Originally
posted on MSPA by
engineclock.
Cailean’s hands were still twinging with the pain of the recently deceased guard’s wounds. Lately he’d begun to develop a habit of cataloguing the injuries his victims were dying of, and he couldn’t help but be impressed by this particular one. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever dealt with any like it. Maybe the man who’d been trampled by that plow horse a few months back? The crushing was somewhat similar, but this was cleaner, much cleaner. He hadn’t felt anything past his wrists, though he knew enough by now to tell that both arteries had been opened and the man would have been dead in a few minutes even without his intervention.
The girl, Elli, hadn’t bothered to mention the whole your-spirit-goes-on-the-wings-of-the-taccha-maowyn’s-herons-know-her-mercy-and-leave-this-world bit, which Cailean was grateful for. In his experience explaining Maowyn’s blessing never led to any worthwhile conversations. Not unless you counted drunken exclamations of disbelief as worthwhile, anyways, though he expected that this new crowd might not react quite the same as the other soldiers had. No one had tried to stab him yet to see if he’d do anything about it, for instance. Then again, all of these new folk were sober, and were deliberately out to kill him. Likely they were planning to gut him later, after they’d taken care of the fighters who could actually defend themselves.
Like the giant centipede that he and Elli had just come across, for one. It reared up at their appearance and spat a few sparks, either in surprise or anger. Cailean had seen it talking earlier, so he assumed it was at least somewhat intelligent, but couldn’t shake the feeling that it was anything more than an oversized insect. It certainly didn’t look much smarter than he’d expect the average centipede to be. Still, he figured he should try and put it as ease, if only to get away from it faster.
Taking a step back towards Elli, Cail held up his hands and said, “Easy, beast. We’re not of any mind to harm you.”
The centipede’s head turned towards him, its eyes glittering. “Oh, really? Didn’t seem to be your plan back there with the guard. Could’ve sworn I saw you stab him in the heart, but hey. I only have seven eyes. I could be wrong.”
Cailean sighed dully. “The Taccha Maowyn would have me end the agony of the dying and the dying alone. It’s not my place to refuse her. Should you ever befall a similar fate, know that I’ll offer you the same privilege. Maowyn’s mercy knows no limits.”
Elli coughed. “I think what Cailean here means is that the guard in question was done for anyways… Gaurinn, right? Though it seems obvious, killing people in a battle. It’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?” She smiled at Gaurinn, adjusting her trombone pointedly. “But we’ve got nothing against you if you’ve got nothing against us.”
Gaurinn’s mouthparts made a noise vaguely comparable to a snort. “Well, since you two seem like such trustworthy people, I suppose I’d better tell you that there was a man back in a room over there who tried to throw something at me and looked like he was wearing a dead animal. Funny guy. I took care of him for now, but if there’s more like him then I think you and your boyfriend there should watch your backs.” He paused for just a second, then continued, “Might as well watch mine while you’re at it. How about it?”
“Are you asking to join us?”
The centipede snickered. “I think ‘offering’ is a better word choice here. Besides, are you really going to trust armor guy, there? You’re gonna buy his cute little story about mercy and whatever? What’s gonna stop him from doing to you what he did to that guard? Worst case scenario, I’ll fry him for you and the two of us can go on our merry way. I’m probably more fun to talk to than he is, anyways.”
Centipedes can’t grin smugly, not really, but Elli had a distinct feeling that that’s what this one was doing. She turned to Cailean dubiously. “What do you think?”
He shrugged, his armor clanking against itself. “Can’t say I like the looks of it, but it’s your call, lass. You’re the one it’s asking. Personally I’d rather have the damn thing where I can see it.”
Elli turned back to Gaurinn, who spat out another spark. “Alright. The three of us are a team, for now at least. Like I told this guy here, no one’s the leader and no one’s following. And if either of you tries anything, I’ll have your head stuck on my trombone faster than you can blink. Now, where do we go from here?”
The tiny claws on Gaurinn’s foremost limbs unfolded to reveal the map he’d been holding. “I found this just now. It’s not very detailed but at least we’ll have a chance at knowing where we are. This room here-” He tapped a spot on the map awkwardly. “I haven’t checked out yet. There might be something worth taking, or something that’ll try to kill all three of us. I vote we have a look at it.” He gestured down the corridor to a door on the right-hand side.
“Watch out for crazy men wearing furry corpses.” He settled back down, quite clearly indicating that whoever was going to open the door wouldn’t be him.
