[IC] Of the Last of Us

[Zmerr]

Zmerr peered around the wall of the deteriorating building. He gripped his plasma pistol tightly, prepared to use it at any moment. A few bushes at the edge of the forest shook with unnatural life. Zmerr was hoping it was dinner but was prepared for a Chipped. Maybe even an army of Chipped. Being small, he was often the first to be sent on scouting missions. Also, his years roaming the jungle had made him proficient in spying, shooting and running.

The shaking got stronger, more violent. Zmerr pulled the pistol out of it's holster and readied it to shoot. An antlered head soon poked out of the foliage and cautiously examined its surroundings. It didn't notice Zmerr.

Zmerr took a few silent steps around the wall. He carefully placed the pistol back in its holster and the snapped the rifle off of his back and shot at the deer. It looked as though he hadn't taken aim, but he had years of practice. It hit the animal right between the eyes. It had looked at him when it heard the sound of the rifle coming out, but it hadn't had enough time to run.

[gogojakeo]

Seatan was in his house, studying choke hold techniques when he heard the bang. Being a protective man, he would always investigate anything that could have happened within his farm. The sound of the bang sounded somewhat familiar, and he decided that it would be important to go onto the farm this time. He walked of the back door of his house, and opened the gate into the animal farm. He walked a few yards and around a couple of trees until he saw what it was that had caused the bang. It was one of his deer, and it was lying on the ground limply next to a bush. 'It can't be asleep,' he thought 'it's the middle of the day.' As he got closer, he began to see the bullet wound that had killed it. 'What caused the bang then?' Seatan wondered. Then, just at the edge of a long abandoned building, he caught a glimpse of what caused the bang. Seatan jumped behind a bush next to him, preparing to fight.

[Zmerr]

Zmerr heard another rustling, but this time it was too quiet to be a deer. His jungle survival skills kicked in and he began looking for places to hide as he ran along. He was going back to his home to get something to take the deer back with.

The rustle sounded again. It seemed as though he was being hunted. His big ears perked up naturally, increasing his ability to hear. He couldn't quite pin point the source of the sound or what was making it, but it was definitely following him. He didn't dare stop. He knew all too well that stopping would put him in more danger. But he also knew that if he went home, whatever was following him, would find out where he lived. The best thing to do, he decided, was to keep wandering until he lost whatever it was.

Zmerr knew the layout of the part of the forest pretty well. He'd laid out markers in case he got lost, but only he would be able to recognize them.

He looked up at the sun to determine the time. It was getting pretty late. His stomach growled. Zmerr dug into his pack and pulled out homemade jerky. He was always prepared for this. After all, being a small creature roaming the jungle made him a big target for predators.

[gogojakeo]

As the small creature ran away, Seaton decided that he had better follow it. He wasn't about to let something shoot his deer and get away with it. He ran along as silently as he could, however his seven foot frame didn't help much with this. He kept following it for at least 15 minutes, and it was beginning to get late. He saw the creature stop, and look into a bag that he had been carrying. Seaton knew that this time was crucial to get the creature to repay what he had done. He silently sneaked through the trees and bushes, and placed himself so that if the creature continued in the same direction, he would run right past Seaton, and he would be ready to pounce.

[Whirlwind]

Since coming to the Island of Ruins, Keela had built herself a little home. She didn’t like breaking off forest life, but had managed to find broken and fallen trees, and a little outcropping of tall, thin trunked trees, white with few branches. She had cut down a space in the middle of them, and tied the surrounding ones by bending them over to create a roof. After a few rainfalls, patches made, and more tied down, Keela had a good seal over her head. She also began weaving a mat out of large green leaves and it now covered the floor of her home. The scrap wood was tied together to form a sort of door to her home, and here she began living. It was a pretty little makeshift home, quiet and at one with nature. She had been making pottery as well, letting it dry out in the sun, to house various herbs and plants, mixtures and medicines she made from what she could find on the island. Some of the plant life was new to her but most she recognized thanks to her mother.

On this particular day, Keela had risen before the sun and gone to a nearby creek she had made sure to build a home near, bathed as the sun rose, and then redressed in one of the outfits she had managed to escape with (a long sleeved shirt and stretch pants). Her tan skin only became tanner on this isle, and her white hair shone from under the hood of her shirt, along with her alarmingly blue eyes. People tended to fear something different from her, at least humans did, but animals could sense a gentle soul.

