(no subject)

[athousandcurses]

Who: Grainne, and everybody who saw Grainne's post and wanted to go on the exploration
What: Exploring Quadratus, specifically a nice mountain trail
When: Nov 18
Where: Out in the wilderness
Notes & Warnings: There's a mini plot involved with the exploration team, so they will be interrupted along their hike. Feel free to make a subthread for meet and greet, any CR ideas, picture ops, et ctra! I'll make a thread for the encounter where they get ambushed once you guys are done tossing things out, during when they stop to take a break.


----
The small expedition had been prepared for. All the items were in place for the group going, and all it took was one step into the transporter to their starting site. Grainne had made the arrangements and asked for the company, so she felt it her duty to wait and greet everyone before they headed off.

She stood nearby idly, wondering if she should take one of the heavier things to carry.

Comments

[quixotically]

Elle quickly holds up her hands in a no wait please don't shoot me fashion. "I'm not trying to imply they're lying," she says. "But there are a lot of things that could happen to someone out here. This world isn't exactly safe. I just think it'd be best to start from the beginning, like Grainne's suggesting, y'know, where she was last known to be, instead of locating and charging off to this group's base. If it really is some kind of misunderstanding, and it's one of the natural hazards keeping her from coming home, then we could be making a war worse. That's why I asked. Not everything is always what it looks like. I want to be sure before taking an action like that."

[ludorum_personae]

The Orion captain grumbles. He doesn't like trusting humans, with their strange colored skin and lack of proper pheromones, but if he's to get his daughter back, and have them bring her back to him here, he has to trust them a little. He speaks his daughter's name quietly.

"Inev. She was first going to some caves nearby, to the southeast. We sometimes keep supplies there. Then to town. I sent a scout to look at the caves and he said that many spiders have moved in recently, but he couldn't find her there. But that is where you should first look to seek out her trail."

[athousandcurses]

"Inev." Grainne repeated, memorizing the name, and then quickly turned her attention to what else he was saying. She nodded. Caves to the southeast. Perhaps the girl ran into trouble with the spiders down there. It was worth a look and perhaps they could pick up a trail down there if she wasn't there. "We will start there. If spiders are involved, it may be nothing to do with the Black Sun and she had trouble with the spiders. I hear the venom can cause memory problems... but I swear I will not stop looking for your child, on my own honor as a mother. We'd best hurry, though."

[ratkicker]

Spiders. It sounded like they would have to be on guard anyway. "Then we don't have any time to lose." She took a step towards the first exit she could spot, turning back at the Orion. "You want to show us the way out?"

i'm sorry i lost the notif like a winner

[quixotically]

Memory problems?... Memory problems? Elle tenses immediately. She'll... She'll wait to ask more once they're alone, because she... No, she's not going to expose something about herself here, in front of someone who had no qualms with kidnapping her, even if it was just to ask for help.

"And how do you want us to get back in touch with you if we find her, or if we have information?" Because they obviously don't want them to know the location of the cave, but... That makes it hard to come back when they have news.

[ludorum_personae]

"We will let you know the location of this cave so you can return swiftly, with no time wasted. It was soon to be abandoned, so little is lost." The Orion Syndicate never keeps one smugglers' den for long.

"And if you betray us to the patrol, the Orion Syndicate will find you and exact revenge."

[athousandcurses]

"I have no doubt..." Grainne's tone was dry, but she had no particular reason to want to betray them. Someone was in trouble and that was enough for her. It wasn't like she hadn't defied convention in the past...

"If there's nothing else, may we start? The longer we wait..." If this man was as worried about his daughter as Grainne suspected under the gruff exterior, she didn't really need to fill in the blank.

[ratkicker]

"You can trust us to find your daughter." A mission was a mission. "But I'm with Grainne; we need to leave right now."

[quixotically]

It's probably a good thing, then, that Elle was already debating whether or not she wants to turn this map over to the security office, huh? She figured it was gonna get abandoned sooner rather than later, but... The idea of turning around and betraying someone she just helped doesn't exactly sit right with her.

Elle hefts the weight of her pack, shifting it to be more comfortable on her shoulders. "I'm ready whenever you guys are."

[athousandcurses]

With that, Grainne started for the exit, looking back once just to make sure that they wouldn't be seized again. She started to think quickly on how they could find the girl fast, and failing the spider cavern theory, how on the planet they would get her from the other-- what did he call it? The Black Something?

Just outside, Grainne took a deep breath in and shook her head. "This place is more... interesting than I thought it would be."

[ratkicker]

Jade took a moment to scan the area outside the cavern. If she ever was lost in the wilds again, she'd need to be able to locate every single landmark.

"You can say that. It's definitely different from my home planet, but it's not that strange."

She turned towards Elle. "That map say anything about where we are?"

[quixotically]

Elle takes a quick, furtive glance around them to make sure they're not being followed or watch. (This time, she even checks her Pip-Boy's radar to see if there are any markers. Not that it's helpful, because of all of the living animals in the foliage around them.)

"Yeah, it's got the path we took from where we were to this cave. And I know which way's southeast. I think if we stick close to this rockface and just follow it in the right direction, it shouldn't be too hard to find those caves Inev was going to."

