Mokley

Lantern

Ok, Blue's done for now!

Green team, you're definitely up next! Since you guys lost your fourth player, do you want to keep going as you are or merge up with another team?

Lantern

Anise said Picked up the lantern and turned it around looking inside of it to inspect the egg. "What... is this?"

It is, quite simply, a very large egg about the size of that which an ostrich might lay, though it feels heavy like stone. The pale blue shell appears to be strong and thick and not easily breakable. A rune is etched into the hard eggshell. The etching glows a darker blue, while the rest of the egg emits a bright, blue light. It glows a bright, pale blue light in the same way of a firefly.

The stony, heavy egg is encased in the old, green copper lantern. The metal top and bottom of the lantern are pressed flush against the egg, as if the lantern had been built specifically to protect it. The glass sides of the lantern are also up against the egg, and there are no doors nor hinges. The only way to remove the egg from the lantern would be to destroy the lantern. But now, part of the work was already done: one glass panel has a long thin crack in it, and one metal corner of the lantern is slightly bent -- but it is resilient, and will continue to do its job.

Arin said Not wanting to place their only source of light on the ground, Arin handed it back to Anise and placed his ear to the cold surface. His cheek was immediately freezing. "Don't you think we should find out what this is?" He began to knock on the metal.

With an ear against the cool metal, a deep, slow echo could be heard:

Tock . . . . Tick . . Tock . . . . . . Tock . . . . . Tick . . Tock . . . .

His knuckles against the platform knocked at a slightly lower pitch the farther toward the middle he rapped.

Hania said She squatted down to examine the metal plate and ran her finger over a deep etch in the plate's surface. "Are these letters...?" she asked to nobody in particular. She cocked her head and tried to make out if the marks made any resemblance of a language.

They were hard to make out through the decades of mold, lichen, weeds and roots -- but there were, upon investigation, four circles inside one another, connected by a ten-pointed star. Five Runes were positioned around the formation, carved deep into the metal but filled with little mushrooms and moss.

Hania said She turned back around and pointed out towards the owl, "...maybe the owl has something to help."

The owl fluttered, and it chuckled at them. hooHOOhooHOO!

Now that the light of the lantern had been significantly diminished due to its proximity to the ground, the shadows were free to move without fear of the lantern's light. From behind the tree, a pair of monstrous, bright yellow eyes watched them. They narrowed, and widened, focused intently on one little human, then another. A great paw shuffled in the weeds and ripped their roots with claws like swords.

Arin, the closest to the tree and to the great beast in its shadow, might be able to smell its hot breath, and hear the drip of sticky yellow saliva that dangled from its fangs. It smelled like rotted flesh.

The rune that Hania had touched began to shimmer ever so slightly. The metal platform trembled, and dirt and rock were dislodged from its edges.

The owl spread its wings and floated toward them again with a silent flap of feathers. It lighted on Randold's shoulder, tickling his ear with its wing, and it stared at him with big, meaningful eyes.

Lantern

Pyro V said
Pyro is fine.Waiting for Tatsua to post.

Yay! Thanks for the confirmation. ^^;

YandereNoodle said
Making the philosophical quantum leap on the blue squad.

And a very insightful leap indeed!

Ok, blue squad, it's after midnight, I don't have work tomorrow, and I'm hyped on sugar. *cracks knuckles* Let's do this.

Lantern

Jedly, that's great, but I'm sure the team members can speak for themselves. ;)

Pyro, Red_massa, Tatsua -- how are you guys doing? We haven't heard from you in awhile.

Lantern

71342 said
Life got really faulty. Really quick, sorry. I cannot continue this roleplay (it's not your thread's issue). Have a good time.

Aww, your character seemed awesome too! But thanks for letting us know. Good luck, and I hope everything works out all right soon.

LowKey123 said
Hi. Am I too late?

You are never too late! It looks like it's you, Kituo and Thomas now.

