for last meant that his arms would already be full while he was trying to catch the most challenging one.
Lucasta was something of an outlier; he didn’t know how fast she might be, but of all of them she was also the only one that might have access to any magic. He didn’t want to go after her first; he wanted her to keep an eye on things. Ephesus probably needed the experience the most, but. Alastor could make this work.
There was plenty for them to learn.
So, Alastor pressed the start button on the timer, rolled his shoulders, and then bolted towards Ephesus first. He crossed the distance quickly–an easy combination with long legs and his senshi advantage, and hooked the boy under his left arm, grabbing him by his torso and hoisting him up. “Oh, Effie, you need that pizza, you still weigh nothing.”
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 5:14 pm
While Mary grinned, Effie’s eyes widened in alarm and he shook his head. “No, of course not!” he said to Lucasta, not wanting her to think they were going to do something like that! Luckily Mary was quick to explain, and Effie was able to release a nervous breath. He didn’t want Lucasta to be upset with them. They were teammates!
He was worried about how much running they would have to do, but sighed in relief when Mary negotiated a time for them. He might not be able to last the whole three minutes, but he was pretty sure that Mary and Lucasta could.
Ephesus squeezed Amarynthos’ hand and gave him a little nod of encouragement as they finally parted. Oh, he should probably put some distance between himself and Alastor, so he trotted a little ways away, but not so far that he couldn’t quickly get back to the others.
Not that it really mattered!
He knew he was in trouble the moment Alastor took off towards him. He barely had time to try and run when he was being scooped up under his arm, and Ephesus let out a squeak of distress, followed by bubbled up laughter.
Ephesus wrapped his arms around Alastor’s shoulders so he wouldn’t hinder him as he was running. Wait, was he supposed to be struggling? He didn’t want to fall, or make Alastor fall.
“You’re so fast. Mary, look out, he’s really fast!” he called needlessly, because he knew that Amarynthos had a plan. He just hoped Lucasta could stay out of the way too.
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 6:26 pm
Soft, Lucasta thought to herself again, when it seemed Ephesus didn’t understand dry humor. One day he would learn that while she was always serious, she shouldn’t always be taken seriously.
Unlike Ephesus, Lucasta was not at all surprised by Alastor’s strength or agility. He was an Eternal. A pair of new Pages had little hope against him, unless he chose to go easy on them. A game of tag was easy enough; if he gave them any more leeway, he’d be doing them another disservice.
Lucasta kept moving, never drawing closer, hopping over rubble as she went. The game was for the boys more than her, so she assumed Alastor would go for the both of them first. That gave her time to get used to motion in her new form. She didn’t think herself clumsy, but the unfamiliarity had yet to fade. Running on two legs was certainly different than running on four.
A piece of debris slid beneath one foot, putting her momentarily off balance. Lucasta caught herself with a quiet hiss.
It was fine. The others were distracted. No one would notice. There was no need to be embarrassed.
She kept to the periphery, circling the area they’d claimed for themselves, half of her attention on Alastor and the boys, while the other half of her attention remained on their surroundings. Briefly, she glanced in the direction Sessrumnir had gone, toward the ship, thoughts swirling.
They’d been brought here for a reason. They were stuck here for a reason. The only starseeds available to anyone in this place were theirs, unless the inorganics had a stockpile they thought they’d be able to choose form.
Somehow she doubted that. There had to be a point to them being here other than foretelling utter nonsense.
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:50 pm
Alastor almost paused when Ephesus started to giggle, and he couldn’t help but look down at the boy with great amusement. “You’re supposed to struggle, not get comfortable.”
“Effie!” Amarynthos skidded to a stop and looked like he was debating his options. Lucasta was fast. She was a good distance away. He’d lost his speed when he paused to turn and face Alastor.
Alastor eyed Lucasta, but she was still moving. Amarynthos was a bit away, but still. He knew he could build up momentum before the boy, but the Page hadn’t picked a direction to go in.