After redressing, Keela began walking through the forest for a morning stroll, her hip bag of various items on her and bare feet pressing into soft earth. She heard some birds that sounded fearful above her and frowned, lifting a hand until one landed on her finger. She pet it softly to calm it, wondering what had disturbed them so.

[Zmerr]

Zmerr only stopped long enough to take the jerky out of his bag. He knew that if he stood in place too long, whatever was tailing him could take the opportunity and pounce. He perked his ears again, listening for the sounds of movement or breathing. The stalker had stopped moving, but there was the sound of tired lungs working to fill themselves. It sounded like a Chipped. This was not good.

"Hello?" Zmerr asked in a demanding voice. He reached to his side for his pistol just in case, but didn't draw it to show the other person he wouldn't attack first. "I know you're out there. I also know you've been following me for some time." He surveyed the area around him. He couldn't see very far for the thick trees and foliage. "I promise I won't shoot-" There. He pin pointed the location. "as long as you don't attack me." He did one more look-around to be sure his follower was alone. He was.

[Drake Baku]

Blake had felt lucky for a few days now.
He was likely one of the last to escape from the humans, well humans...
it had been bugging him for a while now.
he called them humans, but was his tribe also not human?
They always said they were humans but with a natural ability, but he started to doubt this.
he calls them humans as if he is not one of them, and in a way its only natural, he can transform into an animal and use magic, even in his human form he had things that were different.
were they humans or were they an unique race all this time and never knew it???

A sound...
As he looked to the source he noticed a small animal run away quickly.
well he could not blame the creature, seeing a black panther during the day would be enough to scare any animal.
still he enjoyed it, even the humans he had met before finding this island were afraid, most thought he was a real animal at first glance, it always seemed to take them some time to realize that this black panther had eyes that were not that of an normal animal and was carrying a pack of clothes on its back tied down by a large robe...

As he silently moved trough the jungle he wondered what the animal was, having missed what it was earlier, he was kind of hungry..
perhaps he should shift to his snake shape and start hunting soon, taking his clothes with him in that shape always was a problem, but at least he was able to digest food much slower so he could live of it for a few days...

An new sound, this time it was water it seemed.
He felt himself lucky again, water meant animals that were drinking their, especially since it was the sound of water splashing, and even if he found nothing, he could at least drink.
Crouching to the place he heard the sound, trying to be as quite as he could he found something he had not expected at all.
A girl that just got out of a bath.
he wondered if he was lucky or unlucky that he would come across a girl that was just about to dress.

the surprise however did make him drop his guard as he rose from his crouch and looked at the girl with his black eyes with neon blue lines instead of natural details shaping his pupil and irises.

[gogojakeo]

Seatan walked behind the unknown creature without allowing himself to be seen, and bent down and lifted him with a single hand. "And what do we have here?" Seatan asked. "It appears I have a trespasser on my farm, who also killed one of my deer,"
Seatan dropped the creature back onto the ground onto his back. "I could kill you, but i'm feeling a little nice today. What do you think your punishment should be?" he asked the creature, as he walked around it in a circle.

[Zmerr]

"YOU'RE deer? I didn't even know deer could be tamed." Zmerr snorted a little in surprise. "It wasn't in any kind of fenced in area. It really is hard to tell what belongs to whom." Zmerr stood up and brushed the dust off of his thin leather armor. "Come to think of it, it's especially hard because I didn't even know I wasn't alone here. I honestly thought you were a Chipped. You really should be more careful. Scaring something could be life-threatening, you know." Zmerr adjusted his blue cloth tunic and leather pants. "Anyways. You're human, yes? Clearly not chipped because one of would be dead by now. Why are you here?"

[Whirlwind]

Keela let the bird flit away, just watching curiously. They were all going in one direction so she turned to where they were coming from to get a feel of what startled them. After a few steps she felt that ominous feeling of being watched that one gets either from paranoia or their instincts, and she looked around her. Her feet were stopped in the dirt and she tilted her head, looking for something out of place in the surroundings. That’s when her eyes landed on a rather large black cat. Panther, she suspected. She had no idea there were just beasts on this isle. Tilting her head the other way before giving a closed lip smile she held up her hands to the cat to show no weapons. ”I mean you no harm. Just as I’m sure you have no interest in harming me. Were you the one that frightened the birds?” she asked him, often speaking to the animals as if they could understand, which she believed they did. Though she had no idea just how well this particular panther could hear and understand her words.

