true_noir | Recolle Log Overflow

[She nods.]

The one vision I have seen so far involves fighting. Martial arts seem as likely to trigger it as any other ideas I have.

I see. [ahem] I've had some of the same, so it does make sense. Just know that it is hard to force them. It seems that, when we try to get more, we tend to fail, like it doesn't like to be forced by us.

... I wonder if there's a reason for that?

It might be because we don't really know what triggers them. That is the only thing I can think of, really.

[Lucy didn't notice the grass, but she did notice Chloe dropping into a stance and spinning more knives out of her cloak like something from a movie. The teenager just started backwards, barely avoiding stabbing herself in the leg.]

What?!

[Another grass stem moved, and...something crawled out. Something gigantic, with way too many fucking legs, translucent, segmented, good god. There must have been a drain nearby, or maybe the house centipede was terribly confused. Or curious. Its antennae wiggled towards them, even.]

Bordel de merde! not one of those...

[These things were, by the standards of centipedes, god-damned close to harmless. Their sting was painful but not actually hazardous to humans. However, that was at a normal size. Right now, it was actually threatening and hard to target.

Chloe frowned and started to maneuver herself to the other side of the thing, hurling one of her knives and aiming for the segmented joints amidst all of those legs. When she threw, it was not like someone hurling an axe in a spinning arc. The blade flew straight and true, in ways that throwing knives normally didn't go. There was more force than normal to it, and the bite of steel made the thing shriek horribly.]

Keep its attention divided, but don't get too close!

(OOC: Roughly, "Oh shit!" or "Oh fuck!")

So Chloe was hearing names from her real life and the memory one. What did that mean? And why were both of them working on her? Or were they? Eleanor's mind was racing, but in that moment it was a good thing, since it was distracting her from listening to everything around them.

And there was clearly something else there, and she wanted to ask, even opened her mouth to do so before shaking it away. Worry about that later. Chloe was clearly not doing well, and Eleanor wasn't sure she trusted herself either.

"...You're right. We should go." She finally said, reaching out to give Chloe a squeeze on the shoulder. "Sorry."

Chloe almost said something. The whispers in that moment were intense, and just then she held back. "non," she whispered quietly back while she started to move right along with Eleanor, beckoning for her friend to follow. This wasn't the time or the place, and she wasn't going to be forced to deal with her internal conflicts, not on their terms. Besides, she couldn't even properly trust her feelings right then were actually hers. "Let's get out of here. We can speak if you wish, somewhere away from their whispers."

And, as long as she was coming with her, she was going to sprint at this point. She wanted as far away from the flowers as she could get. Once their whispers were gone, and only then, was she willing to relax and find somewhere to breathe, to pant and to recover, not before.

When they had a moment alone, she closed her eyes and removed the headphones, breathing a sigh of relief. "I ... am never going near those again. Are you alright?"

You would say that, though.

[She's trying not to let the party make things awkward. Sometimes, it's even working. Letting out a sigh of annoyance, she rakes her hand through her hair again.]

mmm, perhaps. [She managed not to blush too obviously. She was resolutely trying not to let that little confession be too awkward.] But I would also tell you if it doesn't suit you.

So perhaps my tastes are just ... quirky?

I mean, obviously your taste is great since it's me.

[Crap, she didn't mean that in a flirty way. Just in the usual ego-running-rampant way. Arlene hurriedly busies herself looking for something on the opposite side of the card reader.]

[She laughed, managing to take it the right way, though what was wrong with a little flirting between friends, as long as they both knew it wasn't going anywhere.]

Naturally! There you go, now you are seeing it. Though I must say that it is fun to tease you. You react better than I expected.

[Totally expecting some revenge for this.]

[Regrets for getting out of bed this morning could wait. Objections about how surreal this all was could wait. Now wasn't a time for thinking.

Lucy couldn't throw the knife in her hand like Chloe—even if she had the skill for it, it was her only weapon. Her knees bent and her weight shifted forwards on her feet, but—where did she even start?

One thing at a time. Some of the centipede's legs started thrashing in response to the blade in its exoskeleton; Lucy slashed at those, missing most. But she did carve some of the strange whiskers off of one, making the creature recoil and twist towards her.]

Yes, that's it! Keep your distance!

[The fact that the thing was recoiling now away from her gave her an opening. If Lucy could keep that up but at the same time stay away from its attacks and pincers, then they could theoretically whittle it down. She wished she had that spear right now, but the knives would do the trick eventually.

As it reared away, she took a second to watch for the transluscent plates to seem to open up and hurled another dagger. This time, she was aiming closer to the head, and as it bit in, the thing's thrashing was getting more frantic and ... as close to pain laced as could be for a beast like this. It started to twist, albeit more awkwardly towards Chloe as she bounded back, grabbing for another knife.

