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 Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2022 2:46 pm
"I'm never going to get the hang of this," was the bemoaning cry that Illyria issued after yet once again finding herself in the wrong location yet again. There didn't seem to be anyone within sight of her current position.
This was apparently being able to move around as a non-corporal being. It took a bit of time and focus to figure out what she was capable of achieving while in this form. This new ability was unheard of by the Mauvian and even after spending a bit of time observing her inert form on the pile of rubble in which she had been felled granted no new insight as to what was happening. It seemed though from what she did observe was that whatever had been used to take her starseed was also keeping her alive, albeit unconscious. In that form she was no use to anyone else that was still trapped here, on Astraya. Somehow or another she needed to find someone who she could explain what had transpired. Someone who cared for others. An image bloomed in her mind of a moment from earlier tonight when she had spotted Ida amongst those that had been transported and she knew then who she needed to find.
But it was so very frustrating to not know where anyone else was anymore. At the beginning it had been suggested that individuals stick together but as the evening wore on more and more broke off into smaller groups. Heck, she had probably doomed herself by going off alone as she had. It definitely had allowed the robot designating itself as Surly to get the jump on her, as it was. And now here she was, stuck in a form that was nothing more than a former shell of herself trying desperately to get a handle on how she could move around from point to point in an effort to find someone who could sound the general alarm over the situation ... and the robots true intentions. If she, a Mauvian, had been attacked then anyone was seemingly fair game. Although Surly had revealed something of import in the moments before he'd taken her starseed for himself. But first things first ... Illyria needed Ida.
And for that, she needed to actually find the Senshi of Orchids first. With growing concern that at any moment there could be another starseed snatched Illyria moved forward as best as she could with the single goal of protecting the rest of the transported. She was small, she was mighty, she would protecc. She'd get her starseed back ... but only if she had help.
"C'mon don't get distracted: find Ida, explain what happened. Get a warning out. Keep low-key surveillance on Surly?"
But even as Illyria questioned her last priority she found herself in a new location. She desperately wished she could do more than she could but at least this was something. But it wasn't the same as feeling the ground beneath her paws as she would have if she had corporal form. She realized that she missed it already. Hovering over a new pile of rubble did Illyria pause - would Ida believe her when she did find her? There was proof but she'd have to take time to lead Ida to her unconscious form. Hopefully the bond they had would be enough. Her voice was plaintive and wailing as she stared out over the pile that she hovered over.
"Ida, where are you?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 11:24 am
Despite snooping into the ruins for most of her time here, Ida had found precious little that answered any of her questions. Why were they here? Why were the robots here? What was going on? How did they get home? None of it had any answer. Perhaps she should have done like some of the others and talked with the robots, or gone to meet this ship they talked about, but there was a part of her that didn't trust any of it.
She'd never been pulled somewhere, unexpectedly, for something as innocent as a party. Always, the pull was because something was wrong and people were needed to fix it. That thought gnawed at her now, and was kept her going even when there seemed to be nothing to find. Perhaps that made her paranoid, but after nearly a decade as a senshi, she'd seen too much to trust what things seemed to be on the surface.
As she was trying to find her way into one of the buildings, Ida hear someone calling her name and she paused, turning to look for the source. It had been so faint.. but the voice was familiar. Her poking around would have to wait, it seemed. Stepping out onto the cleared path between the buildings, Ida cast about for the source of the call, her ears straining to catch it.
"Hello?" She called, raising her voice. "Is someone there?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 11:58 pm
If one was a ghost, could they technically hear? Illyria mused on that thought as she drifted towards another building. There was a lot of new things to think about while she was like this. Hopefully her tangible body was alright where it had been left and she desperately hoped that Surly wasn't off doing anything to jeopardize what he had stolen from her. If she managed to get back her starseed she'd show him a thing or two, wouldn't she?
Huffing silently Illyria was about to turn and head in another direction when someone's voice echoed into the space between and Illyria's ghostly tail twitched. Well she could definitely hear but the mechanics of the revelation would have to be examined later. Trusting her instincts Illyria let them guide her as she once again called out into the Astrayan atmosphere, full of as much energy as she could muster, "Yes! Ida ..." And here Illyria paused, one could not just yell out their predicament. She blinked quickly before moving towards the direction that she believed Ida to be in. Her voice was strong as she tried to get Ida to follow her voice, "It's Illyria. I need to meet with you. Follow my voice as best as you can and I'll try to close the distance between us as best as I can."
And try she was - her current form was actively trying to get enough momentum to at least propel herself forward a little but she soon gave up on that and instead concentrated on where she thought Ida might be. With a bit of concentration Illyria winked out of sight before popping back into sight a few meters later. Okay, so that seemed to work okay but if she wasn't careful she would miss Ida and that wouldn't do anyone any good. Instead she lowered the projection of her voice and tried to pitch it before she began to ramble on about the latest excursion to find a new place to stash rocks. Hopefully Ida would still be able to follow her voice to where she currently found herself. Would it be better to stay in the air, or at least settle on the ground so she didn't startle her friend?
