Taking the Initiative [Dark]

[Dark]

Minh was thinking fast, and was, unfortunately, finding her mind disturbingly blank. They were condemned any way they looked at it; the outcome of their "trail" had been decided from the very beginning, and sooner rather than later they were going to find themselves missing their heads. Which would be rather unfortunate in the grand scheme of things.

It wasn't really fair, if you looked back at all the other scraps and tribulations they had faced over the course of their journey. There had been those psychedelic mushrooms, the cave with the carnivorous plants, and the almost witch-burning.

Brilliance struck hard and swift, and her body language was shifting before she even had really thought it through. She radiated indignant rage and the haughty displeasure that only belonged to the rich-and-infamous.

"The manner in which these proceedings have been conducted is a disgrace to your region. Would you dare falsely accuse a Court Joker of such a horrendous crime in order to cover up your gross incompetence?" She tossed her head, and looked over her nose at Mnem, "I honestly don't know why you haven't smote them."

[Bee]

A tense, wary silence took over the crowd, and Mnem slipped her bracelet on as all eyes shifted to her. Her suit disappeared, and the rank shifted into nothingness as well. She settled into the role as well as anyone can when put on the spot.

"My dear Nebula steps ahead of me," she said, raising eyebrow at her friend before turning back to the intent villagers. "I wanted to give you all an opportunity to recognize the error of your ways before things became unpleasant, but I see that you have no intention of doing so. So I give you this warning: free us now, and put an end to this idiocy, or all of you shall regret it immensely."

A murmur swept over the crowd, and then someone called: "Prove it!"

Mnem pointed to her rank. This may as well be an ability. It shifted, quickly: Ace of Spades, Jack of Diamonds, Four of Hearts, Queen of Clubs.

"Are you satisfied, you petty little creatures?"

The first reaction seemed to be one of awe, followed swiftly by skepticism. "Prove it!" they chanted. "Prove it!"

Wordsworth said, carefully, "It is true that seem to present the power of a Joker. But we here have been told of much more extraordinary talents. So we send you on a quest. If, Miss Shelley the Joker, you and your attendant can scale Mount Hemingway, and destroy the dread blue marlin beast that dwells at the summit, then we shall accept your word as true, and free you. If not, your heads shall decorate our pikes!"

The crowd cheered.

[Dark]

The outcome of Mnem's performance had been entirely unexpected, and while inside Minh railed at the villagers for having the audacity to make a Joker prove him/herself, she couldn't exactly call them on it, considering Mnem wasn't actually a Joker and provoking an attack, as such, wouldn't be a wise move on their part. The situation was more than maddening.

Still a bit shaken from such a close brush with decapitation, and knowing the crowd could turn on them at any second, Minh had to force herself to walk slowly when she went to retrieve Monty. Monty was ready to eviscerate the hapless fools, and she was very tempted to let go of him.

A group stepped forward with their belongings that had been confiscated.

She kept her expression stoic and disapproving as she took the bags, and laughed just a bit hysterically inside her head when some of the villager's couldn't meet her disdainful gaze. Not all mindless bigots, then; just small-minded people swept up by mob-mentality.

[Bee]

They were pointed in the direction of the mountain and sent on their way, with note that a small group of attentive villagers would be following them to the base, but no further. No one wanted to go up the mountain, it seemed, though Mnem did not quite see how a giant fish--and one that was apparently not even in water, at that--could be so terrifying to them.

She kept up her act as she walked, hoping they would reach the mountain soon. The group was keeping out of sight as they followed, and Mnem didn't like the idea of a dozen hidden eyes on her as she moved.

Monty ran inbetween their legs, practically foaming at the mouth for all the indignity s/he had suffered, and Mnem couldn't blame her.

She could see Mt. Hemingway. It was a very large mountain, and the band of white snow on top almost made it look like it had a bushy beard. Rugged, but somehow too much so, like it was overcompensating for something. Insomuch as an inanimate part of nature could overcompensate.

