Dragons Rising [IC]

[Blitz]

((OOC is here.))

Brent's footsteps were muffled by the soft grass as he continued running downhill to the creek. He still hadn't received a response from anyone who he had sent his urgent text to. He shook his head. They were probably busy. He might be doing this alone.

He came to the bottom of the hill and hopped across the bubbling creek. As he entered the forest and weaved his way through the trees, his mind began to wander. How often does a meteor crash? How much is a meteorite worth? What if it contained some alien life form? What it was made out of some kind of undiscovered element? A million thought and questions raced through his head. Finally, the faint smell of smoke wafted into his nose. He was getting close.

He hopped over a fallen log and ducked under some branches and came to a small forest glade. Near the center, surrounded by smoldering grass, was a smoking rock, embedded a good few inches into the soft, fertile soil. The rock was glowing slightly from having traveled through the atmosphere at high speeds. Brent came to a stop a few yards from the foreign object and stared at it in awe. It was hard to see it well in the night light. Brent looked up; the meteor shower was still in full swing, but the bright stars were passing by and not illuminating the grove at all, plus there was no moon out.

He looked back down at the meteorite when a small flash of light caught his eye. Something on the rock's surface reflected the smallest bit of light, enough to catch Brent's eye. How could it reflect something? Brent took a few hesitant steps toward the object, took a deep breath, and finally approached it. There was no way he could touch the rock now: it was red hot. But Brent's curiosity had been piqued. He got a closer look at the glowing rock and noticed spots where it wasn't glowing. What could those be? He crossed his arms in thought.

[GallifreyanOddy]

Harley had been busy chasing Sonic through the backyard of her house when she had gotten the text from Brent. She had been about to answer when Sonic ran right into her and about knocked her over to get her attention. The teenager looked down at her dog and once more took off chasing him. This time she was trying to grab him to put him back inside. As soon as the small dog was in her arms, she ran him inside and screamed to her father that she was going over to Brent's house. Her father simply yelled back that it was okay. That was all the permission she needed. Harley grabbed her messenger bag from by the door as she exited her house. Once on the street, she took off in a mad dash down the road toward Brent's place. She figured he would be in the backyard so she bypassed going inside to say hello to anyone.

"Hey Brent! Can you hear me boy!" She called out as she carefully made her way down the hill towards the creek. This backyard brought up some memories for her that made her grin as she finally reached the bottom of the hill. Harley had her blond hair up in a ponytail which was rare in itself. Her boots were muddy as she walked through the woods. Lucky for her, the boots made her an inch or two taller so her jeans didn't get dragged on the ground like they normally did. That would have sucked. She pulled the sleeves of her shirt down and held onto the hems with her fingertips as she hopped over a log and ducked under a few branches. "Brent?! Am I anywhere close to you dude?"

Finally, she broke through the forest and found herself staring at not only Brent, but a glowing rock in the ground. "Oh woah." She practically ran over to Brent and her eyes were wide as she looked between Brent and the meteorite. For once, Harley was speechless. All she could do was look from her friend to the rock as she tried to figure out how and why this happened.

[Lenaya]

The can of pop fizzled with a loud hiss before the girl brought it to her lips, gulping down about half of it before returning it to it's place on her nightstand. Her party had been looking for her and they gave a laugh as they heard her chugging the drink down like it was nothing, and she'd quickly shushed them before they resumed on their quest. Of course, this was their third hour into it, the four of them lost in the catacombs of a churchyard, but they'd wanted to explore it so badly since it was a new addition to the server that they'd haunted since middle school. "I'm serious Aya, you need to stop zerg rushing everything or i'm not even going to waste my mana ressing you" she laughed, unable to stifle it as her partner wiped to the massive horde of monsters they were facing. Ash was playing her favorite class, the cleric, and had busied herself healing and buffing everyone as they traversed to find the stash of treasure they so desperately sought.

