-
Kaname looks at the blade and then to Tace. "There is no choice but to fight Tace.." Excitement rising instead of fear. A slight smile in her facial features. She takes a deep breath to steady herself, to not show the slightest of fears, not even in her stance.
She bends her knees and readies her arms for offense and defense as she unsheathes Kuretsu. Kaname looks the new apparition in the eyes with a piercing look in hers, a look intent to kill. The first time since arriving on the island, Kaname had an intent to kill. Her look gets more fierce as she says in a pained voice, "I will not let you hurt my friends." A deeper look now, "Bring it on."
-
MICHAEL
Fee suddenly grabs Michael's hands and they run after the native-ghost-man-without-a-smell-guy. You'd think by now, he'd be less freaked out, but whatever, he is still freaking out by everything that has happened, but of course he decided that he couldn't let Fee see that anymore. It's time that he became a man.
A real man.
A real tough man.
A real tough man who is running after the guy with no smell whilst running with a guy who fell from the sky, translucent and also has no smell.
A real tough man who wants nothing more than to go home, curl up into a ball and pretend that nothing, absolutely nothing like this is ever happening and this is all just a very bad dream.
He looks at Fee as they slowed down.
"Sorry for being a scaredy-cat back there, Fee. I'm just not used to... well all of these. I mean I know ALL of us aren't... but I'm always normally the type of guy in those movies that is funny and always gets killed first by zombies, so... anyway all I'm saying is... sorry and I'll try to be a better man for now."
He smiled at his inspiration, and held tighter as they continued to follow the native odorless ghost. He tried not to look at Andrew-ghost though, because he's afraid he would scream like a baby and then that whole speech he just made to Fee would be rendered useless, now wouldn't it?
-
Yumi having decided to stay toward the back of the group to make sure nothing snuck up behind them. She then remembered that Asha had said that they had some weapons and there was that knife. Looking up towards the front were Asha was talking with a strange woman she decided to go ask.
"Asha I hope I am not interrupting but I was thinking what other kinds of weapons do you have within your group?" She asked when she approached them.
Then turning towards the woman she said, "I'm sorry I have not introduced myself my name is Yumi its nice to have you with us." She said with a smile on her face.
-
Logan's heart was beating so loud he thought it was going to give him away. Time seemed to slow down as he gazed at the bloody corpse that was now hacking away, not only at the building, but at herself. Flesh hung, blood ran freely, and she looked as if she were decaying. Logan tried to come up with a plan, some sort of process of what he'd do in his mind but his brain was silent. Terribly silent. He couldn't hear himself think over the beast's noise and it wasn't even that loud!
What got Hermes straightened out was when he looked up towards the horizon... More of them... A lot more... "Oh God," Was all he could say before his body took over. Logan stepped out and ran almost blindly at the dead woman, shovel coming down in a combination of hacking and smashing combinations.
-
Nathan took a seat as Derek jumped off the boat. He began to think on places to hideout as the water did not seem very safe now that there were things such as the shark man out there. Nathan got up, walked over to the captain and asked "Do you know of anywhere on this island that might be somewhat unpopulated? As you saw there are some problems on the island and we want to be as far away from them as possible. It would be a good idea for you to do the same but that's just a suggestion."
-
Adrienne watched Derek jump into the water. Better him then me she thought. Adrienne turned her attention to Nathan as he went overand asked the captain about unpopulated areas on the island. Once Nathan finished speaking, she spoke up.
"Just because it's less populated doesn't make it safer. This zombie disease, curse, whatever, is spreading like wild fire," Adrienne said, "But still, we've got to get off of these islands."
-
@Keisai, Silver, and machine
Derek dives into the water. It's not as easy to see as when it's a bright day out, but he sees enough between lightning pulses.
The props look pretty bad. One of them is really banged with the blades all but totalled, the others is in better shape with a rock about the size of someones head jammed between the blades and the boat's hull, it looks like that bolt the captain mentioned broke on this one before the blades came completely apart.
On a particularily bright burst of lightning, Derek spots the shark man in the distance, it seems to be lazily swimming underwater some distance from the boat, at the moment it seems to be having trouble staying properly oriented.
