Vertigo

SPIRITUM

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Sheesh. Upon closer inspection, the RV looked like it'd been mauled by a bunch of wild, angry Mordens — a mental image that had Silje giggling despite the situation. Not even the sight of what was unmistakably military equipment inside the supposedly civilian RV managed to bring her mood down. Especially because she did, indeed, spot snacks among the mess.

Oh, and apparently there was someone alive inside, too. Someone with a weird accent. An undercover Rassvetian military personnel? A foreign mercenary with connections?

"I'm out here, yeah!" she called back inside, her tone upbeat. "Don't worry ma'am slash sir slash other, I can cut those legs off for you in a jiffy, no problem at all!"

She'd meant it as a joke, surely, but nothing in her tone indicated as much, and before she could add that vital "just kidding!", her attention was already stolen by Valerie's telepathic shout.

As Silje spun around, she noticed them too; bullet sharks, bursting from the ground like mushrooms from the forest floor in autumn. Except with teeth. Two were already down by the time Silje adjusted her sitting position atop the RV to take in the scene. Aww, did she miss the action?

"Four more under!" Justice called out, so — apparently not! Silje turned to her instinctively, about to stand up and join the fray. But the moment her gaze landed on Justice, she was too mesmerized to look away. Their squad leader was practically a one-woman light show, made of fireworks and all the colours of the rainbow, dancing in hypnotizing patterns.

Justice dashed past into action, but Silje was still staring at where she had been a moment prior, mesmerized by what she'd seen. Even the shaking ground and the deafening impact of a gigantic shark colliding with Justice's barrier didn't manage to snap Silje to her senses.

What did was another stream of colour. Faint but constant, flowing into the air in thin rivulets of an almost translucent white. It was pure mist in all the meanings of the word, new to the world, still untainted by any mage's manipulation. An impossibility. Silje followed it to its source, her eyes widening once they met Collette's.

Weren't bullet sharks attracted to mist and stuff? Didn't someone say that?

"Gerry, the princess!" she shouted telepathically to Gerard, the only one yet to spring into action, hoping he'd infer the rest.

With that, she finally stood up. Having entirely forgotten that not only did the RV contain clues, supplies, food and a living person, Silje gathered mist around both herself and the vehicle she stood on, hoping to make the latter a beacon for the remaining, hiding sharks to head towards. And if they did, and if they got reaal close, maybe she could make them all go boom at once!

Because, you know, it's not like they were tying to be discreet or anything, right?

Planescape: Search for Tir na Og

<Snipped quote by Lurking Krog>

it's cool.

Welp, Garnet now successfully received ice cream... and probably learned nothing from this entire exchange xD

@XxFellsingxX

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

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Upon feeling an incoming vision, Fellwing braced herself to be once more torn from time and place. To be given another's eyes to see through, or be freed from the confines of a body altogether. Instead, when she opened her eyes, she found herself still there, standing exactly where she had a moment ago. Everything around her was still just as it had been — except, somehow, more.

The Seer gasped at the onslaught of sensations now flooding her, feeling disoriented as she dared take a step. The ground wasn't just a solid thing to be treaded on anymore, it felt like a whole different being, made not of soil and stone, but of a million tiny organisms, their sum alive in its own way.

It took a disturbingly short time for Fellwing to reorient herself to her new state of existence and focus back on what she was searching for, no doubt thanks to the strength of the Liberty Moon. Its guidance was potent.

And so, she saw them; wires wrapped around her entire being, criss-crossing across her entire field of vision. It wasn't some unknown, wind-like force that had pushed her back. It was these things, sinking into her scales without her being none the wiser. A thought disturbing enough to make her shiver.

Though Fellwing's first instinct was to try and start blindly hacking away at them, the way one might reflexively swat away a spider and then flail about, she had enough restraint to stop herself. All that would do was make it harder to figure out what was going on.

