EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei had attempted to show a friendly expression when Ariel answered the door, but the scent that emerged from inside behind her was...overpowering, to say the least. Even the normally stoic Do'rhajul could not avoid briefly scrunching up his face. However, Meesei was not too distracted to answer when Sabine gestured to her. "Hello, Ariel, it is a pleasure to see you again. I admit, I wish I could say I was here for purely social reasons. Indeed, we probably will have the chance to catch up as well, but there is something of great...personal importance to me that I wanted to ask you about."

Hesitating a moment, Meesei gave a quick glance to the streets around them. Most of the city's crowds had died down by this hour, but Meesei could still not speak freely out in the open. "Might we come in?" She asked.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

If you're feeling up to it, @DisturbedSpec, now would be a good time for you to post. We're currently awaiting the new arrivals to make their introductions, and to have their delegates arrive on the Resurgence for the meeting.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

Taylor was less hostile the second time the woman entered the room, though it was still quite obviously on-edge the entire time. It did not have facial expressions with which to show it, but it was glad to see the supplies she had brought. They would certainly improve William's chances. However, as the woman started to edge too close to William, it once again put itself between the two of them. "No, I will treat him. You watch! You...keep watch." It snapped back as it snatched up the trauma kit in its arms.

If there was one thing that had been made clear, it was that the woman would have to fight Taylor if she wanted to get close to William. Fighting was certainly an option open to the woman; however, Taylor did soon show itself to be quick, decisive to act, and surprisingly gentle once it had its supplies in hand. Despite being considerably more massive than the average Human at the moment, the tendrils than comprised its constantly shifting hands could easily and delicately manipulate objects. It laid out the blanket she brought flat on the floor, then gently lifted up and moved William on top of it, with his head resting on the pillow. From there, Taylor opened up the trauma kit and, by appearances, seemed to know exactly what it was looking for. Taylor pulled out a bottle of antibiotic ointment and, rather than immediately start rubbing it on the burns, applied only a small drop or two to a portion of skin on his arm to begin testing for an allergic reaction. From there, it grabbed the water, which was at least reasonably cool, and started to use it to clean out the burned areas of his body.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

Taylor heard the footsteps on approach well-before the dark-haired woman made her way into its room. With as many obstacles and debris as there was scattered across the floor, it was difficult to move around quietly. Were the intruder a police officer or someone with a Lorne uniform, Taylor might have attacked immediately, but this intruder was obviously different. She was something of a tall woman in elegant, dark clothing that appeared severely out-of-place in a location such as this. That fact bought her enough time for Taylor to see her create the orb of light in her hand.

Although the light revealed Taylor, it also went a long way to disarming its aggression. That was obviously not natural, so she could only be a parahuman. Briefly, Taylor felt relief at the notion that help may have found them, but ultimately, its mistrust was not so easily diminished. The fact that she was a para did not necessarily mean she had good intentions; it just meant she was not working for Lorne.

Taylor moved in front of William, standing between him and the woman in a defensive posture. Its eerie, echoing voice let out something similar to a hiss to warn the woman away from getting any closer, though Taylor did not make any more aggressive moves itself. It knew that William was hurt and needed treatment, but the burns themselves were not the major concern. They were deep, but none had penetrated all the way through the skin. It was primarily their size that made infection the biggest threat. "No...he can't go to a hospital. They'll learn what he is, sent him back to Lorne. He has to stay safe. I don't know you...don't know what you want. You want to help? Bring me supplies. Bring...bandages, disinfectants, clean water..." Taylor said, pausing to give a quick glance to William's bare form. "...clothing. Bring those supplies here...while I protect him."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Hope you get through it smoothly, @DisturbedSpec. For the current situation, delegates from each of the ships are starting to gather on the Resurgence for a meeting on what to do next. Just so we don't have to keep repeating the meet-and-greet stage of the RP, the new ships were included in the previous timeskip as having met up in the transitory mists. They would have been given the basic explanation of the fact that we are all in an alternate universe, having been pulled in by some mysterious force from other universes. The Immaculate Aegis has not yet arrived, since its FTL is slower, so your characters would not be aware of the Sangheili presence yet.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While Meesei did seem eager to go find Ariel in a hurry, she patiently ate her dinner alongside Sabine and her fledgling pack without complaint. As important as what Meesei had to say was, it could wait a few minutes longer. As for Tarna and Do'rhajul, Meesei allowed Sabine to decide if they would be coming along to visit Ariel as well. She had caught some of the conversation as she approached, and it was true that even most lycans would not recognize Do'rhajul purely by sight. However, she would understand if Sabine did not want to leave him completely alone.