Lantern

So sorry to see you go Napoleon! For what it's worth, I love your character and I hope to see you around sometime. But thank you for letting us know!

Ok, guys, I think I need to lay down a bit of structure here, as was brought up before. I was a little wary at first of putting limits on things, but some sound advice and the imbalanced events in the IC have convinced me otherwise.

First: After I post for your team, you have two days to respond before I'll post again. This just means that your character will be ignored for that round. You can catch up later, or if you happen to be MIA for an extended time I can help write you back in with a plausible excuse for your character's absence (which might even contribute to the plot). Please don't feel pressured to post by me or by anyone else. Just be aware that your turn may be skipped and the plot will go on until you return.

Second: The teams are not static. I appreciate that you guys have a lot of team pride, but I'd like to remind you that characters can and will be swapped out to other teams. The grand majority of the time this will happen either because the plot requires it or the teams need to be re-balanced. Also, every team doesn't have to move at the same pace. Just let me know if you'd like to be moved to a faster/slower group.

Third: My PM box is always open. Seriously, any ideas or concerns that you don't want to publicize can totally be sent via PM and I'd be happy to help. Also let me know if you have any specific ideas for how you'd like to see your character change and develop, or if you have an amazing idea. I love character development and amazing ideas.

I'll add these to the first page of the OOC.

Lantern

Woohoo! 71342! Welcome back! No need for explanations, glad to see you.

Jedly, I'm confident about Red team, no worries. ;)

Lantern

Still, that's a good point Yandere. Unconscious is completely fair. On the other hand, I'm actually more concerned that the other teams may not catch up with Blue at this point. ;) But I think you've convinced me, I'll see about a post. Maybe tonight, if my brain functions.

While we're on the topic, how should we handle those people who fall behind or lapse in posting? I was thinking that maybe if a person feels they've been left behind, they could post here and I can write them back in with some kind of plausible explanation for their disappearance. It might even contribute to the plot. But that would mean that person would have to wait for me to post before they can jump back in. Thoughts?

Lantern

Hmmmm, I think my brain is fried for tonight, unless I get a sudden spark of energy before midnight. I kind of want to see if 71342 posts before we go much further in Blue team, but we'll see.

Tomorrow I have class after work, so only a window of a few hours to post. Be good while I'm away! ;)

Where the Sky Meets the Mountain

A brass band blared over a squealing crowd of top hats and parasols gathered on the dock beside the magnificent, shining Lady Arabella. It was a grand ship. A beautiful ship! Shining with gold trim, magnificent polished cedar, masts and sails that kissed the clouds, a figurehead of a mermaid singing to the skies, her hair flowing in protection of her vessel. It was the greatest, grandest ship to have been crafted, as the newspapers had declared for the months leading up to the coronation -- and it was about to embark on a most important, most perilous, most exciting journey whose details were yet unknown to even the seamen who'll sail her. It was a most mysterious and miraculous event, and everyone who was anyone had come out to see the very first airship to attempt to sail around the world. But it was late.

It was supposed to have set off over two hours ago to the great pride and fanfare of the city, but the sails had not even been unfurled. The ladies had had their handkerchiefs prepared for the sendoff, but now clutched them in dwindling expectation. Children squinted at the great shining ship as if they might blink and miss it. Slowly the joyous and excitable noise dwindled to confused murmuring and hopeful explanations.

Seagulls squealed and dipped to partake of funnel cake and pickle sandwiches. Balloons were lost to the sky. The tuba player was beginning to look blue in the face. And then, the crowd roared and whistled as the first mate ascended the stage and stood tall and proud before the brass band, his hat pulled down to his eyes. He waited patiently, pressed and proper, until the band had wrapped up the twentieth round of the only song they knew. The crowd settled down in grinning anticipation. The trappings of the ship whistled and fluttered in the breeze.

"The Lady Arabella," the first mate announced in a firm, proper voice, "will not be sailing today. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please go home."