Wanderlust (Marina Elemento x Kiyiya Sakura)

[Marina Elemento]

ℰstelle Dominique ℒareau


Estelle watched with a flood of fear and stupid rage as the child slowly made its way over to Kylie's cage. She didn't say anything, for Bongo had spoken up and practically tore the words from her lips. They were all scared. She could feel it now, the uncertainty and frustration in the air. They were terribly hopeless, like caged beasts. The mere thought frustrated her further than before and she held back an instinctive growl.

Kylie, brilliantly enough, managed to put on a stubborn face that was so out of character, it almost rivaled the other child's creepy mask. She stared back at the other girl, the thing with so much annoyance it almost looked as though she was looking at a bug. "Nine... what's it to you?" Her voice was surprisingly defiant, even though it quaked with a tinge of fear. It wasn't misplaced either, and Estelle was actually rather impressed.

RedZeroFive

io3121

 

[Lunoh]

Kaine(Rust) Parker



Rust was quiet as the goons said their goodbyes. It seemed the sexy face had a weak spot for this Max character, an Rust stored that away for later, in case he needed it. When Max faced him, Rust held his gaze, "First off, I don't need teaching. I already know what I need to do, but I will appreciate any help you want to give me. He frowned, looking about to find where the goons had put his designs. He saw no reason why he had to give them over in the first place if he was going to end up needing them to work with. "I had designs drawn up, but they took them and I don't know where they put them." He explained, scratching his head at the cluttered mess. Mr. Ravyn had been a bit cluttered, but he had far more order and organization to his workshop than this! "I need to make automatons. Quite a few of them. And as quickly and efficiently as possible. And they need to work on the first try, or my pac- Friends will get hurt." He concluded, facing Max seriously and keeping his gaze, to show he was not willing to play around about this.

~~~~~

Little Miss tilted her head, "Hmm, you're only two years younger than me. We should be friends!" She exclaimed at the end, jumping up and down in happiness.

"No! No one of my pack would ever even think of being friends with creeps like you!" Growled Bongo from his cage. Little Miss stopped jumping and turned her head ever so slightly in his direction, her mask making it impossible for anyone to tell exactly what she was looking at. The shiver down Bongo's spine told him she was looking at him, but how? Her peripherals should be blocked by that mask. She looked back at Kylie, "S'at your papa? Seems a bit young, but I hear mutts get on with it early so I wouldn't be surprised. My invitation for friendship stands. I'll come back tomorrow to hear your decision. As for the rest of you, yall better be impressive, or the other acts will eat you up, some of them quite literally." She sauntered out of the tent, the haunting giggles lingering long after her tiny frame had exited.

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Marina Elemento

RedZeroFive

 

[RedZeroFive]

Max listened as Rust spoke of his dilemma, never breaking his gaze with the other man. When he'd finished Max nodded. "Alright. First things first." He nodded the door they'd entered. "The other two probably took your diagrams to our host to get his approval, so I'd say we have about an hour to settle in before he pops in for a visit." He slid of the table and clapped his hands. "Second. We need to get you tools. As soon as Ekkehardt finishes visiting we'll want to get to work." he pulled a flask from his apron and took a swig as he walked to the back of the workshop. "Now, the boss keeps me plenty busy, so I wont be able to offer as much assistance as I'd like, but I'll help when I can." He grabbed an oil-stained apron off a rack, followed by a tool belt that seemed to have a million-and-one pockets. Handing them off to Rust, he grabbed a rusted old tool-box and stepped to a table covered in a menagerie of equipment, picking out the essentials. "From what you've said so far I assume you have plenty enough experience." He stated, "But have you ever made automaton of any kind before? Human specifically." He turned around and met Rusts gaze with one of mild concern.

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Marina Elemento

io3121

 

[Marina Elemento]

ℰstelle Dominique ℒareau


Estelle's mouth dropped open in sudden surprise. Was this kid serious? She was only eleven years old, and yet she was the creepiest of the creeps, and Bongo had put it very well. Kylie had opened her mouth to respond, but when Bongo shot out at the girl, she shut her mouth immediately. Estelle glanced at her all the while as the masked terror spoke, seeming to draw an idea into her mind. Something in her mind laughed along with the spine-chilling giggles that still loitered in the air. Shaking her head, Estelle looked toward Kylie and waited a moment before speaking aloud.

Kylie frantically looked at Bongo, clinging to the bars of her cage. "Thanks," she said to him, her fingers quivering against the cold metal. She wanted so badly to be out of this cage already, and they still had so much longer to go inside there. Estelle glanced between the two dim cages with a sigh, wiping away cold sweat from her brow. "I'm starting to wonder if it would be a good idea to befriend that girl," she said, mostly thinking aloud. "Because then maybe if one of us got on her good side, we'd have another way out, or at least an ally." She shrugged her shoulders, unsure of her own words. That thing was crazy, probably not even human, so how would they ever be able to trust it? But still, the thought lingered in her mind.

RedZeroFive

io3121

 

[Lunoh]

Kaine(Rust) Parker



Rust looked out at the tent exit, wondering where exactly his prints were and wishing he had them now. He sighed when Max told him he would have to wait about an hour, and turned his attention back to him. "I've never constructed an automaton from scratch before, but I've repaired and reconstructed many automaton servants and work bots for some of the more wealthy patrons." He explained. "I've also invented a few devices, most recently a steam powered bicycle that reached speeds up to thirty miles per hour." He did not mean to brag, but he could not help the pride in his voice when reminiscing about that brief but astounding go he had with it. He hoped to find it again when this whole war and blew over. Well, that was if he managed to get his pack and himself out of here first.

