Berry's Awakening

Spool Posts : 24 Join date : 2010-03-26

OK for realz though:

He stands there for a minute, digesting everything, figuring out what to do. Finally, he decides on flipping a coin on it. But upon reaching in his pocket, he stops, scoffs with a smile, and finds a stick to throw. Upon it landing (and losing a charred piece of itself) it landed Northeast. 'Well, at least it's closer East than South' he mused. One more glance southbound (at least, he thought it was south) and he entered between the two Baobab trees, into the corral.

Berry's Awakening - Page 2 58625-004-7E5A0A06

Berry's Awakening - Page 2 58625-004-7E5A0A06

Subject: Re: Berry's Awakening Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:09 am

The Corral is a hamlet of tree-dwellers. Every fat baobab tree has been hollowed out and fit with a door flap, some cloth some beads. Buckets are stacked neatly near one tree, and another sports a cute vegetable garden. A potted flower is starting to wilt on a doorstep.

The Corral is also war zone. Looks like someone (or something) went on a bombing spree. The explosions are haphazard and scattered. Jackson remembers a vast library of forensic sciences, and applies them in the blink of an eye. The explosion radius is highly varied, ranging from fire crackers to three-meter radial explosions. There are drag marks leading to shallow graves just outside the corral.

Also there's that three ring binder on the ground between the dead trees at the entrance. It has a number of scrawled pages still clipped to it, and it's a little dirty. Looks as if it was flung down, based on the subtle impact crater in the dry forest floor. As Jackson approaches the trees, the sulfur smell grows to a rotten stench, like you tossed out a whole carton of eggs two days ago and now your head's stuck in the same trash can.

Jackson's about to investigate the binder when he realizes he's being watched. A pair of twitching fluffy objects peek out from the hollow trunk of a baobab tree ten meters south (on his right). One is a deep lush green, the other a piercing crimson. They're perked towards Eddy, attached to an obscured body hiding in the baobab dwelling behind a mostly-burnt blanket. There are many more papers littering this particular tree, some of them crumpled and spat out, some of them in a pile.

Golem's Grave is dark once more. Golem heart pulsing slow and steady.
Camera upstairs reports no breach since target Bolt left.
Golem boot-up log deleted as per protocol A1.
Commencing Security Sweep: twenty minutes minimal expectation.

"Oh hi heh I'm Courtney I don't get out much— look I'm freaking out because those things out there? Those aren't monsters, they're machines. They're tearing everybody's doors open and poking around inside! And I don't even wanna know what they'll do if they find me or anyone, I lucked out they're in my house right now but I was busy looking for our threck. They all went rampant at once just last evening and tore themselves free. I don't know where anyone else went they likely ran to safety up on Gouda Plateau. Hokai's helping them I think, he has this weird new guard stick I have no idea where he got it. Told me to come with but heck somebody's gotta keep a watch in case the threck come home in the middle of all this!"

Courtney takes a quivered breath, allowing Berry to speak.

Subject: Re: Berry's Awakening Sun May 13, 2018 4:41 pm

Eddy Jackson paused for a few moments. If he were a robot, that amount of time would've felt like an eternity. But alas, as of now, he was not. As far as he could tell that is. 'Back on track now,' he told himself. He mentally flipped a loaded coin, gave up, and straightened his shoulders. Eventually he said, "I'm lost." Pause. "I don't know where I am, or who I was, or what happened." He spoke up now. "But I assume you do. I also assume you were the one who wrote in that binder." Eddy glanced his brim over to the heterochromatic ears. "Please tell me it's so."

Subject: Re: Berry's Awakening Mon May 14, 2018 10:02 pm

Berry opens her arms towards Courtney. "Okay, Courtney. Let's get through this. Okay?" She bites her lower lip and forces a grin. Somehow, she manages to sound more confident than she really is. "I know about those…machines. But right now we gotta find our friends before taking any action. Umm." She creeps closer to Courtney. "Can you lead us to them? Up to the Good Platform? I hope Lalami's with them." At that, the fox frowned and got into one of those rare thoughtful moods of hers.

(As much as I, being her, wants to get that spear back, it would be interesting [though maybe another time would be better] if she didn't get it back just yet. I dunno. It would force her to gain confidence without her weapon. Depends on how much you wanna torture me lol. >:K )

Subject: Re: Berry's Awakening Fri May 18, 2018 8:21 am

(dude that's perfectly fine I do have a plan for it but ultimately this— OOHHH shit I just remembered how excited I am about this story and cannot wait for things to unfold ok most of all hearing this excites me because you're exercising your characters' free will and it is awesome)

Courtney rubs the right-inner length of her tummy tunnel nervously. "I don't know you at all," she says. "You're an outsider, a person of myth. But you... you seem to really care about us." She glances back out the window. "I'm sure you understand, I don't trust you enough to go with you, and I care too much about my dear threck flock to abandon them. But you're right. You're absolutely right. We should stick together, no matter what." She then goes to CRow and strokes the underside of his quivering beak.

CRow immediately becomes calm, and leans in on Courtney's expert coax.

"Crow," she says to Crow. "Go to Lalami on Gouda Plateau."

