shylarah

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

"Wow, look at the size of it!" Amuné enthused, dancing a circle around Ethan. "I bet it'll last us a whole week! Cecil, Cecil, look what Ethan caught!" She grabbed her shoes and dashed over to the fire. Wyth reappeared from the brush as the Muran started gutting the fish, summoned as if with magic by the prospect of a free meal. If Ethan dared to hold them out for the moorcat, he took them daintily and retired to a spot on the edge of the campsite to eat.

Amuné watched the fish as it cooked, the flame reflecting in her eyes. When it was ready she murmured a quick prayer over the food before digging in. "Mm, it's good. I didn't think you could catch something this big with just your hands, Ethan," the girl said. "I bet even Old Dan would be impressed!"

With a full stomach, the child was growing drowsy. She yawned. "I'm gonna go to bed now, okay?" Amuné said before too long, getting to her feet. "Good night, Ethan. G'night Cecil, Nymira." Wyth lifted his head and started to get up to follow, but his girl stopped him. "No, Wyth, you stay out here." She gave the moorcat a hug and a kiss before vanishing into the tent.

-----

In the middle of the night

Amuné slept soundly for several hours before her dreams took a dark turn. It was past midnight and on to the wee hours of the morning when she started whimpering softly. The girl rolled over, her face scrunched up in a sad and frightened expression. Her dream was replaying the events just before she'd had to flee her village, and as a result her sleep was far from easy. This went on for several minutes before she jolted upright with a shriek. "Daddy! Nooo!"

Disoriented and still breathing quickly, the girl looked at her unfamiliar surroundings in panic for a moment before she figured out where she was. She was shaking, and her eyes filled with tears as she groped for the tent flap in response to a soft but concerned yowl from Wyth, standing outside the tent.

Over

Innocence Docks

Bits and her brother were in and out of the armory in moments, with a plasma rifle for her and a smaller plasma pistol for him. Neither thought getting in melee range was a good idea for this battle. If the Vile could go up against a Chrono and hold its own, what chance did they have? From the armory, the pair hurried to the dock. Dancer reported that a few students had responded, and of those, a few older ones had volunteered to help scour the buildings for survivors and send them to the dock. Already there was a handful gathered near the boathouse, various levels of fear on their faces. “Come on, let's start getting the boats out!” Sparks called. Only a couple were actually in the water, and Bits was heading for those, to remove the tarps and organize getting students aboard.

Between the lot of them, they'd gotten a couple boats filled and started off away from the island when suddenly the ocean around them exploded. The color drained from Bits' face – had she helped the others away only to have them caught in this unexpected disaster? But no, as her vision cleared from the flash she could see the boats were untouched, though it looked like a couple students had cast shields to defend the vessels. Still, the water was all but boiling now, and the resulting waves were going to be difficult to navigate. She couldn't do much for them that they couldn't do themselves, though, and the ones in the boats were in a better position to handle it. She needed to worry about those still on shore. After all, there were going to be waves coming in, and while she wished she wouldn't need to use alchemy, mundane means just weren't going to cut it.

Bits signaled her brother, who nodded his understanding, before she headed to the edge of the dock. She took a deep breath, steadying herself. She could see the movement farther out that indicated a larger wave closer to shore. She didn't need to stop the wave, just redirect it a little. As the wave gained height, she slowly swept her hands to the side, turning the wave. It bypassed them, though the dock rocked with its passing. The next one she turned aside as well, but the third...it was huge, and far broader than the others. It would take more energy to shunt aside than just split. Bits braced herself, and the moment before it hit, she thrust her hands forward in a wedge. The water responded, breaking into two waves that soared past to either side. She turned to watch it pass.

Wait, what was-- was it a boat? And the figure dropping from it, was that...Ilana? The person still in the boat sure looked like Ethan. The pair had incredible timing, but Bits had a job of her own to focus on, so she turned her gaze back to the ocean, and any more incoming waves big enough to endanger the boats and the students that were still on land.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

"I dunno if he knows how either, Nymira," Amuné said, sounding doubtful. She watched Cecil examine the pieces, and eventually assemble the tent without too much trouble. The girl clapped her hands. "Yay, you did it! You're smart, figuring that out!" She beamed at the Machina, glad someone had managed to do it. Amuné went to grab her bedroll and lay it out inside, since they'd conquered the tent problem. Before she got down from the cart, though, she tossed a second bedroll to Nymira. "Here, might as well set it up now." Cecil didn't have one -- and hadn't he said he didn't sleep? The girl wondered what that was like. He could probably get so much done during the hours other people were sleeping.

