[OTA] Feb/March events!

[claritatis]

Who: Ignis Scientia (claritatis), Julie Grigio Cabernet (redwinekindofgirl) and Nil (atravellerwithabow).
What: Top levels for the Feb and March events, as and when required.
Where: In the city, outside the city, wherever.
When: Feb/March for the duration of the Kiss Me Kill Me/Field Trip/Flu Season events.
Warnings: Nil.

((ooc: anything welcome! bring me your travellers, people being chased by monsters, anyone needing help, sandstorms, anything at all c: ))

Comments

ignis scientia.

[claritatis]

[Feb] preparations - by the motorcycles [OTA]

[claritatis]

[The hooded motorcycles are met with no small amount of interest from Ignis, who, before he decides just where he is going and with whom for this bold venture, goes to check on the means of conveyance that has been provided for them. He stands by one of the vehicles and runs a hand lightly across the roof, a half-amused smile on his face while he thinks that no one can see it. Interesting. They're clearly not built for power, but the four wheels and sturdy frame show the intent of endurance over speed. They'll do well out in the desert like this, half-shaded and not easily tipped over.

He leans inside one to examine it further, and pulls his phone out of his pocket as it buzzes, a soft huff of laughter chuffing out through the bridge of his nose when he reads the message on the screen. Back into his pocket it goes, and he straightens up again, folding his arms loosely.

Ignis has no real love for those presenting themselves as the gods of this place, and yet he finds more and more parallels between them and the Astrals the more he learns about them, and it is difficult to not feel a certain reverence for the power that they hold. The invasion of the Null had changed much, and one of those things was undoubtedly Ignis' opinion of the motivations of Hope and his ilk. It would seem that they were just as divided as any group of humans might be, and that division had almost cost them everything.]

I suppose it's for the best. [He murmurs to himself, heedless of anyone who might happen to be nearby to hear it.] Serva me, servabo te.

[lemontree]

[ She is examining the motorcycles herself when she realizes that she isn't alone. Dany lifts her brows at the sound of a voice, rising from where she had been leaning in to look at the-... whatever it is.

Each new month brings a dozen new inventions to Hadriel, and despite herself, she is curious about them all. ]

Was that another language? [ The young queen pipes up from where she stands, smiling softly. ] I had thought our tongues automatically translated for us by-... well, the gods. But, I couldn't understand what you just said.

[ Tell her, Ignis. Share your secrets. ]

I assume that it was about these - metal horses.

[ Go ahead, laugh. The Dothraki called ships 'wooden horses,' and perhaps she is just as primitive here as others consider her khalasar to be in Westeros. ]

[claritatis]

Hm.

[For Ignis, it was as easy as sliding from one language into another, but he has seen the 'translation' fail before. He smiles at Daenerys as she approaches, straightening up beside the-- what did she call it?

He doesn't laugh.]

Motorcycles. Though it is strange to see them with four wheels.

[With one hand, he beckons her closer. He doesn't need to be told that her world is not as technologically advanced as his own - he's seen it, in her memories, or enough of it to make that kind of assumption.]

And what I said, it was Old Lucian. 'Save me, and I will save you.

[Feb] in the wilderness - open to travel group/anyone who crosses them [OTA]

[claritatis]

[Even with his experience traversing harsh and unforgiving terrain, this planet had been difficult. The days are long and relentlessly hot and the nights not long enough to get any real rest, but he tells himself that he has survived through worse and is content enough to put up the tents for shelter each time they stop.

During the day, they are usually on the move, but even with the convenience of the motorcycles they still have to rest. The cities are far apart, and it's hard to find anything like roads between them, so even with the guiding needle of the Hope-magnetised compass it can feel as if they are driving for hours and making no headway at all. When they stop, there will be a makeshift shelter for shade and, of course, something ready to eat. Ignis isn't about to skimp on the quality of his cooking just because the conditions are unfavourable.

At night, short at it is, a cheery campfire ensures that there's enough heat to get them through until the sun rises again. It's a trick to sleep, and though he manages it sometimes, he spends most of the short hours of darkness sat by the flames with his fingers tucked into the sleeves of his jacket for warmth. Should someone approach without warning or appear to be attempting to sneak up on the small camp, a faint flash of pale blue sparks around Ignis' hand will show the silhouette of a dagger suddenly clenched in his fist. Bookish he may appear, but defenceless he is not.

Open approaches are summarily offered a place by the fire, and a bowl of whatever food happens to be on the menu that night - for a small trade of their own supplies, of course.]

[othlir]

[ He'd expected that going to other cities would take a while; didn't that one post say the orbs would take a week to be ready? So Vax had been prepared to spend a while out of the city; what he hadn't expected was for the journey to a temple to extend longer than a few hours. He can see dotted lights across the landscape: probably other travelers, or bandits, if this place has any. Still, there's some safety in numbers — it can't hurt to check.

