GemaJinn

Forest of the Future

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Akaeyla

Southeastern Mir - Sculpture Copse, The Fall

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Having given her answers to the questions she'd been asked, Akaeyla had watched the reactions of each individual with interest. Whilst her longest- and most varied- answer had been to Yonath, his reaction to it was about what she might have expected, though deeper-running than simply that. There were times Akaeyla especially wished she didn't see quite so much of the truth as shedid, times like now, when she'd had to give Yonath the bad news he'd partially known, partially suspected, confirming it as true. Perhaps she could have lied to him, but he would have been all the less happy when he realised the truth. There was another reason she hadn't resorted to that though, one much simpler than anything Yonath might say or do: Seeing the truths to people meant seeing and knowing the truth of her own nature too, and if she'd lied to Yonath, she'd have to have been prepared for what she would see next time she looked in a mirror.

Nikki, for her part, seemed decidedly displeased with the use of her full name, remarking pointedly that she preferred the contraction of it. She brightened up however, at the prospect of encountering an armed pirate. Then, as she headed after Yonath and began a hushed conversation between herself, him and Xell, the Lotori girl took it upon herself to thump Max in the shoulder, informing him bluntly that that she held him responsible for... about everything. Focusing a little upon the girl, Akaeyla smiled a small smile to herself at the truth she saw behind the words and actions. Some things required far less than her strange sight to see; at least if you weren't the one affected by those very things! Max however, did not take well to the tidings she'd brought him, taking it upon himself to slip away into the night as the sudden distraction caused by Xell took up everyone's attention. Without turning her head, Akaeyla looked towards Xell, regretting it almost the moment she did so.

The Draconi looked haggard and ill, as though something was eating away the very substance of his being, his eyes now red instead of blue. What concerned Akaeyla however, wasn't that but rather what she saw at a more than natural level. His aura, at this moment, was drastically different from before. Before there had been an undertone, a suggestion of murky, desolate colours within the aura, but now those colours dominated the aura, seeming to seep into his skin and leech away his very being. The Draconi was under the influence of something far more powerful than simply drugs, something not altogether natural. Unfortunately, as Akaeyla was only too aware thanks to her form of vision, the supernatural was only too real, and Xell bore the hallmarks of being seriously afflicted by it. When Yonath stepped forwards and offered the Draconi a dose of some medication he had on his person, it seemed to be a relief for everyone, Xell most especially... a relief that was short-lived as the Lotori girl, recovering from the fear elicited by Xell's red eyes, noticed that both Max and Nikki had moved out of sight and uttered some particularly vehement words under her breath. The reaction was partly anger, partly frustration, partly concern: She knew that she couldn't hike all over The Fall looking for those that had vanished and was concerned for them.. in Nikki's case, she wasn't far away, but Akaeyla was aware that the girl couldn't see that. She was frustrated that the two would just go off like that, and particularly angry and concerned that Max had chosen to go off alone, putting himself in particular danger to keep danger from catching up to the rest of the party. Despite all that, the girl's take-charge instincts.. or maybe just natural stubbornness, Akaeyla judged it a fifty-fifty split between the two... had her getting ready to continue on and get everyone else to safety. At which point, the Lotori seemed to remember that Akaeyla was still there.

Watching with her customary impassive expression, Akaeyla had to stifle the urge to laugh or crack a joke, despite her ordinarily reclusive nature when the Lotori began addressing her with the words, "hey, have you seen-". Watching the young woman facepalm, Akaeyla managed to limit herself to an amused smile in response to this, having to redouble her efforts not to laugh as the Lotori's cheeks burned with a blush that might have added to how pretty she was, were it not for the snarl she used to recover from it.

"Look, never mind," the girl said through her snarl, breaking the awkward pause that followed her question. "I'm taking these guys with me to my uncle's cabin. I really don't know why you showed up and said the things you've said, but I don't care. You should come with us, this is no place to be at this time of night."

"And if I guess right, you already know my name," the young woman blurted as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "But what's yours?"

deciding the girl had enough on her plate already, Akaeyla did a commendable job of keeping any hint of laughter from her voice as she answered the question. "You guess correctly, Taffy Tanner," she remarked calmly, "as to why I said the things I said, I simply had some news to give to Max, and I answered the questions presented me as they were given. I expect, of all of us, I'm probably the one least endangered by the perils of The Fall presently, but I won't argue the point. As much as I'm a hermit, and would happily head back into The Fall alone, I don't ignore a generous offer made under trying circumstances. As to my name.." Akaeyal paused momentarily to give Taffy a polite bow of her head before continuing, "Akaeyla Wildgrove is my name and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance".