"Guys, I think we're almost there" said Fox, the leader of their band of four as his character bounded out of screen, and the brown-haired girl couldn't hold back a swear as she called for him to wait. Being the healer in their group had given her a bit of stress, especially when the boys thought they were invincible but it amused her greatly as well. As if it heard them, the boss monster stepped forward in the circular room they'd entered, and the door locked behind them. Things were about to get interesting, and she couldn't help but wish her actual life was this interesting. It'd be fun to go around slaying mythical creatures and selling their stuff for cash, ride horses, that sort of thing. Her party leader was barking orders over the voice program they used to speak with one another, and just as they were about to finish the fiend off, her phone buzzed. Ashter gave an annoyed groan as she spared one hand to see who the message was from, and her eyes widened as she read Brent's name. "Guys, I gotta go. Something's come up." she said quietly as they finished the boss off, and she could hear her friends groaning and whining in protest at her departure. She merely stated that it was important before she logged off, and after throwing a hoodie on over her shirt and slipping on some sneakers she was out the door.

She began navigating her way through the forests she'd played in as a child, following the smell of burning material as she grumbled. It seemed a little silly for Brent to find a piece of space-rock so interesting, but she figured that she didn't have anything else to do, or a plethora of friends to ditch for video games. As she came upon a clearing, she'd noticed that another person was there, and Ashter stopped and fought not to fidget. For some reason she'd been expecting that Brent had only called her, but looking back at that fleeting moment she felt like an idiot. Of course he'd call his friends to come look, she'd been dumb to actually expect that he wouldn't, and Ashter began debating turning around and heading home before something caught her eye. She nervously ambled up to the crater that housed the chunk of rock, choosing to stand on Brent's empty side as she quietly peered in without giving a greeting to the two other people with her. Socializing wasn't exactly her forte, and she'd probably just look dumb and nerdy trying to speak to a stranger she'd never met before.

[Shoryu]

Shane had gotten Brent's Message, he just had a tendency of getting excited about things and forgetting to reply, It was annoying sometimes but he could usually be expected to show up, albeit it a little late of course as he always had a little extra preparation he liked to make. That preparation? bag up his laptop incase it would come in handy and strap it to his back, grab his trench-coat incase the weather got wonky while he was out, and hide Little Uro in the inner pocket of that jacket so he would be nice and safe and not get left behind, though he sometimes had to hunt him down first, and of course get a flash-light. Lastly he straped on one out of the collection of his swords, a pirate style guarded Rapier that he'd sharpened himself, afterall, it wasn't the first time he'd gone for a romp in the forest and he'd had to worry about a dangerous animal here or there before, and bare kuckling an angry buck was a death sentence. of course, his preparations often turned out to be unnecisary and ended up being taken as him just trying to act like a badass with a sword, though it did come in handy swiping thick foliage out of the way since he didn't have a machete, granted the weight of everything could occasionally slow him down, doing so over years helped him build up good stamina.


With all that out of the way he shot out the door and made a mad dash for the forest where he figured the others would already be gathering, not taking time to slow down as he jumped over a log here or skidded under another, and they could likely here him 'stomp running' towards them from a fair distance away. He still came up at full charge when he broke through the tree-line and headed towards the crater, skidding to a stop suddenly as he passed the crater's edge and thudding onto his ass on it's edge with an excited 'ooooooh' coming out before speaking, his Irish accent all too obvious "Bloody hell, ya weren't kidden Brent, and we got here before anyone else? You'd expect something like the G-men to pick up on a rock crashing down like this eh? Lets hope it's not radioactive, cause I'm getting this recorded, This is the kinda once in a life-time thing you regret not keep track of." With that he reached behind himself under the trench-coat and slid his laptop out of the back-pack before flipping it open and turning it's web-cam towards the glowing rock to start recording as much as he could... A rough irishman might pulling out a computer might seem out of place to some people, but having a love of punching things doesn't mean you can't be a smart guy too right?