So, Garrock and his family drama entirely forgotten, Fellwing opted to try and follow the wires to their source instead. She might've been a poor choice of drake to help with matters of the family, but if there was one thing she was good at, it was venturing out after her visions in search of answers, and somehow not dying in the process.

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

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One of the voices returned, though it was impossible to pinpoints its exact source. Abel's best guess was a hidden intercom. It wasn't exactly a surprise that he was being watched, all things considered. He wasn't sure how much of what he heard was worth being paid attention to, much less believed; he would've expected kidnappers to be a little clearer on their intentions and demands. Alas.

Abel couldn't help but fixate on the fact that he wasn't alone, however. If the voice was to be believed, there were three other victims besides him, and he couldn't decide whether that made things better or worse. More victims meant a chance for a united front. But it also meant more premeditation on the kidnappers' part. Better organization. More perpetrators. More danger, even if it apparently came with a ridiculous name like Mr. Wormy Squiggles.

Isabella...

Just as Abel's thoughts shifted back to his daughter, her familiar voice rung out from the ball pit, clear as day. Abel reacted reflexively and without much thought, throwing himself into the pit in search for his daughter, even if it was physically impossible for her to be there. He knew that, but logic had no place in the mind of a desperate father. So he dug and dug, until his hands finally brushed against something other than smooth plastic.

As expected, he did not find his daughter. Instead, he found himself holding one of three weird, colourful platypus toys. The pink one, to be precise. Isabella would've loved the pink one.

Realizing his efforts had been in vain, Abel was struck by anger and shame both. They must've recorded Isabella's voice. Which meant they did have her. And they'd made her call out to him...

Cursing under his breath, Abel grabbed the pink platypus with both hands and started trying to rip it apart. He fully expected a small speaker to fall out along with the stuffing, and it was that very thing he wanted to destroy. It existing felt like an insult to his daughter, and a taunt to him. Would it improve his situation in any way? No, but he wasn't thinking that far. He was hardly thinking at all.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

This is on my catch up list this week!

Planescape: Search for Tir na Og

Will wait for Krog's post before doing my own, gotta know who's paying for that ice cream, in the end :D

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

Hope everything gets sorted for you IRL, 'Sheeps! Can definitely relate to just needing a break. Rest up and enjoy that hiatus.

Got my post started, but had to catch up on some other things as well, so will need to finish tomorrow. Sorry for the wait!

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

Will also post this weekend!

SPIRITUM

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Silje was interested in the princess's predicament, and wanted to hear her out when she explained the intricacies of Vangar's politics. But she said so much, using so many words, that Silje could not help losing focus midway through. She did get the general gist, though; Vangar's senate was a mess, and the most likely culprit behind last night's attack was one of their own. Someone who didn't want the war to end, even if that meant killing their own royalty.

She wasn't an expert, but wasn't that treason? Wasn't treason punishable? What sort of punishment did Vangar have for that, she wonder--

Whoa!

Silje leaned forward where she sat, hands cupped around her eyes as she peered further ahead the road. Smoke. There was smoke rising from what seemed to be a wreck. Needing to let someone know, she started waving her hands frantically, leaning down towards a window, and quickly found Gerard.

Once they were close enough to have no other choice, their truck stopped. In turn, Silje moved. She hopped off the roof, hurrying after the others who were already busy at work. Val was checking out the truck's engine, Kali was keeping an eye on the perimeter, and Morden hoisted the leaking tanker up to carry it elsewhere. Justice was doing her whole bosslady thing. Gerard existed. They were already covering a lot of ground as far as essential tasks went.

Not wanting to be left twiddling her thumbs, Silje turned to the RV Gerard had commented on, and declared it her responsibility. Avoiding the leakage on the road, she skipped over to the RV, climbed atop it, banged on its side, tried to peer inside. She wasn't sure what she was searching for yet; splatters of colour, bodies, people lying in ambush, a stash of snacks now left without an owner. She wasn't picky, really.

Though she could have used those snacks.

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

Posted! Hope I got everything right