Holmishire

The Final Hazard

Facing away from Donny, Ariett couldn't have realized she'd be shot until the bullet had already plunged through her back and punctured the once-beating muscle lodged in her chest. And couldn't or not, the thought didn't cross her mind until after the bang: if only she'd been reflected, the bullet would have bounced simply off her metal shoulder.

As it was, the blast twisted her body to the right, so that she no longer faced the woman and Donny but instead the remaining surviving members of the limousine.

Perhaps it was the chill that had overtaken her since they'd crashed on this blasted university, or perhaps it was biological luck—but though she could feel her body weakening, she had not yet succumbed to shock. She knew she had only minutes—or seconds—before she'd be lost. Seeing the doctor, the knight, and the archer, she decided she'd might as well give them a chance.

As she forced herself limp, she surreptitiously armed the grenade, holding it by her belly, and drifting lazily back towards Leona and Donny. Once she drew close, she spin around to protect the others from the blast with her body, and release the grenade.

TTL: The Final Hazard OOC

Life happened and I failed to meet the deadline, but have posted anyways.

The Final Hazard

Floating in the ether, Ariett shivered. She no longer deluded herself with the concept of reality—she was either dead, drugged, or dreaming, and none of those brought her much comfort after all that she'd seen.

The humming bore into her, and she felt irrationally drawn to it; whether physically or psychologically she could not tell. Instead, she tried to focus on the woman before her, yet another creature brought either to guide them or lead them astray, likely no more real than the ground upon which they'd previously stood. Nevertheless, she willed herself to float towards the woman. "What good would killing us do you now? We have no way of leaving this place, and nowhere left to go even if we could."

The Final Hazard

While not exactly what she would have hoped for, Ariett accepted the proffered grenade graciously before addressing the pavise knight. "We're just as likely to run into Leona as you are; I'd say we're safer together, for now. Once we have a better understanding of the inside, we can split up then."

As she spoke, she saw Fortune prepare to attack Aesch—but he struck faster than she had time to react to.

The Final Hazard

The woman hovered at the edge of the entrance, wavering as if the slightest breeze would send her tumbling inside. She looked down at her hands. No rings. Just a watch—she could still trust herself.

Her focus returned when Andy spoke to her, and a faint smile of appreciation touched her face momentarily. "Don't you worry about me," she said, waving at the computer screen. "I have immunity. But if you ever see any security systems, you hide and tell me—I don't know whether it can tell the difference between the intruders and you." A thought crossed her mind, and she turned to face the others not yet approached. Her face blanched at the sight of the centipede again, but she forced herself to ignore her hallucinations. "If any of you find weapons on one of the bodies, bring it to me, please. I'll probably need something to break any security systems acting weird."

The Final Hazard

Ariett shivered in horror as Aesch was transformed into some unearthly form. That the centipede spoke with his voice—odd and out of place—was little comfort, though it did ground her somewhat.

Pale as a ghost, she turned to the direction the pavise knight had pointed and began shuffling stiffly away. As she passed Andy, she muttered something about needing meds to take the edge off, but she did neither stopped nor hesitated; her gaze was fixed ahead, unblinking and empty.

The Final Hazard

"I have some first aid materials in my pack," Ariett started, addressing Andy before taking on a more bitter tone. "Though my impression is that any injured we'll find inside will need far more than that." She then stepped over to stand by the doctor, but looked back at the pavise knight as if for guidance. "I'm ready to move on."

The Final Hazard

Ariett stood up to face Aesch. "The boy is dead; he was trying to save us when the… slug started spinning." She sighed, turning to the male pavise knight. "Does this mean you'll be coming with us? Though you've never given us your name."

The Final Hazard

Ariett stumbled onto the landing pad, eyes flickering open only to be faced with a scene far more gruesome than that which Donny had priorly left behind. She quickly averted her gzae skyward, but then slowly forced herself to look back.

Once the vessel had started spinning wildly and people had started dying again, she had been quick to close her eyes and curl up in a ball, hoping that she would not be next, listening in horror to the shrapnel flitting about them.

Three more dead, children among them.

There were two ways to rationalize such extreme flirtations with death. The first, and most rational one, is to realize one's own mortality, and that death could strike at any moment. The second, perhaps misguided path, is to focus on one's own survival against all odds, and to infer from that a blessing of luck and safety not granted to the common man.

As Ariett's eyes swept their surroundings, hollow and numb, it was the latter which had rooted itself into her subconscious.

The small woman stepped towards the suited men, her legs weak and uncertain at first but quickly stiffening. Upon reaching them, she heaved Hiecro's body of the man still gifted with the attachment of his head. Without turning her eyes from the prone man as she checked that he was alive, she addressed the man in the wheelchair, who appeared to be the leader of the five—now four. "I don't know what twisted world you've dragged us into, but a lot of people died to get us here, your man included. So I beg of you, please, just tell us what we need to do to get out of here." Though monotone at first, her words were filled with anger by the time she fell silent.

The Final Hazard

Ariett stiffened at the orders, in an attempt not to move—though sometimes it is harder to stay motionless with tense muscles rather than loose ones. She did notice Donny pulling out a cigar, however, and muttered at him between clenched teeth. "Something tells me we don't have air conditioning in here. Could you wait until after we've left the vehicle before lighting up?"