shylarah

Forest of the Future

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N i k k i

Sculpture Copse and the Fall

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Nikki pulled the papers away from her face with a noise of protest. She wasn't a trash can! She ran her eye over it before setting it aside. Surprising he wasn't from the downed plane, but before she could ask further questions, he suddenly shouted at the papers, and then started trying to gather them back up. Make up your mind, kid, she thought, but she did what she could to grab the ones near her and pass them back.

Xell's comment got a raised eyebrow. "I didn't draw it," she said, letting the last bunch of papers go when the kid didn't bother to take them. She looked up to see Taffy joining them, with a reminder that it was getting late. She nodded assent, glancing back at the troubled kid one more time but deciding to let him be. If he didn't want to talk, he didn't have to.

As they continued on, she caught Xell passing the kid -- Yonath, the paper said his name was -- a drink. He was underage, but that hardly bothered Nikki. She'd had her first drink even younger, and maybe it'd help. God knew he looked like he needed it.

When Xell split off, she trailed behind, partially out of curiosity, partly to make sure he didn't get lost. He really wasn't looking so good. He ended up staring into a fractured mirror, and she couldn't help but crack a joke. When he met her eyes, though, the laughter faded. "Hey, you feeling alright?" she asked. "You seem...Iunno." She waved a hand. "C'mon, let's get back with the others. Hopefully it's not too much further to Taffy's uncle's place, yeah?"

Of course the spicati pilot was going to be an ass about it. "Yanno, if you don't wanna stick with us, you can just go off on your own, neh?" Nikki pointed out. Sure, she'd prefer to stick together, but if he had such a beef about them, goodbye and good riddance. "I'd've thought someone just off a wrecked plane would be glad of a hand and a place to stay for the night, but nobody's making you come."

With a lash of her tail, Nikki turned away, not interested in discussing it further. Taffy said they were all welcome, and that was that. She was just in time to see Xell drop.

"Hey, Xell? Xell!" She was glad to see his eyes crack open again, even if they were oddly reddish. When he plunged off the trail she watched him go, taken aback.

...Only for him block the way forward, looking like he might just draw a knife on them.

Really?

Mush-brained druggies, man, she thought to herself, glancing around for a good angle. How is anything worth this kind of pain if you don't get a fix? "Man, you really are a mess, aren't you?" she said softly. She felt bad for him, but all the same, if the knife came out she wouldn't hesitate to tackle him.

To Dance with the Stars

She took a deep breath, but before she could figure out how to reply Axel was kneeling before her. "Oh, stop that," Lee told him, holding out her hand so she could pull him back to his feet. Once he was up she took a step away, turning to face a cluster of shrubbery and flowers. "I'm sorry you were forced out of your home...and your job?" She was not sure how to fit all the information together in a way that made sense, but he'd certainly lost /something/, his manner made that much clear. "But this is a lot to process. And what's more, you deceived me. I can understand why you'd feel it necessary, but I still don't like it." A frown creased her forehead. "Before anything else, at least tell me where we are. Which direction is town?"

After a minute to get her bearings properly, Lee tried to listen to noise from inside the building. She didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. She could sense Axel's earnest expression without even trying. And...she figured he'd had a tough time, even if she didn't understand what was going on. "I suppose I'm willing to meet your...friends? Coworkers? ...The others, at least. But I meant it when I said I don't wish to go inside. If they want to introduce themselves, they come out here." And she didn't intend to let any of them get too close -- nor would she let them surround her, if she could help it. "I guess...I'll figure out what I'm willing to do from there."

It was ridiculous, and a part of her couldn't believe she wasn't just leaving. She didn't know these people. She didn't have any idea what they intended. My friends know what's up, Lee reminded herself. And Sparks can track my phone, if he has to. Just meeting them out here won't hurt...will it?

Forest of the Future

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N i k k i

Sculpture Copse

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The blindfold the new lady was wearing was pretty weird. What she had to say was even weirder. Xell had scooted off first thing, and maybe he had the right of it. She was more than a little strange, and what with them being in the Fall that could be bad news. Nikki's ears flattened back at the sound of her name -- her full name -- and she hissed under her breath. "Only my aunts call me that," she grumbled, her tone indicating that she was far from fond of said aunts. "It's Nikki. If you're gonna go around pulling peoples' names outta nowhere, at least get it right." Her relationship with that entire side of her family, with the notable exception of her mother, was strained at best. It was ironic, but she'd started getting on better with her mom shortly after going to stay with her father full-time, instead of just over the summers. He'd said it best: "Loving someone and living with someone are two very different things."

The thought of a pirate on her -- no, their trail quickly distracted her from any further consideration of familial matters. Pirates. "Pirates could be interesting," she said aloud, not able to keep the excitement out of her voice. Pirates sounded like an adventure, and that was precisely what she was looking for.