[gogojakeo]

"No, in fact, i'm not human, I thought that someone may have realized that from my stature," Seatan strolled over to a sign about six foot up a tree that read 'This land, and all plants and animals roaming it, are property of Seatan'
"I've got these signs all dotted around the places, especially when you enter my land," Seatan stated, "But you wouldn't be able to read something that high up, would you now?"
Seatan walked over to the dead deer to examine it. "You're lucky this was a male, I've not got many females left" Seatan told the intruder, "I'm here because I live here, raised here I was. And why are you here?"

[Zmerr]

"I'm sorry. It's not that I couldn't READ the signs. I just thought they were old." Zmerr scratched his head and chuckled nervously, kicking himself for letting his naivety almost get him killed. "I was running low on food and needed to stock up for the winter. I must apologize again, because I believe the shortage of female deer is also my fault. I've been stocking up since spring." He chuckled nervously again. He gave the man an apologetic grin. "I didn't know." He kicked the ground. After a moment, he regained his stature and looked at the man again. "I came here because it's the only place the Chipped haven't followed me to yet. I managed to make them really mad. I would leave this place if I could, but I'm afraid they'll find me and kill me. They seem to not have noticed this island yet. I must have been here a year and a half already. I'm starting to get nervous."

[Drake Baku]

Blake was surprised at the girls reaction, she was not scared or anything.
insread she started to talk to him, strange...
he could transform into an animal but he was never able to talk to an other real animal, so why woukd she be able to...
At least she was not one of the humans that were a damger it seemed.
wait!!
She was not one of the humans, she reacted so differently.
Its similar more to his tribe but she did not had the mark on her hand.
So she was a human, but they dont react like this....

the entire situation was becoming confusing, could she by any chance be something similar perhaps, an other race in general??
It took some time before he replied to her by lifting his shoulders.
But when he did the robe that kept his clothes and weapons packed on his back dropped.
the knot was not firm enough to keep sturdy after being stuck on a active panthers back for... weeks?
Just now did he realized that he had no idea how long he had been running in this shape...
but as the knot was not sturdy enough, that last movement became to much.
with a hard thud and the sound of metal hitting metal did his package drop to the ground.

blake wont lie, it felt great having lost that weight, but it also possessed an different problem of having a human? Close enough to hear it drop.
Blake froze...
if she heard it then she would check it
if she checked it then she might realize that he is not an panther
trough his eyes normally would be a give away, but perhaps she never seen one before so...
still if she realize that he is something else and if she is a human, she might attack him
worse he might lose his equipment with no way of ever getting it back
then he wont ever be able to turn human again unless he wants to walk nude trough the world...
And he would kill himself if he would lose his medium, its precies to him

[gogojakeo]

Seatan ripped a leg off of the deer with ease, and tossed it to the stranger, making sure to miss so that it wouldn't knock him over. "Here," he said, "have this for now."
Seatan began to tie up the remaining three legs of the deer together, and then lifted the deer up and tossed it over his back. "But next time, make sure you ask first. How about you come back to my house, and you can talk about how yer gonna repay me." Seatan began to walk back towards his house, and gestured for the stranger to come with him.

[Drake Baku]

It had been hours now...
Runa was getting tired from the constant running especially as she was using her powers nonstop for these past few hours.
at least she was able to shake the chipped...

she thought she could hide, blend in and act like a chipped but during a boat ride she was found out.
The only way she had to het away was to try something brand new.
she jumped out of the boat and started to control the water in a rather unique way, at least she thought it was unique..
shfting the water surface so that it moves fast enough to support her weight and cover her body she moved at a pretty high speed across the ocean.
but due to the movement she could not see where she was going and has been moving for so long...

eventually the exhaustion vaught up to her, one small mistake of the waters movement broke the entire construction and she fall face first into the warm water.
gasping for air as she kicked herself back up she just floated there on the spot.
she felt lucky that she had swimming lessons and that the ocean was calm enough to float on her back as she rested.
her mind wandering about so many things. .

she floated around for what must have been 2 more hours, fighting the sleep that was trying to take over her mind, she knew that even as an elemental she would sink and drown if she fell asleep here, even taking her elemental body would be useless as when she falls asleep it woukd just return to flesh again..