On boat the captain replies.
"Well, except for the city and resorts most of the island isn't vary populated, especially this of it. There isn't really much of anything on this side of the mountain unless some tourists are seeing the sights.
And I still don't know what you're going on about with zombies or whatever, but I don't think we're getting through that hurrican look'in thing. "
-----------------------------
@Raycaptain and Maru
Having the advantage of size and surprise Logan manages to knock down what used to be a smaller girl and beats her into a pulp. Her body doesn't really stop moving, even with the head caved in, but it isn't moving very effectively. Mostly just grabbing and wriggling and doing less of those as logan breaks more body parts.
-------------------------------------
@Excell, Faery, Rein and Kera
(OOC: Still waiting on Faery to get the next bit rolling, and excell sounds like she'll be busy weekdays, but it's noted that her character is usually watching the rear, that's actaully rather helpful. Faery indicates she might be posting soon. )
----------------------------------------
@Hax, xRiikox, Kei, Suzumi and via NPCs CD and LB
Jessica is no slouch in close combat, but she isn't paying enough attention to Lucious (OOC: And that bonus is enough to turn the roll his way). He rams into her as she starts to turn toward the noise of his approach. Sending her stumbling over some roots and landing hard on her back. Leaving Lucious standing over her looking crazed.
------------------------------------------
@Tace and Kirako
The new spirit takes not of the responses or Kaname and Tace.
He looks at Kaname, and she experiences something similar to the visions Nanalie had sent, except instead of visions it's concepts, making it very much like language, but without actual words.
The message she recieves is roughly <Brave. I can see you're brave. I respect that. But I've seen many who were brave. Tell me, what is he? >
During this the spirit looks closely into Taces eyes and makes a surprisingly rapid motion with his wrist, leaving a shallow cut on Taces left cheek, an inch and a half below his eye.
-------------------------------------------
@Janajee, LB, and Change
Andrews hand feels weird in Fee's grip. It's like trying to pull an ice cold spider web. Except for the cold it's be easy to not even realize he'd slipped away, which it feels like he could do at any moment.
(OOC: LB, the physical world and your character only interact a little, so if your character doesn't want to be dragged, she couldn't force him, you'd slip through her fingers like mist if you pulled back. But you can go with the flow if you don't mind, which I'll presume to be the case until you specify or request otherwise.)
The ghost slows down some distance into the woods
It seems panicked and starts pacing and holding its head.
-
Tace doesn't flinch, as a warm rivulet of blood trickles down his cheek. Even the feeling of his flowing essence could not shift him from within his focus. He continued to look at the man not making any move to resist or to beg. He just waited a bit longer. "Please sir there is no need for violence." The words were meaningless, just filler to allow Tace to use his voices charismatic pull to try and shift the spirit.
-
Kaname looks in bewilderment as the spirit sent an odd message to her, she got a sort of signal, telling her something.
Just then, the spirit studies Tace and sliced his cheek. Kaname's stomach dropped but she remained calm and collected. She showed no sign of the agony of thought running through her head.
Kaname looks the spirit in the eyes again, with the same death bringing look, "Why should I tell you anything?! What did I tell you about hurting my friends?! Answer me right now!" She puts every bit of hateful tent in her voice as she spoke.
She raises her sword and makes a slash on the spirits arm, almost cutting it completely off. She brings her head up again, "Now, every time you hurt Tace or Nanalie, I will do this and it will only get worse." Rage burning in her eyes as she stares at the spirit.
-
Derek came back up" it looks like the blades are all messed up" he sighed."theirs a rock jammed in the blades and that bolt the cap mentioned is broken. and one of the blades seems totaled.
-
Nathan sighed as he heard the captain. He looked around to see Derek come back onto the deck. He then began to think about a way off the ship since it was no use to them at the moment. He turned to the ship captain and said "You must have a raft on this ship right? If we can't get the ship moving again we'll be sitting ducks so we must get prepared. That is unless you have another way to get this ship moving without a propeller." He then turned to Derek "Did you see anything while you were down there? We have to be sure that the waters are somewhat safe if we are going to attempt an escape."