Forest of the Future

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Akaeyla

Southeastern Mir - Sculpture Copse, The Fall

---

Akaeyla listened to the responses her question elicited, taking in each one. The Spicati, and pilot of the downed aircraft demanded to know how many other creatures were going to come out of The Fall, which in itself was both demanding why she was there and asking how many more creatures would cross his path in one go. The Nekomi seemed to appreciate the joke format she’d posed her question in, earning a brief smile from Akaeyla in return, even as she had to put up with Max speaking practically in her face- something that, were it not for her disposition, might have moved her to inform him she might be blind but not deaf. The boy who looked like a Lutroi approached... he was an interesting one. In as much as Akaeyla often wished she didn’t see quite such a depth of what was real, what was true, in people or things (the very reason she had become a hermit) what she saw in the boy in front of her wasn’t merely interesting but fascinating... because, in the tangled web that presented itself to her sight, there was a great deal that went well back beyond his own lifetime threaded at random through events that certainly were his own experience. He posed, in three short words, a very profound question:

“Where am I?"

On the tail of that the Draconi, Xell, announced he was feeling out of sorts and needed to sit down, before commenting on her choice of eyewear. Thanks to her unusual sight, Akaeyla could watch everything around her without turning her head, but she could shift her focus as readily as anyone else. Throughout their brief interaction she’d done the equivalent of glancing at them briefly, rather than keeping a constant gaze upon them, to keep the truths she might see to a minimum. Now though, she focused upon the people before her, deciding to answer the Spicati and Nekomi first, since her answer would kill two birds with one stone. Once that was done, she could handle the rather more difficult question the boy had posed. Taking a breath, and without turning her head, she spoke to the Spicati first.

“Maxwell Stone,” she said, learning the name as she focused more upon him, “the simple answer to your question is that many more people will come out of these woods, and many more go in. To answer what you want to know though; I’m here simply to confirm as fact something you already guessed: The Red Star pilot survived the crash and is on your trail... and since there was a distinct absence of the handheld firearms pirates often keep to hand in the wreck of the Red Star plane, on your trail and well-armed. You already know why they’re after you. I’ve given you the information I came to give you, I now care not if you linger, or if we never see one another again”. Having answered Max, she turned her attention to Nikki.

“Nikkolaira Wyatt,” She addressed the Nekomi, “you now know what information is important for the group to know: Max is hunted and, for so long as he remains in your company and you remain in his, so are all of you. I recommend some thought on that, from everyone here”. She let that answer hang a moment, before making the boy in front of her the focus of her attention- and almost wished she hadn’t.

Her sight revealed to her the reality of the boy, and what was before her wasn’t simply a boy at all. He was at once two separate beings, but beings that were together, in the process of becoming a united whole. It was like peering into another universe: An immense vulpine form, made of fires so bright and fierce she was amazed he didn’t set the dry brush around him ablaze stood there with him... or through him... as close as a shadow’s thickness, as distant as another universe. Akaeyla had seen enough of the supernatural thanks to her uncanny sight, to know she was looking at something of a spiritual rather than natural reality. The piercing emerald orbs of its eyes were possessed of keen intelligence and around it, through it... through the boy as well... flowed a myriad of truth, of experiences that had defined them... lifetime upon lifetime’s worth of them. Truths that were joyous, beautiful, even triumphant... and truths so tragic and blood-drenched she wished she had never looked. Taking a small notepad and pencil from a map-pocket as she looked, Akaeyla selected a blank page and began to draw, even as she considered the boy’s question.

“Yoyo, Yony, Yonath Syrain, Johan Le Roux,” she began, speaking the names that belonged to him, before pausing momentarily. How could she answer his question, and give him the answer he wanted? The best solution to her seemed to be by looking at the vast vistas of truth she saw in him- the answer to where he was would come from learning where he had already been. A look at the turbulent cascade of images- many, many lifetime’s worth- that flowed through him, revealed in those truths that seemed most his own star-charts, maps of the heavens... many of them from perspectives vastly different to anything on Mir. There were enough though, a few key stars, recognisable enough to start forming at least a simple version of the answer. Her quick hands continued to sketch, even as she looked deeper into what she saw, wishing she could look away more, the deeper she looked.

