=>[MINI-META] Return: Outside the Hive

[penemueIntuition]

Once they were out of the catacombs, this little girl took a deep breath and sighed in relief. "We made it..." Her voice barely came out as a whisper, as she leaned into her Lusus. Quell a and Flydra seemed occupied, as was sephos. There was a red-blood talking to her but Ely could only weakly nod at Psy and said nothing more. Well one thing was right about all this; Chaeng was going to hear one heck of a story when they got home.

Slumping to the ground, Eiylas leaned her back up against Tuzifu and closed her eyes. Everything was so chaotic at the moment... she may as well just let people do their thing and interfere if necessary.

There was a small period of peace before she felt the presence of some one above her. Cracking open an eye, Eiylas couldn't help but smile when she saw "Zindel". "You're okay..." Her precious bandages were pressed into her hands, and she drew them to her chest, holding them tight like a security. Why did she do it? Well, how much should she really tell? Wiggling her nose a bit with a contemplative look, Ely finally answered

"You intrigue me."

Overall, that was the truth. Zindel intrigued her. She wanted to know everything about him, why he did it, but how did she convey her reasons without saying it flat out?

Ely turned her head to look at the rest of their teammates taking care of their business. Finally, she piped up again. "Sensitive skin is the pits, isn't it?" She gave a hard long stare into Zindel's eyes as she continued. "It's far more dangerous than trolls realize. That's why I carry my own bandages. They are thick, so I don't have to worry about my skin being rubbed too much."

Please catch on, she prayed. Please catch on...

"I'm glad someone else has it too."  

[Micillia]

Chiara Moteku Zindel Tagino

Chiara was too tired to do her usual; raise of eyebrow, curious "tell me more" smile, cat and mouse game. But that line, "You intrigue me" made the blueblood very curious. She had met this kid before, at her gamebro thing or something, and had liked her then. Now, she liked her a whole lot more. "Its not a condition many trolls end up living through," She said slowly, agreeing. "You really helped me out there, with my, condition." Chiara did a quick sweep of the trolls near them, no one looked like they were paying too much attention to them. "I owe you a big favor... Keep this in mind, you might need it." Chiara hastily scrawled her private number on a scrap of paper and handed it to the "purpleblood". "No matter how big of an accident your condition gets you into, call that number."

Chiara pushed herself up, and looked around. "I need to get going before this," She motioned to her injury, "Gets worse." The blueblood smiled at the lusus, probably the only lusus she had ever smiled at in sweeps, and asked for one more favor. "Mind if flopsey here can get me just over to those trees?" The blueblood pointed to where a thicket of trees grew, not too far away. She could slip away, call for help getting cleaned up, and then make her way back hive, with hopefully no more trouble.

Skyli Peep

 

[Sypon]

Glamis turned to Kursha and gave him a nod. “As alright as it can be, Captain. It may not look like much, but I’m constantly calibrating and recalibrating this machine in order to draw in the spirits and hone in their position. It’s a bit like fishing, actually. Anyway, so far I’ve managed to amalgamate them, which is a step forward. If we can neutralize this psionic storm, it’ll be a piece of spongeloaf.”

He looked over at the captive Sergeant and his eyebrows raised. “Glad you managed to secure the threat. I’ve already called for back-up - my crew will be here to help finish up with the ghosts, she’ll be taken away to the looney bin, and I’m sure some medical trolls will tag along too. Should be skippy. In the meantime, Lochdyloch has restraints in the car.”

The hoofbeast tossed a pair of Punishment Pits grade cuffs at Kursha from the driver’s side of the scuttlebuggy.

--

Bossat looked up from his place at the top of the van. “Helloooo! Excuse me young man, but that’s like asking the oblong meat product vendor if they’re closed to watch the ball game!”

He giggled and swung into the open window of his van, resting his chin on the back of his hands. “What can I do for you?”  

[Gl!tch~]

Guo couldn't tell if he liked the guy or wanted to punch him in the jaw. He'd have to figure it out later. "Well I did just kinda run through a labyrinth with only one sandal... So there might be some stuff digging into the underside of my foot. Definitely glass at least. I'm sure you can do something about that." Really all he needed were some tweezers and some bandages if nothing else.

"But, I do also kinda wonder..." He tilted his head. "You got anything that dulls psionics?"  

