Re: The Wretched Rite - Round One - The Rose Ring
08-14-2011, 09:57 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Jacquerel.
Alluvion's sluglike method of propulsion was efficient, considering he didn't have any solid limbs to speak of, but by no means fast. As he flowed across the tiles of the sanatorium to follow the fleeing Tsote it was almost immediately apparent that he hadn't a hope in hell of catching up to her. Quickly realising this he tried calling out, "Wait... please!" but she showed no sign of stopping, either because she didn't hear or just didn't care.
Alluvion continued his doomed pursuit until she vanished from sight between a pair of houses depressingly close to the steel gates of the building they had just left before he stopped, defeated. Evidently these were not sociable animals living here, despite the close proximity of their nests to each other (now that he knew the houses for what they were he wasn't sure how he had ever mistaken them for anything else), and it had been foolish of him to barrage his find with so many questions. But this was all so new and exciting! He simply had to find out more about what kind of place he was in, how these amazing dens were constructed, what kind of creature had made that loud, echoing roar earlier and, and... so many other things!
Thoughts of how to get back to where he had come from hadn't even yet crossed his mind, he was so fascinated with learning about his new surroundings, nor the fact that if he didn't get back he was eventually going to die.
Now, if he wanted to get any answers to any of these questions he was going to have to go and find someone else to talk to (Talking, such a useful invention! Why don't fish do that?) and a tree simply wouldn't do. He'd only seen one other living animal so far (although he wasn't sure if he himself actually counted as an animal) and he'd just scared it away, so it wasn't likely to talk to him again. Maybe though, if he followed it, it would lead him to more of its kind. Presumably these nests were only used at night or to protect the young as while he could sense a faint something inside of each it couldn't possibly be enough to constitute a living being, so all the creatures must be somewhere else (looking for food?) and if he had been a creature under stress he'd definitely try to flee into a large group of his own kind for protection. Not that there were any of those around here.
His general animal-knowledge field hadn't had much effect on the Tsote when he had tried to use it to read her mind, but as he reached out with it again he could still get a vague sense of her presence some distance away, although she was quickly moving to the limit of his range. Now with a new purpose and a sense of direction, he surged off again in the same general direction as Alice.
Once again Alluvion's lack of legs hindered him somewhat in his pursuit, but even as Alice disappeared completely from his psychic detection field he still knew vaguely where she had been going and some minutes later found himself overlooking the same scene as she had, to see a loose collection of entirely dissimilar entities engaged in what could be a fight or perhaps just heated discussion.
His circuitous route around the alleyways had caused him to emerge from a totally different street than the one his quarry had confidently strode from shouting questions just a couple of minutes earlier, but unlike Alice he chose not to make a dramatic entrance. He'd already tried that and it had failed spectacularly.
Hoping they hadn't seen the sun glittering off his reflective body, Alluvion slipped backwards into the shadows to observe until he could deduce which one was likely to be most receptive to conversation. The confrontational approach hadn't worked last time and while his skills at interpersonal relationships definitely still needed a lot of work, nobody could accuse him of not learning from his mistakes.
Alluvion's sluglike method of propulsion was efficient, considering he didn't have any solid limbs to speak of, but by no means fast. As he flowed across the tiles of the sanatorium to follow the fleeing Tsote it was almost immediately apparent that he hadn't a hope in hell of catching up to her. Quickly realising this he tried calling out, "Wait... please!" but she showed no sign of stopping, either because she didn't hear or just didn't care.
Alluvion continued his doomed pursuit until she vanished from sight between a pair of houses depressingly close to the steel gates of the building they had just left before he stopped, defeated. Evidently these were not sociable animals living here, despite the close proximity of their nests to each other (now that he knew the houses for what they were he wasn't sure how he had ever mistaken them for anything else), and it had been foolish of him to barrage his find with so many questions. But this was all so new and exciting! He simply had to find out more about what kind of place he was in, how these amazing dens were constructed, what kind of creature had made that loud, echoing roar earlier and, and... so many other things!
Thoughts of how to get back to where he had come from hadn't even yet crossed his mind, he was so fascinated with learning about his new surroundings, nor the fact that if he didn't get back he was eventually going to die.
Now, if he wanted to get any answers to any of these questions he was going to have to go and find someone else to talk to (Talking, such a useful invention! Why don't fish do that?) and a tree simply wouldn't do. He'd only seen one other living animal so far (although he wasn't sure if he himself actually counted as an animal) and he'd just scared it away, so it wasn't likely to talk to him again. Maybe though, if he followed it, it would lead him to more of its kind. Presumably these nests were only used at night or to protect the young as while he could sense a faint something inside of each it couldn't possibly be enough to constitute a living being, so all the creatures must be somewhere else (looking for food?) and if he had been a creature under stress he'd definitely try to flee into a large group of his own kind for protection. Not that there were any of those around here.
His general animal-knowledge field hadn't had much effect on the Tsote when he had tried to use it to read her mind, but as he reached out with it again he could still get a vague sense of her presence some distance away, although she was quickly moving to the limit of his range. Now with a new purpose and a sense of direction, he surged off again in the same general direction as Alice.
Once again Alluvion's lack of legs hindered him somewhat in his pursuit, but even as Alice disappeared completely from his psychic detection field he still knew vaguely where she had been going and some minutes later found himself overlooking the same scene as she had, to see a loose collection of entirely dissimilar entities engaged in what could be a fight or perhaps just heated discussion.
His circuitous route around the alleyways had caused him to emerge from a totally different street than the one his quarry had confidently strode from shouting questions just a couple of minutes earlier, but unlike Alice he chose not to make a dramatic entrance. He'd already tried that and it had failed spectacularly.
Hoping they hadn't seen the sun glittering off his reflective body, Alluvion slipped backwards into the shadows to observe until he could deduce which one was likely to be most receptive to conversation. The confrontational approach hadn't worked last time and while his skills at interpersonal relationships definitely still needed a lot of work, nobody could accuse him of not learning from his mistakes.