The Shadow under the Wood

[aatuylva]

[[[OOC: Summary time!A lovecraftian horror story based in the deep forests and jungles of Aatuylva, where the characters are mere mortals trying to stave off the endless and unimaginable things that lurk in the dark, in the corner of our vision.
For those of you unfamiliar with the works and atmospheres of H.P. Lovecraft, I suggest checking out these two links Stories online and Gameplay
Generally, Lovecraft is dark, misanthropic, and attempts to prey upon every single base fear at once. This RP will be a tad lighter, because there will be a chance to stop, instead of slow down, those things that go bump in the night. Please note though, the characters in this will be normal, everyday people, drawn into this; at the same time, most in Lovecraft's stories are of an academic bent. The police detective, military, a scientist perhaps, or maybe someone who was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, and they should be prone to falling prey to the darker recesses of their own minds...that and I need to come up with a catchy asylum name... Open to anyone who wants to just jump on in xP
Sign up here

/OOC]]]



The fox had been wandering for days. Babbling the same sentence over and over. His fur was matted and mangy, falling off in places. He appeared as if he had not eaten for days, and his voice was hoarse and scratchy. He stumbled about, without purpose or reason.

"Sifus eec kovninngk faer vn. Ihenn hmrr. Sifus eec kovninngk faer vn. Ihenn hmrr."

He had passed the mountains that border his homeland days ago, but he had long since past caring about it. Or anything. His dull eyes held some primal fear. People, trees, stones. He saw none of it. He just kept walking and walking. He finally stumbled, his body failing him out of sheer exhaustion and pain. The only clues to his identity were his tattered robes, and in his hand, a letter.

[The Union of Tinis]

<Journal of Darius Y.>

April 20
As planned, we headed up the Haku trail along the river. The Shikeishuu military types did give us a hard time when we tried to pass through the forest preserve. But once we were past them and on the far side of the preserve things were a little easier on that front for sure. In fact, there wasn't no body.

Snowden finally got around to telling us why the hell we were out in the sticks here at the far end of Shikeishuu at lunch. As usual, it was the standard crap about a pinch point in their global systems simulations. The usual stuff they tell us as an 'explanation'. I don't know much about the system equation but if we keep running up against hostile natives or rock slides on the hunches of some waked out computer geeks, I am soooo quitting this job when my terms up.

Made camp at dusk at the foot of the Drensnake hills. Lexun tried to run off with my pants while I went swimming in the river.

Apirl 21

Turned north a bit today. The trail had ended and we were roughen it through the forest. Hucta was a bit nervous about how close we were getting to the boarder.

Stopped around three in the afternoon on Snowden's request. Wandered around the forest for a few hours until we got to the spot. Set up the equipment.

Took down the equipment after it read pretty much squat out of the ordinary. The only slightly odd thing was Lexun's head. Uranium isn't good for a dragon don'tcha know?

Camped for the night.

April 22

Broke camp and drove around the area for a bit. One of the jeeps got stuck in some mud for a few hours but we were able to get it out. Started back around noon.

It would seem neither jeep thought to record the way in on our GPS units. We lost the trail we took in and are trying to back track until we find it again.

We found a body. Nix had to potty and so we stopped. Nix ran back soon after and brought us to it.

The guy's not dead. Snowden's report will describe him. Had a letter. Hucta is working on it by calling some one over the phone back home. I'm no good with languages. My french is horrible.

Folks back home figured this guy probably wandered from Aatuylva. Orders are to carry him back there and to not inform the Shikeishi authorities. And of course we're not supposed to let the Shikeishi know either that we're leaving as we're still due to cross their boarder by more legal means. I'm more worried about the Aatuylvians being pissed that we're just marching in dropping off an unconscious guy and then heading out.

April 23

Lexun's turn to drive so I slept most of the morning. I think we're over the boarder now. At least the GPS says we are. Now to track down where this guy came from. Nix doesn't like him. Nix avoids him and calls him cold. Nix is in the other jeep.