So many people seemed to have figured prominently in the lives both of the boy- Yonath- and the spirit creature that was bonded, or bonding, with him. Though her vision didn’t allow her to hear all she saw, it allowed her get something like the equivalent of a three dimensional impression of the words- knowing the pitch and tone and cadence. The accent and pronunciation, the patterning and meter of them... the truth of how they were said and what they meant. That, combined with a talent for vocal mimicry she had developed as an amusement on account of her original blindness, enabled her to pick up spoken language quickly. Focusing on truths that featured the incandescent spirit itself, she spoke some words that answered Yonath’s question on a more than superficial level. To the others present, it seemed that the young hermit’s voice changed completely. Thick with an accent alien to their ears, it suddenly contained an assurance and authority that hadn’t been there before, the tone and pitch changing too. It was strong, resonant, no louder than before but with a quality to it that made it seem like whispering thunder- and whispering only because the flesh and blood through which it spoke could never survive the fullness of its unrestrained might.

*“Nenkanak-hosas wa•-'a•lak w'e•y'ik-a-do, noklakno'o,” Akaeyla intoned, “Na•-ya'we hosas-a•deweklakno'o”. She paused briefly, focusing on Yonath, or through him, as though gazing on distant immensities she alone could see. A man had featured in the history of the spirit-creature and also of Yonath... a vulpine man both wonderful and terrible by turns. Akaeyla’s voice changed again as she mimicked the voice of this man, speaking as he would speak, her voice almost completely taking on a masculine cadence as she did so.

“You aren’t the only person who’s been stuck a long way from home in a place where your life is at risk,” she continued, “if you don’t learn to defend yourself, hemayan atak silwan”. Akaeyla shifted her inner focus, seeing an unusually yellow-furred hare that was vitally important to Yonath and the spirit-creature both. She spoke again, her voice changing once more, to mimic his.

**“Lay nahl loseer hraeth hyao, Néanéan,” she announced. Her sight fastened on another truth, one particular to Yonath especially; a gerbil-girl wearing green, who looked older than him by a few years. Her voice changed again, taking on an accent and dialect not entirely dissimilar to the one the others had heard Yonath use, as she spoke again.

***“Wo de ma he ta de feng kuang de wai sheng dou! Just tos an' get on, zef laaitie right?” she paused momentarily before adding in her own voice, “your brother’s time-piece was correct, but you already know that. Just remember; you’re not as alone here as you think you are”.

With that final piece of advice, Akaeyla finished sketching and handed Yonath the end result. A casual glance seemed to show a loose map of The Fall, with certain landmarks carefully marked and a hodgepodge of scribbles at one point, as though she’d tried to draw several paths at once and ended up making a mess. To Yonath alone though, it would show something else: the mess of scribbles formed the shape of The Barrier, the landmarks the approximate position of worlds on either side. One in particular, far from The Barrier had been marked in Kydane script with three simple words: You are here.



*Nenkanak-hosas wa•-'a•lak w'e•y'ik-a-do, noklakno'o Na•-ya'we hosas-a•deweklakno'o= You who are the first beginning that is the new end, he said, it is said. You are a new future, he said it is said. In context Akaeyla is saying 'You are at the end and also the beginning- the last of what was, the first of what might be to come'.

#hemayan atak silwan= One who walks about very much a ghost; 'dead man walking'. In context this would mean 'you are already dead'.

**Lay nahl loseer hraeth hyao, Néanéan= Lapine proverb plus Yonath's name in Lapine ammounting to 'It can't rain all the time'.

***“Wo de ma he ta de feng kuang de wai sheng dou! Just tos an' get on, zef laaitie right?= Cirran 'Holy mother of God and all her wacky nephews! Just jerk off and get on with it all right?'

Huge thanks to Rattle Rabbit for his help with Cirran, Lapine Kydane, and aiding my attempts at correctly capturing the essence of his characters!