Cailean wasn’t ecstatic that the centipede had decided to stay with him and Elli, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now, and he supposed it was at least somewhat better than having to fight it. The thing that had brought him here had mentioned that the beast was fragile, hadn’t he? Not that Cailean would be able to do anything about it, of course. Although… it had seemed clear to him at the time that when Maowyn blessed him she meant he only couldn’t harm humans. “Living beings”…no, he supposed Guarinn still counted. Possibly. It was something to keep in mind, at any rate.
Approaching the door, he noticed that it lacked a handle or anything else that might provide a way to open it. For a moment he considered using Maowyn’s dagger to slice his way through and mentally shuddered at how the Taccha would react to him using her weapon in such a mundane way; fortunately, the door slid open of its own accord as soon as he got close enough. Unfortunately, what came through the door was a colossal surge of pancakes that instantly flattened Cailean with a blow that felt rather like being hit in the chest by a collapsing horse.
“Maowyn’s tits!” He screamed in surprise as the pancakes knocked him over and started to pile up on his body. Frantically he began to shove them off in heaps, crawling backwards and relaxing only slightly as he saw that they weren’t anything dangerous. The pancakes continued to pour out of the door like sand through an hourglass, slipping over each other and covering the floor of the hallway in a carpet of soft, squishy cake. Cailean scrambled to his feet, panting. Of all the things that had attacked him at one point or other, he had to admit that pancakes were fairly unique. Not to mention embarrassing. “What in the five hells is this?”
Behind him, Gaurinn was snickering and Elli was picking up one of the cakes to examine it. She sniffed it cautiously, then gingerly nibbled at it. “Pancakes, apparently. Freshly made and still warm. This…”
She raised her eyebrows and took another bite. “This is a surprisingly good pancake. I guess our captor wasn’t kidding about breakfast, huh?”
Picking a few last crumbs off his armor, Cailean narrowly resisted the temptation to swear a little more eloquently. Didn’t really seem to be a couth thing to do in front of the lass. “Have all you like, then. Can’t say I much fancy eating anything that just tried to bury me.” He spotted Gaurinn beginning to climb the enormous pile of pancakes, which by now had mostly stopped flowing with the exception of a few stray cakes that flopped sadly down the heap. “Beast, where’re you headed?”
Gaurinn turned back, his mandibles clicking disdainfully. “Gaurinn. You don’t look too bright but you can at least remember that, can’t you?” The centipede’s legs impaled countless pancakes as he climbed the pile and squeezed through the door frame. “I want to see what else is in this room.”
Elli nodded, grabbing a few pancakes for later. “Anything interesting?”
The centipede called back, “I hope the two of you are hungry, cause there’s more than pancakes in here. A lot more. Big heap of sausages by the far wall, I think those might be eggs over there… pretty sure that’s a trough full of coffee. Jesus. Can’t even see the floor. You two deadweights better get in here, there’s a door at the other end that’s only half-blocked. Oh hell, I think I got a croissant stuck on one of my legs.”
Cailean turned to Elli, gesturing towards the pancakes. “After you, lass. At least this battle comes with food.”
Originally
posted on MSPA by
veerserif.
Five or six choice expletives later, Gabe stooped down to pick up Etiyr. When he looked up, a man with wolf eyes looked back. He was badly burned, the animal skin on his back putrid and rotting. He managed not to scream at the sight of the blistered skin. Run, screamed every cell in his body, muscles tensing up and adrenaline coursing through his veins, but the throbbing in his foot reminded him he was in no state to leave. For an agonising moment, the might-be-man-might-be-wolf looked like he was going to come closer - but it passed, and it ducked its head down and left.
Gabe slumped heavily onto the floor, letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Surreptitiously wiping his palms on his shirt,he picked Etiyr up and cradled it (him?) under one arm, almost gingerly. The green pallid lighting made the typewriter look much more sinister than it had any right to be. The walls still echoed with the sound of off-kilter footsteps getting further away.
"Do you..." Gabe coughed, and tried to stop his voice from cracking. "Do you have any idea what that is?"
<font color="white">Etiyr considered. "No."
That... that was not good.
"Maybe we could venture into the building. If nothing else, we might find a way into the promised land of pancakes, bacon and coffee." Pushing himself up, Gabe cradled the typewriter in his arms and walked further into the labyrinth of corridors.</font>
Originally
posted on MSPA by
Adenreagen.
Before Elli, Cailean and Gaurinn left the room.
Elli started climbing the pancakes. Now that she knew that the three of them would work together, she was less concerned with an impending conflict and more worried about her breakfast options. Knowing some of the food that was on the other side of this pancake mountain was more to her style than the pancakes, she crawled through the gap at the top of the door and slid down the pile to the other side. Sliding down the pancakes was easy because they were smothered in syrup, and she managed to stay fairly clean, at least more so than Cailean at any rate.