Thought one of the tires had popped. Nope, just ran over a barrel that opted to blow its lid. Great way to get you to attention. At least it didn't pop the tire. Probably should have.

GPS doesn't have information on Aatuylva. Ariel maps are only so much help. Might be a town ten miles east of here. Though I heard a popping sound in the distance earlier.

[Nova25]

Day 3 :

(Crypted) Auroch. It's now the third day for us in this forgotten part of the world. We are so far from the Hive-Mind that I must resort to finally use the computer of Millan, in order to keep a record of the days, to be able to make a report for when we will be back in reach of the Hive-Mind.

3 days ago we reached a shore, in most secret, somewhere on the Aatuylva territory, with the official mission to find ancient artefacts and old locations, only for a ''cultural'' purpose of course. Unofficially, we are here to find techs and the missing team, Link 12, that never contacted the Hive-mind at their previously specified date.

We are advancing slowly, but surely through this unknown forest and we passed near a small chain of mountains yesterday.

Day 4 :

(Crypted) Auroch. Fourth day of the expedition. The Twins have made a strange discovery, but were interrupted before obtaining more informations. During their scouting mission of the morning, they stumbled on a local fox-outsider, who was unconscious and was carrying a letter on him.

The fox-outsider didn't have anything to show his identity and he was quite injured. His letter was stained with blood and mentioned an old human location, some acts of violence toward him and one of his friend and some mysterious words impossible to decrypt.

The Twins luckily had the time to memorize the letter, so Millan could copy it on his computer, before they were interrupted. As a security procedure, they left everything in place and quickly run to a secure location, far in the trees. They spotted what seemed like a patrol, probably Aatuylva outsiders searching for their lost teammate, but they weren't Aatuylva outsiders.

I ordered the Twins to come back and regroup. Things are becoming difficult for our primary mission, being clamped between Aatuylva outsiders, unknown outsiders and far inside an unknown region. We will try to follow them, from a far distance, in order to discover if the fox-outsider and them are linked to the missing Link 12.

Day 5 :

Auroch. The unknown outsiders, which will now be referred as Out-1, are having difficulties with their vehicles, this will allow the Twins to have a good look on those Out-1 and maybe find who they are exactly. I will recommend the team to be careful, we don't have much informations on that forest and I don't want to be surprised by a wild animal.

-End of report for now-

[aatuylva]

<Travel log: Legionairre Rory Killiam>

Vilunan:Sifo
Day: 54

Poor Dag tried to flirt with the Prime again today. I pity them both. Dag doesn’t really fit in with people, so he thinks he’s being cute. Most people don’t think a man who wears other people’s ears as a necklace is cute. It’s alright though, they seem to have stopped fighting about it.
I hope we find the Artificer soon, I hate the deep jungle here. Even the forests creep me out.
Stupid, for an Ailupan, I know, but it does. There’s something not right about the trees this far in.

The Prime says we’re near the center of Aatuylva. I’ll take his word for it, haven’t seen one lick of sunlight for days, much less stars to navigate by. Thought I saw someone skulking about this morning, but they were gone……


Vilunan:Sifo

Day: 56

Found a tribal settlement near the river. They say they saw the Artificer. They call him “The White-coat man..” I think they even rubbed off a little on Dag. I wish they didn’t, he hadn’t put on any pants for an hour after we left til Rinan threatened to have anything that wasn’t covered cut off..
Wrote a poem today. I guess I was feeling a little homesick.

Dimly sitting on the veil,
Tell me secrets, lady trail.
Show me your wonders forever
I’ll ne’er turn from your treasure..
<>

Original Copy

Prime Rinan's letter

Log of Legionairre Drig

[The Union of Tinis]

Darius took a drink form his canteen. "Its hot."

"Well duh," replied Lexun. "If we were at any lower an elevation this place would probably be closer to a desert than a jungle."

"So what? I can still complain if I want to."

The two of them were watching Snowden tending to their guest. He was the leader of the group but also the one with the first aid training.

"Think this guy will survive till we find a settlement?"