Forest of the Future

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Akaeyla

Mir - The Fall

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...Facing a girl of about her own age, with red and black fur in a rather striking striped pattern, and an expression so tranquil she could have been meditating in amongst the statues the entire day. Although it was difficult to see in what light there now was, her hair was cut in a bob that covered almost one half of her face and the eyes were completely hidden by a thick blindfold. Akaeyla had spotted the group, already getting mobile, as she'd approached the second downed aircraft. Having seen that the pilot was alive and in company, and noticed the general direction in which they were headed, she'd decided to head to the Sculpture Copse. Sculpture Copse- as the friendlier inhabitants of The Fall called it- was the collection of sculptures that lay ahead of the group, assuming they continued on their present bearing. She'd settled there approximately ten minutes ahead of them- she'd expected it to be five at the most, but the unexpected arrival of another party member had delayed them a little, it seemed. Her reasoning for waiting up ahead was quite simple- a person waiting quietly ahead of them had less chance of being attacked, or fired upon, than did someone or something who just dropped out of the sky upon them. Reasoning, it seemed, that had been flawed... the Lotori girl had been busy informing the others of the way to their intended destination and, with only her flashlight and the moonlight to see by, had leaned right up against the plinth Akaeyla was seated cross-legged upon, not realising she wasn't a statue. In fact, it looked like the other members of the party hadn't sensed her presence, or at least not been certain of it, until she'd risen from her seated position to a standing one- and horribly startled the Lotori girl as a result. Noticing the increased tension the sudden awareness of her presence had caused, Akaeyla decided she needed to address the situation immediately... which was something of a problem for Akaeyla herself.

Though perfectly capable of looking after herself, and content in only her own company, Akaeyla had always been somewhat shy around people... originally because she was blind, later because she saw too much. Whilst some people, the moment they step into a room, radiate a commanding presence which seems to take up all ambient space so they cannot be ignored, Akaeyla was more the opposite: When she stepped into a room, all the ambient space seemed to absorb her presence until she was almost invisible, and had to actually make an effort to be noticed. That, coupled with- as a friend had once observed- a tendency to think twice before doing nothing, made this situation awkward- the more so since she'd been living away from people for some time now. Deciding it would be best to speak to the Lotori girl first (since there was a reasonable chance of getting clubbed with a flashlight if she didn't) Akaeyla spoke in a soft but clear voice.

"Pardon me if I startled you," she addressed Taffy, "That wasn't meant at all... I forgot you might not be able to see me so well at this time of day. I thought this might be a good place to wait in case the pilot of that downed plane happened by, as I found out something earlier it might be useful for them to know". Akaeyla paused once she'd said that, not quite sure what she should say next, or if she should wait for a response. As she took in the various members of the party, the odd thought struck her that they resembled the kind of line up you find in a joke. Smiling slightly at that thought, she spoke the words that came to her head as a result, addressing all the people present as she did so.

"Stop me if you've heard this one before," she said, rearranging the leathery wings that were now draped comfortably around her shoulders as she did so, "A Lotori, a Spicati, a Draconi, a Nekomi, a hybrid and a child all walk up to a hermit in The Fall after sunset. The hermit says she knows something that might be important... what do they say in return?" She looked around the group as she finished her statement.They looked like they weren't sure if she was playing games with them, or was actually making a joke. She paused, tilting her head and adding, a touch lamely, "uh... any takers?"

Forest of the Future

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Akaeyla

Mir - The Fall

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It had been a quiet day in The Fall, which was exactly how Akaeyla preferred it. No violent storms, none of the more dangerous creatures of the forest deciding to go on a rampage, no tremors and best of all, not a trace of another person in the entire forest. Though, when she'd first come to live out in The Fall Akaeyla had wondered how she'd survive the life, she now more often found herself wondering how she'd lived any other way. Here life went at its own pace, untroubled by the escalating tensions between Novan and Miran- the trees continued to grow, the birds and beasts went about their daily routines, the seasons came and went, and migratory species made their annual pilgrimages to other parts of the world. Once you knew your way around, and were accustomed to the daily exercise of travelling through the expansive forest, you could live off the land with little difficulty, and almost forget the rest of the world existed beyond the dreaming borders of The Fall. However, in the late afternoon, the 'almost' had made itself felt; the rest of the world had invaded the tranquility of The Fall, in a most unexpected way.