"That doesn't look difficult at all," Mnem said, more for part of the act than for any real sense of confidence.

[Dark]

You keep telling yourself that, Minh muttered sourly, making sure that their "escorts" were far enough away so as to not overhear. Monty growled in what Minh speculated was agreement.

The mountain looked tall and foreboding, and Minh had no intention of climbing it. As soon as they ditched the entourage she was planning to hightail it.

Their captures seemed to sense that fact, though, because the mean looking sparrow caught her eye and gave a rather nasty smirk, "This canyon is the only access to the mountain; we'll be waiting here for you here when you return. Safe journey."

Minh's eyebrow twitched expansively. Well, fuck.

--

It was the eighth time she'd stubbed her toe and the second time she'd lost her footing and slide down a slope. Monty was twittering and nipping at her ear, and she couldn't be bothered to move.

"I give up."

The sky was very blue.

[Bee]

Mnem wondered if the Rangers would notice if she flew. Not the whole way, mind, because a flight up that wretched mountain would probably take more than half an hour, which seemed to be her cap, but in short bursts. Flying was just as easy as walking on flat ground, and took them faster over nasty terrain. Like where they were now.

She looked down at Minh, who had given up. She felt rather like giving her a sharp kick and telling her that if she could go on after nearly getting squished to death by a cave, then Minh could jolly well continue with a few stubbed toes, but that would likely get her nothing but open rebellion, which would likely be the last act Minh performed as a freethinking individual, because the Rangers would hunt them down and slaughter them before they could escape out of the Sorgaire Range.

Holding her good arm down for Minh to grab, she said, "Come now, we can go. I'll carry us most of the way out of this twice-cursed fucking canyon from hell. Then we can rest before finishing it and starting up the mountain."

[Dark]

Minh eyed the paw that she had been offered mulishly, "I really would rather not," but she was already sitting up, brushing off her fur and grabbing a growling, fussing Monty.

From her brief initial encounter with aviation she couldn't really say she was reveling the idea of going up again so soon, especially since she was pretty sure Mnem hadn't had much of a chance to really brush up on basic mechanics since that first disastrous attempt. Of course, it beat hiking.

"Well, let's get this over with then," she gave a great huff of exasperation and latched onto Mnem's side, "Take us up, flying wonder; and please try not to drop me this time, m'kay?"

Monty chittered in agreement.

Her stomach started to roll almost as soon as Mnem touched off, and she was fairly certain she was cutting off the canine's circulation with as hard as she was holding on, but she couldn't make herself loosen her grip.

[Kiki]

Bee and Dark receive 2 tokens each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe. This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe. Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!

[Bee]

Bitch. Heavy stupid bitch. Mnem felt like dropping her on principle and watching a pretty Minh splatter on the rocks, but that really wouldn't get them anywhere, and then she would just be alone on a miserable task. So she carried them as far as they could, as low to the ground as possible in case they actually were being monitored somehow (ah, paranoia and the things it could accomplish) until she actually was doing to drop Minh and Monty.

She set them down gently. They were very nearly to the foot of the mountain. She looked up, and grimaced. She really wanted this to be over with. She was not in the mood to deal with scaling a mountain. She wished they could have just slaughtered the whole village and not had to worry about this.

"Yes," she said. "Yes, we're going to take a nice long relaxing nap before this."

[Dark]

Minh didn't feel particularly sleepy, but she didn't feel it would probably be wise to mention that to Mnem when the canine had been doing all the work to get them this far. She rolled out their sleeping mats and laid down obligingly, staring at the clouds to keep herself occupied. At some point, she must have nodded off.

When she woke, the sun still hadn't quite reached its zenith, so they must not have sleep overly long. She pushed Monty off her chest and rolled over to poke Mnem awake.

"Ready to climb a mountain, Mnem-dear? I really don't see why they need us to kill some creature up some god-forsaken mountain that they apparently don't even visit regularly, it the condition of this trail is anything to go by, but--whatever. Let's get this over with."

She rolled up her sleeping mat and shifted the position of her pack.