As she stood up to look around the room she heard him fall down behind her and slide to the bottom, mumbling curses as quietly as he could while Gaurinn walked towards the other side of the room, impaling anything he stepped on and toppling any pile of food in his way. Gaurinn told the truth about the state of the room. There were eggs and sausages, yes, but there was also a giant pig built from ham and bacon, pyramids of breakfast burritos and giant loaves of French toast, most of which were jamming the opposite door. They filled the doorway and looked to be too heavy to move out of the way, so they needed a way get rid of them.
“Hey, get your boyfriend off the ground and help me get through this door, I’d like to see what else is in here while I’m still young.” Gaurinn called from the door.
Elli offered Cailean a hand up, but he ignored it. Choosing to salvage what was left of his pride and get up unassisted. Walking over to the door, Elli and Cailean started helping Gaurinn clear the door, though there was so much food it would be easier if the door were to open and cause another food avalanche. Still, they kept at it, working hard to clear the doorway.
Elli put her hands on a waffle stack and started to push, but they slipped between up to her elbow before she stopped pressing.
“Forget it,” she breathed after getting her arm out, “There’s so much syrup on these things that there’s no way we’ll be able to push them out of the way.”
“I don’t see what’s wrong, you slackers just don’t know the right way to do things here.” Gaurinn was, rather than moving food, simply spearing it with his legs and shaking them off away from the door.
“Fine, heck with this, I’m hungry and I don’t see why I can’t also enjoy myself in this room. Gaurinn, you’re apparently moving food the best, you handle it.” Elli grabbed Cailean by the arm and led him towards the food. Sitting down next to the bacon pig, she grabbed one of the plates that made up his feet and started digging into his side as well as the food around it. She handed the plate to Cailean and started filling a second for herself while Gaurinn continued by the door, talking about how lazy they were and what an ugly couple they made.
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Ned was lost in the euphoria of the Wolf, and the dogs of his pack Hungered to find man. Something was wrong though. There was a strange scent in the air, a spirit like Wolf in a place filled with the aura of man. It didn’t have a physical tie to the world like Wolf did: it had a form of its own, and was in the room with him. Ned’s pack turned towards the spirit and lunged at it, but it dodged their attacks as if made of air.
Ned’s charge was the slowest and when he stumbled and fell it formed on his back and mewed directly in his ear. Ned’s body writhed in agony, and his mind screamed in terror, but Wolf laughed at the “attack.” It felt no more harmful to him than if it were a real cat and he a real wolf. Acting through Ned’s body, he lunged at the spirit, though it evaporated out of his grasp before he could fasten his teeth around it. Wolf knew that the body would recover with his help, and that the weaker spirit could run all it wanted. He would find it and it would be his.
Wolf forced the body to his bidding, and looked at his pack. They were his only pack in this world, and he needed them like nothing else in this world. His only regret was when he returned to the realm of spirits, this pack would be left behind. Their only chance to hunt would be in this place of steel, this fortress of man. Wolf felt the sharp regret of that realization, an emotion it had never felt before, but shook it away, moving the man and leaning him against his staff in spite of the second assault it had in a short time.
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When her cat appeared in the room, shaking, Elli knew that it had found something that it didn’t like, whether it was someone else or something, she wasn’t sure. Gaurinn hadn’t made much progress on the door, and he had started commenting darkly on the type of man who would eat so much pasty and not become bloated. When the cat appeared, Cailean had shifted away from it as much as he could without looking uncomfortable by its appearance.
“Hey kitty, who’s a good kitty. You’re shaking! Did you find something that scared you? Oh, poor baby… What? What the hell’re you looking at?” Cailean was staring at Elli fuss over the cat, and it was starting to weird her out. “I like my cat, alright? He’s spooked and I want to know why.”
"I see that, but you’re an odd lass. Are you like this with all animals? Because you treat them very different from people.” Cailean had never seen a girl like this, who was gruff with other people and a sweetheart with her animal. Most people he knew were one or the other, usually just the first.
“He’s mine and we’re bonded together so yea, I care about him. And if something freaks him out, then it’s probably a big problem, and we’re going to have to take care of it.”
”Well, anything we do is going to be better than trying to clear this door, it’s going nowhere." Gaurinn had given up on the doorway. "It’s like whenever I clear some, more just pour in from the other side. Unless one of you has a better idea, I’m done with this fool’s errand.”
Having apparently reached a consensus, Elli and Cailean stood up and started heading towards the door they originally came in.
“Give me a leg up, lass,” Cailean told Elli, “It’s harder to get up this thing than get down.”
“And judging by how you got down, you of all people would have a hard time getting up.” Gaurinn chuckled.