Unfamiliar Animal (Satra)

[Bee]

Too small, too wiry, too no-tail, but it had been the easiest body to get hold of, and it was as strong and fit as any Fianna. The original got broken in the copying process; he'd only intended to replicate and stash it, but then the thing had looked at him, eyes to eye, and he'd known, beyond a speckled shadow of a doubt, that it wanted his blood. It would call its brethren, and they'd have him at last. (This one said they posed no threat. They lied through their poison-filled teeth.)

So it was broken. There was no helping it. And he was in its place, still and watchful, the only possible hint of his true form hidden by this new strange itchy awful mask. His investigation had gotten complicated.

Not Foreigners but strangers nevertheless. One was a human. (Powerful magic.) A winged demon who set his teeth on edge. He didn't know what to think of the littlest one, all white with greenglow. She was the most unnerving of all.

He was not sure what they were up to; the lack of knowledge tensed his muscles. For the moment, there was nothing to do but observe.

[carcinoGeneticist]

It was a difficult thing to do, to walk in silence behind a group of interesting people in an interesting land. Rhiannon found it much easier than Sorcha, age giving her much more patience in this kind of situation. The older of the bat-hybrids watched their surroundings closely, listening to the Fianna's every word and acting quick to obey whatever they asked of her. Heilyn had told her, after all, that listening could be the difference between life and death in the Bog.

When the Fianna began to speak, Rhiannon's ears perked forward. She had to suppress the shudder of unease that went through her at the things that were being said. Joker. She'd done her best to forget about the son she'd had, the expanse of fur without a marking on it... It had been easy to do in the Capital and Court, where Jokers were mentioned in stories alongside the White Rabbit and other childhood boogymen.

Here, they seemed to be a reality. She shivered despite herself. "Relax, love.[/i]" the voice was soothing. "Not your Joker. A native one.[/i]"

Sorcha was happy to finally be holding onto her mother's back and not needing to walk. She was far too big for it by now, but it was a much more comfortable way to travel and her bat's bones made her light, especially when she was supporting herself at least partway. When they started to tell stories about boogymen, her ears flicked back with irritation. The Bog was weird enough, she was annoyed that her mother would arrange for a story like that to scare them more.

So she did her best to tune them out, instead looking at the trees and the people that surrounded them. One of them was... really staring, so for a moment she stared back, offering the guard a small smile that made her face light up. She wished she could see his face.

[Satra]

There was a little shifting, but it was, in general, a rather disappointing reaction. She turned her attention back to the woman who spoke.

"<That is incredibly unfortunate. I am sad to hear of this loss. I hope he can be recovered.>"

It wasn't long before a wall appeared before them out of the trees. It was old and broken, more like a pile of rubble in some places. The Leader went first then motioned for the rest to follow. Under his mask, his lip twitched. He didn't like how one of his was acting. Staring too much at the Sorcha girl. When one of his teammates reached the top of the wall, he went down the other side.

"<Sorcha, you first. Fly up and I'll catch up.>" she instructed the girl. It'd be easier for Heilyn to climb up without Sorcha's weight to compensate for. Free of the girl's weight, Heilyn used her jumping and climbing ability in tandem to get up and over the wall with little trouble, then motioned to Sorcha to come down. When the girl was safely on the woman's back, she told her: "<Wait just a bit longer when we get a little deeper, and you can take off your mask.>" She knew Sorcha was dying to know what it was like to not have to wear it.


Moderate Ability 6:
This SD is now granted a rather prolific jumping ability. Unhindered by weight other than her own, she can leap heights of 10 feet vertically and 20 feet horizontally from a stand still (naturally, the length of the jump is increased if a running start is involved, but not the height).
This ability is rather taxing if used continuously for a span of 30 minutes, if she does it more than five times in one day, her legs will cease functioning for a full twenty four hours following the last jump.


Small Ability 7
Once a month she can walk directly up a wall, vertically (think Jareth in the Labyrinth) for five minutes without falling off. <3
Boost: This card can now activate this ability once a day, but it is no longer good for endurance. She can stick to surfaces for ten seconds at a time before she must jump to a new one. Staying in one place for more than a minute is mentally exhausting, as is walking. Roof-hopping is just fine, though. >:3

[Bee]

One by one they passed over. He was the next to last over the wall. Deft and agile as any, in this body. The sight of soiled ground below and the beginnings of familiar air were nearly a comfort.