He approaches the closest fire with some trepidation, a near shadow in the dark. Hard to tell if any one person is friendly or foe, especially here; it's been some time since the last time anyone got the jump on him, but he'd rather not chance it, if he can avoid it.

So Vax will stand just out of the range of the light, wait for a few minutes to watch and see if anything odd or sketchy happens. And after a moment, he'll call out, though he still won't move into the light. ]

'lo there. It's a bit spooky out there by my lonesome; mind if I join you for a bit?

[Feb] in another city - open to travel group/anyone who crosses them [OTA]

[claritatis]

[He shouldn't have expected the other cities they found to be like Hadriel itself (though he wonders now if that was the name of the city or the world, and makes a mental note to ask the question), but he still finds himself stunned by the state that the find the next city in. It rose in front of them, the spires like skeletons against the horizon, the lower buildings coming into view bit by bit and in no better condition. Even the temples were not untouched, and it was no mean feat to get inside Hope's once they found it, with Ignis somewhat concerned that the whole thing might come down on their heads if they took a wrong step. It isn't safe to stay with the orb, so their camp is close to the temple itself, and the city is theirs - so to speak - while they wait.

And since they have to wait, he maps out the city in the hours when only one sun blazes in the sky, returning to shelter when it grows too hot to handle. It doesn't take long to realise that there's nothing close to any supplies here, and the water is as tainted as that of Hadriel when they had first arrived, and that both of those things could cause problems.

At least once, his casual exploring gets him into trouble. A crumbling wall or an unstable floor, and he comes back to camp smudged with dust and with a few bruises, doing little more than brushing himself off and making no comment at all about how he happened by that small cut on his hairline. Just don't ask.

Ignis isn't an unfriendly sort, and if you're not in the group he's travelling with, he'll still greet you as if you are.]

but i wanna tag everything /whines

[dedikated]

( Checking the orb quickly becomes part of her morning routine, weaving through the wreckage of the temple and finding it sat there, slowly growing brighter. It's a blessed morning when the thing glows a familiar purple, eerily reminiscent of the orb which placed Hope's mark on the back of her hand all that time ago. Finally. Finally, they'll be able to leave this place, this ruined city with so many buildings that are too fragile to use the rooftops as outlooks and nothing but tainted water to refresh their supplies.

Steps are lighter as she leaves the temple, leaving the orb at the altar for the moment to find the others, and Kate narrowly avoids a cloud of rubble falling on her head as she approaches the exit that leads towards their camp. The sharp shift she has to make to dodge it, however, also manages to be a really convenient way to have her bump into Ignis.

(Convenient. And entirely coincidental.) )

Whoa—

( On the bright side, they're both dust and damage free? )

[March] 'that's my rubber ducky' [closed to Carolina]

[claritatis]

[The flash of someone else's day when he had picked up the photograph had been more intriguing than shocking. By the time he had come across it, he was most certainly not the first to discover an item that appeared to be linked to someone else.

What he's offered as a 'clue' does not serve as much of one. Hands cleaning armour, a warped and faint reflection... but should someone find a photograph of Ignis and his friends, he would want them to take care of it and return it to him. So, he pockets it, on the chance that he might eventually come across the person that it belongs to.

A luck would have it, it doesn't take terribly long at all. He finds her outside and approaches with a quiet, polite step.]

I beg your pardon. [Making no assumptions, he presents the photo, holding it up between his first and second fingers. The armour she's cleaning looks similar enough to what is in the picture for him to make the assumption.] But you wouldn't happen to know who this belongs to, would you?

[uptightness]

[She hasn't moved too much by the time that he comes across her. Carolina is meticulous in her routines, and keeping her armour in as pristine condition as she can is something that she does regularly. Considering that they don't know what will happen here, it seems like a smart idea. It may just come in useful.

She is aware of the approach of someone, although it's not like they are on a desert island. The person could be going anywhere, but as she works on a spot on her helmet, she's aware of their approach. Her eyes do rise, pausing in her cleaning, wondering what was going on. Interest in her armour again?

Yet Carolina does pause, freezing, as her eyes settle on that picture.]

...where did you get that?

[March] 'that's my rubber ducky' [closed to Carlisle]

[claritatis]

[He knows it shouldn't be there the moment he sees it in the apartment, and eyes the mantle with a certain level of wariness that he only allows out because there's no one else around to see it. The last time he found something that didn't belong to him, it came along with a vision that allowed him to quickly reunite it with its owner, but who knows what touching one of these items could show him?

There are some things a person just doesn't want to see.

It looks familiar, however, and he walks around it several times without moving it from its spot draped over the back of a chair in the living room. It looks... very much like the thing that Carlisle was wearing when he and Kate came across him during the Null invasion.

