Masquerade Part 2.2: Klaatu, Barada... Necktie

[eclipse]

As the adrenaline wore off, Meredith heard about half of what Trist said about staying safe. Any response she would've had was lost in the fog of her mind. Vaguely, she heard Heather in the distance.

"Sorry. . .for being in the way. . ." she whispered, before she stopped paying attention altogether. I need sleep. . .

[scorri]

"What?" Trist looked back at Meredith and shook his head. "No, no no. You weren't in the way at all. I just... I want you to be safe, ok? I don't want you to get hurt or killed."

[Nanami Touko]

"They're not going to follow us, don't worry. Hel no am I putting you down." Something was definitely wrong with Maja, she sounded so weak, so tired. They definitely had to get out of here, and with how everyone else was so quickly coming towards the entrance, Makin was glad she'd made the call. She made it to the entrance and let everyone shuffle inside, getting a better look at the horde. Whoever was controlling them must have been set back by the surprise, as the monsters had stopped for but a moment. They were restarting their charge now, though, following after the mercenaries. Makin grit her teeth, and pulled out her fire tome. She started getting something big ready, cringing as her flesh burned away. I shouldn't be, d-d-doing this but, I... H-Hhhhave to...! The pain was evident on her face.

Meanwhile, so was the pain on Ingverd's face, as Valha clawed at his back trying to get onto it. "Couldn't just run with me, huh!?" he called out, definitely not enjoying having those dig into him. She didn't break skin, at least not on every swipe, and not too far on the ones she did, but it was painful nonetheless. But he had to keep running, pain or not. He noticed a light getting brighter as he ran towards the cave, finally realizing it was Makin. What is she doing!? Wait-- she can use magic? What!? He couldn't stop to ask her, so he ran into the opening with everyone else.

And that's when Makin went in, stopping with some room to keep her safe, hopefully. The growing heat from the fireball was both excrutiating and pleasing, as it was mitigating the cold, but still eating away at her hand. The undead hadn't stopped their advance, but Makin couldn't wait any longer. It was now, or never. She shouted and threw the orb at the ceiling near the entrance, immediately rushing back with Maja in tow. The ice cracked as the intensely hot magic hit it, and new wall of ice began to collapse where the entrance had been, crushing a few of the undead that had already made it into the cave, and blocking off the rest. Their entrance was cut off, and so was their light, but-- they were safe.

"A-An, yone... H-Hhhave a light? I-I, can't... Start another one." Her voice was shaking, her hand shaking even harder in the dark. The burn was probably really bad, something she'd have to get Maja and Raith to look at. But until someone turned on a light, they couldn't do any of that.

[algae]

Something exploded, and then they were in darkness. But against all odds they seemed to be safe, at least; that much was clear when the Boss spoke up. Sonia used a light spell, half expecting to reveal some horrible creature (it's what always happens in those cheap horror novels, after all). Fortunately, this wasn't one (yet). Just the equally eerie glow it cast on the ice. All this time learning magic, just to replace a couple hundred gold worth of torches... "...Wait, who's fireball was that?"

[riariadne]

"Why? You're safer... it's more comfortin' being with you." Valha adjusted herself as Ingverd ran, wiping the blood off of her claws. Why are they... bloody, anyway? I didn't use 'em... She looked down, eyes widening when she way the scrapes on Ingverd's back. But that's... did I really do that? Why... I don't remember it! "Ingverd, I--"

A loud thud and a burst of flame startled the little harpy- and more importantly, deprived her of vision. "What's happenin'?! Aw, this was a bad idea...!" She held onto Ingverd tighter, but this time was careful not to touch him even remotely with her claws. It wasn't too long before Sonia illuminated the cave, and she let forth a sigh of relief, moving her mouth next to Ingverd's ear "I'm sorry... I don't know what happened, I just... I never meant to hurt you, okay? I'd never..."

But it didn't take long for the little bird to find more to talk about. "Hey... how'd you do that, boss? I didn't think you could use magic!" she shouted. "Are you alright? You look, umm... in some trouble."