Darius shrugged. "I'd be happy off loading him with whom ever shows up really. He's freak's Nix out something fierce and I hate it when she gets antsy. And didn't Hucta say that there was a town around here somewhere?"

"Yes," replied Hucta from behind the two. She had wandered up to the jeep while they had been watching Snowden. "But we should of hit it by now. Much farther and we'll be entering a river valley though and we can follow that until we reach civilization. Assuming there is any in this god forsaken place."

Darius' ears were as perked as they could get. Which was hard to notice really with injury and all to the one and him being a gerbil. "Uh sure. And when we do we're going straight back to Shikeishuu right?"

"Right. Now where did Nix get off to?"

Lexun sighed. "I guess its my turn to find her." The dragon trudged off a bit and began scanning around. It didn't take her long to see were Nix had decided to stand. She was always just slightly away from the rest, but never hard to find.

"Hey Nixy, we're almost ready to get going again. Got a couple more hours before the sun sets and we kind of want to be in and out of this area as soon as we can ya know?"

Nix turned to Lexun. "The letter is worried. Hucta says a bad prank. It is authentic."

Lexun shook her head. "Come on now, please. We got to get going."

"There are those who are watching us." Nix didn't say any more and walked back to Lexun before following her back to the jeep.

They traveled a few more hours before making camp on a hill near a river.

------

April 25

Not much happened today. Nix is still freak'en out about the guy. He moaned a little earlier. Would be helpful if he just woke up then we could tell him to get lost. Again? Heh. Don't know much about the people in this part of the world, but then again not many do. Heard there were lots of bandits but they probably stick closer to the big cities. And here? No cities at all. No people. Just hills and forests for as far as we can see. Hot humid forests. Jungle almost in parts. Gets worse the further we go of course. Got stung by a bug this morning. Doesn't look to be infected thankfully. But who knows, maybe I have East Nile Virus now or something horrible.

Damn it Nix. If you're going to wake up and scream for no reason could you do it when we're actually supposed to get up?

April 26

So the scream wasn't Nix. Was it Mr. Bloody-letter?

[aatuylva]

"I'm telling you, we have to go this way!"

"And I'm telling you Daggar that it leads nowhere! No towns, no city-states, nothing but more blasted woods!"

"But he went that way! I can smell it!"

"Smell what?!"

"You have to smell it with your eyes!"

"That doesn't even make sense!!!"

"Just leave him be, Arty, he's usually right about these things anyway."

Artex's ears flicked in annoyance. The man was disturbed, but he always had a good sense of direction. No one knew what insane direction it was, but it was there. He was the best scout and tracker in Aatuylva, after all.
He just wished that that damned Artificer hadn't gotten himself lost.


<Travel log: Legionairre Rory Killiam>
Vilunan:Sifo

Day: 58

I think we got a lead, well..sort of.
Dag got a ‘smell’.
It’s happened before, we’ll be tracking somebody, and Dag will wander off and just find them. Some kind of superpower from being crazy, I dunno. I trust it though. He’s never gotten us lo…………………………………………………


I found himfound himnananananyananyaaaa!!


Little bastard stole my journal. Gods his handwriting is atrocious.
I’ve gotta make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Original Copy

Rinan's Second Letter

Log of Legionairre Drig


-----------------------------------------------------------

Jakob's eyes opened and saw nothing.
He was moving. He was still. Everything was moving, moving, backnoback to the dark nonononono.
Yes.
Yes.
Back to the dark. The loving dark.
Noise, so much noise, what?
Things...things are talking.
He wanted so much for them to stop.
Everything, nothing. It was all wrong. Why was the world wrong?
It looked wrong itsnotrightnotright.
Can't look at it anymorecan'tlookcan'tlook

So Jakob calmly clawed out his own eyes.
It didn't help. He could still see.
But the pain made the noise sound quieter.

[miokalia]

Tyvek slept with a light on. He never wanted to do this survey, but neither did anyone else in his department.