Ignis risks it. His fingertips brush across the hair on the head of the mantle and he's greeted with a brief, thankfully entirely innocent flash of a pair of hands with black ink under the fingernails. Whoever they belong to appears to be engaged in... gardening? He draws his hand back with a soft hiss of breath through his teeth.

Definitely Carlisle.

And with that fact assured, he sends the man a quick message.]

Carlisle, I believe I have something of yours.

[tongueamok]

[When Carlisle gets that message, his dread is palpable. Something of his? From the city, or like he found something of Kate's? What could it be if it's the latter? And what did he see when he touched it?

At first, he's not sure which is the more nauseating thought, but he quickly decides that the prospect of what Ignis could have seen upon contact is definitely worse. He has an estate full of things that are technically his back home; why the gods would choose to bring in any of his books or trivial trappings is beyond him, but Ignis must have identified it as his through his vision... and that's a thought that makes Carlisle distinctly uncomfortable. Did he see a glimpse into his dreams? His journal as he wrote that morning? His conversation with Rabbit? Or something more... salacious?

He forces himself to swallow the knot in his throat so he can at least message Ignis back. Perhaps that will quell his nerves, however painful the answers to his questions may be when he gets them.]

I see.

[Good start. After what vision he was given with Kate's pictures, Carlisle knows he should, at the very least, attempt to be cordial to her current beau, however terrible the idea of such a courtship may be in his eyes.]

I will be at my home shortly, if you wouldn't mind meeting me there.

[They should... probably talk.]

julie grigio.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[Feb] clinic [OTA]

[redwinekindofgirl]

Anyone here?

[Julie pokes her head into the clinic, finding it oddly - but perhaps not unexpectedly - quiet. She sighs to herself as she pushes the door open entirely and walks in, pushing her hands through her hair and keeping it held back from her forehead for a few long moments before she lets it go. The girl is no nurse, though she's certainly trying her best and doing Nora proud by turning her hand to anything she needed for, and being here (seemingly) alone is just that little bit unsettling.

She hears a sound - a small thud, or a clatter - and freezes in place, wishing for a split second that she had a knife, or something, but--

That's silly, it can't be anyone meaning any harm, right? Not in the clinic.]

Uh... hello? Who's there?

[Feb] by the motorcycles [OTA]

[redwinekindofgirl]

These are cool.

[The girl's voice comes from inside one of the hooded motorcycles, which she sits in with her hands on the wheel as if at any moment she might start it and go roaring out of the city. Julie doesn't have much intention of going to one of the other cities, not for a lack of a wish to help, but a lack of anyone to go with. She can't deny, though, that the motorcycles are tempting toys.

She leans forwards to start it, feeling it hum underneath her as a grin comes to her face. Does she know how to drive one of these? No. Is she going to take her best shot at it? Of course she is!]

[64th]

[ Cashmere is, as usual, torn between self preservation and wanting to be useful to the community at large. self preservation is winning at the moment, but it doesn't stop her from checking out Tranquility's bikes, especially since she thinks she might be able to keep one for future use.

she doesn't know how they work, but it sounds like Julie's figured it out. ]

Have you driven one of these before?

[Feb] city edge [OTA]

[redwinekindofgirl]

[She said to herself that she wouldn't go out there, that nothing was worth venturing out into the heat-haze shimmered desert, not even Hope, and yet she still finds herself standing in the best shade she can find at the edge of the city, watching the smallest dots of motorcycles disappearing over the horizon while the sun sinks down somewhere to her left. The chill comes quickly as the night does, but she only shivers, rubbing her hands up and down her upper arms.]

You don't want to be out there, Julie. [Muttered to herself, she doesn't quite believe it. She's starting to believe it less as time goes by, but she's not stupid enough to go out there by herself.]

Don't even think about it.

[bespectacledsnake]

They do say it takes a very specific type of person to live with the desert.

[Semiyon, who had been out for a stroll to take in the sights of his new prison, has sidled up quietly behind her, half-smiling as he looks past her to the broad swath of sand ahead]

[March] 'that's my rubber ducky' [closed to Party Poison]

[redwinekindofgirl]

[Julie did not expect to find a large, cartoonish mouse head in the middle of her apartment floor when she got up that morning. In fact, the sudden appearance of it drew the softest scream of alarm as she stepped out of her bedroom, and she spent the next half hour checking the entire place to make sure that no one had walked in and put it there.

After waking up, having a cup of coffee and some breakfast, she sits down on the couch and stares at the thing through slightly narrowed eyes. With her brain more in gear, she's sure that touching it will give her some clue as to who it really belongs to, but the thing is, she isn't sure that she wants to touch it. It's disturbing, and she's not one hundred percent sure but she thinks that there might be a weird smell coming from it.

