T - Nako, Xenon, Kitty, and Callypso - Complete

[carcinoGeneticist]

As interested as Kelsier was in the conversations about life, death, and vanishing shopkeepers, he was still interested in his Ace. So when the colorful creature started to speak again, he turned back to the barrel and peered inside, eyes bright and curious.

"Oh. Gotcha. Well, anyway, I prefer being called Kel, ok?" He took a little step back from the barrel and almost bumped into Karrock, who had leaned in for a better sniff. Kelsier's ears folded back, his eyes going wide. "S-sorry."

Right, there was conversation happening! This was all extremely new for the odd little mix. Normally, everything he did was with his siblings, who had the incredible ability to get almost all of the attention with very little effort. It made sense, of course, with Kel being a lowly Club, but... still! Here he was, a real part of the group!! His tail flicked as he considered what the feline had said. "Maybe they all died," he said, considering the possibility. Morbid, but why did they have to be the dead ones? Her next comment, however, seemed much more grounded in reality. "Good plan."

[Nathalia]

((The awful smell seems to be emanating from four different directions...you all must choose one and it must be group consensus. If you cannot choose, no problem, PM the admin with the top 2 choices and she'll roll for you.
All of the SD in this cluster now feel driven to stay together as best as possible...after all...who knows what's out there?

1. To their far left; an alley widens and seems to head toward the center of the Capital...eventually. The rotting smell lessens that way and even the light seems less dim and grey out there. Maybe it would be better to go that way?

2. To their immediate left is a small, dingy alleyway. It goes all dark by the end and the air blowing from it is foul, but at least that tells you it's not a dead end...maybe you ought to go that way?

3. To their immediate right is a wide section of street that turns a corner and seems to be heading up near the barber's shoppe. The smell is God-awful and the sound of flies can be heard... Oh dear... How incredible is your curiosity?

4. To their far right is a thin alleyway that seems oddly bright for where they are, the smell lingers, but it isn't as bad as it could be...maybe this is the path of least resistance?

Your goal is to have them argue out where to go once they figure out who is who and that it might be better, whether they like it or not...to remain together. Take that path and the admin will show you what's there...
Ducking your head down one path, or sending a scout down each one will have repercussions and is frowned upon...but that isn't to say you can't do it...))



~Nathalia

[Callypso]

Okay, so this wasn’t exactly part of the plan. Then again, being stuck in a barrel surrounded by a group of strangers could hardly be part of anyone’s plans. Especially an Ace’s. Crap. Emery ran his claw through his mane as he usually did when he was nervous or felt trapped. Options. Right. Well, he could stick it out in his lame hiding place until the other Cards dispersed or… what? Go with them? Chyeah… that was an unlikely situation, though the longer he stayed in the barrel and listed to their conversation, the less likely it seemed that hanging out here by himself was the optimum choice. And, despite his lowly rank, he was clearly the only adult here. Well, that was just great.

Emery gnawed on a claw in thought. All right. Despite the fact that if any of their parents showed up he’d probably be mincemeat, he couldn’t in good conscious leave them there. They were children. Every instinct in his body was screaming at him to just get away, but opposing that feeling was a growing unease that told him something wasn’t quite right. Disappearing shopkeepers? Empty streets, spices in the air, and children showing up from out of nowhere? And that smell just kept getting stronger. If Emery trusted anything, it was his gut. Right. He would stay.

The Ace finally shuffled his way down toward the entrance of the barrel and poked his head out, not quite wanting to leave just yet. Now he had a clear view of the smattering of children and they were quite the colorful bunch. Not exactly ideal for sneaking around, but then again, his bright markings had never really hindered him. And fat chance of sneaking around, anyway. Not with kids.

Kel, huh? I didn’t quite catch the rest of your names… And though it’s definitely possible for a Card to disappear, something’s not quite normal today. Maybe we should stick together and try to find your parents, hmm?