Amarynthos probably knew this too. Any direction he ran, Alastor would just catch him from behind.
“...Remind me to teach you more self-defense, Effie. You need to know how to break out of a hold. But, since you’re already here, get comfortable. Hang on.”
He might have known what Amarnythos was going to do before the boy did, but it wasn’t any less surprising; Amarynthos charged right at him.
Alastor could have moved. Should have moved, really, because he wasn’t expecting Amarynthos to use his full weight to bodyslam right into him. He’d turned a bit, partially to shield Ephesus from the brunt force of the collision, but his footing was firm. He stumbled backwards, but it wasn’t enough to knock him on the ground. Instinctively, Alastor wrapped an arm around Amarynthos to hold him up, but the boy had already wrapped his arms and legs around him and clearly wasn’t going anywhere, anyway. “Ephesus! Wiggle! Knock him off balance! Lucasta, you’re doing great! But don’t come close!”
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:05 pm
Ephesus blinked when Alastor told him he was supposed to struggle--
Oh! Oh, he was supposed to do that, wasn’t he? But he didn’t want to hurt Alastor by accident. And he didn’t want Amarynthos getting hurt in the process either!
Lucasta was so cool though. She looked like a, well, a cat jumping over things. She probably had amazing balance with that tail of hers. And she was so pretty, too. And Amarynthos looked so determined and brave and was such a fast runner and--
Oh right, Alastor asked him to hold on, which he did! He hid his face against Alastor’s shoulder. He just squeaked again in surprise when Amarynthos slammed into Alastor.
“Are you okay?” he chirped in concern, looking from Amarynthos to Alastor and. Oh! He was supposed to wiggle now? Okay.
He squirmed and wiggled as Mary told him, and even poked Alastor’s side a few times to see if he could locate any spot that might have been more ticklish than others. He went limp as well, trying to slide out of Alastor’s grasp while he had Amarynthos to help distract him, just like he’d said.
It was just difficult not to laugh at how silly all of this was.
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:52 pm
Children, Lucasta scoffed internally. If Ephesus was soft then Amarynthos was reckless. They were fortunate they had competent adults watching over them, otherwise they might both be in over their heads.
Hopefully nothing occurred to change that before they were ready to face it.
Lucasta slowed to make her way over a more significant pile of debris. The terrain on this world was troublesome, tricky to maneuver around even in a less significantly dilapidated area. She did not trust the buildings to hold up. There were certainly places to hide among the rubble, but that might not be to their benefit.
They would be at a disadvantage if things escalated. If the robots could not be trusted, they knew the terrain, and the layout of the city. Lucasta surveyed their surroundings, observed what she could, looked for advantages as well as vulnerabilities, but she did not yet know where the threat would come from.
From the robots themselves? From something else?
Another piece of wreckage tripped her up, but Lucasta recovered more quickly a second time.
Still, she kept moving. Her gaze honed in on Alastor and the boys. Somehow she doubted Ephesus would find any success with tickling. Alastor didn’t strike her as the ticklish sort.
Lucasta heaved a sigh. She figured she might as well attempt to help them, test out this form a bit more. Did she still have use of her forehead beam? She couldn’t afford to find out on a game of tag; there was no point in weakening herself now when she may need her strength later.
Again, Lucasta glanced down at her hands. Her nails were quite lovely. Clean. Well shaped. Nails like a human hand, but if she crooked her fingers just so and gave it a bit of focus…
Ah. Now they were longer, tapered like her claws.
Don’t come closer, Amarynthos said.
What did he think he could accomplish on his own?
Biting back a smirk, Lucasta came upon Alastor from behind. She lashed out — not savagely, but not with the innocence of Ephesus’ tickling either. She did, however, ensure that she held back enough not to do severe damage. His clothing might tear, he might feel the p***k of claws against his skin — a warning, or a threat — but she had no intention of drawing blood. She merely hoped to take him by surprise, perhaps trip him up enough to dislodge one of the boys.
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