It had begun with a sound- a series of sounds actually. At first no more than a whining, droning buzz, it had grown to the constant din of aircraft travelling at speed, somewhat muted by the forest canopy, and by distance. Almost as soon as she had heard the noise, Akaeyla remembered why it was not simply uncommon, but almost unheard-of for any aircraft to fly over The Fall- because it was impossible: Any aircraft that flew over The Fall inexplicably failed and plunged into it's depths, along with the many other wrecks and ruins that were reputed to decorate its interior. Even as her ears detected the change in engine tone, along with the staccato bursts of weapons fire and scented the oily smoke borne her direction on the breeze, Akaeyla realised two things. Firstly, that there was an aerial skirmish going on overhead and secondly that all involved were in danger! As though her thinking it had caused it to come to be, the sounds from the aircraft engines dwindled to erratic chugs and clunks, before cutting out completely. As that realisation sank in, on top of the previous two, Akaeyla dashed to the nearest tree, before swiftly scaling the trunk to the higher branches, the world unfolding around her as she made her way up past the dense autumnal foliage to the vantage-point that awaited her above, the canopy expanding in all directions around her like an ocean as she emerged.

Overhead, the suddenly disabled aircraft plunged in gradual, almost graceful swan-dives towards the seemingly endless expanse of forest, before sharp, brittle cracks and crashes echoed across the landscape, causing Akaeyla to wince. Branches breaking and shearing off, metal colliding with living wood- how long had it been since she'd heard anything like those kinds of sounds? Two years, maybe three.. possibly more? Though the thuds that marked the final descent of each plane were muffled by the forest they landed in, and the crashes distant, Akaeyla could nevertheless pick out with near pinpoint accuracy what had happened, for she had an... ability... that set her apart from others, both figuratively and literally. An ability that seemed almost to have been born of a disability.

Blind since birth, Akaeyla had, at eight years old, mysteriously begun to see.. only she didn't see with her eyes. At first both she and her parents had believed it to be a Codus, but just as swiftly realised it couldn't be, because her new sight remained constantly on- an impossibility for a Codus, given the amount of metabolic energy it required to use one at all. Though she had no points of reference for the matter, she knew the form of vision she possessed was vastly different from the regular.

For a start, she saw before her, behind her, above her and beneath her all in a continuous 'sphere' of 20/20 vision. Since her sight didn't depend upon her eyes, neither daylight or darkness affected it. As far as Akaeyla could determine, her sight somehow derived from reality or truth- in short she saw what was really there.. which unfortunately, as she had swiftly discovered, came with its own complications. One complication was, since she saw what was real, she saw the supernatural as readily as the natural. That would be fine if all that was supernatural was auras around people but, as Akaeyla was only too aware, the supernatural was far more than that... and some of it could be dangerous, even lethal, if you could see it. The second complication, far more problematic than the first, was that her capacity to see truth had sharpened markedly over time. Instead of simply seeing natural and supernatural realities, just as clearly whether day or night, Akaeyla had begun to see all the truth that was to a thing. Whether the thing in question was an inanimate object, plant or animal... and most particularly people... Akaeyla saw the truths that were to them. If not for that, she might still be living back home instead of in The Fall.

Putting her musings to the side, Akaeyla observed the locations the planes had crashed... and that a parachute was slowly drifting down close to one- that was good, one pilot at least, had survived- for now. That left the pilot of the other plane unaccounted for so, Akaeyla reasoned, that was the crash site she should check first. Stepping carefully out along the branch she was perched upon, Akaeyla took a deep breath, before opening out her wings and leaping into wide blue yonder, gaining height with each beat of her wings. Even though she travelled swiftly once airborne, far faster than she could have travelled on foot, the shadows were beginning to lengthen by the time she arrived at the crash site. Whilst that didn't affect her greatly, it did mean that the creatures that roamed The Fall during the hours of darkness would very soon begin to stir. Not good for a crashed pilot and stranger to the forest. Ruffling her leathery wings a bit, before folding them smoothly as she landed, Akeyla took in the crash site.

The plane had become more ensnarled in the trees than the ground, sizeable sections shearing off as it did so- it was still about recognisable, but even if it hadn't crashed into The Fall, its flying days were over beyond recall. Twisted shards and stumps of metal were everywhere, the cockpit was a caricature of its former self, fuel and oil were spilling everywhere, and the sparks crackling here and there made it all the more dangerous. There was, Akaeyla observed though, a significant absence of a pilot.. or a body. Most likely that meant they had survived. The emblem on the hull of the plane caught her attention- it was a Sky Pirate craft. More importantly than that, she realised, there were tracks in the disturbed earth... tracks made by a person. The pilot had survived and was on the move. Not simply on the move, Akaeyla realised, on a bearing that would take them straight towards the other crash... plane or not, the pirate meant to finish the battle begun in the sky. That was bad news for the other pilot... bad news they would need warned about. It would take some time to fly to the second crash sight but, Akaeyla believed, if she did so she could out-pace the grounded pirate and reach the second pilot in time to warn them, and whilst there was still enough light she wouldn't be mistaken for a beast or monster and shot on sight. Spreading her wings, Akaeyla rose gracefully into the air again, getting her bearing before heading in a straight line towards the other downed plane...