And then the lady started speaking in tongues and with voices not her own and while it was pretty cool the reaction from the kid -- the one she addressed with half a dozen different names -- was not a good one. Nikki didn't know what his deal was, but she'd run with all kinds. She recognized at least a part of his expression -- she'd seen it before. Seeing it here was sobering in a way little else could be, and after a frown at the newest arrival she trailed after him as he limped off. He paused by Xell, said something to the guy that didn't make much sense, and kept going. She met the draconi's eyes and shrugged. "Don't let 'em leave without us, yeah?" she said quietly. Even she wasn't quite bold enough to want to be all but alone in this particular forest after dark, not without any prepwork.

---

She let him have his space for a minute or two, though she couldn't quite manage not to be curious. Then she joined him, plopping herself down a little more than an arm's length away, presenting him with her profile instead of a direct gaze. She was trying very hard to keep most of her curiosity in check. It took doing. Impulse control was not something she did well, nor something she did often. "Hey." It was a casual greeting, informal. "You look like life just got you with a sucker punch," she added. Whoops. So much for not saying anything about it unless he did. She grimaced and grabbed a simpler topic. "Any idea why those pirates were after your pilot in the first place? They had to want him pretty bad, to risk the no-fly zone in the first place."

Pariah Online | Season One

@Xiro Zean You don't want me running things. Trust me. Bad idea.

Pariah Online | Season One

@Stern Algorithm oh that's awesome. Have a good trip!

Pariah Online | Season One

@Stern Algorithm have fun! Where are you off to?

Forest of the Future

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N i k k i

the site of Max's crash; Sculpture Copse

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The kid didn't bother responding to her apology, and Nikki let it go. He was real beat up, so no sense in pushing. Lucky for him the coon seemed to know her way round a medkit, she supposed. She bit back a reflexive hiss as Xell plowed into her. High, night-blind, or both, it didn't really matter, but he could have been more careful. She herself had no trouble -- the waxing half-moon overhead gave her more than enough light to see by, even with the patchy treecover.

A quick round of musical flashlights followed, and then yet another person stumbled out of the brush. This one was quite odd in appearance, a three-way cross -- beyond rare.

And the first thing Xell did was insult her. Nikki snorted, not quite tickled enough to laugh, and gave his shoulder a swat. "Rude!" Her tone was amused, though not loud. "Don't mind him -- like Taffy said, you're more than welcome. Call me Nikki~"

And then they were off. There were enough lights about that the nekomi didn't feel a need to pull out her own, especially since it wasn't particularly bright. The dull red-orange glow wouldn't add much, and she didn't care to waste its charge. She ended up at the fringes of the group, near the lutroi kid again since the ruddy hue of his light was the least bothersome to her vision. It wasn't too far to the cluster of wood and metal statues, a place that always gave her a thrill of excitement when she saw it. In the pale light of the moon, it seemed almost eerie, and she couldn't help the wide grin that spread across her face. Who built them? she wondered, as she often did. And where did they end up?

With the glare of the flashlights, it was hardly surprising that they missed the young lady sitting on one of the statues at first. Nikki gave a soft squeak of shock, but soon relaxed when the stranger spoke. Max's curse-peppered response to the clunky joke setup left the nekomi speechless for a beat before she giggled. It was funny, in a surreal sort of way. "I prefer the one where two Novans walk into a bar and the nekomi ducks," she said lightly, her tail making an amused curl behind her. "But if you've information you think we should know, I'm listening."

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

"I'll be gentle," Amuné promised. "I wouldn't tug, that would be bad."

"It sounds amazing," the girl commented, dropping her hand after a single pass down and back along the delicate limb. She could tell from his shifting that Kensen was uncomfortable. "I bet if you get high enough you can see forever." Of course Nymira chose that moment to interrupt. "We weren't /playing/," Amuné protested, scowling at the princess. After all, Nymira was the one breaking the practice equipment by using it wrong. But she stepped back, eyes widening as the knife flared up, and then settled to a dull heat-hazed glow. It was like watching the smith work back home, only with magic instead of hammer and anvil. "Mr. Kensen...I also wanted to ask if you could teach me instead of that mean Mr. Gage." Finally finding the nerve to ask, the words came out in a breathless rush, though they weren't as smushed together as her last request.

She wilted at his expression. "I don't like him," she explained, trying to justify it. "He's mean and he's scary, and he says bad things, and he threatens Wyth, and he's not very good at teaching." The child twisted her fingers around each other. "I know I'm little, and I can't do a lot, but maybe I'd learn better with a different teacher. I don't want to be in the way all the time." She just knew that she'd do much better with a better teacher. "Besides, he doesn't want to be--" The girl saw a movement to the side, and when she looked that way her words died in a squeak. Gage had just come into view, his face drawn into his usual scowling expression. Amuné quickly moved to put Kensen between them.

He really did scare her, and not just because of his words. He had the same sort of resentment towards her that she'd seen people show her family back home, and with his threats...he just made her uneasy.

Pariah Online | Season One

@Xiro Zean I mean you and Ochre.

Pariah Online | Season One

@Xiro Zean TFW the player /is/ their character...