"Why me", he said as he tried to pretend that he was able to get to sleep in their armored trailer.

He was already odd to begin with (you have to be to do what he does), but 15 years of haorological survey work had instilled him with an unusual perception of things.

Fractal hallucinations were something which often haunted these obscessive-synaesthetic types.

When Tyvek was young, his father, also involved in this field, a Haggramatic systems engineer would routinely arrange the furniture in awkward ways in order to break-up the repetition, as a way of staving-off the madness. In his youth, he remembered how he insisted on keeping the walls bare. He thought at the time it was just an aesthetic decision. Which it wasn't.

One day his father was sitting in the kitchen staring blankly ahead. He was unresponsive for hours. This became a more common occurance over time. The rest of the pack had become worried as he became more and more quiet. He never would admit or explain that he had seen something. Some image had eventually come together in his mind little by little. And it broke him.
He didn't sleep for days at a time. He had to keep things in constant disorder. Even the plates couldn't be stacked. He would run around the house, emptying drawers onto any flat surfaces and tossing them around. Screaming if anyone tried to move them.

In the end, he succumbed to his visions.
And left the house filled with pieces of paper. Hundreds of drawings of the same thing and nonsensical, but apologetic notes.

The drawings themselves: looked like some circular scrawls as he was testing out ball-point pens. However, it soon became evident that all of them had the same arrangement.
Tyvek was far enough along in tertiary school to know that it seemed to have a mathmatical sense behind it. It was the shape of a plot. A set of numbers.

But it wasn't the mandelbrot, a fractal-derived shape that's a common motif in the pythagoreanesque Hneidat Kuho culture that some of his pack members were familiar with. This was something else entirely.

His father dove into an empty swimming pool. After carving a crude drawing of the Lorentz Attractor plot on his back. The vision that had coalesced over the years of engineering machines designed to measure chaos itself. The structure which haunted him through which he apparently must have seen something.

Tyvek slept with the light on because he made the mistake of going into the same field as his father.

And in the dark, synasthetic hallucinations turned these quantities and figures into things, creatures and gods of indescribable detail.
Which would probably have been less unnerving if it weren't for the fact that Haorological phenomena sometimes behaved in just that way: as though they were dealing with entities of unknown scale and nature.

He envied his other travel companion from the Bureau, Dr. Lecithin Diiy.
A raptor-allosaurus who didn't seem to mind these things at all. In fact, he rather enjoyed it.

He once tossed a plushie of the Bureau's mascot, a cartoony, smiling serpentine dragon with Wada fractal patterned scales, mandelbrot-shaped spikes and Sierpinski teeth at him while he was at his desk. Tyvek shrieked momentarily, then figured out the situation.
"It's Howwy!", Diiy yelled after a weirdly long laughter at Tyvek's reaction, he then explained that the mascot was, "The Friendly Haorological Dragon who doesn't eat atomic matter-based kids!"

Tyvek hated Howwy. He punched the plushie every once in a while until another technician who happened to be a Malych and an Animist came by and took it off the desk because he felt sorry for it.

It was a long night and it felt like a week passed before morning broke.

[aatuylva]

Alero's last thoughts were of home.
He didn't want to be out here.
But he was. They had passed through the village a while ago, but they must've known. They must've known that they weren't with the military...Ailupans despise being tricked. And now, he was never going to see his little brother again.
He didn't want to die, didn't want them to eat him.
That's what they were going to do.

Alero had a single round left in his pistol.
And he used it.

-----------------------

The corpse must've been there for days, rotting in the heat.
It appeared to be relatively untouched, save for the head, where the poor soul committed suicide.

Upon closer inspection, it appears that the bones have been picked clean, probably by some scavengers.
The smell must've worked into the clothes.
The curious matter is that it's clothes are still in order, as if someone went to great lengths to redress the former feline.
There were a collection of papers stuffed in his outer jacket pockets.