Edited September 29, 2015 by Reinfleche

[Vestige]

"She can't," Raith announced. "Or to be more precise, she can't with any degree of proficiency. And with lack of proficiency comes risk of self-harm. Though that's if you're operating within "reasonable" limits. I say reasonable, because getting carried away, or simply unlucky, can result in a rather gruesome display of death," he grimaced. "In this case, potentially burning alive from the casting of your own spell." He couldn't stop her from casting, but he certainly wasn't above voicing his disapproval. Lighting candles and fireplaces was a neat trick, but creating something suitable for combat, or otherwise, was practically an early invitation for death. "And something like that," he said, pointing behind him, to the now sealed- off cave entrance, "from someone who doesn't know a lick of magic, doesn't happen without taking its toll," he said, looking over at Makin. "Speaking of which, Maja can you please take a look? I'm fairly certain there was a sizable amount of damage done to her from that. I can't imagine she's feeling too well," he sighed.

[riariadne]

"Oh... so it's magic that hurts you? Jeez, boss, don't do that to yourself!" Valha piped up after hearing what happened explained. "You gotta keep reasonable with risks 'n stuff, especially since you're the boss! You gotta be our leader 'n all that, 'n you can't do that if you're too hurt." She felt as though that rather simple statement explained all there was to be said on the matter, not really grasping the complexity of the situation nor noticing her own stance on "risk taking," idling running her claws through Ingverd's hair and leaning her head on his shoulder. "So what are we gonna do now? Do we even know if there's somewhere we can escape to from here? If it's a dead end, we'll have to try 'n break through the rocks or somethin', right?"

[Oersted]

Lanos jumped as the sudden boom rang out from the cave's entrance, his surroundings fading to black shortly after. He was immediately on edge, the only thing in the darkness to trust in was in himself. With the return of his vision came some sort of security, even if his situation hadn't changed in the slightest. He was still scared, still confused and still very much aware that he was trapped in a cave with the person responsible. He sat down and leaned against one of the cave walls by Ingverd and Valha, he could still trust them at least.

He wanted to be done. At least for today, even if the day hadn't really started yet. He inspected his wing; no bite marks, no gash, it was like it hadn't even happened. He really wished he could convince himself it hadn't. But it had been all to real. He could still see Maja's fangs colored red by blood, his blood, as they left his injured wing. Why him, why now, why her? The questions swam in his head with no answer in sight. It was frustrating, being so clueless again; like he'd taken two steps backward after finally managing to take one solid step forward. He let out a sigh which quickly turned into yawn. If only sleep was the answer to his problems...

Edited September 29, 2015 by Oersted

[Xinnidy]

"What? But... they are..." Maja insisted, speaking between breaths, not that it ever deterred Makin. Maja could only watch, alarmed to the undead's threat like never before. It took until they were close enough to the cave for Makin to lessen her concern over her, starting to chant a spell not unfamiliar to Maja, but one she'd never seen from Makin. "B-boss? I-Isn't that enough of a fireball--" Maja flinched at the light and fire, being well able to smell how badly it was burning Makin's hard.

In a moment, Makin retreated to the cave, melted the entrance back shut, and insistently carried Maja away again. They... are not going to follow? Are we safe? Something in Maja felt she could relax as soon as the monsters were out of sight, but her body did not properly follow, she was still feeling like her heart beat fast, exerting itself --how bizarre.

It didn't take long for the others to provide light, and soon Maja could cast scarlet eyes Makin's way, struggling a little to try to escape her grip, now that they were safe. "I'm fine, boss." Maja mumbled again, turning her attention to face Raith briefly, as soon as she was called out. "Huh? ...Oh, right. I'll get to that." Maja took her staff and turned to face Makin again, now focusing on her wounds. "Boss, show me your hand." She spoke.

Kadin retreated as soon as Makin was left by the cave's entrance, observing the event with shock, especially with Maja by her side. He felt his body agitated as Makin so boldly and recklessly cast a spell to cover their path, but did not jump at them at any moment, lest he'd make things worse. "That could have gone so much worse. We could've asked Sonia instead, or if we..." He cut himself there, figuring there was no point in bringing up a man who left of his own volition. Right. Kendeall is probably well past dead, this place is too dangerous. Kadin sighed, resting his back again a wall. These past days reminding him of how much physical fatigue needed to be taken care of.