"Absolutely Courtney, you can count on me!" Crow give a full-wing salute, then looks upset. "What about you?"

"I really can't," Courtney says wistfully. "I'm not the kind of person to run and hide in the face of danger."

"It— It's suicide to stay here!"

"It's leaving the threck to die at the hands of heartless machines is what it is. If they come back I can save them. I'll calm their souls and bring them to Gouda Plateau."

Crow looks torn, but he looks over to Berry and puffs out his chest. "Well Blueberry, I'm with you. Wha'd'you say we find Lalami?"

The feather-ears emerge further. They're connected to a formless indigo blob, it looks like a leather beanbag chair. Then it speaks timidly, which in the dead wind carries quite well. "Friend?" It does nothing more, watching astutely from a distance of ten meters.

Subject: Re: Berry's Awakening Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:56 pm

(recap: Berry led Crow out towards Gouda Plateau, but she spotted Scoop rip open the door to Courtney's storehouse. In anger, she threw a rock at Bigbear, who turned around and pursued them. Right near the Gouda foothills, Bigbear sprang out, intercepting them both. Berry tried running past, couldn't, Bigbear Aura-emmitted, sent Crow to 'sleep', Berry climbed on top of him and kicked the Aura-emmitter. Thud. She rolled off the side when Bigbear rammed into a cliffside, then into a shack. Scoop scooped roof, then scooped couch, then scooped the ram-pillow right in front of him, then got kicked in the eye by Berry. Eye went upwards. As the fox ran, a chair landed a few feet to her left. Whew! She wasn't pursued. At the top, hugs went around, well, Lalami anyway. Nobody else trusts this newcomer. Especially after comparing her to Sebastian, who ran off saying "Leave everything to me." Huh. At the same time, Hokai took MY spear of destiny and ran off saying "Leave everything to me," or something like that. :/ Jerks.)

Soo, Here I am! (Minus poor Crow he got thrown) There's Lalami and thirteen village members, but NO OLD MAN! :(:(:( Time to catch my breath, as I plan for what's next. I chat with a few who talk back, learning who everybody is.

Okay, here's my plan. We'll divide up into three groups, because there's three hunters who can whistle-communicate just like the Silbo tribe. That's our key communication, vital members of the team. The first group includes Vishus, Gordon, and Polly. They'll stay up on Gouda Plateau, maintaining visual and communication with the groups, in case Team B and C get split. Also it's most likely safest for poor Polly and has the most down-time for Gordon, in case he gets bored and wants to make a basket or something. I'm trying to accommodate for everybody here you know. Oh and they might, just MIGHT find one or both of the troublemakers that ran off without telling anybody where the bloody hell they went, I am NOT impressed by their actions! > Neutral

Next up is Lalami, James, O'Fryanne 'ere, and myself. We're gonna stay with team C, until the part of the Plateau where we part ways, West and Northeast. Then we'll cross the overpass junction to Golem's grave. We will-NO WAIT. Lalami's needed in town more, because it's more likely to have those sleeping threck! Also, she should stick with the majority of the peeps. *sigh* FIINE, we'll swap her with…Mattock, sure. See if he can…farm the motivation outta the big, grumpy Golem.

And finally, the remaining seven, Tin riding threck with Lalami, Vishus, Kebaba, Hanna, Mimila, Cookie, and Seice. They will reclaim the town, as defensively as they can, then rebuild it. …huh, wait that's eight people. How did I miscount? Three, Four, Seven, that makes 14. Oh, plus me! Oops. Razz

Tin says threck can fit seven comfortably. How about we take Hanna? Neato, it's settled then! 3, 5, and 7. A, B, and C. Code-team Arrow, code-team Burrower and code-team Campers. Awesome!

But first we need defenses. Those robutt-heads are gonna cause mischief if we let 'em. We need to craft spears and clubs with whatever rocks and sticks are handy. I want a list of tools and gear people brought with them. Also, wet rags on the head should reduce the vibrations from that big guy. We need hard weapons and soft attire. But I don't want to spend any longer than one hour of recovery, as much as I'd looove to take a snooze right now forever. *sigh* I want this all to just end. X/

Subject: Re: Berry's Awakening Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:32 am

"Yes!" says little Polly, clutching Gordon's arm as tight as her hands can. "Now you HAFTA teach me how to make a ottoman outta grass!"

Gordon did something interesting with his mouth, a sort of layering effect displayed by fighting forces of joy and humility mixed in with the seriousness of the situation, the humor of Polly's enthusiasm by contrast, and the pleasure of being revered as a knowledgeable and skilled weaver. In response he managed to say "wm"

The hunters exchange glances of severity. Vishus seems confident with his task, but a bit let down that he'll be stuck up on the hill and may not see much action. Kebaba however is satisfied that her experience will come more in handy at the front, and that Vishus's young energy is what they need to keep up with Polly in case something DOES happen. James says nothing. He takes a silent moment to check his bowstring and refasten the leather strap hanging his whistle from his neck.