Pages

[aatuylva]

Vilunan:Sifo
Day: 59

Our helis won’t be able to follow us much further in, not without diverting a wartrain.
Well, we all had survival training, so we should be okay.
Something is wrong with Dag, I think something has him spooked.
Wandered off for a couple of hours and started sulking when he got back, we had to force him to lead us on.

Vilunan:Sifo
Day: 60

We found what spooked Dag.
One of the Artificer’s escorts.
He killed himself........it was most gruesome.
What’s worse is that it looks like some Accalants ate him down to the bone.

Dag keeps going on about the ‘Lost’ Saying a tribe ate him or something.
Sure creeped the Prime some.

Vilunan:Sifo
Day: 61

Virros’ Vengeance, this has been a weird day.
We found the tribe that the journal notes talked about, and they seemed to like us a bit..much.
Poor Dag was going nuts!......Well, more nuts than usual. He kept going on about the ‘Lord of the Dead’, quoting old stories about Sifus. You know the kind, the ones we are all told as kids so we stay good or mean old Sifus will eat us? Those stories.
He didn't even write in his little book, and that always calms him down.
They tried to offer us a feast. The Prime respectfully declined......

Original Copy

Prime Rinan's Letter

Log of Legionairre Drig

------------------------------------------

Warriors had come. Not the imposters with the white-coat man, but real ones. They knew the proper signs, and their signets were real.
Not the cheap metal that the imposters used.

These warriors must have been after the imposters, they were looking for the white-coat man.

The warchief offered them food, but they declined. Most unusual, it's never happened before. Even the imposters had dined with him.
It was probably due to the damaged one. He must've turned them off to it. Why they would...well, it was not his concern who they welcomed into their ranks as long as they

The outliers had told him of their coming days in advance, but there was news of another group...

Outsiders.

The warriors always want to know about outsiders...
But would they let them keep one, he wondered...

Either way, he sent some of his best scouts to watch them and their machines as they slogged through the Deep Wood. Primitive weapons they used, but they held some surprises...After all, not many can fight past the nasty natural paralytics found in some of the plants here.
He just hoped that they weren't like the imposters.
Imposters though they were, they still had the weapons of warriors..

[The Union of Tinis]

Nix has wandered off again. It was getting dark again. The 27th was coming to an end. The jeeps had followed a river for a spell. Snowden was angry about the navigation. Darius hated bugs. The kind that get in your fur and require harsh shampoos to get out, or a very close friend. Lexun was lethargic but in good spirits. Hucta was furiously conversion over the phone to a tutor back home. Hucta might be able to ask where the super market is soon in the native language. Hucta was not good at learning languages.

Nix enjoyed being alone. The others were a distraction. They are noisy. They are impolite. They are silly. They are restrained. They are controlled. They are held down. And its not their fault. Nix forgave them their sins as they forgave Nix of her qualities that were out of harmony.

Nix enjoys smelling flowers. The flowers however are not safe. Nix had read about a species in this part of the world that could swallow you up if you paid it to much attention. Nix knows what it looks like and thus will it will be avoided. But Nix also knows which flowers are alright to inspect. So Nix does.

Nix has found a tree. It is an old one. Nix climbs inside and spooks a small critter. Nix feels sorry for the small one whom does not understand Nix. Doesn't understand anything probably. Nix sits still for a while as she is tired and doesn't want to spook anyone else.

Nix inspects the curves of the tree. The roots entering the ground. The fungus growing there but not there or there. The scratch marks. The spiderweb. The stain over there. The curve of the vines. The point of…

Nix noticed that she was not alone. Nix listens very well. Nix remembers that sound as the followers. The sound of those who do not speak. Nix curls up. Nix worries that she will be found out here alone. Nix is frightened.

[[Nova25, if you want to find Nix, feel free, else pass by. Tis a possible intersection point of the groups. But I'll leave it to you to take it or not.]]