When she was satisfied with the way she'd fixed her bed for the evening, Amuné wandered over to the river to watch Ethan. She'd let Wyth go off to find himself supper, and the moorcat had promptly vanished into the brush. Amuné took off her shoes and stuffed her socks inside them. They were nice socks, and she didn't want to lose them. Setting them down beside her, she dipped her feet into the water.

The girl considered her travelling companions as she waited for Ethan to catch something. Ethan she trusted. Cecil was odd, but he seemed okay. Nymira, though, Nymira bothered her. She was curt and bossy and not always nice. She seemed to think she was in charge, and didn't care who she inconvenienced. She didn't even ask, just assumed people would do things her way. Amuné grimaced. Maybe the woman was a good fighter, and they'd be safer with her around, but she didn't like the Dimuran very much.

Over

@Rumplestiltskin I've been told that I should wait to have my asylums say anything. ^.^;;

Over

@xodus I understand you want to highlight the difference. But you can do that and still be realistic. At this point I'm not sure any method of beating this Vile will come across as believable to me, because the thing just survived a nuclear explosion. Even cheating can't match this, particularly since Asylums can't match Chronos. I don't mean get rid of the power gap, I mean just dial it back. Especially if you plan on having the team grow, you need somewhere to go. Don't start off with nukes. That's jumping the shark.

What the heck is a Gemellie? I've never heard this term before.

I meant the lower rank, which it seems is B, not A. Mostly Bs survive, and As (the skilled ones) get killed off. Not a wise policy.

So the education does cover insanity and its effects? In that case, you should be a bit more open with the details there, because our characters would have learned about it. I have to admit, even if you didn't say outright that they didn't get a class on it, you certainly gave the impression that they were left in the dark.

I'm not seeing much to inspire loyalty to AMRO, is what I'm saying. Yes, a lot of asylums will not know anything else, especially those that started young, but unless AMRO specifically tried to brainwash them (which would have been nice to know in advance), I'm not sure they do a good job of convincing people to stay -- especially with what AMRO puts them through.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

"Poles are easier," the girl told Ethan, "but I suppose it doesn't matter now. Good luck!" Amuné watched the man go talk to Nymira, who didn't seem pleased but came over to help with the tent anyhow. "Yep, gotta set it up, but I dunno how." It seemed the Dimura didn't know what to do either, and Amuné gave an exasperated sigh. "What good does a tent do if no one knows how to make it?" she asked, frustrated. You'd think someone would have thought of that. "If we can't put it up maybe we can just...I dunno, use the wagon and two of the poles to prop up the cloth for a shelter, at least? It'd be better than nothing...." She looked at Cecil. "Unless you know how to make it, Cecil? Do you think you can figure it out?" The girl looked at the various pieces dubiously. She didn't even know what shape the tent was supposed to be, much less how to put it together.

Wyth watched the group from a little ways away, attention grabbed by the sound of the dropped pole. He meandered back over to his girl, butting his head against her side and demanding attention. Amuné obliged, small fingers scratching his skull and chin until the moorcat started his rumbly purr.

Over

@xodus Hey, glad to hear you're taking a closer hand in things.

It's not just indestructible villains, Xodus. If the Chrono really has that sort of power compared to a normal Asylum, there's no point in us even trying to do anything. I get they're more powerful, but there needs to be some sense of scale. For example, turning that much matter into fissionable material would not only destroy the island, it'd probably destroy the PLANET. You also, in the last go round, set up a team against a Chrono and possibly a Lost Number as well. That's ridiculous if even combined efforts are no good. For that matter, Joux. An older, retired Asylum. Yes he has more experience, but he also probably has more insanity. For that matter, Alistair/Elliot combined was /clever/. That's the sort of thing a DM should reward, or at least give a nod to. But it was utterly useless and Joux wasn't even phased. I will give you that Elliot has a few years before she graduates, but she's perhaps halfway through her education -- and the alchemy used to speed her up, that was alchemy done by a vet. And Joux didn't even need to step back, or think "oh, wasn't expecting this". It was utterly useless. The whole fight feels like it was thrown in just to show us how terrible our chars are at fighting, and this is an old normal-level asylum. Active asylums are probably better, and Chronos a tier unto themselves. Now if you wanna make Viles (which aren't even the worst thing insanidiction produces) even more...see where I'm going? It just isn't reasonable. Furthermore, the Vile is tough, yes, but unscathed? My suspension of disbelief keeps taking more and more damage here.

I don't mind so much not having information on some things. But if my character has experienced or is experiencing it, I should be able to get the information I need to rp such a thing accurately.

