shylarah

Over

Innocence, by the destroyed cafeteria

Bits looked at Maeve's face, then AJ's, and mentally sighed. The plan was a good one, but they were overestimating their chances against that.../thing/, whatever it was. Even a full fledged Asylum wouldn't do much against it. But had Kiara given it a name? That meant she knew what it was. Bits placed a hand on the dark girl's shoulder to get her attention, as she changed course for one of the weapons repositories. “Weapons are this way. That thing. What is it, and how do we beat it?” she asked simply, not willing to waste words. She and her brother exchanged a look. They needed weapons, a plan, and coordination. They had to take care of the survivors here, and hopefully rescue anyone in the wreckage, and they needed to let those across the island know what the plan was. The Chrono's orders weren't enough to keep people safe, judging by Kiara's expression.

Sparks nodded in reply, sticking close to Cams, and already pulling out his phone. His sister didn't need to say anything for him to understand what she was thinking. He'd had to learn to understand her expressions as if she was speaking after they'd come to Innocence, and she'd all but stopped talking for a couple years. There were cameras all over the island, he knew. “Dancer, time to go to work,” he said, after turning on remote access to his computer. “See if you can find images of where that thing come from, and project where it's going. I want a searche through the database on Viles, too, see if anything turns up. Post on the network that we're getting an evac group together. I dunno who's looking at it right now, but it won't hurt. This fight's going to get too hot to stick around for very long. Sis wants all the students still mobile to help with rescue and getting everyone off the island, and out to a safe distance. Looks like some folks are going to make themselves a nuisance and a distraction, but we need defense for the evac op as well. Let them know to bring weapons if they have them – this thing is a monster. Got that?

“Roger, chirped a feminine voice from his phone. “I'll coordinate other groups with your position, if anyone replies.”

”Excellent. Keep me posted.” Sparks gave the group a tense smile. “Alright, Dancer will take care of that for us. Let's focus on getting to the armaments, yeah?”

Over

@xodus Which changes? Withdrawal slower is excellent. I like that, and relating it to how "big" your alchemy is makes sense. ^.^ Gonna pm you 'bout backstory stuff.

Over

Lightsteelblue is Dancer.

Working on a post, though Ryver may post first. It's half done right now.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Norman's shop

"It would be cheaper to just get a ride with people going the same way as us..." Amuné suggested quietly. "Carriages are expensive, and horses even more so. My Daddy said that when they aren't with their tribe, Ydrans often find rides with friendly farmers and merchants and so on, if they can, instead of paying for something like a carriage. Or just walk." But was it safe for them to be travelling with random strangers? Ethan was a Magi, Cecil was wanted, and she...she couldn't always be trusted to keep her powers secret. Even Nymira might be a danger, though there didn't seem to be any way to dissuade the Dimuran from coming with them.

Nymira left and returned with a huge coin purse. Amuné's eyes nearly popped out of her head as coins spilled onto the table. Was...was that gold? She'd never seen it up close before. Nobody in her village had anything made out of it, because it was far too expensive, and the type of stall that would sell gold jewelry at market wasn't the sort her daddy frequented. Even with just coins, silver was far more common than gold. She knew people /did/ buy things that cost that much, even in the way of supplies and crops and so on, but who actually had gold coins? "Whoa..." the girl breathed. "Horses? Ethan, we could buy a /herd/ of horses!" There was probably enough to make everyone in her village well-off for the rest of their life in that bag.

"I don't think a carriage is a good idea. Carriages attract attention," Amuné said, trying to gather her thoughts. "I can ride a horse if it's gentle, but you have to get special Ydran-trained horses if you don't want them to be spooked by Wyth." She gave the moorcat a hug. "Regular horses don't like him. They aren't smart enough to know he won't eat them."

Over

@xodus That's /sorta/ okay currently. She'd suffer the lesser symptoms, but use alchemy before she progressed to the worse ones. However, as a child she went for years without deliberately using alchemy. Not sure what @rumplestiltskin wants to do about his chars.

Over

@Rumplestiltskin Yeah, it does throw wrenches in things. I'm not sure how to play my chars anymore, since Bits' whole thing is avoiding alchemy use. *sigh* Pain and suffering is fine, but perpetual bad judgement and hallucinations make it impossible to do her job.

Over

@xodus @Rumplestiltskin So withdrawal symptoms start at least within a month? Because I think the both of us have been thinking a bit differently.

I still think they should weed out Rank B more than Rank A. *shrug*

Over

@xodus Kind of unfair to send someone Cam's age to the Jungle, then. I'd think they'd hold off on the test until the person was older. Can you survive the test without "clearing" it? Likewise, I'd think they'd want to weed out the Rank B people, not the Rank A ones, since Rank A are better.

Bits: Screw you I'm still Rank B. I don't care what you think. T.T

By the way, Xodus, you never gave us withdrawal symptoms for not using alchemy, nor a time frame for those symptoms.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Norman's Shop

The child thought she might have missed something that passed between Ethan and Nymira, but was distracted by the man's words. No parents? Amuné thought that was terribly sad. Machina must be so lonely at home, if they were on their own. She'd have to be nicer to Cecil, she resolved. He'd been through a lot, and without anyone to help him.

So it was figuring out which way was which that gave Ethan trouble. "Well, the sun rises in the east," Amuné said, glancing at the window to see where shadows lay, "And shadows are westish until the afternoon. So you just go by the sun, and the time of day! It's not perfect, but it's usually enough to get you started." Of course, that was true in a small town, but out in the wilderness more precise knowledge was often necessary. A slight error made a huge difference, miles later, if you didn't have a road.

The girl really didn't care where they went, so long as they found her parents. She wrapped her arms around Ethan when he gave her a hug and clung tightly until he pulled back. Even Wyth came to join the hug, rubbing his head against her back to reassure her. Amuné was trembling, but Ethan had good points. Her mommy was the very best healer there was, so she'd make sure her husband recovered. And bigger towns did have all sorts of things her tiny village didn't. She met his gaze and summoned up a smile, which brightened further when he poked her nose. "Okay." Amuné wiped the threatening tears from her eyes, careful to use her hand and not the sleeve of her nice new shirt. "I can be strong like Daddy said I need to be. Until we find them." She clenched her fists, determination renewed. "So...um..." The girl went to look at the map. Which town would Mommy go to? "The closest one with the things she needs," Amuné answered herself aloud. "So...we should start with the nearest one, and zig zag. ...We're not in a big hurry, are we?"

Over

If everyone advances to Rank A eventually, and theoretically spends a decent amount of time there or dies, wouldn't people less than a year from graduating likely /already/ have made Rank A? Just like the deal with doing the jungle test multiple times?