Forest of the Future

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Akaeyla

The Hermit

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_{N A M E}

Akaeyla Wildgrove

_{A G E}

20

_{E T H N I C B A C K G R O U N D}

Novan, Flying Fox/Red Panda hybrid

_{D E S C R I P T I O N}

-Red and Black fur, hair in a short bob that falls over her face, covering one eye
-Deep blue-grey knee-length jacket and trousers of the same design, with a floral pattern embroidered upon hem, sleeves, and vertically down the outside leg in silver thread. Black gloves and boots, all the above sturdy, hard-wearing but not new.

_{C A P A B I L I T I E S}

Fighter: Although a quiet and seemingly shy individual; Akaeyla is martially trained to paramilitary level in unarmed combat. Rather than sticking to a specific discipline, she takes what works for her from existing disciplines, improvising and personalising it as she goes. This makes her more a mixed-martial artist than a soldier, though she has a similar level of discipline. This coupled with a dainty-seeming, but lithe and agile build make her dangerous in close combat.

Aerial Acrobat: Akaeyla is fully flight-capable and takes full advantage of this- it doesn't matter if an opponent has the high ground if you control the air.This natural ability gives her the freedom to travel further and for longer than would be possible on foot and makes her one of a handful of people who can fly over The Fall without plunging into it. Useful for travelling distances, weaving through treetops and skewing the odds in a fight, it makes wilderness survival that bit easier for her than for many another.

Survivor: For some time Akaeyla has been living in The Fall after the manner of a yamabushi-styled hermit. As such, she has learned to live off the land, to know how to be self-sufficent, and which places and creatures in The Fall are best avoided. Preferring to avoid people, Akaeyla can nevertheless be courteous and even charming... though her apparent shyness can, to her embarrassment, make others think her cute or even adorable. Though she has yet to plumb by far the greater portion of the mysteries of The Fall, with every day that passes, she learns that bit more. All that being said, whilst she can survive the most spartan of lifestyles, Akaeyla is far from averse to creature comforts and prepared to make the most of them if offered the opportunity and an excuse to do so. Of particular note perhaps, is that she is skilled with needle and thread to the point she could easily make a living as a professional tailor and makes all her clothing herself... making her choice of lifestyle as a hermit the more peculiar.

Quantum of Solefish (RP with GemaJinn)

Having realised the mounting pile of bodies might soon transform them into flat fish, she had no objections to seeking some shelter. The cave they found may not have been homely, but any port in a storm. As the golden fish rid himself of his trenchcoat, she wondered if she might be able to do an analysis of the substance that was now befouling it, but there was a time and a plaice for everything. Noticing the combination of purple tuxedo and white shirt with black bowtie he wore beneath his trench coat, she realised her initial guess was correct- he was no small fry, but he wasn't a fishy character either. He was an agent, not unlike herself.. though possibly of a different agensea. With the ever-shifting currents of power causing frequent changes of poliseas, those in power could be chumming together one day and getting their hooks into each other the next. However, that wasn't a line of thought she wanted to follow... besides if you followed the offishal line on everything you'd never get anything done. Her attention was caught by his line of questioning, weighing every word and considering carefully, she gave him her answer.

"If you did have things under control I apologise," she informed him, "but the scale of the problem seemed bigger than that. As for my turning up conveniently- well I don't want to debait with you, but I came following a salmons from my overheads to investigate. As for who I am- I'm Cera Dipnoir, sepcial ensign with the agensea... and, I've an ocean our crossing paths like this may not be coincidence".

Quantum of Solefish (RP with GemaJinn)

Beversea Hills, close to the slick in progress:
Moving swiftly with the prevailing current, a contender for possibly the oddest fish in the sea was speeding towards the Beversea Hills District, and the ship in the process of spilling an as-yet unidentified pollutant into the waters there. The anonymous tip hadn't been a red herring, as she'd feared- a spill was in progress... accidental or deliberate it was difficult to say, but since the ship was stuill chugging along, the crew apparently unconcerned about the substance spilling by the gallons into the ocean suggested the latter. The possible damage a spill like that could do... even to waters already as murky as Beversea Hills... it was enough to make a person green around the gills. Were there no depths people wouldn't sink to? When would they realise it wasn't all just a drop in the ocean?