~~~~~

The hair on the back of Bongo's neck was still on end as he growled and tapped his knuckled on the arch of his foot. "Yeah," He responded to Kylie, but then Estelle began to speak. At first, Bongo was appalled at her words. Was she serious? She thought it was a good idea to befriend such a clearly mentally unstable child? But then he heard her reasoning and though he did not like the idea of that strange and scary child to be near the youngest of his pack, he had to admit it did give them more options in the long run, should Rust fail them. He nibbled on his lip, then hesitantly agreed, "She has a good point. If that girl wants to be friends with you, it's better for you to agree than make her angry. Maybe she could help you with your show too. We need to impress the boss here so we can keep going to see the other pack." He did his best to keep his words light, not wanting Kylie to feel pressured or scared. He wanted to make her think the situation was a lot less serious than it was, but he knew she was a smart cub.

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Marina Elemento

RedZeroFive

 

[RedZeroFive]

Max looked Rust up and down as he told of his experience. The kid seemed smart, but was he smart enough? He looked around, about to speak, when Crying-Eyes sauntered into the tent. He had Rust's book in his hands and his baton in the other. "The boss decided he wa'nt in the mood for visiting today, so I was told to bring this back." He tossed the journal haphazardly onto a bench. Turning around he headed for the door, but stopped a few steps short. "Aye Max." he sneered, "This lost pup gonna end up like the last one who came crawling to you for help?" Max glared at Crying-eyes. "It took what? A week to find all the bits and pieces?" Max grabbed a wrench from a desk anc chucked it at Crying-eyes, but he was already out the door, laughing into the dark. "F'king coward" Max spat. He looked to Rust, glaring at the newcomer, then turned around and headed for the back of the tent, cursing under his breath.

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Marina Elemento

io3121

 

[Lunoh]

Kaine(Rust) Parker



Rust stared back at Max, feeling the man inspecting him. The gut seemed decent enough, but he didn't know him, and therefore did not trust him. He would accept any help from him, but he would keep his secrets and plans to himself. Rust turned when Crybaby came back, blue eyes widening at the sight of his blueprint notebook. He stepped towards where the goon had placed it, but stopped at his comment to Max. At first, he was confused, but he quickly put it together that the comment was meant either as a warning, or meant to scare him. He looked over at Max to better judge which it was, only in time enough to lean out of the way of a flying wrench.

Now, working with Mr. Ravyn, Rust was not unaccustomed to random flying objects, and dodging them was nearly second nature at this point, but the fact that the flying object was deliberately thrown was something Rust did not approve of. He looked at Max, brows furrowing in response to the mechanic's glare.

Rolling his eyes, Rust made his way to his notebook and snatched it up. He had to focus on the automatons. Looking around, he found that a place to work would be hard to acquire, and after some time, he got fed up and decided to make a space of his own. He came to a cluttered heap and swiped one strong arm across the mess, revealing the dusty wooden work table with a chorus of clangs. "It'll do." He said to himself, waving the dust in the air out of his face. He placed the notes down, flipping the page open to the first design. This one was going to free Garrett. His mind set a whirl, he scanned the tent for the parts he needed and got to work.