[Nanami Touko]

It wasn't time for her to try and act like what she'd done had been the best idea. It had been an impulse; wanting to save everyone, and it was the only way she could have. Sonia probably could've done the same, with less painful results, but... "There wasn't any time to asssk, S...Ssssonia, to do it. I'm s, sorry, every, one." She wasn't fumbling over words so much, at least not anything involving S. But some trouble was still there, as she ended up biting her tongue a bit trying to talk. She gave her hand over to Maja, whilst staring an apology over to Raith. Just because you have this new power, doesn't mean you get to abuse it like this, whenever you feel like it. "I, uh... I-I, ffound a tome, back at the village... I, g-got... Raith and I..." She bite her lip instead of her tongue, sighing lightly. "We had an argument, a-and I got... Mad. I ended up, casting the magic in the tome. We're magical creatures, Naga, sssso, we have this in almossst all of uss. Jussst... Takesss, ss-- ugh..." She cleared her throat. "Some teaching. And since I don't h-have any. Well..." She could see her hand now, and it wasn't the most pleasant sight. Maja would be able to fix her up, but anything else would take some of her own natural healing to grow over. However long that takes...

"Well, we're safe! So that's what matters, isn't it?" said Isabelle, for once, not feeling like arguing. She'd been shuffling around the wagon for a torch while things got themselves settled, managing to get it lit and strap it to the front of the wagon. "I'm not hanging around the entrance while those monsters try to break in. Excuse me." Alicia remained quiet, not really sure she had anything to add to the conversation. She wondered why Ma/kin would put herself in that much danger when there were people that could do the same, but it wasn't worth bringing up, or hammering down.

From the looks of things, at least, the cave seemed rather large, and it seemed to get larger as the wagon began its descent down the small slope near the now shut off entrance.

Ingverd sighed, also not opting to throw anything else onto lecturing Makin. But, this did take the cake. She'd done questionable things in the past, but messing around with magic was something he couldn't justify. "Raith, while Maja looks at her, could you get my back?" He needed to get them closed up. And as much as he didn't want to hold it against Valha... "Listen, I know you didn't mean it, but something's been happening with you. You're getting... Wild. More than you have been. If I hadn't grabbed you, I've half a mind to imagine you would've ran straight into that horde, trying to tear them apart as they killed you. What's going on?" He didn't raise his voice or try to sound condescending. If anything, there was an air of concern in his voice. But he still had to know what was eating at Valha; what was going on in her, that was causing her to act like this.

"Oh, as for, uh, where to go... I guess we just, follow the wagon. We can't go back... So all we have is to go forward. Take stock of what you've got, get yourselves patched up, and... We'll see where this cave leads." Makin had to play the leader as best as she could, so biting back the pain, she issued them some orders. They were vague, but they were orders. There wasn't really anything else they could do-- literally nothing else, in fact. So on they had to go. "Sorry, Maja," Makin whispered, looking back to her hand with a defeated gaze.

[riariadne]

"I don't know... I've been askin' you this whole time, before we left, when we stopped after... the bridge- am I just goin' crazy?" Valha's gaze dropped, feeling very guilty about the situation. "I think I might be... maybe it's just when I ran into Leiha I got angrier, but I don't... I don't think when I fight anymore, I just feel- go by my instincts, not thoughts. More now than ever before, I feel like a predator more than a person. D'you think I'm a bad person, Ingverd?" She sighed heavily. "I think I am... I think Leiha was right that at my core, I'll do anything to win, I was just sorta... constraining myself for a long time. And that scares me... if I hurt you, who won't I hurt? What's the line? I don't know."

[Vestige]

Raith shrugged, and walked over to where Ingverd and Valha were. "Doesn't look too bad," he said, placing a light hand on Ingverd's back. He examined both ripped cloth, and wounded flesh--affirming his prior assessment that there wasn't any serious damage. "I can take care of your back, but not the clothes on them," he said, stifling a chuckle. Perhaps he might have asked how Ingverd had gotten the wounds in the first place, they seemed rather peculiar, but that question was answered without Raith even knowing he wanted the answer in the first place. He hadn't meant to listen in on their conversation, and he wasn't that interested to begin with, but the proximity made it hard to ignore. "Well, that's that. You should be good to go Ingverd," he said. "Now, do you need any healing, or should I consider my work here done?" he asked, turning to Valha.

[riariadne]

"Me? No, I didn't end up gettin' hurt at all. I'm sure others got hit a bunch more than I did, though," Valha responded. She was almost surprised Raith offered her help, but quickly shook the notion off as silly. We're not great friends or anythin', but we are on the same side... not enemies. That'd just be childish and petty, to ignore an ally directly, 'n... I don't think he's that. "Hey, uh... thanks, though. I know we haven't always gotten along too great or anythin', but... I appreciate it, you know?" She gave a weak smile briefly before her thoughts turned back to the battle and how she had acted in it.

