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+---- Thread: carry your baggage up my street (/showthread.php?tid=10248)
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Flora - 10-18-2024
[say]"It's going to be a looonnggg eternity for you if you don't get curious about things, Jack."[/say] Flora teases; despite her sing-song tone of voice her thoughts do appropriately sober somewhat to hear that whatever was out there was at least vaguely human. [say]"Probably just my dad."[/say] She chuckles before slowly edging forward.
[say]"I'll be quick. You know I can be."[/say] Letting her mind and thus his, fill with thoughts of clever fingers and moans dampened by the press of Jack's shoulder against her parted lips, Flora grins before twisting her ring and disappearing.
[say]I guess I won't be able to tell once I'm 40ft away from you, mm?[/say] The queen thinks as she strolls rather brazenly forward. Behind Jack he'll hear another tree fall, this one slightly to the left of the other, followed by another slightly to its left. Were one to chart these sounds on a grid, two arcs would start to appear, directly opposite each other, and mirrored.
Coming to an abrupt stop, Jack will feel Flora's thoughts ice over with disgust and horror, but not necessarily fear. There should have been fear—she was staring at a clear spider that was larger than she was—but her revulsion at anything with that many legs swamped anything else. [say]Gods, that's so gross.[/say] Watching as the spider stabbed at the jaguar over and over, injecting venom into a creature ultimately incapable of being harmed, the queen fit herself behind a tree, counting down the seconds until the feline would return to simply being a ring.
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Jack - 10-18-2024
Resisting the urge to slap Flora's ass as she departs for fuck knows what, Jack (perhaps wisely) keeps his thoughts to himself by now. If it is her father then Remi has gotten a lot more feral in the past few days, and whilst he's happy enough to be curious, if he intends to live for another century, he'd like to argue that a good dose of caution never hurt anyone either.
Taking slow, quiet breaths as if to ensure he can keep his ears sharp for any other noise, the captain does register the mirrored sounds, and though he has no intention of leaving his hidey-hole while Flora does what she does, he does creep close enough to peer out around the ice wall as if to catch sight of what's making such a ruckus.
He can't reply to Flora without giving away his own position, but there's no denying the way his nose wrinkles at the sight of the crystal spider that leaps unbidden into his mind. Arachnids don't bother the captain much - he's seen too many wine spiders in his time for that - but it doesn't mean he wants to see directly inside them. Or for them to be that large and violent while they're at it.
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Flora - 10-18-2024
[say]Imagine if you could talk to me.[/say] Flora thinks, her voice as calm as if the pair were just having a chat on the phone. [say]It wouldn't even have to be telepathy. I wonder if illusion magic could do it?[/say] As the queen had predicted, once the jaguar disappears, the crystal spider doesn't seem at all interested in fucking about with the golden ring that falls onto the hardpack soil. With a sound that would absolutely haunt Flora's dreams for the next few nights, it chitters before scuttling away.
As the queen slinks forward to collect her ring, Jack will feel the press of something against his mind once more, before it screams through his thoughts at the same moment several more trees buckle and fall. There's surprise in it coupled instantly by anger—an anger that is vocalized in a loud bellowing that shakes the trees.
[say]—coming![/say]
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Jack - 10-18-2024
If I could do that, Jack thinks, maybe you'd not be so blase about things that keep trying to kill us. For now, though, the captain's thoughts remain his own, and he scrunches his nose as he sees the spider finish with the jaguar in Flora's mind before scuttling away, allowing the Doubletake to snatch up her ring.
She starts to make her way back towards him just as the feral presence positively collides with his mind, and in response the icy wall he's built cracks and shatters as his magic responds with the shock of it. Gasping out a breath that clouds the air before him, Jack is hopping the leftover ice and darting back through the forest before his legs really give him permission - in the opposite direction to whatever is ripping up trees.