[Sypon]

“Sure thing, kiddo.” He ducked down and produced a bottle of antibiotic ointment, some bandages and a respectable (but clearly pilfered and repaired) pair of tweezers. When Guouli made his next request, Bossat stroked his moustache.

“Technically that kinda stuff ain’t street legal. Gotta keep them psionics functionin’ all military-like, you hear? If I did have somethin’ like that it’d be pre-tty pricey!” He smiled suggestively.

Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

Guo grunted in acceptance of the treatment plan. He easily had the beetles for that much on him. He slapped down pay, took the junk, and sat down to take care of the damage quick. Odette could spare him that time, especially with this new info at hand.

He began to pull out the shards, trying not to make a face. Not so much about the pain, really, than about the cigs. Had the redblood set him up? Highblood to do the dirty, expensive work for her? When he obviously wouldn't have the ******** beetles for it right on his person? There was no way in hell this was a tabs kind of ******** hell. No one was gonna do him like that.

"Well, y'know, I'm getting 'em on behalf of one Odette Cygnet." That was her full name, right? He paused to deal with a facial twitch as his nerves reacted to the removal. "We've got an incident going on down below, off that way." He gestured in the general direction. "Maybe you can see it with those lookers you got there. She's dealing with some psionic hobo, and she'll do anything to get these things. A celeb owing you a favor could be pretty useful, eh? Open some doors, or, s**t, at least get a date."  

[Doutei]

"Thanks, Captain." Scorpa bowed her head slightly in response to Kursha's praise. She kept her expression professional and accepted his words as he walked away. While the yellowblood wanted to do cartwheels in circles around him while bragging about how she'd outran him, she knew it wasn't the time. And she wanted to try and keep his endorsement if he did actually end up talking with his superiors. She enjoyed harassing him in their personal time but when it came to military work she had to suck up until she was promoted a bit more.

"Here, I'll carry you for this part." The lieutenant decided and reached over to pick Eridia up. It'd been too dangerous to handicap herself while they'd been fleeing through the tunnels. Scorpa had kept her hands free in case she needed to draw her weapon or catch herself. Now that those dangers were gone she was free to help the purpleblood out a little. Eridia was in trouble, yes, but she still needed medical attention and dragging her over was a great excuse to get to check on Flydra. The tealblood looked a bit stressed by the doctor to patient ratio and the numbers were only likely to keep growing.

"There we go! Flydra, do what you can and I'll hold her until Kursha's back." Even though the sergeant was behaving herself now, likely having realized that running away would only make things worse, Scorpa was determined to follow proper protocol until the authorities arrived to take over. Placing the purpleblood down on the grass by Flydra's other patients, Scorpa squatted down behind her and held Eridia's arms behind her back to restrain her. She tried to keep from holding her too hard as to not hurt her but figured no matter what it wasn't going to be comfortable for Eridia.

"Minus the weird black ******** in the sky, seems to be going fine now." The yellowblood blinked in surprise at Static approaching her and then answered his first question. The second one made her pause. She refrained from a strange instinctual reaction to ask 'who?' and looked the blueblood over with a furrowed brow. Then her face broke into a grin and her tone changed. Oh how she wanted to mess with him!

"Well he's cute, isn't he?"

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Yamashii

heart whee

ImaginationsParadise

heart 3nodding hope this is okay! if not, lemme know and i'll edit!

Micillia

heart twisted

Green Minuet

heart xp

 

[Sypon]

“Oooh.” Bossat considered the offer. “I am a huge fan of “Schrad: The Musical”.”

He looked around his van and then leaned in on his elbows out of the window. “I’ll take your deal one one condition. I need insurance, see? Can’t have the good lady steppin’ out on me. So how about we do a two-for-one doc’s appointment super deal, and I keep your little buddy’s pappy in here with me? I’ll treat the fine critter’s wounds, feed him lots of cookies, and for the nominal fee of hrrubbrughfrrugh plus expenses for these handy suppressants, you get out of here with a happy daddy and a less-than-psychic Little Tramp situation. Sound good?”  

[purplerosesbeauty]

Acteon was doing their part, by shutting the ******** up. They let Guo talk to the old man, getting some bandages for his feet. He'd probably wanna throw wash his foot real quick before he dug around, if he didn't want to get it infected. Guess that's what the ointment's for. They leaned on Stepdad a bit when he brought up the psionic dulling stuff.

