Re: Pitched Combat [Round 1: Forêt Noire]
01-06-2010, 01:21 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Lap Otter.
"Looks abandoned. Can't tell anything by how it looks." Niko scowled. "Common bloody sense, jerk--where'd you go to elementary school?"
"Don't be so quick to judge," Lissa said calmly. "The dragons interact with each other the same way we do--but out loud. It seems that all its minds are always corporeal. It's a static, and I think we can safely assume statics are the norm where it comes from."
Yume's eyes widened. "A whole world of static bodies?"
Lissa nodded. "It then follows that some of our other companions may also be static bodies from static worlds." She frowned. "That is not, however, an assumption I would count on in a fight."
"It looks abandoned," Lainey agrees. "I'm not sure I would trust the way anything looks. Maybe we should send a scout in?" After a moment's hesitation, she adds, "I've got a feline form that can see in this dark. She can go in and look around--unless you've got a more appropriate form for the task, Vasily?"
Vasily shakes his head no. "I don'. That sounds as good a plan as any I was thinkin' up."
Lainey turns to the pair of dragons. "What do you think?" She can almost see the dragon on the left restrain itself from suggesting they burn it down.
The one on the right answers instead. "I've no objection. If you die, we'll know not to follow you."
Lainey grins wryly. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." She closes her eyes and tilts her head to the left, calling on Yume.
Yume blinks, glad to finally be able to see with her own eyes instead of the weak ones in Lainey's skull. She glances back and forth between the dragon creature and the pirate. "Lovely to make your acquiantances," she murmurs, then drops to all fours as she shifts into her own ocelot shape--smaller than Niko's, and with wide, sad eyes.
She pads silently across the clearing to the hut and puts her front paws on a windowsill to look in. The window is just an empty hole; it may have once been paned with glass or even shuttered. In the dim glow of the dragon, Yume could just see inside. Nothing is moving. Nothing smells alive--at least, nothing smells like anything more than vegetation and insects.
Given their recent experience with shrubs, Yume decides that in this world, "smells like plants and bugs" doesn't necessarily equate to "smells safe." She leaps up onto the windowsill and then down into the room, tail switching back and forth.
Something skitters across the floor.
Yume chases it, pounces, and pins it beneath her paws--then slides across the dusty floor and crashes into a shelf. Several things fall off the shelf; a few shatter, but none of them hurt her.
Carefully, she lifts one paw off the creature and sniffs. It's a spider, still struggling to escape. She eats it without thinking, grimacing at the wriggle of its legs as she swallows.
She paces the perimeter of the room and finds more spiders ranging in size from too-small-to-see to the-size-of-my-paw. She ignores them; they're not a threat. The only door leads outside, and there is some decrepit furniture, but overall it seems empty.
Until the giant spider scuttles out of the fireplace.
Yume arches her back and hisses. Damn spider's taller than she is, and advancing on her. She backs away toward the door, hoping that one of the others might come to her aid--she knows Niko could kill it, and she thinks she could kill it, but she doesn't really fight and it would take nearly six seconds to transition from this form to Niko's ocelot form. Too long.
The damn fangs are dripping, and its hair is rustling. Yume wonders if it's the sort of spider that can fling its hair into an opponent's eyes. She backs away over the threshold, crouches, and prepares to lunge at one of its legs.
"Looks abandoned. Can't tell anything by how it looks." Niko scowled. "Common bloody sense, jerk--where'd you go to elementary school?"
"Don't be so quick to judge," Lissa said calmly. "The dragons interact with each other the same way we do--but out loud. It seems that all its minds are always corporeal. It's a static, and I think we can safely assume statics are the norm where it comes from."
Yume's eyes widened. "A whole world of static bodies?"
Lissa nodded. "It then follows that some of our other companions may also be static bodies from static worlds." She frowned. "That is not, however, an assumption I would count on in a fight."
"It looks abandoned," Lainey agrees. "I'm not sure I would trust the way anything looks. Maybe we should send a scout in?" After a moment's hesitation, she adds, "I've got a feline form that can see in this dark. She can go in and look around--unless you've got a more appropriate form for the task, Vasily?"
Vasily shakes his head no. "I don'. That sounds as good a plan as any I was thinkin' up."
Lainey turns to the pair of dragons. "What do you think?" She can almost see the dragon on the left restrain itself from suggesting they burn it down.
The one on the right answers instead. "I've no objection. If you die, we'll know not to follow you."
Lainey grins wryly. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." She closes her eyes and tilts her head to the left, calling on Yume.
Yume blinks, glad to finally be able to see with her own eyes instead of the weak ones in Lainey's skull. She glances back and forth between the dragon creature and the pirate. "Lovely to make your acquiantances," she murmurs, then drops to all fours as she shifts into her own ocelot shape--smaller than Niko's, and with wide, sad eyes.
She pads silently across the clearing to the hut and puts her front paws on a windowsill to look in. The window is just an empty hole; it may have once been paned with glass or even shuttered. In the dim glow of the dragon, Yume could just see inside. Nothing is moving. Nothing smells alive--at least, nothing smells like anything more than vegetation and insects.
Given their recent experience with shrubs, Yume decides that in this world, "smells like plants and bugs" doesn't necessarily equate to "smells safe." She leaps up onto the windowsill and then down into the room, tail switching back and forth.
Something skitters across the floor.
Yume chases it, pounces, and pins it beneath her paws--then slides across the dusty floor and crashes into a shelf. Several things fall off the shelf; a few shatter, but none of them hurt her.
Carefully, she lifts one paw off the creature and sniffs. It's a spider, still struggling to escape. She eats it without thinking, grimacing at the wriggle of its legs as she swallows.
She paces the perimeter of the room and finds more spiders ranging in size from too-small-to-see to the-size-of-my-paw. She ignores them; they're not a threat. The only door leads outside, and there is some decrepit furniture, but overall it seems empty.
Until the giant spider scuttles out of the fireplace.
Yume arches her back and hisses. Damn spider's taller than she is, and advancing on her. She backs away toward the door, hoping that one of the others might come to her aid--she knows Niko could kill it, and she thinks she could kill it, but she doesn't really fight and it would take nearly six seconds to transition from this form to Niko's ocelot form. Too long.
The damn fangs are dripping, and its hair is rustling. Yume wonders if it's the sort of spider that can fling its hair into an opponent's eyes. She backs away over the threshold, crouches, and prepares to lunge at one of its legs.