vatheon | Terror under the sea

Entry tags:

Terror under the sea

Who: The Disciple and whoever
Where: The Plaza, The forest, and the path in between.
When: Early morning 3/29
Style: whatever suits your fancy.
Status: Open

Water. She was Wet.

She came to lying down, somehow drenched in saltwater. Blood mingled with seawater, on her hands and face. The Disciple was unable to remember how she got here. She seemed to be in some sort of city. A heavy fear caught in her chest. She shook herself awake to figure out where exactly she was.

"Where...am..." Her voice cracked from disuse.

Her conscious brain began shutting down as her senses were pounded with information. The sights and sounds of this new place, hammered into her mind. Unfamiliar beings were all around her, some even looking at her, in the open. Her mind scrambled for purchase. Worst of all was the scent. With so many...things together in this dome, compounded with the ever-present smell of seawater. Flooded with input, her animal brain took over.

FLEE!

DANGER!

Finally, she caught wind of a familiar scent. Trees; there were trees here. She flung herself after the scent, knocking aside anything in her path. Desperate for survival she attempted back alleys and other paths that didn't reek of these many strange beings.

She fled to the southeast.

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As she runs, a loud call comes in from the air- a bird call, high and sweet. The beat of wings, and there's something flying alongside her. It's brilliant white bird- a lusus, large as an eagle. She croons softly, trying to be reassuring.

She knows trolls well, and knows all of the little ones that are in this place, but this is a new one, now, and as there are none of her blood color about in this city, she turns her attention to all.

Dualscar wasn't interested in trees, but he did happen to be between the Disciple and the direction she was going. He turned his head as she bolted towards him, and the moment of recognition was almost instantaneous.

"You," he hissed, almost ready to start laughing. The one member of Signless' band that he really had no connection to, but he recognized her.

Momentarily, she is put off by the call. Not a predatory call, but still something to be wary of. The sudden appearance of the lusus flying next to her sends her skittering into the wall.

The soft crooning doing little to assuage the primal terror pushing her forward. Even amid the fear gripping her heart, a solitary thought dances to the surface of her thoughts. This bird seems to be a lusus. It had the pure white coverings of one, anyways. Instinct once again fought itself to the surface.

RUN.

Careful of the bird following her, she resumed her mad dash to the smell of timber.

The lack of response does little to discourage Dural. She is, after all, a hunting bird and has seen as much war as any Imperial soldier. So she keeps pace with the frantic troll, silent save for the beat of her wings. Her presence is there until they finally reach the forest, where she disappears into the branches. The rustling of leaves can be heard as she follows, trying to keep an eye on the young woman.

Very few things could stop her when she was frenzied like this. The smell of a highblood, it seems is more then enough. Her limbs scrabbled against the ground, kicking up small eddies of dust. She carried her momentum into a fighting crouch.

One of them!? Here!? What is this damned place?!

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. In their place a fierce growl. Her eyes wild with anger, they dared him to make the first move.

Wow.

Dualscar gazed at her archly. She looked like nothing more than an animal, feral and beyond speech. Was there anything of her left?

He dropped his hand to the pommel of his sword, just as a precaution, but didn't draw it.

"I can take you to the Signless. If you're inclined to behavve."

Diving through the underbrush of the forest, she finally started feeling some measure of safety. Enough for her conscious mind to make a grab at the reins.

Find somewhere safe, good start, need better cover. There! Those two trees with the fallen log over it!

She started to make for the safety of the fallen tree. Thoughts jumped to her mind. The lusus was still following her. What did it want with her? It showed intent to attack, but was it a trick?

The greenblood makes a dive for the den ahead of her.

For once he was wide awake for the disturbance. Not that it made it any better; with the recent murder and general ill-ease of everything sudden crashing sounds might not be good. The rabbit glanced up at the ceiling of his burrow, turned off the radio and crawled up.

All he saw coming towards him was green. Green with lots of hair and sharp teeth. Calmly, he reached into his hole and came out with a crossing guard's sash around him and a stop sign held up.

He blew a whistle loud and clear, lifting the sign into view, "Hold it, doll!"

Nepeta was sitting in a clearing in the forest, sketching happily away on a rough sheet of paper after a successful afternoon of quadrant reconnaissance - sitting in the Plaza and watching people walk by, mainly, and taking notes for the drawings she was putting together now. Her Pounce plushie was in her usual trenchcoat pocket, head sticking out to 'watch' the young troll's artistic endeavours.

But then something caught her attention; a sound, a scent on the breeze, something foreign yet familiar. Paper and crayon disappeared into yet another voluminous pocket and she was on her feet in seconds, tracking down the source of the scent.

Yet nothing could have prepared her when she looked out from around a tree trunk and saw her ancestor in front of her, looking wild and panicked and utterly feral.

His words jumble in her mind at the mention of that name. His words smashing together into incomprehensible babble. Except for one; Signless.

This...Highblood dare speak it. The nerve of this trash to even dare speak it in her presence. Her brow furrowed in anger, she forces herself to speak.

"Not... for YOU...to speak" She seethes at him. Still afraid to attack alone, she stays crouched and wary. There will be more. There is always more.