[athousandcurses]

Some of the tension in Grainne's shoulders relaxed. "Let's be quick about it. Those men would find it difficult to hurt a Servant, but you two are more vulnerable. I would feel better the farther we are away from this cave for now." She started walking along the rock face in what she thought was southeast, going steadily but slow enough to have a conversation.

"I wonder what that whole thing about us being women meant."

[ratkicker]

"A what?" She turned around to face Grainne. "What do you mean? Elle and I have weapons, and we know how to take care of ourselves." Was she implying that they looked weak?

"I really don't care to know what he meant by that, but it's probably a terrible reason."

[quixotically]

"Servant?" Elle echoes, turning to look at Grainne at the same time as Jade. But, unlike Jade, she doesn't debate what she said; Elle just... doesn't understand. She thought that Grainne was just being protective, but... From the way she's talking about it, Elle thinks she had -- some kind of practical consideration. She just doesn't have any clue what that might be yet.

As for the other topic... Elle shrugs. "I dunno. But I don't really think he said it like it was a bad thing, so... Who knows?"

[athousandcurses]

Well, why not? The best way of explaining something is to just show it.

Grainne paused and unsheathed the knife she always carried with her. She held out her arm and made a quick, clean cut across it, and then replaced the knife where it belonged.

Immediately, or almost so, the blood that appeared congealed and the small scratch started to heal over. Slower than it normally would, but still measurable.

"I never said you did not know, Jade, but there is little they could do to me that would last, with or without a weapon." She looked at the scratch for a moment. "Still, he seemed to trust us... and I understand his position as a parent."

[ratkicker]

Jade gasped the moment Grainne cut herself, but was stunned into silence as the wound healed by itself, though it wasn't because she thought the ability was impossible.

She looked at the woman with a serious face. "How did you get this power?" Considering how few people on this planet heard of the DomZ, the possibility that they had affected Grainne and were here too were slim, but that possibility still existed.

At least she completely agreed with the last statement. "I understand how horrible it feels to lose a kid, and not even knowing how to bring them back." She loosened up, though still staring at the healing wound. "But he's depending on us, and we can't just sit around like this for long."

[quixotically]

Elle shows her surprise with a widening of her eyes when Grainne cuts her hand, but watches intently. ... hmmmm. Jade asks how, which means that she's gotta be familiar with this kind of thing somehow, but... Elle hasn't seen something like that happen when it wasn't 1: a ghoul healing thanks to radiation, or 2: assisted with the help of chems like stimpaks.

But maybe when Grainne answers Jade's question, she'll explain more about the 'power' itself. So she'll just hold off on that for now.

Elle will go ahead and start to lead the way southeast, since she's the one with the map on her wrist.

[athousandcurses]

Grainne glanced at the healing scratch again and sighed. "I am what is called a Servant in my world. A being with a body made of magic, but that isn't important right now. I can explain more later." She drew something on her arm with a finger, leaving glowing lines in the skin. Just a little healing spell. Then with a sigh, she followed after Elle, hoping that they were not too taking by surprise at her admission she was more than just a girl.

[ratkicker]

Jade waited for Grainne to start walking before following her, still glancing at her arm every few seconds. "Self-healing's not a power anyone can have," she spoke up once they started on their way. "And being made of magic isn't either. Are you saying there's more than one of you on your planet?"

[athousandcurses]

"Our universe is one where magic functions, and not anymore. I am the last now. My kind is not meant to live very long by design." Pretty simple to explain it that way, but it was a very broad and general explanation. "Elle, how far are we to the caves Mr. Green was talking about?"

[quixotically]

"It shouldn't be too much farther now, just a few more minutes."

Elle falls quiet for a moment after answering the question. The last... but, by design. Hmmm.

"I guess it's not all that surprising," Elle muses. "I mean, we're all on some alien planet that's in an entirely different dimension... from where we're from. So there being a universe where magic's actually real, and that people can be made out of magic..." She shrugs. That's not where her concern is. But... "Is it alright... if I ask why? I mean... Why your people... were designed not to live for very long."

[ratkicker]

It kind of makes sense, Jade tells herself, though she's already so used to hearing about people of various species coming from distant planets that functioned under the same laws of physics that it's hard for her to accept universes where magic exists. Then again, DomZ healing powers did work like magic, for a lack of a better descriptor.

Jade walks on in silence, waiting for Grainne's reply.

[athousandcurses]

"That's good. I'm getting a little worried about hitting the evening hours soon." She frowned. "This whole thing is going badly, I had no idea there were people like that on this planet..." With that thought, she trailed off, trying to buy herself some time before she responded to the question.

"I'm not really part of a race. I'm just a mage's familiar. Without a magus, we can't survive long in our universe. Once, there were more of us and there was a war. I survived it, but at... at a great cost." Grainne's voice went a little bit soft at that. "It's only been a few months. I do not like thinking about it."

[quixotically]

Elle wonders if this means if she's still tied to a magus who is still back home, or if there's something else at play here, something to do with the cost that Grainne paid for her survival.

"It's alright," Elle says gently and, because she can't help herself, she slows her pace so reaches out a hand to Grainne, meaning for her to take it. After seeing Grainne in her strength earlier, stepping forward to protect her and Jade without hesitation... She just wants to make Grainne feel better, if only a little bit.

Which means that Elle is going to instinctively reach for contact. If Grainne takes her hand, then Elle will give hers a small squeeze. "I'm sorry for prying."