{{ I propose a time skip?}}

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Marina Elemento

RedZeroFive

 

[Marina Elemento]

ℰstelle Dominique ℒareau


Kylie was borderline frantic, but the look in Estelle's eyes managed to calm her down. The little girl knew she was cared for by all these people, and though Estelle was a bit of a recent acquaintance, she was like her big sister now. Neither of them could deny that. "It'll be alright. I know you can do it." Estelle was smiling confidently at Kylie, a light glow in her eyes. They couldn't afford to doubt at this point, but Estelle was 100% genuine.

The blondes leaned against their cage bars in the silence, left to nothing but thought. Now, they simply had to prepare themselves. Slowly but surely Kylie became more confident. She could put on a brave face even during the worst of times. She could get through this. Estelle spent the rest of her time humming to herself, singing to both practice and help calm everyone down. It came back easier to her than she'd expected. Performing, though, that would be tougher...

((Aye!))

RedZeroFive

io3121

 

[Lunoh]

Kaine(Rust) Parker



The next morning found Rust face down at his desk, a mechanism laying inches from his hand, which still clutched a screwdriver. Something in his told him ot was morning, and slowly, he head rose off of the desk and his eyes came into focus. There before him was the pushing and pulling mechanism that would be attached to the legs of the lifting Automaton. He wanted to go back to work on it, but he had been sitting on that crate all night, and falling asleep there had stiffened his back. He needed a stretch. He decided to chance going outside. If he found that the was in fact allowed outside of the tent, he would visit his pack, try to keep their hopes up. He also wanted to talk to the ringleader. If Rust was allowed out of those horrible cages, so should his friends be. After all, how could anyone hope to act to potential when they can't even stand up straight in their quarters?

Bongo groaned, blinking awake after a restless night of horrible sleep. "Balsted bars..." He growled when the iron entered his view. He slammed his fist down on the metal floor of his cell and sat up. He looked around, observing his pack. As they woke up, he call to each one, asking about them. Mischief was fine, But she was worried about Snowball. He had yet to fully recover from the attack on the den, and the stress of the situation seemed to be getting to him. "We need out so I can help him." Mischief whined, watching her friend as he strained. Bingo cursed, but what could he do? Garrett was fine, Jamie was scared, but fine. "Estelle? Kylie? You awake? How are you guys holding up?" He asked towards them.

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Marina Elemento

RedZeroFive

 

[Marina Elemento]

ℰstelle Dominique ℒareau


The songs that Estelle had been so diligently practicing began haunting her dreams whenever she slept. They came in strange light little tunes of clockwork and of tinkering tools, metal against metal, like an old music box. It reminded her of her family, of her old life... but the metal made her think of Rust, and the first time she'd met him, and everything that had happened to them... he'd tried to hard to protect them both, and now he had to protect them all.

Estelle lurched awake, snapping out of the swirling dance of dreams and propping herself up on her elbows. She looked over at the shadowed cages and could just make out Bongo's face and voice. She coughed lightly, her throat pretty dry from the singing she'd done the previous night. She was hungry, too. Everything around her was a spinning haze, but she breathed deeply and managed to stay conscious enough to reply groggily, "I'm fine." She glanced at Kylie's cage worriedly. The petite blonde was still lying on the cold floor, but she was staring up at the ceiling, murmuring things to herself.

This worried Estelle greatly. The look on the girl's face was a strange one... "Kylie? Honey, are you alright?"
Estelle's sweet, motherly voice pulled Kylie back to reality and she turned to her new guardian with a small smile on her lips. "I'm fine, silly," she replied, her voice like a happy song. "I was just practicing some of the songs you were singing earlier... they were really pretty and I wanted to try."
Estelle drew in a breath. "Did you get any sleep at all?" Kylie merely shrugged sheepishly, but she sat up straighter and stretched her arms out. "A little, I guess... I've slept through worse." The comment both reassured and stung, just a little bit. It hurt Estelle to think the girl had been through so much, so young, that she even sounded mature and reassuring trying to explain herself.