[Blitz]

Brent continued staring at the space-rock until eventually, first, he heard the footsteps and faint shouting of another person. He glanced behind him to see Harley break the line of trees and come to a stop, being just as surprised as he. A single, "Yeah," escaped his lips in reply to her "Oh whoa." He was about to turn back to face the crater when he heard more footsteps. Brent felt like facepalming. Doesn't anyone know how to send a reply nowadays?! He turned toward the noise and saw Ash this time emerging from the forest. He watched her see him, look at Harley, whom he doubted she knew, and then approach the crater silently next to him. Brent expected as much from Ashter. He had seen her on the computer, but in real life, she was rather quiet.

Before long, the last of the people to whom he had sent the text came running out of the forest; this time it was Shane. Brent didn't even have time to look back before he heard him slip and fall over with a grunt. Once again, he received the urge to facepalm himself. "Uh, actually, Shane," he said, stepping back. "We got two others here. I'm not sure how well you know them, but my friends Harley and Ash are here as well." He gestured to each of the girls as he introduced them. Brent then stepped out of the way as he saw Shane was beginning to record the meteorite, which now was beginning to lose its brilliant glow.

"But isn't this cool guys?" asked Brent, turning back to the crater. "I mean, how often do people get to see a big chunk of space rock? --And look--" Brent cautiously approached the rock and squinted his eyes. "I think... I think there's something... On it. I mean, embedded into it--See there?" he pointed to a spot that was reflecting some of the light that came from Shane's laptop. "I don't think meteorites can reflect light like that."

[GallifreyanOddy]

Harley had squatted down so she could see the meteorite up close. It definitely wasn't supposed to reflect anything. She had seen Ashter approach but said nothing to the other girl. After a moment, she realized she had a class with Ashter but the two had never formally spoken to one another. Shane, on the other hand, she knew because he was the only Irishman in the school. It was hard to now know him. Plus, if she recalled correctly, she had done a school project with him last year or the year before. "Hey Shane. Long time to talk to eh?" She grinned at Shane before looking back to Brent. "It isn't supposed to reflect light like that." Harley licked her lower lip as she reached out towards the fallen space rock. She could feel the heat coming off of it. "And hell yes this thing is cool!"

It was a miracle that Harley hadn't started cussing earlier. The girl reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a pair of fingerless gloves. She rolled up the sleeves of her long sleeved shirt before she slipped the gloves onto her small hands. Harley moved herself so she was on her knees now. Slowly, she reached her hand out towards the rock again. It was obvious she was considering touching it. Why not? The worst that could happen is that it would burn her gloves. They were just regular gloves and if one burned, she could easily pull it off her hand before it did too much damage to her skin. It wouldn't have been the first time she had nearly been burned. There was that time during her freshman year that her science fair project went wrong and she nearly lit her entire arm on fire. Her hand inched closer and closer to whatever may have been on the meteorite. "Are you getting this Shane?" She wanted to make sure this got caught on film.

As her hand got closer, she realized that the rock wasn't as hot if you got closer to it. It was warm the way a candle would be if you put your hand above the flame. Harley looked around at the group as she reached forward completely and touched something smooth. "Holy crap! There is something here!" She squeaked. Her exposed fingertips ran over the smooth surface as she grasped it in her hand. Slowly, she pulled her hand back and in it was something that was shaped like an egg. The egg itself was crystal clear. Wide eyed and excited, Harley held it up for the others to see. "Its an egg... And there were more! You guys have to grab one!" She told them as she looked over the egg again before she sat back so she could pass it between her hands and touch it more.

[Lenaya]

"Oh great, more people..." Ashter mumbled to herself, taking a moment to look back at the red-haired man before she grimaced as he fell. As if it were nothing, the energetic guy was back on his feet, whipping out what looked like a pretty decent laptop before he began recording. Ashter quickly stepped out of the frame of the view, the thought of somehow showing up on youtube a blanching idea to herself and it was something she definitely didn't want. Though, as the blonde haired girl, Harley, stepped forward with a pair of gloves on, Ashter almost broke her silence to warn her not to touch them. Her warning died on her lips as she peered forward to look at the exposed rock, and there were three other "eggs" nestled in the rock. Her green eyes widened as Harley toyed with one of them, her eyes bright from her excitement as she showed the smooth rock off as if it were a treasure, though Ashter had enough sense to observe the different elliptically shaped rocks. There was a brown, conglomerate looking one, a speckled-blue one and a smooth onyx colored one. The other two had seemed so vibrant, yet she felt her eyes being drawn to the black one, and against her better judgement she reached down and took it with a firm grip.