Hoping that Flora will understand his need to hurry as he darts past her, grabbing at her hand to tug her with him, if the sight of the captain running like fuck isn't enough, maybe the furious bellowing will be. [say]"Fuck this place,"[/say] he pants. [say]"Thats my fuckin' verdict."[/say]
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Flora - 10-18-2024
Stumbling along after, the Doubletake having become visible as soon as she was back within sight of Jack, the queen's mind filtered the captain's concern through a lens of adventure. So while yes Flora should have taken Jack's warning for what it was, gods it was a touch difficult to feel properly threatened when the man grabbing your hand looked as if he'd just stepped out of one of the boutiques in Stormbreak, his eyes made all the more blue for the bright forest green of his sweater.
As the bellowing continues a few more crashes follow, and for those following along with a pen and pencil, that now made a circle. [say]"What do you think is making that s—"[/say] It wasn't Jack's not-quite-human-creature that had been causing the trees to fall, but the spiders. Attaching their webbing all around, as the Frost Giant triggered one of their snares, they tugged and tightened, barricading the thing within so that it had nowhere to go.
And neither did they.
With a club raised, to say the giant towered over them was an understatement. Swinging at one of the spiders (of which there seemed to be nearly a dozen), it squelched it with ease, but not before one leaped onto the giant's shoulder in an attempt to bind its arms.
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Jack - 10-18-2024
Don't know don't care Jack might have snapped, only at that moment the creatures whose minds he cannot read spring their trap, and he's forced to skid to a stop just as they become ensared alongside some much larger, much angrier prey. [say]"Reckon it might be that,"[/say] he grates out, nodding at the frost giant and wisely sidestepping right the fuck out of the way of the club it swings about. [say]"How's that sense of adventure treatin' you right now?"[/say] he wants to know, raising his eyebrows down at Flora.
Still, his hand slips from hers so it might curl around her shoulders instead, as if to keep them side by side and stop any particularly impulsive spiders from trying to pick them off. [say]"We fight off any who come at us,"[/say] Jack whispers his plan. [say]"But we let 'em stay occupied on that thing. Once they're distracted, we get outta here. Deal?"[/say]
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Flora - 10-18-2024
[say]"I.."[/say] Gulping, Flora's gaze rather comically lifts and lifts, nearly needing to take a step back to keep the giant fully in her field of view. In fact, she does just that, her own arms tangling around Jack's waist as his comes to rest around her shoulders. Exhaling a shaky breath that has a puff of white appearing between them, she swallows and nods. [say]If we wait for more of them to spring on it..or for it to start beating into them more, then we go.[/say] Flora thinks, tilting her chin over her shoulder and raising her brows in a silent question.
Despite the spider on its shoulder, the giant takes out two more on the ground, one with its club, and one with its foot. The resulting squelch nearly had Flora gagging such that she was forced to turn and bury her head against Jack's chest to keep from making a sound. [say]Fuck I hate spiders so much.[/say]
Taking advantage of the death of two of their brethren, several more spiders begin to scurry around the giant, their silk looping around its ankles but not yet growing taut as if to keep the creature ignorant of the fact that it was being trapped.
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Jack - 10-18-2024
Nodding his agreement to her idea without letting his gaze ever leave the spiders or the giant, Jack's senses are on as high an alert as they can get given that his usual advantage means nothing in their current predicament. He's unbothered by the squelching at least, his calloused fingers tightening around Flora a little as she turns to bury her face, leaving him to keep an eye on the other (many) arachnids considering the frost giant.
It might be the biggest threat but at least that's something they can all agree on, such that the crystal spiders really don't pay them too much attention right now as their focus remains on taking down the giant. It gives Jack the chance to step a few paces towards the thick webbing at their back, and for perhaps the first time, he wishes he had fire magic at his disposal. [say]"Your daggers,"[/say] he whispers under his breath, even as another spider launches itself onto the giant's other shoulder, sinking its fangs into the hulking creature's neck.