Drifting down to a smaller pile of debris did she wait. Hopefully her rambling would guide Ida right to her.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2022 3:15 pm
There, the voice again, calling her name. Was that Illyria? She sounded... odd
With the confirmation, Ida began to move that direction, climbing over and around debris. She'd seen so few people out this way. Hopefully the Mauvian hadn't gotten into trouble out here on her own. Not that Ida had much defense to argue the point, since she was out here alone too, but... well, she did have a little more physical and magical strength on her side. This whole place was strangely quiet too, so far from the others. Maybe it had already been explored and abandoned, but it was hard to tell anyone had touched this place in quite some time, other than rearranging some of the discarded bits.
When she came around a pile of stones, one hand braced on the side, she caught sight of the small cat and stopped, eyes widening. It was distinctly the Mauvian, but... she looked strangely faded and... see-through?
"Illyria?" She called, tentative. Was this just a projection? Maybe some kind of hologram? Where was the Mauvian? Why was she seeing her here? This must be the source of the voice she heard too, but... it was starting to feel uncomfortably like a trap, the fine hairs rising on the back of her neck and down her arms. Her eyes tracked side to side as she held herself still, looking for signs of whatever trap she had walked in to.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2022 9:39 pm
The lack of a physical body meant that Illyria couldn't just twine herself around Ida's legs but she wouldn't be her if she didn't try. Meeting with little success did the Mauvian back up and stare up into Ida's questioning expression. She heaved a ghostly sigh. This was no longer fun. She wanted her starseed back. Then at least she could properly convey how she felt about this situation. Her gaze widened as Ida suddenly went on alert before giving the loudest meow she could.
"Ida. I know, I know. Trust me. I'm still weirded out by this turn of events as well. Look. It is me. We first met when you rescued me in that weird shadow universe with the giant dragon and we've seen each other a few times after that."
It wouldn't do to try and do anything that required an actual body to do said actions and that was the hardest thing for the tiny non-corporeal cat to deal with. Fallout. It sucked. She gazed squarely into Ida's eyes with her own expressive ones before speaking as loud as she dared. The information needed to get out and quickly, "I was out exploring by myself when one of the robots here found me. We conversed and I thought it was going well, but then he did something odd. Something sort of musical. Anyways this strange glowing cord appeared and struck me in my chest ... and everything hurt afterwards but I remember firing my star beam at his damaged leg but when the thread left my body it had I think my starseed on its end."
Illyria's see-through body twitched as if it remembered the trauma inflicted before she continued, "I found myself like this afterwards, not even a shell of my former self, well maybe," and here she tried to smile at the hidden joke before she grimaced. "My physical body is still where I was felled and the robot responsible seems to have taken off but it is damaged for sure but I came to find help and get some sort of warning out about our "hosts" here. We need to be careful Ida. I really only knew you so I was trying so hard to figure out where you were. I'm just glad I found you, but right now this situation sucks. I want to be able to purr and nestle in your arms and I can't."
Illyria dropped her gaze for a moment before resuming the best eye contact she could muster with the senshi of orchids. "I hope some sort of warning can be given out amongst everyone here. I don't want others to have the same sort of experience."
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:50 pm
The phantom cat came to seemingly rub against her legs, but the senshi felt nothing. As she watched, parts of the cat 'clipped' through her, truly seeming like a hologram save that she almost felt... something, when physical body and non-corporeal one touched. And this Illyria knew when they had met. The robots might have been able to make a hologram of her, even imitate her voice after hearing her speak, but unless they had some way to scan memories... this was the real Illyria. An Illyria without a body.
Ida felt panic well up inside of her as she considered this, crouching low as she listened to the quick explanation of what had happened. As she had expected, this denizens of this place were not the happy, innocent creatures they had seemed on the surface. The fact they could steal starseeds like the Negaverse was chilling. Could they break past transcendence? Her planet rejected the touch of chaos, but these machines were not chaos powered. Would her planet still protect her? More than worry for herself, she worried about the other transcendeds that had been pulled her, thinking their starseeds were protected. How many others had been taken, quietly out of sight? How many of them were left to try to affect a rescue?
"Can you show me where your body is?" Ida said as she pulled her senshi phone from subspace, hastily thumbing it open and searching for the messaging system. She began to hurriedly type out what Illyria had told her, setting the message to broadcast as widely as she could. "It needs to be kept safe where we can reach it for when we get your starseed back. You'll need to describe the robot for me later, but first, your body."