Regardless of what Sabine decided, they had to return to Tamriel through the gate before Meesei could make their portal to Thorn. The barriers protecting Mundus from Oblivion were not something that even Meesei could overcome on her own. Nevertheless, there were only a few minutes between finishing up their meal by the fire in the Hunting Grounds, and walking out of a portal in an alley in the city of Thorn. For Meesei and Sabine, such rapid changes in scenery had become mundane, but it could be jarring for anyone else. As usual during their visits, Meesei stayed behind Sabine and allowed her to be the one to lead the way to Ariel's shop.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

Unfortunately for the rats, Taylor did not immediately understand their intent. Despite being a para itself, Taylor did not see them as being any more than just rats, though it did certainly take notice of them. Its supercharged state had faded by this point, so its energy had returned to its normal black form and it could now more easily hide itself. Although it had not understood to follow the rats, it did eventually find a serviceable place to hide in the form of an abandoned, run-down apartment building.

The building was a condemned structure and, from the movement that Taylor head from higher floors, there might have been some squatters present, but Taylor was able to slip inside unseen and make its way into one of the nearest rooms. Without a doubt, it was not an ideal place to stay. There was debris scattered around on the floor, the only furniture left was broken and rotted, and there were huge holes in the walls that made Taylor legitimately fear for the possibility of collapse. However, it was quiet and out-of-the-way.

Taylor found the cleanest corner it could to finally set down William. It felt ashamed that it had not had more faith in William's plan, and it just hoped he would live to see it had worked. Taylor wished it could make him comfortable for when he did awaken, but it had few options. William would probably not want to be naked, but Taylor had no clothing to give him. His burns would probably pain him, but it could not bandage them. The best it could do was to try to keep them as clean as possible to reduce the chance of infection. Perhaps Taylor might have been able to find some supplies with which to treat him, but that would require leaving him alone, defenseless. Taylor had to protect him; it was all that it could do at this point.

Taylor curled up at William's feet like a guard dog, its eyes scanning the area for any sign of movement. Even if no other people found them, Taylor was concerned about all the rats it had seen on the way. They might have seen William as being an easy meal, so Taylor had to be ready to kill them or ward them off. Luckily, it no longer required sleep, so it could maintain its vigilance until he awakened.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

Once again, Taylor was not sure what was happening when it saw the screens flicker, but the fact that it had seen this before did capture its attention. The message before had been brief and vague, but this felt different. It was certainly directed at Taylor specifically, and it did not feel as much like a message. With the way the face seemed to dance between the monitors, it felt more like a ghost within the machines. It was a ghost showing it a path out, and telling it to escape.

Certainly, escape was a concern at the front of Taylor's mind, but there were other thoughts. Other desires. Marian had told it that there were other prisoners, and Taylor wanted to free them all. It wanted to help them escape, then burn the rest of this facility to the ground. With as invigorated as Taylor felt at the moment, it wanted to purge the world of the virus that was Lorne, from the inside out. That rage burned almost as hot as Taylor's body, and under any other circumstance, the words of a ghost would not have been enough to dissuade it. Taylor was willing to risk its own life for this, but it was not just its own life that it was responsible for. There was also William on its shoulder, unconscious and unable to defend himself. He had risked a great deal to free them, and it would be a betrayal for it to risk his life as well as its own.

Taylor let out a frustrated scream after the face disappeared from the monitors, but it knew it only had one real choice. It started to walk towards the door the ghost had opened, but stopped for just a moment to look back at the room. The room had been its prison for months; the site of innumerable pains and tortures it had suffered. Taylor's echoing voice let out a growl as its free hand started to glow brighter and brighter, until finally, it launched a ball of flame that exploded on the other side of the room. Then another, then another, until it had demolished most of the equipment and started fires all across the room. Taylor was sure the fire would be contained, but if this one act of spite was the only harm that it would be able to inflict upon Lorne, then it would have to do.