The sheer abnormality of this strange beast appearing in front of her, collided with her mind. Unable to easily comprehend what just happened, she skidded to a stop in front of the long-eared beast.

Her senses took in this creature. It looked and smelled of a beast, but had the mannerisms and the eyes of something intelligent.

Too dumbstruck to even take a defensive pose, she stuttered.

"What...is?" she queried.

"Ah try 'who', kid." He tossed the sign away and pulled the sash off,. Now that she was standing still he could tell what he was dealing with.

"Ya know. You trolls really do like stompin' tru da woods." He pulled himself completely out of his hole. The Disciple was right; he wasn't an ordinary beast.

Of course with intelligence came emotion and he frowned a little, "Uh..you alrigh'?"

Yes.

Safety.

Relinquished from the command of her feral side, she attempted to think. The smell of saltwater lingered, even among these trees. Strange place, stranger people. What is this place i...Her mind snapped to attention as she caught a new scent. One that was very strange, yet...

Herself.

The scent was hers, so it seemed. She moved to investigate, wearily.

As she drew closer to the source, she caught more of it. There! Me but...different? What was going on?

She carefully crept around a copse of trees, bringing her directly into view of the source of strange scent. Before her stood a greenblood troll. Clearly one many sweeps younger then herself. Features of her face seemed familiar, even more she was reminded of herself.

She crept closer on all fours, moving closer to the strange troll. Ready to bolt at a moments notice.

"...who" she mimicked, catching herself off guard.

Curiosity taking over, she drew closer to this beast that speaks. It mentioned trolls, it knows of our kind. What else did it know. Maybe it knew where this damned place was. Her mind still racing, she pushed herself to speak.

"Where...?" She accompanied this with a gesture starting above herself towards the dome, but eventually motioning towards everything in a roundabout circle. She cocked her head in confusion.

"Miss Disciple!" Nepeta's first instinct was to run and hug the other troll - she'd spoken to her before, the previous time she'd been here, but had never had the chance to meet her in person.

However she could see that it was unlikely that her ancestor had returned with her memories of her previous stay, and the wariness in her pose had the young greenblood approaching her far more carefully than she'd meant to at first.

She held her hands out to her as she took a few slow steps closer, palms up and fingers uncurled in a non-threatening gesture of goodwill, but one thing she simply couldn't help was the smile and happy expression on her face to see her again. "Miss Disciple? Are you okay?"

This troll not only knew her name, but also seemed genuinely happy to see her. The young one's stance revealed no hostility. Did she know her? More mysteries of this accursed place. The Disciple could not help but drop her guard, even if only slightly. Maybe this one knew something?

A step closer. A cocking of her head. The Disciples curiosity driving her forward. The beast inside her told her to run, but her curiosity won out. Finally after a strained silence, she spoke.

"you...know?" she gestured at herself. The elder greenblood shook her head sharply, trying to find more words in the thick fog of her mind. Memories played at the edges of her mind, but nothing helpful would emerge.

“Uh huh!” She answered her with a nod, wondering how to explain to her just who she was. “I’m Nepeta,” she added, since that seemed like a safe enough place to start. She sat down on the ground in front of her to bring herself closer to the Disciple’s level, another gesture indicating that she had no intention of pouncing on her or otherwise causing her harm.

“And this place is called Vatheon. It’s nowhere near Alternia! We don’t really know where it is, I’m afraid. A lot of us were grubnapped and brought here.” She watched her ancestor’s face for any sign of recognition as she spoke, but she didn’t hold out much hope. She was too different from the Disciple she’d known before, the one who was quick to laugh and smile at her. Poor Signless…he’d be so sad to see his beloved like this. But she knew he’d still be overjoyed to have her back, no matter the state she’d been reduced to.

Signless has just been taking a walk in the woods--thinking about maybe trying to track down Summoner, maybe just hanging out in the quiet, shady glens--when he hears the sounds of an animal crashing through the underbrush. Whatever it is, it's big, and coming towards him fast.

He stops and turns, not particularly worried. There aren't any large predators in this woods, and even if there are, he's fairly confident that Summoner has a commune going with all of them and will stop whatever is running towards him before it hurts him.

"I mean you no harm, little one, so whatever you are, you can pass without fearing me."

"Ne..peta" She nodded with her success at pronouncing the young ones name.

"This Place... 's real?" the Disciple still straining to talk. Tiny sparks of memory started slowly sifting through from her subconscious talking to this young troll. She seemed to know her, to remember that name, her name. She was the Disciple. Yes, this was right. She remembered her name, what they called her.

Her thoughts, returned to the present. She was now seemingly in this place that smelled of the sea. Where was she before that? She remembered the cave; The warmth and safety it provided. Vague thoughts continued to play at the edge of memory, clouded by many years of base survival instinct.

The young greenblood's posture changed subtly, she seemed to be thinking about something...sad?