He peered around the outside of the barrel, then rolled his eyes and left it altogether – he couldn’t see everything if he kept hiding. There were four ways out of the side street they were on, and through all of them the horrid, rotting smell emanated, though some paths reeked less that the others. His generally leaning was to stick to the back streets, since that was his domain, though he didn’t fancy cramming all five of them in the smaller alleys, especially not if they ran into anything… But heading straight out into the open didn’t seem a very good idea either…

Hmm… We could check out the shop you were just discussing, but I’m not sure exploring a place where a man just vanished is entirely the best idea. There could be a spell or something in the shop, and I don’t want the rest of us ending up somewhere unexpected. I say we head down that way.

He gestured toward the far left, where the street widened a bit and the light was brighter. If his instincts were right, and they usually were in the Capital, that way should lead them away from the Outer Bazaar and toward the center of the city.

[Kitty]

Find... her parents? The comment threw the feline off guard for a moment and she blinked a few times in rapid succession at the odd mix. now that was flattering in a way, no girl could deny that getting mistaken for younger then she was wasn't, but... it was also agitating in this present situation. she fluffed her fur a bit before looking around, really looking this time.

You'd have to go all the way to Selkie if you want to find mine. And I'm Alohilani, by the way.

She walked a little circle around the group, little stub of a tail twitching as she swiveled her ears and tried to take in as much around them as she could. At some point she gagged from the scent and had to shake out of her pelt to get rid of the feeling. She was no canine, but there were two paths that very definitely smelt or looked different.

Why does going to the heart of the city sound reasonable? wouldn't it make sense for whatever caused this to work it's way toward the area with most people?

She pointed her nose toward the place where the scent seemed to be coming in strongest first, and then to the far right.

That way reeks, but I can hear what sounds like flies. Those are alive and.. .well... we haven't seen anyone or anythign else alive but us... so...

Although she definitely didn't fancy going that direction, it was something worth pointing out. Now, the one to the far right... that seemed better.

Now, that one over there ... it even looks different, a little ... happier if you wanna say that. what do you guys think?

She peered over at Kelsier, Karrock and Orin with her tufted ears perked up hopefully.

[Nako]

Orin's face wrinkled with deep thought, finally letting it out with a near angry snort. The fur on his hackles rising up slightly as he thought long and hard about the actions they should take. "I think we should check out that place where the foul smell is coming from." Orin said with the utmost decisiveness. "Something -wrong- is happening down that street, and I'm keen to find out." And bring the culprit to justice.

---

Karrock might have fluffed out had he had any feathers. Absolutely beside himself, he spoke up. "Are you insane??? You're going to get us -killed- He looked back at the others, wondering if they were as insane as this bull was.

"W-well, whatever happens, we at least have to stick together. I'm not entirely convinced we are the only things alive out here."


((Orin very strongly wants to go down the Third route. Karrock will go where the group goes.))

[carcinoGeneticist]

Each path had its own set of interesting qualities, it was true. While Kelsier still was of the notion that heading back to the shop seemed like an excellent plan, he was entirely capable of deciding that they should go elsewhere, too. Anything to prolong this little adventure was a good thing in his book: He was enjoying time away from his siblings and parents, and wasn't quite ready to return to them.

"Maybe it would be good to follow it to the origin?" he said carefully, picking his words to try to keep from using any with too many s's. With this group, he desperately wanted to appear intelligent. Lisping all over the place was never a good way to do that. He gave a shrug. "If nothing'sss there, we can check the other waysssss."

If nothing else, he agreed with the odd hybrid. There was no way he was going to leave this group behind, not at this point.

((Another vote for the third route >D))

[Callypso]

The Villa/Highlander mix stopped surveying the grounds to look, really look at his companions. Huh. He blinked rapidly, as if clearing a haze then raked his claw through his mane uncomfortably. That was twice today he’d been mistaken. Usually he wasn’t caught off guard and normally he was more observant than the average Card. General fear for one’s life would do that to you. You didn’t make it to his age (and he was young as it was) as an Ace without quick wits.