So he actually had it... They wondered what other illegal goods the old dude had on him, and what sort of prices it really took. Looking away, they had to bite their tongue. Was he legit gonna try to offer up Odette? The fact it worked was even funnier. Damn.

Finally, Acteon themself was addressed. He wanted to keep Stepdad as collateral. So they couldn't back out. They patted the crocotta's side as he coughed harshly, trying to bark out some objection, probably. "Step... look, you can't just stay here bleeding everywhere," they said to him quietly. As long as the guy didn't just finish their lusus off, he'd be safe enough with the man in the van, they figured.

Ace put their hands in their pocket, looking at Guo before pulling out their own beetle supply. "Okay. Sounds good. Don't feed Steppy too much though. We'll be back soon, daddy," they said as they pulled him by the collar of his shirt to Bossat, handing their lusus and the money for his care over. They'd hold Odette to this, somehow. Now these two really would have to be responsible for them, at least until Steppy was a little stronger.

This was a risk worth taking.

 

[Sypon]

“Excellent!” Bossat disappeared for a moment, and the sound of the van’s backdoors opening could be heard with an odd click. He assisted Steppy into the van, shut the door and ducked behind the counter. His slender wrist and glove appeared, sliding a white paper bag across the surface. Inside of the bag were three baked chocolate delicacies that smelled vaguely herbaceous.

The entrepreneur collected his earnings and disappeared behind the van’s curtain to attend to Steppy.  

[Gl!tch~]

Guo did a quick cleanse after as much was out as he could tell, glass shards flung as far a direction he knew he wasn't going. He wrapped the bandage quick as he could. As he stood, it clearly could look better. But whatever. At least he wasn't pushing glass deeper in anymore when he had to, like, walk.

He put his hands on his hips, looking down, then over at Bossat. "Works for me." Helped that the kid was on board. He didn't need to deal with a wiggler's fit right now, if they had chosen to be a little s**t. Acteon was pretty okay, actually. And Bossat wasn't pissing him off, either. And Odette...could find out about her current situation later.

Business dealt with, Guo grabbed the bag and marched off.

"All right, let's get this s**t over with."  

[Sypon]

Tumultuous storms cleared, but the swirling mass of ghosts seemed as strong as ever. Not to Glamis. A rare smile quirked at his cheeks. His forehead was drenched with sweat, arms trembling from holding dear onto the controls and containing the spirits for so long. The voices of the deceased guests cried out all at once. Finally, something had snapped.

As the entire foundation of the mansion was ripped into the sky, he ripped the levers back to take the shot. A pillar. The last pillar. He finally had an opening.

“Everyone drop, now!” He roared. The mansion trembled, the last of its walls blasted outwards by the final effort by the young mutant blood’s ghost. They tumbled down the cliffsides and into the roiling ocean.

At last, the Awassi estate was nothing but an immense pit. Vermin by the thousands scattered from the exposed Catacombs.

“Hold on!” The very earth quaked. Surges of ghosts, at last, began to lose their forms. They dissolved, smoke turning into candy floss turning into fine threads, winding into Glamis’ spinning wheel. There was a steady stream of them. Some stray parts, possibly limbs or ethereal force pushing against the grain, made the flow jar and shake. But Glamis was steadfast.

The extraction began to clear the sky. The night was clear now, peppered with bright stars and seeming to have more clarity than before the storm. Even the entrepreneurial Bossat looked up from his guest to stare at the sky. There was something of a golden aura to what clouds there were; sparkling space dust from some lost soul.

“If that ain’t the prettiest thing.” He whistled. The troll went back to his stitching, giving the lusus a scratch behind the ears, needle and thread between his long teeth. “Appreciate what ya got while ya can, old man. Wish my pops was still around.”

Meanwhile, different kind of lights began to blaze from around the nearby neighborhoods. As Glamis had predicted, military trucks, additional special ops, and paramedic scuttlebuggies rolled towards the demolished foundation. As Bossat hastily slapped alternate decals on his van, the Alternian officials pulled up near the scuttleway.

“Good of you to join me, lasses and lads!” Glamis roared. He expelled a hearty laugh as he pushed himself into overdrive. The spout of spirits swelled, screaming and making a last ditch effort to escape. “I’ve got you bastards now.”