O'Fryanne takes this moment to approach Berry with a harsh look on her freckled face. "So you're skilled in this kind of thing?" she asks. "You must do this a lot where you're from, which is where exactly? And have you got a plan for us once we get to our buried giant? One that doesn't involve us all looking like you did coming out of there last night?"

Mattock harumphs beside O'Fryanne, and spits. "We put a lotta trust in Lalami for your sake, Fox. You best honor her trust in you or we won't take kindly."

Hanna follows O'Fryanne over. Her expression is a blank sheet of paper.

Lalami gives Berry another hug and reminds her "You've got this. We've got this. Let's do what we do best!"

Tin is already putting people aboard the threck, which she says is named Better Legs, and that she's ridden him many times. She's fully confident that he'll remain loyal so long as 'The Growler' doesn't get too close. The Growler is the local name for (bigbear) the bigger of the two machines Berry just got away from.
Mimila clambers up on top with a look of fatal resignation. Mack sits on the threck and causes it to bend to his weight. Cookie gets on in front and starts issuing commands, but Tin reminds Cookie to scoot back for herself because she's driving. They get in an argument about nothing important until Seice points out that everyone is on board and ready to go. She sits upside down with her legs in the air so that she can see. Her arms wrap around the belly of Better Legs.

The Groups to recap thus far (you can still change them) are as follows:
A (3): Vishus, Polly, Gordon
B (5): Berry, Hanna, Mattock, O'Fryanne, James
C (7): Tin, Lalami, Kebaba, Mimila, Cookie, Seice, Mack

Subject: Re: Berry's Awakening Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:58 am

Canill, a capital of wonders that rivaled gods, became then and forever after a tropical paradise where the children of the supreme architects and sorcerers of natural law could live peacefully for generations as naïve residents of the sacred ground protected by hidden engines of divine power, a power greater than any of its surviving inhabitants ever could fathom in each of their long and happy lives.
So perfectly engineered was this bubble society, it lasted millennia undisturbed by forces within and without.
Ironically, the very forces that preserved this unsuspecting idyll was what drew the men of science and magic to breach the barriers, seize the power, and turn it on the people it had been designed to protect.
Death became the crumbling husk of what once was Canill; its beaches gone, its heart hung in empty space, its clouds on the horizon swallowing the sun and sea, hushing the air to a foreboding stillness.
Villages three became two, two became one, the children of cataclysm grew up with fear in their hearts, whose children reacted with anger at what the outsiders had done.
The third generation rejected the anger of their parents and defied the fear of their grandparents to embrace hope and love, promising that Canill could live again, even if it would never be the same.
Incongruously, Canill was falling into oblivion, its edges breaking off into the clouded void, its rivers drying, its animals dying, its powers of preservation set to serve their new master no matter the cost to their defenseless subjects.

Subject: Re: Berry's Awakening Thu Jun 07, 2018 8:18 am

Eddy and his new best friend Hero cut through the Baobab forest, leaving behind the leaning Temple of Oranges, and whatsoever secrets it retains. Hero guides Eddy north and west through a series of minefields and craters that pepper the wooded landscape. The region's dead air and blanket of cloud gives it the likelihood of being indoors. An enormous gymnasium of hushed and dying wilderness. As our protagonists reach the lake and travel along its western edge, Eddy detects the rush of hundreds of scuttling feet. On the lake shore is a herd of those enormous urchins, whose pricks would be best assumed venomous and deadly. The urchins idle vacant-minded, a good fifty-something of them.

No-brainer, this obstacle. Eddy and company go way the hell around them. Withdrawing down the hill momentarily, Hero and Eddy make a rounded arc westward, where the trees become thinner. An edge to the forest can be seen; cloud blanket on the horizon. A cliff edge appears, lined by sickly dead trees. They have the appearance of being windblown their entire lives.

As Eddy approaches the cliff for a good view, he feels the earth beneath his feet give way. He leaps backwards in two wide bounds as an entire dead mumbo-gumbo tips forward, and plummets off the cliff and into the air. From stable ground, Eddy watches the chunk of ground and tree tumble head over itself for half a minute, falling further and further and further into the clouds below. Below. The cloud blanket, with its subtle gray texture, grows darker and darker the further down it wraps. There is no horizon.

"Edge," Hero says with caution. "Fall. Gone."

Subject: Re: Berry's Awakening Thu Jun 07, 2018 10:40 pm

After a while of an adrenaline rush, Jackson acknowledges his hat in respect to the almighty cliff. 'Has this always been like this?,' he almost said. His filtered mind-to-mouth methods managed to mutter, "Hell." He turned back to Hero, studying him for a while, before tilting his head back. "Let's go." His friend perked up, gave one more glance down the abyss, then dutifully followed Eddy, even though he followed ahead of him.

The worn Fedora was getting warm from its owner's brain. 'Okay, so assuming it's done this since forever, it must've been a pretty big…island? Air island? Or is there a pillar in the middle? God, it must be big for that much erosion to not matter. Population per square mile? One? Too many trees to make out any tall landscape. Okay, let's assume there's some pillar or mountain in the middle. I hope so. Gotta find something high up, to see what's going on. Okay, okay. Where the hell am I taking this guy? Perhapa, right.