Though, her footing was awkward, and as she leaned back to right herself she wobbled a bit, nearly dropping the stone and she gave a gasp as she regained her posture. Surprisingly enough the rock wasn't heavy at all, considering how large it was and it pulsed with warmth as if it were alive. "How strange..." she sighed, trying to figure out what sort of "egg" this was, or if it was even an egg in the first place. She wrapped her arms around the egg and held it to her chest, doing her best to keep it warm. It wouldn't do any good for the denizen of this embryo to die out so soon, though the thought of some alien martian hatching out of it had her itching to ditch it and run back home for her baseball bat. She'd thought back on the Irish guy, Shane, who said something that had her worrying. What if the government found out about their escapades? What would they do to them?

Her voice was quiet as she spoke, something that fit her personality well, and her brows were slightly furrowed as she focused her gaze down to the onyx bundle she held. "Whatever these may be, Shane is right. I'm sure some sort of Government-hired astrologist will be here in a matter of minutes once they catch wind that this thing has survived the atmosphere, and they'll be wondering why there are four sets of footprints. We should grab these stones and go as quickly as we can, that way this breeze can realign the grass and make it look like we've never been here at all." Her experience was self-taught, back in the days where she'd sneak out at night and wander in the forest. It was a dangerous habit she'd long since broken, but the knowledge hadn't left her. She made another side-step to avoid the camera's view with a small grimace, and she quietly voiced her thoughts once more. "We can always regroup somewhere, though I can't offer my house. We need to go somewhere out of sight and with as few eyes on us as possible...for all we know, we could be carrying something dangerous...."

[Shoryu]

Shane mostly just nodded to Brent as he mentioned the other 2 "Oi, yeah, sorry bout that ladies, Little 'too' focused I guess, heh, Hey Harley, and for the new girl, I'm Shane." With the simplest of introductions shared, he began tapping away at his computer, adjusting the Cam Program's qualities to make sure the recording was as clear as possible, quickening his pace when Brent hinted at something being 'in' the rock "You bet your ass I'm getting this, I mean I'm not profit hunting or anything, but this footage alone could be worth a fortune, afterall, CGI can't match the real thing.


When she mentioned something egg like as she pulled her hand back, he added on, "Hey, Here's a solution to this mystery!" He reached into a pocket and whipped out his flash-light, clicking it on and aiming it at the meteorite, thoroughly casting it in fresh light now that he'd gotten some footage of it's own 'glow'. After a moment he set his laptop down within the crater, where he could still get back to it quickly if anything when amiss, made sure it was still watching the meteorite and the rest of them around it, and began to approach himself to get a closer look at these 'eggs'. "Huh, They look kinda like big gems... I'm no scientist of course, but even 'I' know this isn't where diamonds come from... God, I wanna take the hole freaking meteor back with me, I know a couple of friends who'd get a nose bleed from the chance to study one of these freshly fallen... At least we know it's not radioactive too, or we'd be having some issues already."