This was going to be very difficult to accomplish on her own... she needed at least one other person who could either protect any bodies they found, or go retrieve the starseeds that had been taken. Maybe if she could reach Encke... surely he'd help her. Ida spared a worried thought for Murikabushi too, and her friend... hopefully they were still safe.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 12:41 pm
The vastness of the landscape daunted Illyria for a moment as she considered Ida's query. In her current form it was harder to stay in a perpetual state of motion. That being said the Mauvian was pretty sure of which direction they needed to travel in. Her gaze took in the building designs before nodding. Not everything was similar which made for a easier identification of which direction she would need to guide Ida in. Once her unconscious body was retrieved it would mean just finding Surly to gain back her starseed. Sighing with the longing of a chance to ride on Ida's shoulders once more or being held close was futile and yet she sighed because she wanted it so badly.
"Ida, I think we need to go this way in order to find where my body is," and here Illyria's ghostly paw pointed in the direction that she knew was correct, "I guess it'd be easier if I could go on ahead and verify before coming right back but I don't think it's a good idea anymore. It'd be more complications if another of our "hosts" sees what is going on and follows me back or something. I couldn't bear it if I brought danger straight to you."
Illyria's body faded to a near transparent state before gaining back some of its opacity. It bothered her more than she had considered .., being like this. There was no chance to comfort a friend, there was no chance to move around like she wanted and mostly it was very frightening to see what she currently was. Being all !GhostIllyria was weirding her out inside.
It might have taken an unimaginable amount of time, or at least it seemed that way to Illyria, to locate the exact building that she had been trying to get into before her encounter but sure enough she was able to remember where to go. Her keen eyesight, even in her current state, aptly picked up on the small signs of a rubble pile that had some recent dislodged material and she perked up. Her gaze turned to watch the area as Ida approached and she meowed as loud as she dared, "Ida, I think this is the right pile. See, there's signs of dislodged material. I know this is where my body is."
She flicked her ghostly tail back and forth before falling silent. Her body was here but how weird would it be to see it as it currently was: still and appearing very much like she wasn't alive? Panic welled inside of her mind and almost unwillingly did she retreat backwards. Despite her current bravado in this current form she was terrified that at any given moment she would disappear. If that happened what then?
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2022 2:50 pm
Following the transparent figure of her small friend, Ida kept a sharp eye out for any of the robots that might have wandered this way. Their friendly appearance had taken on a deceptive, malicious cast in her head now, and she was not keen on confronting any of them out on her own.
The Negaverse was patently unable to touch her starseed, making her safe from corruption... but what if whatever these things did was different somehow? What if their process of extracting starseeds was able to bypass the protections her planet afforded her? It would make her as vulnerable as Illyria had been... and if her starseed got taken, there would be no saving Illyria or any of the others. They had to be careful.
Scrambling over the piles of rubble, she headed for the one the mauvian pointed out. It was not hard to find the small, furry body placed carefully there. She looked like some forgotten toy... and it made Ida's heart ache. Her body was so limp when she picked it up... but to her surprise, she felt the chest expand and contract, slowly, with shallow breaths. She was still warm, and when she pressed fingers to her neck, she felt the weakest of heart beats.
"Okay, your body is still alive." She said, feeling a measure of relief. This was normal for bodies missing starseeds. She'd certainly seen enough of those come through the hospital to recognize it. "Now all we have to do is find the others and get your starseed back. We should be able to return it to you and you'll be perfectly fine. We should have a couple of days, at least, especially if I have you. I can extend the usual time with energy from my planet."
Turning, the small body cradled in her arms, she looked for the ghostly image of Illyria.
"Come on, sweetheart. Lets find the others. We're going to need some help." She said as she made her way carefully back over the rubble.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2022 7:36 pm
Even as she gathered the nerve to venture closer to the pile of rubble that marked where she had fallen to Surly's deception did Illyria still feel afraid that any second she'd vanish from sight. As it was she would help out by being an extra set of eyes that could keep a look out as Ida moved to pick her body up from where it had been placed. Her gaze never wavered from the horizon until Ida's words of her body still being alive drew her attention like a moth to an open flame.
If her body was alive - then why wasn't she able to get back into it? Was it because of what Surly had done?
Even though Ida was carrying her true body there was a small feeling of resentment that flashed through her mind before she squashed it down. This wasn't at all the right place for anything like envy to be present. Instead Illyria focused on more pleasant thoughts of getting her starseed back in order to be able interact with her people again. And make no mistake she viewed Ida as one of her people. At Ida's encouraging words did she do her best to follow the Orchid Senshi to wherever it was that they needed to go. Her body was safe for now. But the hard work had only just begun. Illyria's voice, soft once more, drifted forward, "Let's do this then ... and Ida, thank you."
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