She shook her head to clear it of that line of thought. Pondering the ills people could do to one another could wait, right now she had to investigate what damage had already been done... her eyes widened slightly as she observed a dense rain of fish falling towards the ocean bed- school might be out, but class was in session! She needed to see just what effect the spill had had upon the unfortunates plummeting to the bottom of the sea. With a flick of her fins she swam closer, skirting the edge of the slick as she made her way down, in time to note a peculiarity: Amongst the mounting pile of poisoned poisson, a single golden-coloured fish floated, evidently in distress, but just as evidently not a regular civilian. He had a purposeful way of moving and a jaded look in his eyes that made her believe that, if he didn't know what was going on, he was looking into it...getting to grips with the scale of the problem. It might be a good idea to begin her enquiries by finding out a little more about him? Drifting gradually towards him, she lightly tapped his shoulder before addressing him.

"Pardon me if I'm interrupting," she said politely, "but you seem a little out of your depth here. I was wondering, have you any idea what the substance causing this is? And," she added, as she looked around to take in the scene, "if there's anything we can do about it? This seems almost like a deliberate act, but I don't want to rise to that bait without being able to back the accusation up".

Hollow Stone: Slaves of the Apocalypse

Still here ^_^

Hollow Stone: Slaves of the Apocalypse

The Previous Night:
The storm had caught the slave-camp by surprise. Not that storms were unheard of, even in the desert, but this one had been unusual in that it had hit during the night. Without the heat of the day to evapourate the rain or clouds, a downpour ensued, drenching everything and everyone who wasn't sheltered somewhere. Peals of thunder had sounded ominously overhead, leading the more superstitious amongst slaves and slavers to whisper that someone must have angered the Old Gods to bring their wrath so unexpectedly upon the camp. Lightning flashed and blazed at unexpected intervals, lighting up the pitch-dark night sky as bright as noonday when it did. All across the camp, slave and slavers sought protection from the onslaught of nature, in whatever shelter they could find. In fact, only one individual in the entire camp had no reaction at all to the ferocity of the storm.

The Ghost-Creature nicknamed Old Hellion remained inert in her cell, indifferent to the turmoil outside, as she had been indifferent to all the world for the past seveal decades. Only the world behind her sealed eyelids, the world of her dreams, stirred any reaction from her. For not the first time, her endless dreams turned to the dream of the day of her capture. Outside the storm roared as, inwardly, she remembered the weapons of the slavers roaring, and felt the shock of the wounds those weapons left. As the deluge of rain rattled on the roof, she remembered the rattling of chains and the creaking of wheels as the slaver convoy moved towards its destination. Her dream memories moved steadily and relentlessly forwards, as she remembered the arrival at the slave camp and her battle with the slavers, as they tried to move her to a cell.

Five at once had approached the cage, thinking their size and build, coupled with her wounds, might cow her into obedience.They had been mistaken. On the long jourrney to the camp, her wounds had healed completely and she was more than ready to visit her displeasure upon her captors. She had an edge they knew nothing about. In her distant home, she had been trained in hand-to hand combat and wilderness survival but, more importantly, she had learned a discipline that had kept many Heralds before her alive and well in a dangerous and often hostile world. It was called Kya Arae Thal; meaning simply 'One Against Many' and was a discipline that specifically required the odds to be against the practitioner. Anything less than five opponents and the practice was useless; the greater the number, the more effectively it could be used. When her captors had opened the cage door, she had been ruthless. Of the five that had advanced on her, four never got up again, and the fifth one had screamed for help before limping away with a broken leg.