-
Derek sighed."well i saw that shark man, though i think it might be having trouble staying awake." he laughed a little bit.
-
Adrienne sighed and walked away from Derek and Nathan.
"If a fishing boat's not safe, then a raft surely isn't," Adrienne said to the captain, "I'm out of ideas. The only other possible way off here is a plane, and even that's not a great idea." She sighed once again before looking out over the water.
-
@Keisai, Machinehead, and Silver
The captain replies. Finally having fully caught his breath.
"Well, I do have that raft I mentioned. If there's sharks out there we could use it to tow us straight into land. If we go straight for the coast we'd be there pretty quick.
And if it's a sheer bolt that's broken I might be able to get that fixed as I've got a spare. Maybe if we get her into the shallows and beach it as high as we can. Than when the tide goes out a bit more maybe I can walk to the thing with some tools and fix it.
We just need one of you that knows how to work an outboard motor to use the raft to tug her in. The thing will inflate automatically once you pull one of the cords there, just make sure you don't forget to grab a rope."
He points out where the currently uninflated raft is mounted on the side of the boat.
--------------------------
@Tace and Kirako
After taking the hit on his arm the spirit gets sort of fuzzy and misty, taking a while to reform, during which he doesn't seem to be doing much.
After reforming he sends one of his concept thoughts to both Tace and Kaname. The effect of which is like words, but without a language.
<Please to not be doing that.
I think I've learned all I can by poking him.
Now, you have strange clothes, and my city still seems to have warriors of the proper fighting spirit, but not buildings.
You perhaps have some things you wish to know, but what I know may depend on what is going on. So could you please make with the explaining of how this all came to be?>
--------------------------------------
-
Kotonoha watched Lucius with wide eyes. She could see what would happen, that blade coming down, again, and again...blood...that had once stained her hands...
Now that her other side had fully retracted itself, she felt the fear like never before, washing over her in waves.
"Lucius, no!" She screamed, grabbing hold of his arm in the tightest hold she could muster, nails digging into his arm. God knows she would pay for this later. She managed to get to him before he managed more than one hit, using her weight to stop him. She could only hope it was enough.
"STOP!" Kotonoha screamed again, bringing tears to her eyes, feeling the brute strength that threatened to fling her forward with its movement. She had no wish to see someone go berserk...and even less of a desire to see survivors kill each other off.
-
"If this is what must be done to actually get our feet moving, then I would feel more than pleased decapitating her, stripping the skin, eyes and hair off, cracking the top of her skull open and drinking her blood from it like the heroic viking commander!!!"
Lucius, felt Koto dig into his arm, breaking the skin a bit. As he bled, he looked at Koto with bloodshot eyes, devoid of any compassion for the feeble.
"Koto...if there is anything that you should know, it's this. If something is weak, either kill it or ignore it. Anything else honors it. Seeing as I don't want to ignore this parasite of a woman, I'd rather take the pleasure of eviscerating her."
Her looked further and saw the tears, sparkling...
"Why do you cry for her safety? She is weak on all aspects."
-
OOC: I tend to write in a dramatic, lengthy manner. So excuse that...
Kotonoha flinched a little at his loud voice. Another side of her would be pleased with this description, she thought faintly; pleased at the description of bloodshed to come. Her nails sank deeper as she fought to take control of herself.
"What...has she done?" Kotonoha asked, her voice weak. "What has she done that should make you so enraged? Or is it her weakness itself?" She felt his warmth, wanted to press herself just a bit closer...
"Are we all weak then?" She forced herself to extract her fingers, wobbling unsteadily a few steps away. "Everybody is. I just don't believe that we should kill another survivor. Killing one of us, in a way."
-
Tace grinned, thinking over the foreign concepts that now floated through his head. the man reacted to their clothes strangely, and seemed to be abreast of the immediate local. He probably hadn't ventured far, having not yet come across any of the city of Lanai. If he had he would have some sense of Tace and Kaname's relation to such city, perhaps attributing them to a similar tribe or something like that. He also knew of the warriors that were plaguing the region, being directly connected to the Ghasts themselves.