I also still feel like AMRO's the bad guy, and my characters are being pushed toward rebellion. Maybe there's good reasons not to, but if neither I nor they know said reasons, that doesn't help any. AMRO keeps coming off as the bad guy -- and a rather stupid bad guy to boot. I still don't get why they are so much harder on their more promising students with life-or-death consequences. Those students are going to be the more effective operatives, yet it seems to be mostly A ranks that make it to graduation. There's no preparation to help you learn how to minimize the effects of insanidiction, or education as to its stages. You're sending operatives out into the field without what, to me, seems like it should be an important survival skill. There's expendable, and then there's unreasonable neglect of education. Additionally, if you're still going to run the jungle with no alchemy at all and no tools at all, it seems like a ridiculous test, especially if there's serious dangers (rogues, monsters, whatever) and not just basic survival.

*sigh* I've mentioned most of this already, but not to you directly, so here it is.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

Amuné accepted Ethan's explanation of his goal without question, though she made a face when he said he'd forgotten where he was supposed to meet his friend. "You should have marked it or something, so you wouldn't forget," she scolded him. "I bet he's really worried about you, since you're gonna be late."

Once they stopped for the evening, the girl helped gather firewood and lay the fire. Wyth prowled around the campsite, glad to be on his feet after so long in the cart. Amuné looked at the man across the fire when he asked her about the tent. "Um...no, I've never done that before. Why don't you give me the rod and maybe I can catch something? I mean, I could try, and Old Dan says it's mostly waiting...." Her expression turned to disbelief when Ethan's face fell. "What do you mean, we don't have a rod? If you were planning on fishing, you should have gotten one!" the child exclaimed. Ethan could be so...thoughtless at times. She sighed. "I'll try to help with the tent, I guess, but I don't know how much use I'll be. Though it doesn't look like it's going to rain, and it's not really very cold. Do we need to use the tent?"

Her gaze drifted over to where Nymira sat, and the child frowned. "She should help too, I mean she's travelling with us after all." Amuné looked at Ethan. "For someone so bossy, you'd think she'd be more hands-on."

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Outside Galloway

Amuné considered the issue of the horse's name. "How about Jorvind?" she said at last, giving the horse a pat. "You're Jorvind now, okay?" The girl adjusted her seat a little. When Ethan shared her praise of her mom's stew, Amuné nodded eagerly. "Yes, everyone's invited! You can't work /all/ the time, Nymira. A break for dinner won't hurt, will it?" The girl hoped they could all come. She was sure her parents would want to meet the people that had helped her, and she wanted to stay in touch with Ethan even after she was reunited with her family.

In lieu of reins, since Ethan had those, the girl grabbed a handful of Jorvind's mane. She remembered her daddy telling her that it was okay to hold onto a horse's mane, as long as you didn't pull on it hard. The hair was very coarse, even more so than Wyth's fur, but that didn't bother her. She leaned back against Ethan, breathing in the scent of his leather coat. "So...what are you looking for?" Amuné asked. "I mean, we know Nymira's goals, and Cecil wants to find out about himself. I'm trying to find my parents. But what about you?"

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Edge of Galloway

Amuné waved goodbye to Norman as the group exited the shop before turning her attention to the journey ahead. She was glad to see the horses already prepared, one hitched to the cart and the other one saddled. She hoped Ethan knew how to handle all their tack, because she doubted the rest of them had much clue. The horses tossed their heads at Wyth's approach, but didn't seem scared, just nervous. Still, the girl made sure not to bring her moorcat closer than she needed to. "Up, Wyth," she said, pointing at the cart. The feline easily leapt in, and Amuné clambered after to make sure he was settled. "I need you to stay, and keep Cecil company, okay? You can take a nap if you like," the child told him, scratching his head. "I'm gonna go ride with Ethan, but I'll be right there so don't worry."

With a final pat she went to climb down and let Ethan lead her over to the horse they were going to ride. "It's pretty," she said, grinning at the man as he lifted her into the saddle. "What's its name? Is it a boy horse or a girl horse?" She ran her hand along the animal's neck a few times when prompted. "I think everyone does better work if you're nice," Amuné added, smiling back at Ethan.

Nymira seemed to have some trouble with her steed, though eventually she sorted it out. Amuné covered her mouth when the woman nearly fell off, though it didn't completely muffle her giggles. "Careful!" she called. And with that they were off. Riding a horse was new to her. She'd ridden before, but usually on a pony, and they were much smaller than her current mount. The ground was a long way down.

Ethan ruffled her hair, and the girl tilted her head back so she could look up at him. "I love them!" she exclaimed, beaming. "You'll have to come visit us after we find my parents, okay? My mommy makes an amazing rabbit stew."