Even masks would fail if forced to filter Outside air too long. This had long since become a certainty in his brain. These three might already be contaminated. Couldn't get close enough to smell if they reeked of pollution. (Couldn't take off the mask, either. Problems, problems.) Time enough to find out, and act accordingly.

They were into trees as soon as they crossed over, moving as fast as their party would allow. He took six behind him, so he could keep a close eye on all of them. The older two, he suspected, might get Up To Things.

The youngest set his nerves on end simply because she looked to be most innocuous. It glowed. And smiled. It was probably more dangerous than the other two combined.

[carcinoGeneticist]

"I don't like that one,[/i]" the scythe's voice cut through Rhiannon's mind, sharp and abrupt. She glanced at the guard the man was referring to, raising an eyebrow. He was looking at Sorcha an awful lot, wasn't he? "Yeah. Once we get to town, we should talk to her. She's getting a lot of attention from all of them.[/i]" The woman silently agreed. She was sure that Heilyn had already had a talk with the girl, but a sister-to-sister chat wouldn't hurt.

When they approached the Wall, Rhiannon stood back slightly, letting her mother and sister go over first. She gave Sorcha an encouraging nod, watching as the girl opened her wings and flew quickly over the barrier. Once Heilyn was over as well, Rhiannon made her way across, landing on the ground beside mother and sister on the other side.

Sorcha was eager to climb back onto her mother's back, using the thumbs of her wings to grab the material. Her fluffy coyote-tail wagged excitedly as she looked around. She was in the Bog, the place that was feared by so many... but that was her homeland. Bright green eyes flashed in the dim light, and her little orbs lit up and began to hum brightly before she remembered herself and forced them down to a manageable level. She stared at her mother, blinking. "<R-really?!>" she said, almost not believing it. "<AWESOME!>"

Rhiannon grinned at her sister, finding that sort of energy to be contagious, and turned to her mother with a question of her own after only a little bit of prodding by the scythe. "<Pale would like to know when he can come out.[/b]>"

[Satra]

Heilyn smiled at Sorcha's excitement.

"Yes, really, Sorcha. Now, try not to wiggle around so much. You're getting a bit big now, and you could throw off my balance." She looked at Rhi as they walked. "He can come out at any time, Rhi. Just, hang on." She then spoke to the leader.

"Sir, fair warning, my daughter's weapon will be coming out shortly. Do not be alarmed, he's one of us." It was best not to have any nasty surprises for the Fianna to react to. She nodded at Rhi. They had their warning now. And now that they were on full duty they would not find the Scythe to be a distraction. They'll probably be quite open about their staring and poking as soon as their leader dismissed them, but not before.

After some rather uneventful sightseeing and promises from Heilyn that after they got into town and settled, they would come back out to do some exploring, especially after a rather spectacular display of a carnivorous plant catching a toad.

"We're deep enough now, Sorcha," the woman nudged her. She held up her hand showing she'd hold onto her mask for her, "Go ahead."

[carcinoGeneticist]

It was a relief to finally be letting Apocalypse out. In such strange, foreign conditions, even having him in scythe form at her scythe was a welcome kind of comfort. She drew the weapon from the marking on her chest and before he was even fully out he shifted into his human form.

The man stretched, smiling at the people around him and then down at his summoner as she headbutted his hip slightly. "Much better," he commented, reaching down to scratch her behind the ear. He grinned at Heilyn, giving her a small nod. He liked the woman. She was witty and everything a Heart noble should be, beyond her habit of sleeping with black suits. He also nodded at Sorcha. When they began to walk again, he walked like that, the fingers of his hand laced in her mane.

Sorcha stuck her tongue out at Apocalypse but was quickly distracted by the carnivorous plant. She'd never seen a plant actually eat something before!

The girl was getting tired, but she was excited enough that she ignored that fact, instead taking in their surroundings with wide-eyed joy. When her mother spoke to her again, she glanced down, and her orbs began to shimmer with excitement. She didn't say another word, just pushed the mask off and let it fall to the ground, taking a deep breath of the rich Bog air. "Wow... This is really nice," she said, wiggling her nose happily.