---

True to the ghost's word, Taylor had been given an uninterrupted path along a tunnel to the surface. It did not come up directly next to the tower, but rather a few blocks away. This time opening the door less...destructively, Taylor made its way out of the building that obscured the tunnel and onto the street. For the first time in months, it was able to look up and see open sky. It was the middle of the night with nothing but solid blackness above due to light pollution, but Taylor did not need to be able to see stars in order to feel relief. Instinctively, it wanted to take in a deep breath of the (comparatively) fresh air, but its body could no longer breathe as it once had as a Human.

Taylor was snapped out of its thoughts by a scream. There was a woman off to its left, picking up her toddler in her arms and running off in the other direction, as well as the screeching of tires driving off away in a different direction. Taylor was still engulfed in flames, though even if it was not, it was terrifying in any state. Taylor was quick to rush into another alley and get out of sight. It was having to go off of older memories, but it believed it knew a way to some of the poorer districts of the city, where it would be easier to hide. It did not know exactly how long it would stay in this supercharged state, but it could feel that it was expelling its energy quickly. Once it was back to normal, it could start trying to find a place to hide.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Aboard the Resurgence

---

Eri let out a low, somewhat growl-like hum to herself as she took a moment to think. Unfortunately, she did fear there might be some parallels between now, and the conflict between the Terrans and the Zerg. "It is true, if they are indeed the Humans I am familiar with, then they will make for worthy allies to us by virtue of their ability. But, your fears may be correct. The Humans of Earth and the Swords of Sanghelios are close allies in my time, but the Sangheili were once a part of the Covenant. That Covenant was at war with them for decades, turning their planets to glass and destroying their fleets and populations alike by the wills of our prophets, in the name of our gods."

Even just speaking of the prophets inspired a small degree of anger within Eri. Their betrayal of her people had only made her more frustrated at the fact that she had never been given the chance to fight them. "With Truth's betrayal, our Arbiter led us against the Covenant and the folly of our former beliefs. We allied with the Humans, no longer bound to the religion that had kept our blades at their throats. But if these Humans come from before that time...they may only know the Sangheili as the heralds of their impending extinction. I am not familiar enough with their vessels to know from when this one comes. They used ships of a similar appearance both before and after the war."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Aboard the Resurgence

---

Compared to their day of arrival in this universe, Eri's stay aboard the Resurgence was much calmer. Aside from interrogating their prisoner, the first few days aboard the ship had been spent learning more about the Resurgence, its crew, as well as the other ships in their fleet. Not to mention, she took the chance to compile together information about the universe in which they now found themselves into a report for her superiors. For the most part, she focused on more detailed information that would not have already been included in the data Erthos had given to Falul, and the crews of the other vessels. She spent time learning more about the exact capabilities of their technology, and wrote up her own impressions of what might be the most threatening to the Aegis.

However, there was only so much information that Eri could gather without outright spying, and she had been given strict instructions not to do anything that might compromise their alliance. As such, she was left with little else to do after a few days. She often occupied her time by sparring with her own men, and while that was certainly helpful for their skills, it did not do too much more than just keep her own senses sharp. She started to wonder if there were others that she might test herself against. One of the Humans, who she had learned was named Jerus, had demonstrated strange abilities during the battle, and showed a preference for a blade. As well, there was the mercenary, Samus, who had cleared the ship's bridge seemingly by herself. Eri was not anticipating anyone that could best herself, but it might have been worthwhile to test herself against the warriors of these other universes.

For the moment, though, there was another concern that Eri found at the forefront of her mind. A few additional ships had arrived in the mists in seemingly the same manner that they had arrived in this universe. Or at least, they too were outsiders to this universe. Eri had already spoken to Erthos and got his report on the new ships to pass on to her Shipmaster, but as she was going over the information, specifically the sensor data on one of the new ships, she realized that it was familiar to her.

While Eri did not know exactly where Erthos was at the moment, she did know where Jerus tended to be, and so she sought him out immediately. She would prefer to speak about this in person. Representatives from all of the ships, including the new ones, would be meeting aboard the Resurgence soon enough, and what she had learned could affect that meeting. She was wearing most of her armor apart from her helmet, in order to at least have the appearance of not being battle-ready.

"Jerus!" Eri shouted moderately loudly the moment she saw him to grab his attention. "One of these new ships, the one called the Unbroken Hope. I recognize its pattern. It is a Human vessel from my universe." She announced. As usual, she tended to get directly to the point.