Ah, sorry about that. I don’t think I’m feeling quite myself today.

They really weren’t as young as he thought they were. Well, most of them were younger than he was, but not by a whole lot. This definitely complicated matters. It might have been a little easier to herd a group of kids one way, but teenagers and young adults was another situation entirely.

He tapped a thoughtful claw against his beak. Well, he definitely knew which way he wanted to go, but he probably had to do some convincing.

Well, we don’t really know if there are people in the Capital or not, but we sure as suits know there aren’t many people out here. There’s safety in numbers, well, maybe not for me, generally speaking, but we don’t know what’s going on and maybe we should find someone who does. He paused, his claw stopping halfway to his beak.

You do realize I’m an Ace, right? Not to bring up the Rabbit in the room or anything, but it’s kind of unusual for someone to not have taken a swing at me or attempt to corral me to the meat market, ya know?

He shrugged and then returned his attention to their discussion. He furrowed one of his eyebrows with disbelief and just a hint of surprise and amusement. They wanted to go looking for the stench? All of Emery's instincts screamed against that idea. Well, he'd just have to try and convince them that it wasn't a very good idea. Right.

No offense, he directed toward the bull and the Boggie, But I haven’t lived this long by purposefully plopping my fuzzy butt in the middle of a dangerous situation, except for the Tulgey... but that was different. Why don’t we assess our abilities before jumping into something sticky, eh? We don’t want to go blundering into something beyond ourselves. Obviously I’m out, since I’m an Ace, but how about you, what was it.. Kar- Karrock? You’re a heart- got anything fancy up your sleeve? If we can adequately protect ourselves enough to check things out safely, then maybe it can be an option.

But he really, really hoped they wouldn't go that way.

((I totally want to go down the third route, too, but it would be waaaay out of character for Emery to want to do that. LOL))

[Nathalia]

((Discuss and give me a quick poke-post on either what you've all chosen together, or what everyone picked, I can't quite tell?))

~Nathalia

[Nako]

Karrock shook his head, swallowing thickly before admitting his abilities. "I can hold my own against most people, yeah."

Orin nodded gruffly. "Either way, we have numbers on our side. If there is something strange afoot, we need to check it out so we can alert the authorities… or find survivors. You…. Emory." He addressed the Ace, slightly mispronouncing the name. He.. wasn't much for details. "I understand your hesitance, being without magic and all, but it is safest that you stay with the group. Ace or not, I won't be seeing you harmed if I can keep it from happening."

Authoritative despite his rank.. and perhaps even a little foolishly brave, Orin pawed at then ground with his hoof and gave a mighty snort. "I think it's the best approach. Are you all with me?"

((It seems a lot of us are for the third option at least OOCly. If you guys want, just give an OOC affirmation in your next post, or give me a PM affirming your position on which direction they should go.))

[Kitty]

The option most everyone seemed to favor made her fur bristle more then the others, but it seemed like a logical path in a few different ways. foolish in others, but... she happened to agree with some of the points being made.

I've got a little trick or two I can pull out if needed as well, I'm pretty certain we'll be fine.

She twitched her whiskers a bit as she tried to think of a way to at least partially coerce the Ace into thinking along the same lines as the rest of them.

Well, you may not have any magic, but I'm pretty sure you've got other talents. You've got to be extra vigilante in your life already, right? Well, sharp eyes and ears are enough to help us out. Come on, help us figure out this mystery directly.

Maybe appeasing a deep sense of being needed would help? Aces had that, right? He certainly spoke like the type that had some issues, and she'd heard an awful lot of bad things about Aces so... maybe she'd hit the nail on it's head with that comment? Hopefully...

[[ She's all for going down the third path as well, even without my influence, lol. She thinks it's the best choice to finding real, live people cause of the flies, lol. <3]]