"That's right!" She grinned once again, the sadness dispersing, never lasting long with Nepeta's almost perpetually cheerful outlook on life. And really, there wasn't anything to be sad about, was there? The Disciple was here now, with them again, and they could look after her! The Psiioniic was doing so much better after living for so long with Signless again, Nepeta was sure that the kind troll's influence would do wonders for the Disciple too, and she could help as well, and she was sure Karkat would too in his own rather abrasive yet still caring way, and everything would be fine.

Thinking that way was easier than mourning over what her ancestor must have gone through, at least for now.

Another nod, and again she reached out to her, wondering if she'd allow her to perhaps touch her hand at least, although what Nepeta really wanted to do was climb onto her lap for a hug or at the very least groom her clean from the blood of what must have been a recent kill before arriving in the bubble.

"It's real! Really real. It's strange, but it's not a bad place. There are some of us trolls here, but there are more humans than trolls! Humans are pink hornless people, I don't know if you've met any of them yet but most of them are very nice."

RUN.

NOT SAFE.

She continued to dart through the woods, a primal need sending her deeper. She needed a place to recover, somewhere to think. So far, she had yet to find a suitable hideaway. As she burst through an upcoming brush, she found herself on the edge of a small clearing. She intended to jump from one side to the other. A quick leap minimizing her time in the open.

The Disciple dropped low, coiling her body like a spring. With deft movement she released herself into the air, her momentum carrying her through the clearing. Half-way through the jump, a couple things hit her at once.

Someone was speaking, nearby. It seemed directed at her, but the words themselves lost in her flurry of motion. Confused, her head darted to try and find the source. Standing in the clearing stood a troll. She knew him. Why did she know him. Her mind screaming a name at her, but she refused to believe. Finally, a scent catches her from this newcomer. An impossible scent, one she knew could NOT exist.

The airborne troll recoiled as if struck. Memories long dead, starting to stir in the recesses of her mind. Completely forgotten, however, was proper protocol for a correct landing from a long-distance jump.

She hit the ground hard, rolling involuntarily. She ending up sprawled haphazardly in a small bush on the far side of the clearing. Her body refused to move, muscles refusing orders as her mind still trying to register what she saw.

An outstretched hand...an offer. The Disciple lowered her guard further, still wary of threats that might be lurking in the nearby forest.

She stared at the outstretched hand, taking in the words of her fellow greenblood. She doesn't really comprehend most of it, but not for lack of trying. Its been quite sometime since she heard someone speak. Even her own voice sounded foreign to her.

A sudden memory, Talking to herself in a cave, many words written on the wall, what was she reciting? She closed her eyes tightly in frustration. Opening them, she saw again the outstretched hand, an offer. She would take it.

She inched forward, not with her own hand, but her face. The elder troll suddenly bursting into a bustle of movement. She closed upon her fellow troll. Breathing deep the scents encompassing the young one. Quickly, but methodically she worked in a circle around her gathering all the scents she could. Appeased, she retreated a couple steps taking them in.

After a second, she offered out her own hand. It was still stained with blood and seawater, and more recently dirt from her mad dash through the city and forest.

Nepeta waited patiently, hopefully, and her expression could only be described as lighting up when she saw the Disciple approaching her willingly. The flurry of movement startled her but as soon as she recognized what her ancestor was doing she obliging stayed still with no more reaction than a surprised giggle, letting the other greenblood learn her scent for herself.

Like hers it was the scent of leaves and dirt and forests, the faintest hint of blood from her kills, but mingled as well with the smell of other trolls, not the least that of her brownblooded matesprit who she’d been cuddling mere hours before. Tea leaves and sweet pastries and sugar, crayons and blood-and-soot paint and paper, all of it melded together in the young troll’s scent, making it similar to yet utterly distinct from the Disciple’s own.

And finally a hand was offered in return. The stains wouldn’t bother a troll so used to hunting and playing in the dirt – if anything it pleased her to see how similar they were in some regards - and Nepeta was instantly reaching out for it with slow, deliberate movements, her small fingers closing gently over her ancestor’s, squeezing lightly but never with any indication that she’d keep the other troll from withdrawing her hand if she so wished. “It’s so furry nice to meet you purroperly, Miss Disciple!”

His upper lip lifts with irritation, baring his teeth at her slightly. Her contempt and anger are obvious, and they irritate him. How dare she speak to him in that tone of voice, as if he were unworthy of even talking to her?

Briefly, he considers simply culling her on the spot. Then he thinks about abandoning her. Either route would be slightly satisfying, but bringing her to the Signless could have positive consequences.

He points towards Larmline apartments in the distance, drawing himself up, every inch imposing sea dweller presence. "You. Wwill. Followw. To the Signless."

Signless hadn't been expecting that!

He ducked a bit, instinctively, as the form sailed through the air. For a moment, his confused mind wondered if it was Nepeta, in the middle of some game, but this was too big to be Nepeta, and Nepeta never quite moved that way, so lithe and feral, no movement or motion wasted. And then somehow, for some reason, the jumper lost their balance and went sprawling, and Signless was reminded of the first time he'd met Psii, and how he'd landed in a pricker bush.

Slowly, his hands up and in front of him in a peaceful, non-threatening gesture, he crept closer. "Are you all right? I'm not going to hurt you."

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Terror under the sea

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Trees!

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