As he came closer and reached out to grasp one of the eggs, he ended up bringing back the gray one in his hand, looking at it closely with the flash-light "Wow, It almost looks like someone painted the texture of the moon on it... though nobody'd be dumb enough to think alien's were sending painted eggs our way, and people can't 'make' meteorites... yet." He continued to examine it thoroughly, testing it's weight, the smoothness, the texture if there was any, it was incredibly fascinating, but then Ash spoke up suddenly and broke his fascination enough to remember what he'd said earlier "Gah, that's right, There's no way they missed it, what with billions of dollars worth of equipment monitoring every inch of air-space on the planet?... Guh, I still wanna snatch the rock...... As for a private place, My new place will work, Though I'm 'technically' probationally staying there to see if I can handle living alone, It's no further than any of your houses and nobody else but us would be free to 'come and go' there... It's unlikely to be safe if we take this anywhere 'civilized' that isn't indoors and owned by one of us, I suppose we could find a cave somewhere, but, ya know, that'd be quite a distance off from our homes and the traveling could draw attention... For now It sounds simpler to me to head to 'my' place where we can cook up a better plan for what to do with all of this next. Plus, I got weapons there, ya know, incase they 'do' track us back there and try to pull some 'no witnesses' shit."

[Blitz]

Brent watched each of them pull an egg-shaped rock from the main meteorite body. There was one gem left and Brent assumed he'd might as well take one too, against his better judgement. He approached the meteorite and gripped the speckled gem with the help of some indirect light from Shane's flashlight. It came out quite easily. He examined it in his hands. It looked like some kind of lapis lazuli, but it was far too light to be made of that gem. He kept examining the smooth stone in his hands, feeling a sort of warmth emanate from it, listening to the others talk about finding a place to go before some astronomist or geologist shows up.

But a question was tugging at Brent's mind. What were these mysterious egg-shaped stones? They obviously did not come from earth. And if they really were actually eggs? Would some mutant alien thing hatch from it and eat them all alive? Suddenly, he felt like he shouldn't have the stone at all. But the stone in his hands seemed to calm him, its unnatural warmth soothing him. He looked down at the egg with a kind of fascinated fear.

"Shane and Ash are right," he agreed, still eyeing his stone and the others' stones. He finally tore his eyes away from them and examined the meteorite. It was already filled with holes of similar sizes, and no one would notice that things were even embedded into the meteorite surface. "We should hurry if we don't want to get caught." Doing something like this wasn't like Brent, but it's not like they were doing something illegal were they? After all, this thing came from space. No one owns anything in space. If anything, Brent believe the 'finders keepers' rule applied to these kinds of things. "Shane's house would be a good idea. We could try to do some research on these."

He then turned to Shane. "But don't put this video on the internet," he warned. "We don't want anything being traced back to us, in case these...things... turn out to be something dangerous." He nervously looked back down to them gem, but again felt an odd, soothing sensation. There was something... alive about them. He wondered if the others were feeling the same thing.

Brent took a step away from the meteorite. "Let's go," he said, taking off into the forest, not bothering to wait for the others. He already knew where Shane lived, and he knew the forest quite well.

[Lenaya]

Ashter nodded her head as she listened to Shane speak, his words ringing true for the most part but his skepticism towards the government was obvious by the way he talked. She inwardly wondered what sort of life he lead in order to have such an opinion, and the thought of going to his house seemed like a slightly uncomfortable notion. As her green eyes looked him over, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the sword he carried, and she felt even more uncomfortable about going into his house. The girl wasn't left much of a choice as Brent suddenly took off, leaving the three of them behind.

'Well, this is awkward.' she groaned mentally, looking to the people she'd recently been introduced to, and began to wonder what exactly she'd gotten herself into. Maybe she should have just ignored the text message and kept playing her game, but then again, discovering something as strange as this was exciting in a way. It almost outweighed the amount of trouble they'd be in for taking such a thing, being that they could be obstructions to the sciences, but the least they could do was hand the gems over without a word. She knew with her clean record, she'd get a little more than a slap on the wrist, but she worried about her other companions. With a quiet sigh and a grumble, she gave one last look to her companions before she fought to find the right words to say. She meekly turned towards the both of them, eyes down and arms tight across her chest and the gem she held before she spoke to them. "I..uh...I'm going to have to follow one of you. I have no idea where you live, Shane." Talking was such a complicated process for her, and even trying to look up had her feeling anxious. Ashter wanted nothing more to get out of there and go home, but that wasn't possible at the moment. She'd settle for her losses and stick with trying to get out of here, and sooner was better than later!