[Nova25]

Apr 29, 2010 23:39:55 GMT -5 The Union of Tinis said:

Nix has wandered off again. It was getting dark again. The 27th was coming to an end. The jeeps had followed a river for a spell. Snowden was angry about the navigation. Darius hated bugs. The kind that get in your fur and require harsh shampoos to get out, or a very close friend. Lexun was lethargic but in good spirits. Hucta was furiously conversion over the phone to a tutor back home. Hucta might be able to ask where the super market is soon in the native language. Hucta was not good at learning languages.

( ... )

Nix has found a tree. It is an old one. Nix climbs inside and spooks a small critter. Nix feels sorry for the small one whom does not understand Nix. Doesn't understand anything probably. Nix sits still for a while as she is tired and doesn't want to spook anyone else.

( ... )

Nix noticed that she was not alone. Nix listens very well. Nix remembers that sound as the followers. The sound of those who do not speak. Nix curls up. Nix worries that she will be found out here alone. Nix is frightened.

Day 7 :
Auroch. No report from yesterday, no time for that as the Out-1 started to move again and early. Being in vehicles, even in a forest/jungle zone, make them harder to follow, but the twins can still retrace them. The Twins determined that the Out-1 should be from the Nation of Tinis, from the look of their vehicles and clothes.

Note, yesterday : We heard some strange noises coming from the jungle, but even the twins can't seem to determine their origin, which is greatly suspect ; I recommended to have their weapons ready just in case.

Today, we are now a bit upstream from a river, where the Out-1 stopped ; This will allow us to refill our water supply and maybe get a bit of extra food, if Hanar can determine what is eatable. The Twins reported they just spotted an Out-1 going out of their camp, alone.

-End of report for now-

*Mind*

*Auroch to the Twins, this is our chance to learn more about their presence in this jungle. Separation and move to intercept.*

As the raccoon was sitting below a tree, nervous-looking, little did he knew that he was ''surrounded''. Mor was in the same tree, hidden within the branches, waiting for a signal from Kai, who was going to go right in front of the raccoon, to question her or to catch her, if she tried to run. Going out of some bushes, Kai slowly walked toward the raccoon, with a slight smile.

''Voice''

''Oh, Hi there... What have we there... a Raccoon ? Are you lost ? What are you doing in this jungle, all alone, or are you ? ...It would be a good idea to talk, if I were you, and don't even think to run... Me, I'm not alone...''

[Kingdoms of Cal]

Day 35: Well looks like all our tech has failed us, me notebook just died. Nothing has been simple on this exhibition, from the day I was told of the improbably find. I mean a wooden box in a void under a lava field produced by a super volcanic eruption? It was obviously fake, but when I saw the box some of the engravings reminded me of an equally improbably fake. A hectogramic gold key that had also been 'found' in a void.

The whole idea that wood or gold could survive the heat of a magma flow, let alone the energy put out by a super volcano. They are fakes.

Oh yeah mu name is Sa daughter of Que, I am an researcher. How I got dragged into this is a story to it self...but as I have time on my hands I may as well put this to paper. With the failure of my notebook machine, I suspect this is the only way I can keep notes now.

I got access to the 'key', a good fake from what can could tell, and headed back home to the isles of teer. The weather was foul when I left Tel, a sand storm had kicked off and was pummelling the city, not for the first time but out of season. But these things happen and the met office stuff up from time to time, they held the 'artefact' there.

As I passed threw the lecken duchies the trains power-lines were struck my lightning, it happens up there. It must have been caused by the sand storm, but the train quickly switched to a second line and headed for the cost.

In the tunnel we were once more stopped by an earth quake of all things, the submerged tunnel held. Looks like the geologists missed a fracture. I got to Jo-Lo only to find the box was being held by a 'wise woman' superstitious idiot in my opinion on an isle way off the beaten track....bloody typical of her kind.

The boat I was on to reach the isle she was on was caught in an unseasonable storm and the boat was swamped. I managed to swim a shore, unfortunately it appears I was the only one to make it. The bodies of the rest were recovered and placed in the branches of a icann tree due to my people's superstition.

When I had recovered I went to the 'wise woman''s place in the swamp...who in their right mind lives in the swamp I mean everything down there that isn't trying to eat you will just kill you for the hell of it, she is obviously unbalanced.