Those legs were like lashing, constantly whipping tendrils in the air, difficult to follow clearly with the eye as the girls fought the thing, the sounds it made awful at this size.]

[That was praise. Lucy was doing a good job. Her mind focused in on that like a laser, drowning out everything else. Her own wellbeing was a trivial concern.

She lunged in, and one of its sharp feet slashed her cheek, laying open a line along her cheekbone. No matter. Her knife hand swept back, cleaving the offending leg off at its midsection.

Blood welled at the cut, began to spill down her cheek. It didn't matter. She was dong a good job.]

[Oh fuck, that wasn't what she'd said, and Chloe was immediately very concerned with how close the thing was to bearing down on her. As it started getting in closer, those countless limbs aiming to try and slash, to pin or grab so that it could bite, she looked on with alarm and moved.

Bolting in, she took knives in both hands and threw one, right before the other. When it bit in, the first blade caused a somewhat predictable rearing of the creature, making it twist just in time for the second to slam into and go just past the eye. It let out an awful sound and proceeded to begin spasming, twisting and writhing.

The death throws of these things when not simply crushed under a boot were something else.] Keep back, Lucy!

(From here)

The cat started to tense, its body crouching very slightly, butt arching up and into the air. There was a very small shift in the way that it looked at them, and just as it did, Chloe shouted "Now, Left!" And, when she said it, she bolted to the other side, aiming towards the right and pulling knives out while she did. She was watching the cat like a hawk, aiming to make absolutely sure that the little feline wouldn't be turning towards Ami at this point.

As she bolted, the furry friend pounced and landed somewhere between them, its paws lancing out and a hiss coming as it expressed its annoyance. The distant sounds of the bus starting to approach echoed down the street like a roaring line.

Eleanor wasn't terribly fast, and she didn't have Chloe's enhanced abilities, but she kept up...mostly...jogging to a stop well after Chloe had done so and leaning against a tree to catch her breath.

"Bloody hell." She muttered. "You are fast, Chloe." She said as she straightened up, pulling her own headphones off and pausing to listen to the...nothing. Crickets. Huh.

"I guess it really was just in the woods...Huh? Oh. Yeah. I think I'm fine."

She managed to laugh a little, resting her fingers on her knees before she finally sat down on the flat surface of a rock someone might have used to skip across a lake. She looked up at Eleanor and smiled. "Thank you. A little bit of fear helps, you know."

"It would seem so. I cannot hear them anymore, which... is truly a relief right now. It was getting hard to know which thoughts were mine... well, no, they were mine but those whispers were goading me a lot."

[Alas, poor centipede. You were just trying to cross the street.

Lucy realized her mistake too late to avoid the thrashing feet; one hit her in the gut with enough force to stagger and knock the breath out of her. She dropped the knife and bent double, holding her stomach like she was trying to stop herself from retching.

Further assistance may be required. Lucy.exe is taking longer than usual to load.]

[Blessedly the centipede was done fighting, and as she'd staggered back, its flailing form wasn't going to be doing much of anything to them right now. Chloe, however, was already in motion. She raced over towards Lucy, not caring if she wasn't one for physical contact.

She got down on her knees in front of her, just out of reach of the dying bug and reaching out her hands towards her shoulders.] Lucy, are you alright? Are you bleeding? Stay steady and be careful.

please don't be hurt, please don't be hurt, please don't be hurt...

[Lucy was, for once, uncaring about being touched. She had too many other things to be concerned about, like not losing a very distant lunch and breathing normally. Her shoulders stiffened out of reflex, but she didn't flinch or pull away.]

'm fine.

[Her stubbornness is intact! She'll probably live.

There is blood leaking out of the cut on her face, though.]

[It was the stomach that worried her more, but when it did not start oozing red stuff, she grabbed for some of the fabric strips from before and took out a bit of the rubbing alcohol, dabbing it on the wound on her cheek.

She was breathing more easily now, since they weren't in immediate danger. She could retrieve knives momentarily.] You had me worried there for a moment. Why did you take that risk?

[Lucy jerked away from the sting of the rubbing alcohol she didn't see coming, but she froze in place afterwards. She was behaving, see?]

Does it matter?

[So what if she hurt? She was being stupid, and probably deserved that even if she hadn't been. If she wasn't dragging herself back from the hospital, it wasn't anyone's concern.]

[Chloe frowned and waited for the face to freeze, dabbing to make sure the cut was disinfected and then applied some pressure. Bandages were such a pain in the ass right now. Really, couldn't they have at least shrunk the bandaids too?]

Yes, because I don't want you to be hurt, Lucy. I want you to be ok, alright? We should get you away from here, and somewhere safe, with no bugs.

You fought well... I ... I just don't like the idea of you being in danger, alright?

Recolle Log Overflow

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Aradia

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject