ic Red Team: Jeopardy In The Jungle

[Avenger Assembled]

Almost inaudibly, Neko recited a soft haiku:

 

"In the river's hush,
Silent dance of line and fin,
Nature's gift is caught."

She waved her fingers around over the water, producing shimmering patterns of light and movement that filtered down to the perception of the fish below. Fishing was a slow task but she was willing to be very still. And so she did; her pupils dilated impossibly wide, hanging from a sturdy vine as she hung out over the water, doing her best to avoid actual immersion. When she saw her chance she took it, reaching down with lightning speed and scooping up the rainbow fish with one hand. By reflex she popped it in her mouth, biting down hard with her front teeth, the better to taste the fish for bile or poison (so that she might then spit it out.) 

Tasting none, she pulled herself back up onto land and walked back to the camp, padding silently as she held the big fat fish in her mouth. It was an impressive specimen and still wriggling, with enough meat on it to feed everyone if the foraging for plants and berries was successful. (Personally she'd prefer another fish, but she could always get one of those if she needed it.) The fish was good; raw and wriggling, and it reminded her a little of childhood meals by the stream, albeit much larger. 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 

 

Iris was with Neko at the stream and blink as she turned to find Neko fishing, this did not surprise her at all as she started to create a crude sling made from leaves, twigs and vines. With this she could store some more water, which was what she did. The fresh water seemed clean enough to drink, hopefully this is alright. 

 

Ater she had the water, she would turn to speak to the Senior only to see her move back towards the camp with a fish in her mouth! Iris would open up her minds and speak into Neko's. "Good job, that looks really nice. Have you done training akin to this in the past?" She thought as she followed her teammate 

 

Meanwhile...

 

Daniel was busy collecting fire wood before he noticed that Lawrence was out looking for resources, smiling, Daniel would speak into his mind as to not alert any Dinosaurs. "It seems as if we're pairing up in a sense haha, how are you holding up?" He would crouch down and pick up some more firewood before standing up again.

Edited March 10 by Dracostern

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence kept a close eye on the small dinosaurs that scattered as he returned to moving normally through time. While they seemed skittish of him and the nearby Daniel, with pack animals you could never be certain when they might try to get aggressive.

 

Picking up some long branches and broad leaves to use for a makeshift shelter, the blond teen heard Daniel's mental voice in his head. I am doing pretty well. He replied with a slight smile. The heat is a bit much, but as long as we have enough water, should be manageable. Never been quite this outdoorsy personally.

How about you?

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko thought of the stars overhead at night, in impossible numbers, but each with a name, of learning to hunt fish by a mountain stream so cold that it made her lips turn blue, of the perfect beauty of a magical time and place that had seemed like it would last forever - and of the day when it had all finally gone away forever. 

 

She answered the other girl's question by spitting her fish out into her hands and holding it still. "Yes," she said in a voice like nothing else. "A long time ago." She stood there for a moment, looking down at her feline reflection in the mirrored scales and licked her lips, tasting fish blood and remembering a time when it was the most delicious treat she'd ever eaten. 

 

"N-now," she said firmly. "we work." And with that she walked quickly towards the campsite, her tail beating frantically behind her, ears turned and flat on top of her head. 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 

 

"Well, I'm more outdoorsy then my sister, but I have never done anything like this.." Of course he had camped out under the stars most of his early life. But that was on the streets, not a clear forest like this. Despite being in an alternate dimension, Daniel could not wait to see the night's sky. 
The brown haired young man would finish collecting firewood and stand up, stretching a little before he waited for Lawrence, he wanted to head back together after all. "We should be fine. However I was referring to what happened after that trip to Fiji. Are you alright?" His expression seemed a bit more serious. 

 

Meanwhile..

Iris blinked for a moment as flashes of memory(?) came to her as she entered Neko's mind to speak to her. She did not fully understanding the meaning behind these images yet, but they were beautiful without a shadow of a doubt. Iris would pause for a moment then move on behind the senior, the twin had a feeling that she's struck a chord with Neko, but it might not be a good one. Might be best to leave it be. 

As they got closer to the campsite, Iris would carefully tie her sling to a low hanging branch of a nearby tree to prevent any water from spilling on the floor. "Now we wait for the boys." She stated out loud as she began to clean the area.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence's face seemed to darken slightly at Daniel's question, his mouth a thin line. I am fine. As I mentioned that night on the beach, it is not the first time something like that has happened to me, even if this time was more deadly.

 

Having filled his arms with a bunch of material, the blond teen started walking back towards where Kazra was waiting. The worst thing for me is that the rest of you had to be caught up in it all. It has given my parents and I quite a bit to think about. Including whether it is a good idea for me to stay at Claremont.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko set the fish down on top of a large rock and began the practical process of gutting it, slicing it open with her own sharp fingernails before she went to work on cleaning out its insides. Bottom-feeders were big, but all sorts of things could settle in their bellies. We work, because we starve otherwise. Of course she didn't say that out loud, since it wasn't true here. "We work, show them what we can do." She looked up at the jungle suddenly, body still, tail lashing - then went back to work. "Can you make fire?" 

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

Kazra had laid the bare bones for a handful of small, individual shelters by the time the teenagers had all gotten back around, and she dangled upside down from a branch as she stopped above the ground before descending.

 

"Excellent work, you four. Good group cohesion!" she clapped. "That's an excellent fish, a great choice, and the branches look good too; dry branches burn better than wet ones, and properly prepared meat and berries can feed you for quite awhile. It can be dangerous to start a fire or sleep if you're being tracked, but sometimes you really need to for various reaasons." she explained. 

 

"It seems like Neko's got a good grasp of all this though, hrm?" she grinned at the catgirl, more impressed than put out at her being so well prepared. "So for the rest of you, if you don't know how to make fire, I'll show you. We should also practice rudimentary water purification! Once we've done all that, it'll probably be about time to sleep; it's dangerous to wander around during the night if you don't know where you're going!" 

Edited March 16 by Poncho

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 

 

Everyone was back together finally. The twins greeted each other with a nod as Daniel would put the forewood down. However neither of them actually knew how to make a fire, despite how useful that skill would be. So they listened to their instructor intently. Iris was mentally taking some notes from this, maybe she could use it later.

"Can you please show us how to start a fire?" She finally asked. 

Edited March 16 by Dracostern

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence lay down the branches and broad leaves he had gathered to use as building materials to one side as they gathered around where Kazra was preparing to set up a fire to cook Neko’s fish and sterilize some of the water Iris had collected. While the blond teen knew basically how to start a fire, that was with matches and prepared tinder and firewood. He had some tools for starting a fire that Lulu had recommended, but he knew Kazra was talking about even more basic methods without any modern tools, so he did not go to get anything from his pack but moved over to the circle around where their guide was working to watch her demonstration.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko 

 

"Thank you," said Neko politely. "I could have caught something larger, but I didn't want to attract attention," she didn't look to be in the mood to discuss where she'd gained her survival experience. As soon as the fire was sit, she sat and stared at it, huge golden eyes glowing brightly before the fire. When the fish sizzled over the open flame, she sat and turned the spit slowly, vocalizing occasionally as she did so with soft chittering noises. Eventually, she seemed to force herself to speak. "Does anyone want to hear a ghost story?"

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

While Iris was getting taught now to make a fire, and would finally get one going, Daniel would sit down next to Neko and looking up at her curiously. He had never heard her stories before. He knew that his senior was a unique individual, and he was dead curious as to what she was cooking up in her mind. "Sure, I would like to hear one..."

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

Over the course of a few hours, the Claremont teens and Kazra continued their survival training; she showed them how to make fire, how to finish their huts, discussed how Neko gutted the fish- because she clearly didn't need help-, and talked a little about plants and sap. That part was stressed that it only really applied here, in the Lost World, and to investigate appropriate plants in their own world in case they were ever in need-.

 

As the fish continued to cook and the sun slowly set, the group gathered around the fire on stones to sit and watch.

 

"Absolutely! Ghost stories can be fun." Kazra said cheerfully. "Give us a good ghost story, then we'll eat, and go to sleep! Tomorrow morning we'll begin with more hiking, so resting up well will be paramount to a successful expedition. Usually you'd set a watch during situations like this as well; that way you can't be snuck up on. We won't worry about this time, since your travel was probably pretty strenuous after your flight and everything, but starting tomorrow night we'll also be doing watch shifts." she said, before settling in to listen to Neko.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko 

 

"This is a tale I heard from my mother when I was a little girl, about a distant ancestor of ours..." Neko's story was about a samurai who promised his dying first wife that he would never remarry, only to provoke her angry specter stalking his home when he foolishly broke that vow. In the true darkness of the Lost World, with only the light of the fire to see by, her own gold eyes glowing as the firelight shone on her. 

 

Neko was an enthusiastic storyteller, especially as the death started. At the denouement, she finished, "And when he picked up what was left of her body, he realized that only her heart had never decayed - but when he felt the blood and smelled the perfume - he realized it was not her heart at all, it was the heart - of his second wife!" She laughed, showing teeth, as she folded her hands in her lap. "kekekeke..." 

 

More practically, she said modestly as the story faded, "If anyone does want to keep watch, I only sleep a few hours a night. I can be up early." 

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

With Neko's story finishing as a denouement, the Claremont Teens and Kazra finished their dinner, let the fire slowly burn out, and retreated to the canopy to sleep.

 

It was somewhat peaceful, in a strange way; the world without the sound of cars, without people bumbling about in their rooms in the dorms, without the lights of the city. Just the sound of buzzing bugs- carefully kept at bed with woven leaf partitions- and the far off stomping of nocturnal predators. There was the sound whooshing overhead at a large reptilian beast soaring through the still surprisingly humid night air. But it was peaceful in it's own way.

 

But it was Neko, needing less sleep than others, who was willing to stand a watch, that noticed the issue first.

 

She woke up in the middle of the night, and realized that a bubblegum pink mist was slowly winding it's way into her tent; the same mist that the teens had seen on the top of the hill had spread, significantly, it seemed, choking the air with a chalky-tasting gas. It felt..heavy.

 

As the tents of the other teens filled up with the gas, they found themselves waking up as well, as the heavy air weighed down on them. And any mechanical objects they had seemed to begin to fizzle out awkwardly. It was almost morning, but it was difficult to tell within the suddenly surprisingly quiet woods; not even the bugs stirred. And Kazra didn't seem to be in her tent.

 

The Teenagers were alone.

[Avenger Assembled]

Confronted with a crisis and the absence of their mentor, Neko called out a loud "Oki te kudusai! Oki te kudusai!" that reached directly into the ears of everyone in the camp. She scrabbled out of her tent, tail poofed up, as she took in the scene. She remembered the pink mist from the day before, but given the present context, she leaped right to an assumption born from hard and frightening training. Gas! Acting by reflex, she called in a tone that brooked no argument - and showed her fear. "Up the hill! Climb! Climb!" And then (when she was sure the others were moving) she ran, bounding her way towards higher elevations, up a tree, and away from where the heavier-than-air pink mist would settle. 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

The twins seemed to enjoy Neko's ghost story and even told her so as they slowly went to bed. However their sleep was cut short when they suddenly heard Neko. Iris was up immdeately and she called to Daniel via telepathy and he quickly got up. They would rush out of their respective tents and began to look around. 

 

"What's going on?!" Iris exclaimed. Meanwhile Daniel turned his head to the sounds of the gunshots. "I hear gunfire! They aren't targetting us but something is happening!" 

Both twins heard Neko's warning and looked up at her before nodding and extremely faint purple glows surrounded their bodies and they flew up towards their Senior. 

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence had listened to Neko's ghost story closely as well. Given the anime he had watched with Baz over the last few months since they had become roommates at Claremont, the blond teen was not overly surprised at the dark and violent nature of the story.

 

When the time had come to go to sleep, the relative peace and quiet of the Lost World reminded the teen of his parents' place in Fiji. Of course, that brought back memories of what had occurred on the return trip from the estate last month. Lawrence tried to push those thoughts from his mind for the moment so he could get to sleep.