RedZeroFive

io3121

 

[RedZeroFive]

Max was sitting at a work bench near the door, eyes dark with exhaustion and hands wrapped around a tin mug of coffee. When Rust appeared close by, he turned to look at the younger man, dreary features nodding in greeting. "Mornin' lad." he grumbled. He looked out the door, where a thin strip of sunlight filtered through the seam. "I suppose ya want to go check out yer brothers and sisters." he sighed. "The boss might not be too happy that your taking a break so soon, but he'll just make some kinda snide remark is all, nothing more." He stood and stretched. "I don;t think they'd want you out and about alone though, so I better escort you seeing as I'm the one who'll get an earful if you do something out of line." He motioned for Rust to go first.

Meanwhile, at the cages, the woman guard from the night before slipped into the room silently. She wasn't trying to hide at all, however, and spoke up as soon as the got the attention of any of the prisoners. "I'm just hear to tell you that the Boss is planning a visit in a little while. Is there anything you would like before then? Food, water?" She looked at each of them from behind the Sensual mask.

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Marina Elemento

io3121

 

[Lunoh]

Kaine(Rust) Parker



Rust was about to leave the tent when Max's voice caught him. He stopped and looked at the man, who looked hung over... or grumpy... or both. Rust nodded and waited for the man to come up next to him, exiting the tent with him. He remembered the way back to the tent, but even if he didn't he could still smell them from where he was.

Once inside, he was surprised to find one of the goons there, the sensual one. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from lashing out at her verbally. He waited by the opening, not wanting to get in her way.

Bongo growled when the masked one came in, glaring at her. When she asked about food or water, he snorted, "Food or water? Well you--"

"Food and water would be great, thank you for offering." Mischief chimed, cutting off her alpha. He turned to her, and she gave Bongo such a look. He narrowed his eyes, but remained silent.

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Marina Elemento

RedZeroFive

 

[Marina Elemento]

ℰstelle Dominique ℒareau


Estelle clambered to her feet when she heard the voice of the female guard, as if in defense. But the words were calming, simple. When Mischief answered for them, all she could bring herself to do was nod, even though her face was probably shadowed and obscured. She glanced over at Kylie again, who was running her fingers along the bars of her cage. Estelle raised an eyebrow, still confused as to what the girl was up to. It was as if she was distracting herself, building up a facade that was sure to convince anyone that she was going a little insane. And little did she know, that's exactly what the clever little girl was doing.

It was then Estelle caught the scent of someone else, close by the tent. The familiar smell automatically made her relax, but she also perked up at the same time. "Rust?" she said aloud, but it came out as a dry croak. I guess water really would be great right now, she thought, hoping she hadn't strained her voice too much.

RedZeroFive

io3121

 

[RedZeroFive]

Max followed behind Rust, making their way to the prison tent. They entered, but stopped by the entrance as Sensual conversed with the prisoners. "I'll go get you all some water" she decided and headed for the door. She nodded at Rust before stepping in front of and placing a hand on the shoulder of Max, who looked somewhat uncomfortable by the closeness of the contact. "We should let them have some time" she whispered so only the two of them could hear. "Help me fetch some water?" she asked louder, stepping back. Max stared a moment, letting his brain catch up. "Oh...Oh! of course." He slipped out the door after her, but stopped a moment, turning back to Rust. "Don't try anything funny. The boss will know and it will be bad for ALL of us. I'll be back in a few with some water and food." With that he slipped back out the door.

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Marina Elemento

io3121

 

[Lunoh]

Kaine(Rust) Parker



Rust heard his name and looked over at Estelle, trying to smile at her, but not sure if she could even see it in the dim light. He was standing against the light from outside so all she saw was just an outline most likely.

He stepped aside to let Sexy face through, and was a little surprised when Max followed her out. He nodded his appreciation and stepped forward as the tent flap closed. They were in darkness once again, but it took no time at all for his wolf vision to kick in. He made his way immediately to Estelle. "Hey, Are you all alright? I'm working on getting you out of here I promise." He reached in and through the bars, touching Estelle's cold skin. "I'm going to talk to the ring leader," He said loud enough for the whole pack to hear. "See if I can't bargain with him to give you guys a better place than these cages to stay."

He reached in further, trying to find Estelle's face. "Have you all been practicing?" He asked, caressing her cheek.

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Marina Elemento

RedZeroFive