Outside lightning flashed with a sharp crack as it struck close by. Inside the dreamer re-lived the combat. More and larger opponents had come running, this time eight in number. She had grinned and let them come. One had drawn a sword as they surrounded her, aiming a thrust at her side. She had stepped inside the thrust, taking firm hold of the extended arm, and driving the blade into the opponent attempting to sieze her from behind, burying it to half-length in his gut. She then broke the arm for good measure. Another attempted to lash out with a kick from the side. She pivoted smoothly on her toes, redirecting the kick instead of dodging or blocking, so that the foot connected with the slaver trying to grab her from the other side, whilst she took advantage of the opening that left, to drive a fierce jab into the throat of the kicker. He gurgled and collpased, eyes wide, before she delivered a kick of her own to the side of his head, rendering him senseless. She felt a sudden flash of pain to her right hand. One of the slavers had drawn a knife and had slashed at her with it. As he attempted to slash again, she deflected the blow, delivering several fast, sharp jabs to gut, throat, groin and solar-plexus. As he staggered under the barrage of blows, she twisted the knife free of his grasp, sliding it between the ribs of another opponent, before twisting the blade and then snapping it off near the hilt. The remaining two slavers had hesitated, evidently weighing up which was the softer option: running away from one slave with an attitude problem, or facing their overheads for the consequences of desertion of post and duty. She raised the hand with the broken knife in it and beckoned them. The knife was suddenly jarred from her hand, a sliver or splinter of it breaking off into the superficial wound it had left. She looked to see the knife's original owner, on his knees from pain, but still apparently with a little fight in him. She responded with a kick to his gut and then another to his temple, before wheeling back to face the remaining two as they decided to rush her together.

Outside another sharp crack sounded as lightning struck closer to the specialty cells. Inside the dreamer heard the sharp crack of breaking bone, as she disabled another slaver, leaving one opponent. From the periphery of her vision she saw more running towards the scene. Let them come, she would deal with them the same as the others. The final slaver had aimed a mid-range kick at her. She moved to deflect it, throwing up her wounded hand. In the dream, everything seemed to slow as she saw, too late, the steel the toe-caps of the slaver's boots were shod with. As the boot grazed her hand, a spark jumped between the steel of the toe-cap and the splinter in her hand. Her world had gone white, and then black as she crumpled senseless to the ground from the sudden burst of electricity, entering the limbo she was to remain in for all the decades subsequent.

Outside the cells, the storm roared with the fury of an angry god- as some inhabitants of the camp whispered and believed it was. Another bolt of lightning struck down with tremendous force, striking the roof of the specialty cells and sending streamers of white light and electricity coruscating along it. Inside, showers of sparks burst along metal surfaces, dancing and crackling between cell doors. Whether by chance, or the design of some unknown Higher Power, a spark leapt from the door of Old Hellion's cell, striking the steel splinter still stuck in her flesh after all the decades of her hibernation. As it did so, she released a sigh, like a long-held breath, a shudder passing through her entire being, as though every muscle had momentarily spasmed. Though this was the first time Old Hellion had visibly reacted to anything in decades, the significance went beyond what could be seen on the surface. Whatever that spark, that electricity her people were so sensitive to, had done all those decades ago, the second spark had undone. The part of her mind that had long kept vigil for just such an opportunity immediately took advantage of it, reasserting the dominance of her mind and will over her body. It would take time- maybe two hours, maybe ten, maybe more. But the dream was ended; and now her rise to the waking world would begin...

The Present time
By the time the higher-ranked slaver and his informant approached the specialty cells, a number of changes had taken place in the long-dormant inmate. The strange profusions that had been scattered through her fur had vanished. The limbs and body, long inert, had begun to twitch and flex at progressively more regular intervals. The long ears had begun to swivel purposefully, as though the owner now listened to her surroundings. The movement of the eyes behind the lids had ceased, indicating an end to her dreaming. And as the lieutenant and his companion approached the cell door, she drew in an especially deep breath and opened her eyes. The eyes, now open, were revealed to be an especially vivid purple, a violet almost matching the pelt of a certain other high-value slave. At first they were blank and unfocused. Then she blinked and shook her head, as though to clear it of her long slumber. When she stopped a clear, lucid intelligence could be seen in them as she took stock of her surroundings. It had to be the slave camp still. From the dust in her cell, and gathered on her clothes, she'd been here a long time. She reached up to run a hand through her hair, her expression conveying mild surprise at the length of it. A long time indeed. How long was the question though. She focused her eyes on the figures at the doorway. Perhaps they might have something to say that would tell her? She brought her hands back from her hair, before rising from her long-held stance, coming smoothly to her feet. If they had anything to say,she would leave it to them to take the initiative and say it. No matter how long it had been, she still had nothing to say to slavers.

Hollow Stone: Slaves of the Apocalypse

Still here, still interested, if this gets moving again ^_^