 

As his canopy area began filling with gas, waking him, up, the blond teen quickly snatched up his pack as he heard Neko calling out to move to higher ground. Making a quick check (which only took him a fraction of a second), Lawrence put away his sleeping bag and check that he was not leaving anything behind. Then he was gone in a temporal distortion, reappearing a few hundred feet away from the group’s makeshift camp, looking back to make sure all his classmates were moving to safety.

 

A few more teleports and Lawrence appeared on a wide tree branch near Neko as the twins caught up as well. "Gunshots?" He asked. "Where?"

[Avenger Assembled]

When she had a moment to catch her breath - and not smell the sweet scent of nerve agents or the horror of mustard gas - Neko looked around and spotted something all-too-familiar. As her ears twitched, red glowing words appeared hovering in mid-air not far from them - THERE IS A DRONE HERE - highlighted by a rotating catgirl head that might have been Neko's. The floating catgirl heads pointed like arrows towards a zipping, mobile, floating robot drone that seemed to be spying on them. IT CANNOT SEE WHAT I AM DOING. 

 

"At least we are safe now!" said Neko loudly. "Everyone sound off!" 

The words plus floating catgirl heads around the drone were joined by -  KILL  IT BEFORE IT SEES YOU. 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

The twins floated up and sat on a tree branch opposite Neko and blinked in confusion both Daniel and even Iris had little idea as to what she was doing...then they noticed the red words floating in the air. With a nod they would look around for any sign of a drone, or something that had a gun of some kind. Once the order was given to sound off the twins would both speak in her mind. "We're safe!"

"But what do we do?" Daniel spoke with a whisper out loud. While Iris closed her eyes for a moment and used her telekinesis to scan the area, looking for any human minds close to them. 

Edited April 1 by Dracostern

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence saw the visual messages Neko had put up, point him and the twins to the drone while she acted as if she had not seen it and asked for verbal confirmation everyone was accounted for to continue the ruse. "I am here and am fine." He replied verbally while he reached up with one hand, glancing up toward the drone.

 

In the air near the drone, there was a burst of temporal energy as he tried to freeze the drone in time. However, it proved more maneuverable than expected, veering away to avoid the burst and avoiding being stopped in time.

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

As the fog curled almost lazily- in the same drowsiness that it seemed to inflict upon the reptiles- around the ground, the four students hung in the trees above the cloud. When Lawrence attempted to freeze the drone, it beeped suddenly and darted to the side, away from Timeout's attempt to stall it out. It took off back through the forest and the cloud, a flashing siren of red and an alerted chirp as it flew back towards the bend of the river where the group had first seen the pink mist the previous day. It wasn't super fast; it was about the speed of an average car on a highway, but it was quite manuverable. 

 

Meanwhile, while the twins couldn't feel any minds within the general area, Lawrence's super senses could pinpoint multiple beings. There were 3 people in the fog, besides the four students, who were not from this dimension, sticking out distinctly across the background noise, far down the river and a few miles away.

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

Daniel cursed when he noticed the drone zip away. "I'm sorry everyone. I should have smashed it with my Telekinesis." He actually did sound bad about that as Iris looked over at him and rubbed his back a little bit to try and be some comfort to her brother. She would, however, turn to face the other students. 

 

"Do any of you sense anything? I'm not picking up anything on my end."

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

After failing to catch the drone in a bubble of frozen time, Lawrence had shifted his powers so that his bright blue eyes went completely blue and glowed with cosmic energy, reaching out with his cosmic senses. As those senses swept the area around the group, the blond teen responded to Daniel. "Do not worry about it Daniel."

 

After a moment, the teen's eyes returned to normal and he looked to the others. "There are three people not from this dimension down near the river, a couple of miles that direction." He pointed in the direction he had sensed the individuals. "Would seem the logical place to start investigating what is going on, and possibly where Kazra might be."

[Avenger Assembled]

It occurred to Neko that the Crimson Katana would have cuffed the junior students in the back of the head for their failures. Or pulled their ears. Her puffed-up tail was lashing, her ears flat and pointing backwards atop her head. "I am going to find them," she said shortly, settling down on her haunches in lotus position. As she did so, the jungle was briefly alive with a new kind of hunter - fast, sleek wildcats with white bodies and brown spots that darted through the brush with fantastic speed and stealth, scouting all around them for the mysterious interlopers.