It was right when she was starting to lose hope that she heard something.
as she opened her eyes she noticed a seagull fly past.
she knew enough that seagulls would never go to far away from a ship or an island so she stopped floating and looked around but all she noticed was a large rock nearby, still it was better then flaoting on the ocean like this so she made a swim at it.
Sadly she found that the rock was impossible to climb from this side, but with some luck she could climb on it from the other side.
she did found it a bit ironic, the seagull most likely got stuck here from flying to the rock from some ship it likely was following first and here she was, same rock and also going to it after having left a ship.
it was not until she was on the other side of the rock that she noticed it, a large island not to far off, the rock obstructed the view on it first but it was there withoit a doubt.
It looked uninhabited amd even if humans live on it she could just try blending in again.

using some of her regained strength she kicked the water around her feet, launching her like a torpedo, trough the water behind her was more in a tornado shape.
she of course also had to push the water away from her body as the force would surely kill her otherwise.
it was a pretty neat show as he reached the island due to this.
a orb of water sudddenly rose from the water and broke unto the beach, breaking open and showing a girl.
trough due to the momentum shw fell, but she did not care, it was land, solid land, sweet holy land!
She could sleep, well not on the beach of course, sne needed to find a save space first
it was not until she stood up that she noticed that something was missing.
her dress was gone and her oanty as well, it was a dress that cupped her breasts so she did not wear a bra today, leaving her completely nude and thabks to the beach covered with dirt and sand.
she wondered when she lost her dress, judging by her tan she guessed it was before she started to float so most likely when she fell face first in the water after her techniques broke up.
well there was no one here and even if there was, she was not prude, as long as they woukd not touch her it wss fine.
actually as she thoughr about how she entered the beach, realizing that the neat entrance was nude, she was kind of bumped that there wss no one to be awed by It all.
a giggle escaped her lips at that though.

Still she wont have much use thinking about these things, sure she was not looking forward to walking trough a jungle in the nude but she had other options did she?

(All on my phone and typing kn this thing sucks so my apologies)

[Zmerr]

"Excellent idea! I think I know just the thing!" Zmerr followed the man through the woods, keeping a close ear on their surroundings. "Do you use guns?" Zmerr was already thinking of ideas for the weapon. He drew size, shape and various other things inside his head. Plasma or traditional? Double barrel or rapidfire? 'This should be interesting...' he thought.

[gogojakeo]

Seatan continued walking to his house with the stranger. "No," he told him, "I don't use guns, as you may be able to tell I'm quite strong, and therefore need not any other weapons".
After a few minutes of walking at a casual pace, they reached a wooden hut. In the hut there was a settee, and a few pieces of workout equipment. There was some artwork on the walls, with Seatan and his family. The majority of the paintings contained his father. He opened a door, and threw the door corpse down a staircase behind the door, on top of other deer, a few cows, and the occasional chicken. He then led the stranger into a haphazardly decorated office. He showed the stranger to a seat, and sat himself onto a chair on the other side of a desk.
"So, what do you suggest that we do then, eh?" Seatan asked the stranger.

[Kira Chan]

Celest was craddled in hammaock on her belly watching from way up high, it seemed like a calm day then suddenly she saw a woman and a black panther... it looked like they were talking but she couldent tell. she got up and jumpped down to a lower tree branch not close enough to let them see her in the shadows. a bird fluttered by her "Oh Celest she's nice so dont scare her off" it cooed in her ear she patted its head and smiled. she stelthly climbs down closer to them. feeling the tension the panther had I have to protect her.. if the creature is hostile' She thought to herself and came to the edge of the forest line near the claring they were in still sneeking in the shadows. She bent down and pulled two smallish daggers from her boots and held them firmly in her hands.

[Zmerr]

"It's a shame you don't use guns. I was going to make you a custom one. However, it looks like you could use a power source. I can also make one of those for you. I found a wonderful vein of Orillium in a cave near the ruins." Zmerr pondered, scratching his chin. "Or perhaps you'd like a place to stay closer to the shore? Not much happens there, but you will have less issues with predatory animals. I've managed to scare most of them off permanently. Whatever might come around unwanted soon finds itself snout to barrel with my rifle." Zmerr pats the butt of his rifle for emphasis."

[czechmate46]

Slowly and hesitantly, Ren made her way onto the shore of the island, exhuasted yet relieved that she had made it away from the humans alive. Despite her gratefulness, she was also worried. She had no food with her or much supplies. She had her wallet and a gun with her from home but who know what that would do for her now?

Feeling lonely and rejected, Ren dragged her tired body into the terrain of the island hoping that maybe, just maybe, she could find another non human to cling to. She tended to do that with others. After wandering for quite some time, she was astonished to come across what looked like a miniature hut, just big enough to fit her if she crouched. She looked around for who might live in this hut. Hopefully they weren't hostile and would be willing to help her.