[Xinnidy]

"So that's... why you could cast that fireball? That sounds scary, harming yourself with your own spell." Maja spoke in a subdued tone, scarlet eyes wandering down to the burned hand. The spell had burned more than just skin, it was rather unsightly. Maja looked away from the hand for a moment, appearing to recollect herself. Ugh, I still feel a bit... Calm down, stop that, whatever it is. "...Don't move it, I'll try to do what I can, boss."

Retrieving her staff, Maja begun chanting without pause. Without the advanced training and understanding of other healers, Maja couldn't perform miracles, even if field experience was invaluable to her. Still, confident in her own magic, Maja worked on Makin's wounds as well as she could. Magic flowed to soothe Makin's pain and close her wounds, giving back their healthy appearance and closing the wounds. The hand would recover, but Makin would probably still have to deal with a dullness and lingering pain beyond Maja's capacity to fix.

"Uh... that's that." Maja spoke with a sigh, putting her staff away and looking at the hand once again. "Boss, do you think you can get training, then? I can't see you trying to pull this again going well..." Maja raised her concern, "It's hard enough that we had, ugh... so many losses. You should try being safe too." Maja spoke her mind, a frown as she was reminded of how Vriska went, but ultimately forced a smile. "Don't worry about me, I just want everyone to be safe... I don't want to see someone sacrificing themselves now. You too, Boss." If only... that, didn't happen. Maybe I could've helped more, maybe we wouldn't need to retreat?

Edited October 4, 2015 by Xinnidy

[Juliette]

"Yes, I'd rather not be amongst that undead horde if I can help it," Heather agreed with Trist, smiling at his and Meredith's little interactions before being startled by the cave collapsing, nearly leaping off the ground.

Fortunately it became more clear that there was no threat of sudden crushing avalanche, and it was just closing off escapes. "Oh! Well, that's... one way of securing our flank. I suppose we'd best move forward then, if there's nowhere else to go. The elvish lady walked forward towards the far end of the magic illumination, trying to spot anything further into the darkness.

[algae]

See, the healer's perfectly normal, it's just tiredness or stress or whatever. "Maja's right, just... be careful with it. I can handle whatever casting we need to do until we get out of here." But for that, they had to move. Sonia stayed slightly ahead of the cart, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary (But hopefully someone else would deal with the horrible jumpscares first).

[eclipse]

Most of Meredith's attention was on keeping herself from falling off of Trist's horse.

"I'm trying to sleep," she grumbled to no one in particular, paying no attention to the collapsed entrance, or the source of the collapse.

[Nanami Touko]

"Er, yeah... It's not that bad. I know it's coming, now. So I can deal with the pain." Makin was doing just that, as Maja went to heal the wound on her hand. A wave of relief washed over her, and a pleasant numbness entered her hand. The burn would have to heal itself on its own, but for now, this would do. "I could probably get training, Maja... Not here, obviously, but back in Felson, or maybe even Ward. Someone could at least teach me how to throw these about without melting my own skin... But that's not here, right now. Right now, is... What happened, with you?" Makin hadn't seen what exactly had occurred, but she knew something had, and she wanted to find out what. "Tell me, while we walk. I'll be damned if I don't worry about you." And as she said that, she started to slither on, letting the rest of the group get their wits about them and do so as well.

"I don't think you're a bad person, I just-- ah, thanks, Raith," he said, cutting himself off as Raith closed the tiny wounds on his back. "I just think that you need to get control of yourself... You're not a beast. You might be part animal, but that doesn't mean that part controls you. Otherwise, you'd just be flying about the trees, tweeting at things, making nests and eat worms out of the ground, or... Something. Whatever birds do. Anyway!" He shook his head, throwing his arms up a bit. "You should take time to not think about it. It feels like you've done plenty of thinking already, so... Doing more will just make you anxious. I think someone here could use some help." His eyes drifted over to Lanos, who seemed even more shocked than before. "I don't know what happened to him out there, but it seems to have taken its toll. See if you can do something to lift his spirits... And please, for me, try not to think about it much, anymore. We'll figure you out, together, I promise."

The group continued to walk down the cave, the walls wide and open, though the ceiling was beginning to lower, the further they went. What could lie at the end of it? Whatever it was, it wasn't monsters, as there weren't any sounds in there other than their footsteps hitting ice.