But back to my log.

The 'key' fitted the lock and when I opened the box the storm stopped. She said I was the one destined to carry what we found inside. More superstitious crap.

Inside the box I found an amulet and a scroll that I could not read.

She told me we had to go to where the scroll said. I refused but as a researcher will little funds was over ruled when the uni received word and all of the ladies of the isles ponyed up the cash. Who am I to refuse there might be a PHD in this for me somewhere not idea where, possibly in the study of mass stupidity.

So here I am in the middle of bloody nowhere with an insane 'wise woman' who keeps me up half the night calling on the 'ancestors' for protection. At least the wolves that live in this wood leave us alone though I can hear them every night.

I will admit my dreams have been very odd of late, Ta the 'wise woman' keeps asking me about them. I don't know why. I mean I'm sleeping in a cold foreign place, with wild animals about me and she thinks me having weird dreams is a sign or something. I put it down to blatant stress.

I will sign off now, with luck we might meet someone sane soon, Ta is doing my head in.

Oh yeah for the record the incense made from icann leaves that Ta keeps burning stinks like hell I reckon that is what is keeping the wolves at bay, not magic or the accumulate as Ta says.

[The Union of Tinis]

Nix was curled up as much as she could be, her arms crossed. Her eyes sized up the skunk. Her jumbled mind toss together the elements before here. The skunk herself, her equipment, this location, the scents in the air, the accent of her language.

"You are not alone," she muttered very quickly. "Someone else who smells like you is somewhere near by. Or you are very fast. I wanted to be away. I can be here. I am ok. You don't have to lecture me. I can take care of myself. You are not from here. Nix knows you are not from here. Why are you following Nix? Why are you following Nix? Why are you following Nix and her friends? I am a raccoon."

Her repetition was indeed peculiar. The stress in her voice seemed to suggest she was repeating not out of anger, or a tick, but in trying to remember something. Nix was shaking visibly.

----

Ekaryn slide down the tree. Each bump in the bark touching his furless skin directly, giving him a streak of moss and fondus on his torso. He let go and stretched. He spun around and began to jog off. As he jogged he cracked his fingers, back, and neck.

"What glory of glory awaits me today?" he mused aloud. "Not enough people around. I should find some."

[Nova25]

*Mind*

Kai : *She's strange ?*
Mor : *She has some strange behavior indeed...*
Kai : *She was able to sense us... You must smell bad*
Mor : *No time for jokes. She isn't sure we are 2, use this to your advantage and question her now*

Auroch : *Proceed with caution. This outsider might be armed.*

''Voice''

Kai : ''Hey there, Racoon... Don't be so stressed, after all, we are both alone here... You don't have to worry, as long as YOU are the one to give the answers, everything will be fine.''

''First, what's your name and function. Second, you and your ''friends'', why are your here, so far from your home... and finally... Have you saw a group of 4 people, with badges like this one.''

Kai was pointing at a badge hung on her armor ; A round badge with a large blue cloud, with 5 small yellow eyes in its center.

[The Union of Tinis]

Nix started rubbing her left ankle. "One this like badges? No. Not seen them. Would know if I or my friends did. Those would be like you. Hard to miss. Very hard to miss. Not missed as not seen. Blue cloud. Yellow. Watching eyes. Five of number. Home your from far so. Here your are why? Looking for pattern slip of oh point oh oh oh oh three Genies suggested by System Equation is why we are far from home. Doubted by Nix that it exists. Feels wrong. Feels worse. Feels ignored. In this place specifically is different. Want to move someone. They need him to be gone. Obligated to do so themselves. Else no one help. Someone had inspected him before I found him. Where you the person who did? Why did you not help? Why did you not help?" Nix stopped rubbing her ankle. "Function. I notice. Name? Nix. You are islander? You farther from home. Lexun will be here soon."

As if on cue, a voice a few hundred yards off echoed, "Nix! Where are you?"

Nix licked her arm three times.