Everything seemed to slow down. Full steam ahead, Glamis made a final push, and the remaining spirits were snapped up into the machine. He pressed a button, locked the levers, and leapt from the machine as it rocked on the wheels of the scuttlebuggy, taking a defensive stance behind Lochdyloch. The enormous feedback from the machine shutting down was cause enough for bloodied spongeclots. Finally, everything was silent.

Plumes of dust rose into the air, and rubble crumbled to the ground with no great sense of urgency. No more hallucinations; no more knives or cold or disembodied voices. The living and injured were scattered across the scuttleway, down the cliffside, and in what remained of the now fully open Catacombs. The madness had ended at last.  

[Green Minuet]

Captain Kursha Vidari

“Huh. Glad to hear it.” Most of the explanation went over the greenblood's thinkpan, but it sounded like he had things under control. That was good enough for Kursha. Taking a moment to enjoy the fireworks, he turned his back on Glamis and his contraption, and set his eyes on the hive. After all, he had a front row seat. The following explosion did not disappoint.

Kursha found himself thrown back by the blast wave. He braced himself against the side of the scuttlebuggy, shielding his face with his prosthetic arm. The ghosts, revealed from the catacombs below, began to dissolve into a find mist, their forms dwindling down to a shapeless mass until there was nothing left. The machine next to him lurched and jolted with their essence. As self-assured as Glamis seemed, Kursha thought it might be better not to stick around. Besides, he had a convict to get back to. Giving the handcuffs a whirl, he jogged back to the site where he left Scorpa, Static, and Eridia.

Slipping up from behind, Kursha fastened the restraints around Eridia's wrists. Making sure that they were tight enough that she could not escape—at least not without losing a hand—he released her into the tealblood's care. “You don't really have to do that,” he told her with a pitying expression.

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Yamashii

ImaginationsParadise

Micillia

No direct quote, but you're in the vicinity.

Doutei

No direct quote, but you're in the vicinity.

 

[DraconicFeline]

Psykgi Mentha

Well, look at what the meowbeast had dragged out... or, what the crosshairs-adorned greenblood had... Actually, the metaphor didn't quite work. Psykgi didn't have time to observe the potentially fascinating mental case that was her Ex (or the potentially mundane highblood rampager with a questionable survival instinct, it wasn't an uncommon case study honestly.)

"If you're military -" Psykgi called out, "Step in here and I'll help you out! If you're JROTC, I've got first aid kits I can give you!" The organization, Psykgi had discovered, had gotten a nice, juicy grant from the military, so she could totally hand out those supplies to members without fear.

"Flydra, just so you know, you can requisition anything you like, but..." she said, as she rolled up her sleeves to prepare for actual medical care (including Flydra's wounds, holy s**t) when the situation with the dark storm took a new turn.

"s**t!" Psykgi grabbed something and ducked for cover as the noise reverberated through her whole body, ears and all. As the 'smoke' cleared, she stood up, looking around, shaking her head in utter amazement and no small amount of horror.

Well, it's demolished now.

And she wanted nothing more to do with ghosts for a long time yet.

Rubbing her now aching head, and trying to ignore the complaints in her bandaged wounds. "A... all right!" she said, forcing her smile back onto her face, "Military injured, over here!" she called out. Her spongeclots were still ringing, but gosh, she had a job to do.  

[DraconicFeline]

Sephos Arbola

Sephos had come out into the moonlight, and the open sky had given him a boost of strength - enough to move for a little bit more, just a bit further. He felt sick and tired and cold, his vision dimming to essentials. It registered that he had many colors on him, that his clothing was much more saturated with blood than usual.

Blue, purple, green, teal... It could have been beautiful, if it wasn't wet and unpleasant smelling, mixing into murky colors on his overalls.

If, also, he could percieve colors at that time. Or think clearly. He needed to rest. He needed water. He needed to not be in this place.

The offer of medical assistance was met with a blank stare... but, immediately, an assenting nod. "... Y... yeah, okay..."

The intensity of the following events was too much for Sephos - he took cover and stayed in cover, injured arms over his branching horns as he managed to bite back his internal screaming. It was too much - too much all at once - and he could not handle it: he sat there, curled up and rocking quietly, even after it was all over, waiting for the quiet to reach him inside.

Micillia

Yamashii

Skyli Peep

Buzzwulf