[riariadne]

"Maybe you're right..." Valha sighed. "Sometimes I just... do feel like an animal when I fight. Instinct, not thought, guidin' me. I just don't wanna fly away from my problems... that's not how you do stuff right, is it?" She shook her head, lowering herself from him. "I'll try 'n ignore it for now, I guess..."

The little harpy hesitantly approached Lanos, lifting him from the ground into a tight hug. "Hey... what happened out there? I got kinda caught up in everythin', but you look like you could use a little bit of cheerin' up. It's hard, what we're goin' through right now... tell me however you're feelin', whatever's worryin' you. We're in this together, right? I can't let anythin' happen to you- you'd help me, too. That's what friends do."

[Oersted]

*"Maja... bit me," he said with some hesitancy as he clung to Valha. "She had fangs and... I'm pretty sure she was drinking my blood. And now we're trapped in here with her." He started to tremble and clung to Valha harder. "I'm so scared of her; of what she'll do next and to who she'll do it to. I can't feel safe just by being part of the group anymore."

[riariadne]

"Maja...?" Valha looked towards the cheerful healer in confusion. "But she seems fine now- how could that happen? She's been so nice all the time, it doesn't make any sense... not that I don't believe you, I'm just confused. Maybe she got hurt by one of the monsters, 'n it infected her to be like that for a bit." Or maybe other people are as crazy as me when we fight now... "Well, I guess we don't really know for sure, but you don't have to be afraid, okay? If she does go after you again, I'll protect you, okay?"

But even as she spoke, a pang of guilt came over Valha. How didn't I notice that? Lanos got hurt so badly in the heat of battle, but I didn't even check on him until way after the fact. That's wrong... that's not me, right? She ran her claws through Lanos's hair when he trembled. "It's alright..."

[SB.]

The boss can use fire magic? Man, nothing is gonna end up surprising me at this rate... Angus was kind of (translator's note: really) wishing that they could get out of this frozen hole in the ground and go back to normal mercenary stuff, but at least they seemed to be safe for now.

Oh, except for the fact that Maja might randomly jump on one of them like she did with Lanos again. How could he forget that? "Uh, I don't want to make it sound any worse than it is," Angus interjected, joining Ingverd and the harpies, "But I think I saw that her eyes changed colour when we woke up. At the time, I thought I was just seeing things, but..." He trailed off, realising that he had no idea what was going on anymore.

[Oersted]

Lanos shook his head, the senselessness of the incident still weighing on him. "I wish knew. She even healed me right after she finished with my arm." And after I pointed my sword at her too. "I don't think that's what happened... Before she bit me the monsters didn't get her once." For all those times in the past and to come where Lanos would readily and gratefully accept Valha's help when offered, this was not one of them. "N-no," he averted his gaze to the floor of the cave, "it's not okay. I don't... want you to get hurt because of me, like how Vriska was." Although he said that, he didn't want to handle this on his own, not in the slightest; he just didn't know what he would do if something like what happened to Vriska happened to Valha.

Angus' interjection wasn't acknowledged by Lanos who was, despite declining Valha's help, still clinging to her.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Oersted

[riariadne]

"Eyes changed colors? Maybe she's under a curse from the creep controllin' these things or somethin'," Valha wondered aloud. "It can't be her own thoughts, that wouldn't make sense... Maja's always been so nice to everyone. Trouble's around, that's gotta be for sure."

But she was much more upset by Lanos's small rejection. "Wh-what do you... I won't get hurt. I'm not gonna let anybody hurt me, or you. If I can't protect you, I can't protect anyone." She hugged him tighter, feeling him hold on still. "I'm not gonna let anythin' happen to you as long as I can, 'n that's that, okay? We can't do everythin' on our own," as much as I would love to, "so I'm always hear for you, okay? I love you, Lanos... we're in it together."

[Oersted]

He couldn't counter what Valha said; he felt the same way about her. But what if you do get hurt, what then? As he felt Valha hold him even tighter he finally unglued his from the floor. "I..." He made to refuse Valha again but stopped himself before he could. "O-Okay," he conceded. "But you have to promise me you'll be careful because I... I love you too, you know?" He held onto her even tighter, as if he was afraid to let go. "And I worry about you. If something happened to you... well, I don't even want to think about it."