Tace wondered if telling this man anything would be dangerous... probably. But the worst that could happen was death. "Assuming you have some sort of babel-fish in your skull, I can tell you little sir. My picture of the events is broad, only having the faintest outlines of the facts.There appear to be phantasmal warriors ravaging the cities and towns of the local people. The slain barely touch the ground before they are reanimated by some power. The clouds brew with foul portents, constricting the moon with smoking tendrils while lighting our path with a silent strobe of soundless lightning. Other than that there is little more that I can tell you. Save that this place seems to be saturated in a echoing potency. Also, I've noticed something from your words... or rather noticed the lack of something. You haven't mentioned the fact you are dead, and Nanalie didn't figure out the scope of what was happening until she saw her city. Is it possible you are unaware, sir, of the fact that you are dead?"
-
Jessica got to her feet and brushed herself off. Something was wrong with her because she still felt as calm as ever. If anyone had ever tried to pull a stunt like that a year ago, Jessica would have sent them to the hospital. Yet here she was, casually brushing herself off as if she had only tripped and fallen, and not been attacked by some murderous lunatic.
"What...has she done?" Kotonoha asked, her voice weak. "What has she done that should make you so enraged? Or is it her weakness itself?" She felt his warmth, wanted to press herself just a bit closer...
"Are we all weak then?" She forced herself to extract her fingers, wobbling unsteadily a few steps away. "Everybody is. I just don't believe that we should kill another survivor. Killing one of us, in a way."
"He doesn't like the fact that he can't control me," Jessica said with a small shrug. "And he assumes I'm weak simply because it makes him feel better about himself. And he resorts to violence because he is a bloodthirsty bastard who I, personally, want nothing do with. So if you don't mind, I am going to go meet up with my friend and my family and get off this freaking island."
And with that, Jessica turned around and began to walk off.
- - -
(Walter) "Wait, don't drive just yet. We still have people down there!"
(Jacob) "We can't just abandon them, we need them back alive."
Sam noted the zombies were getting closer by the second. They had to make a move now.
Mana, tired of sighing, let out a tiny growl. She put her foot down on the accelerator despite Walter and Jacob's protests.
"Do you people just not pay attention when people are talking?" Mana asked, a hint of irritation in her voice. "If we wait for them to climb back up, they'll get here AFTER the zombies have eaten their undead hearts out. And we'll be living happily ever after in their stomachs. We aren't abandoning anyone. We're making sure they don't have to avenge us later."
Mana glanced into the rear-view mirror. The zombies were out of sight. She took a deep breath and added, "If you want to stay and wait, then be my guest. And if you want to go down in the gully after your friend, then by all means, do so. But I'm going. I have places to be. People to save. Promises to keep."
-
"Follow her...follow her and ignore what she says. As much as I'd love to kill her and her friend, they could still be useful...What to do about this blood-lust though..."
Lucius started walking after Jessica, keeping his distance from such a vile, disgusting creature. That was saying something light considering what he and Saizo killed. That thing was hideous beyond belief.
"...If I could fight that pilot I killed from before, I think that would temporarily quench my thirst...Ah, I'm sorry, Koto...You don't know about the incident between me and a helicopter pilot. I'll tell you about it either once we're in a secure area or if I get my wish of fighting him."
Looking further into Koto's eyes, he could see the same expression he always seemed to make when on the hunt. He smirked and said,
"You like the hunt, don't you? The thrill of chasing your prey...It's nice, right? That feeling you get when you've ran your target through...Such a pleasing feeling..."
-
@Suzumi, LB, Rogue and CD
The van cruises over the open road, leaving the dead behind for the moment. Eventually a fork in the road appears in the beam of the one still functional headlight. Straight to head to Lanai city, left to go to the airport.
--------------------------------
@Hax, xRiikoxx, Kei, Suzumi, CD and LB
(Currently Jessica is leading through the woods, Lucious and Koto are following some distance away. In order to keep things rolling I'll presume in a little while that everyone else starts following unless someone posts otherwise.)