Eventually, she prods it with the tips of two fingers, and in this way catches snatches of the comings and goings of the person it belongs to over the course of the day. From what she can tell, they get out and wander around a lot, and they spend way too much time just watching people.

Morning blurs into evening, and she's starting to feel too much like a voyeur - and bored. She considers leaving the thing in the corridor outside her apartment, and puffs her cheeks out as she looks down at it.]

Would you do something so I can see who you are? Jesus. Jerk.

[One last try, and it's finally the one she needs. She hears a voice, and she sees--]

Ghoul?

[It almost feels too easy. She almost gives up entirely.

But then she's standing on Ghoul's doorstep with whatever the hell this thing is held between two pillowcases so she doesn't have to touch it again, kicking at the base of the door with her foot because if he can't tell her who it belongs to, she's just going to leave it with him and let him figure it out.]

Re: [March] 'that's my rubber ducky' [closed to Party Poison]

[killthisparty]

[ It's been a fairly boringass day, if you were to ask him. And he supposes it's better boring than nothing else - the nagging feelings in the back of his head had mostly been quiet today. He calls it a success.

He's the one keeping down the fort when there's a knock at the door, making him perk up curious from his spot at the table. People don't...knock. At least the people who live here don't, so he isn't sure how to react right away.


But he slinks out of his chair, quiet, standing facing the door. Should she "knock" again- he finally moves, not towards the door, but to a sideroom, she he can look outside.

Should she turn her head in the right moment...that sure is someone peeking out at her. ]

nil.

[atravellerwithabow]

[Feb] supplies [OTA]

[atravellerwithabow]

[With no intention of being any help at all to the creatures styling themselves as gods, Nil helps himself to the supplies offered for an entirely different and unphilanthropic reason - he wants them. He doesn't over-indulge, and in fact some might think he's taking far less than what one person would need, but the fact is that he can survive on less, and he's not intending to go very far from the city at all.

He looks over the pre-packaged food with an apple (or what looks enough like an apple) in his mouth, a bite taken out of it as he weights a tin can in his hand and makes a subtle baffled expression at it before putting it back. What use does he have for that, he wonders. The motorcycles, too, hold little interest after a cursory look - machines, and ones that he has no idea of the operation of even if the function is an obvious one.

It's a brief distraction, and one that pulls him away from the tracks he's been restlessly treading around the city for the past few weeks. Nil is a man who needs to be engaged, by one thing or another, and motion and movement of people is enough to catch his interest for now.]

[Feb] city borders (A) [OTA]

[atravellerwithabow]

[After the initial curiosity fades, the beasts gathering at the city edges and occasionally venturing into the city proper provide an ample distraction to keep him from getting into too much trouble. He wonders if the movement from within the city made them bolder, or if it's something to do with this 'Hope' and his weakness, but all that matters to Nil is that he has somewhere to direct his simple enjoyment of taking a life and watching it fade out of the eyes of his victim.

He's more focused this time - methodical, precise - nothing like the occasional, random kills he was leaving littered in his path in previous days. It could be considered an escalation in behaviour, to those who know him well enough, though very few could claim to. However, it would be a mistake to believe that he is working to keep the city borders clear out of anything close to altruism.

Nil just wants to see things die. He's simple that way. If you're inclined to think otherwise, he isn't shy about correcting the assumption.]

[ex_break829]

So let me get this straight: you're killing them —

[ And killing them well. (Jack has been watching for a little while now, sitting on an outcrop of rock like it's a throne, neither hiding nor approaching, like a supervisor come to watch. He's... he's getting sunburnt.) ]

— But you're not going out there?

[ Since Nil hasn't actually left, just stalks across the pale flats with his bow. ]

[Feb] city borders (B) [OTA]

[atravellerwithabow]

[One can't spend all day killing (well, one could, but one runs out of arrows soon enough) and in the few brief breaks that Nil takes he can be found staring out to the horizon, grey eyes burning hotter than the two suns with something like a painful longing as he looks out at the desert. It would be so easy to walk out there, wouldn't it? The creatures prowling the edges of the city pose little threat to a skilled predator, and if Nil is nothing else, he is that.

In the end, he had decided not to venture into the strange, fogged area in the city, but that only left him with fewer options upon which to take out his steadily mounting frustrations.

The only thing that keeps him here is the lack of surety of supplies out there. Nil, at times, may not seem to value his own life, but he doesn't have any wish for his cause of death to be dehydration and starvation in the middle of a desert. He has felt true hunger and thirst, and how it can linger, and there is no joy to be found in it.

A sharp breath is drawn in through his teeth, short and irritated, and he glances to the nearest unfortunate person who happens to be walking by.]

How far is it, do you think, to the closest ruins?