--------------------------------
@Luzifer and Kirako
The spirit stares at Tace for a while quitely. He then sends a thought Kaname alone
<Is he not sane?>
The then responds to both:
<Of course I know I'm dead. But this is not odd, our ancestors frequently return, and I am a particularily revered man. I should have liked to have been a shark man, but perhaps this form is for the best if the gods have some purpose for me.
The winds however, are strange, but I cannot ask them why they spin.
The Nightmarchers killing is not so odd if people are too foolish to get out of the way or to have taken the proper precautions.
But my city being rubble means I have missed much. Very much. And you are here with your strange clothes and strange skin. I have a feeling you know something about that.
Do not be afraid to tell me if our peoples are at war. I shall not attack you personally for that. And...>
He takes a look outside at the spinning clouds
< ...I have a feeling that things may be turning to our favor, so perhaps you should concern yourselves more with having someone who is willing to vouch for you before my ancestors and decendents when they come for you.>
-
Daniel followed behind Lucius. "Okay, now that that's over we can continue moving." Lucius began to speak in his riddled tongue again. " Let's not start with the thrill of the hunt again. Let's just follow Jessica and get to where we need to go. No bashing, smashing, or killing of each other." Daniel walked up beside Lucius, "For the time being you have to deal with her, and she can't help us if she is unable to stand up. So don't hit her again." He then looked at Koto. "Lucius has been like this since I met him so don't worry about him, He's a very helpful guy when he wants to be." He said laughing to himself.
-
Nightmarchers? Tace began taking the facts and making connections, trying to fill in the holes in his conception of the events. First of all, returning was not an unheard of occurrence so that meant this society probably had a ritual system for interacting with the dead. Also, it meant that for some reason this island or this civilization had a way of pulling its people consistently back to the realm of the living. Perhaps an affinity for the liminal state between life and death. This man would have liked to have come back as a shark man... Tace decided to leave that point alone for the time being... for his sanity mostly.
Now... it appeared that the Ghasts were called Nightmarchers and that they could be held at bay by avoidance and by some sort of "precautions". Thus there appeared to be a talismanic ritual or item to prevent their attacks. So... if Tace's picture was correct, the promenade of the Nightmarchers was a semi-regular event that could be prepared for. However, since the native people of Lanai had largely been supplanted by modern culture, their old ways of warding them off had died out. The myth had faded into oblivion. Thus when the time came for their march, there were no ways to ward them off. That was Tace's current hypothesis. though there were holes. These Nightmarchers must have very long dormant periods. Three centuries or more seemed awful long for an active part of a ritual mythos. But than, perhaps the rules were off when it came to myths that weren't... well... myths.
Tace wasn't certain whether he was right but realized that his analysis of the situation had left some dead air in the conversation, "Well... I can assure you, sir, that we are not currently embroiled in an altercation as your people have ceased to exist in any organized form for over a century. My people currently control this island and the rest of the archipelago, in additions to some other lands not of concern at the moment. Your people are largely forgotten, your name carried on only on tourist boards and the journals of scholars."
-
After a while, Lilith went to find Logan. Once she found him, she stood there in horror as she watched him beat what appeared to be the remains of a small girl.
"Oh my God..." she whispered to herself. What had he done?
It took a moment for the shock to disappear before she realized that, despite being a little more than pulp, was that it -was still moving-. What in God's name was this thing? She whispered a bit louder, this time to Logan, just in case there were any more of these -things- outside.
"Logan, try severing the head from the torso!"
-
It took Fee a moment to realize that her right arm was growing cold. It took her another moment to realize that the source of the cold was coming from Andrew's hand. She shuddered as she realized this, wanting to withdraw her hand but instead pushing the matter out of her mind and gripping his hand a little tighter.
When the ghost finally stopped running and started pacing, Fee pulled everyone to a stop. He seemed agitated and she was sure why he had brought them all the way out here. She let go of her companions hands and moved a bit closer to him.
"What's wrong?" she asked, trying her hardest to convey concern with her eyes. "Can we help?" She wanted to help, and the communication barrier was killing her.