A razor sharp shard of ice appears in Jack's free hand and he glances fleetingly at the webbing. [say]"We have to be quick. Any movement we make on this stuff will let 'em know somethin' is happening."[/say]
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Flora - 10-18-2024
Mentally groaning as Jack slips out of her arms, if only because she no longer has the feel and scent of him to distract her from the fucking spiders, Flora is quick to follow the captain with her eyes, still opting for as little movement as possible. [say]What happened to waiting?[/say]
Glancing at the shard of ice in one of the captain's hands, Flora nods. [say]You can take a dagger, too.[/say] Lifting her sweater so that Jack could reach for one of her daggers, she watched the spiders nervously as they continued to scuttle around. The giant continued to try and slam at them, though with their number having dwindled, it seemed only the cleverest were left. (Which, you know, horrifying).
[say]And take my ring—[/say] Before he could argue, if he even would, Flora pushed several thoughts into the front of her mind: [say]I have my compass. If things go poorly, I can always get back to the Citadel, so it makes more sense for you to have invisibility.[/say] Following that, the queen formulated a plan. [say]We cut through. I'll throw my daggers down here and then we run. That way if anything follows, I can hopefully take them out with my recall.[/say]
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Jack - 10-19-2024
[say]"We are waiting,"[/say] Jack hisses, his lips barely moving and his eyes remaining on the cluster of arachnids still strong and quick and clever enough to take on the frost giant. [say]"I just meant when we do move, we gotta move quick."[/say] And no, he doesn't question or think twice when it comes to taking one of Flora's daggers and her invisibility ring, Jack keeping the former in his hands and slipping the latter onto his pinky finger.
[say]"If we get separated,"[/say] which they shouldn't, but you never fucking know, [say]"and I can't hear you any more, I'll assume you've taken the compass."[/say] Wincing as the giant begins to stagger and grow sluggish, Jack realises belatedly (and he feels stupid about it) that the spiders must have some kind of paralytic in their venom. As their prey starts to falter, the arachnids begin to close in, and the captain sees their opportunity.
[say]"Now."[/say]
The hand holding Flora's dagger lances out at the thick webbing, and a sharp pulse of air magic tries to part the slash in it he's made, forcing it to tear wide enough for Flora to duck through it.
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Flora - 10-19-2024
Thoughts of grand adventures bolstered by the tang of adrenaline were fading rapidly in Flora's mind, leaving the landscape of her thoughts as cold and barren as the haunted forest the pair now found themselves in. Biting at the inside of her cheek, unable to look away from the spiders despite desperately wanting to, the Doubletake nods. [say]Okay,[/say] she agrees. By that same token, if the Ark was gone by the time she arrived if for whatever reason they were separated, she'd take that as her cue to simply compass home. While other couples might have a I'll never leave you behind policy, Flora was quite content with splitting up if and when that proved the most logical thing to do.
Watching the Giant's muscles begin to quiver and grow slack, Flora was horrified to see its facial muscles begin to droop as the paralytic took effect.
Now—
—slow to react, Flora turns clumsily, slashing at the webbing takes some effort. Unlike regular spider silk, this is covered in a thin layer of crystal which eventually gives way, but not without a rather obvious cutting sound. Were it not for the fact that the spiders were acutely aware of their webbing, no doubt the sound alone would have clued them in such that no sooner had the captain and queen broken through than one of the spiders left its kin to the giant and began to scuttle after Flora and Jack.
[say][i]Throw it![/say][i/] Her dagger, she meant; twisting and not bothering to aim, the queen threw her two daggers behind them. If they hit the spider, great. If not, when recalled she'd have three more chances.
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Jack - 10-19-2024
If there was time, Jack might have taken a second to appreciate the pragmatic nature of their plan; too bad he's busy trying to battle his way through crystal spider webbing, drawing attention to them in the process. Clambering through the opening the second Flora is free, the captain twists and tosses her dagger back at the arachnid on their heels, his feet carrying him through the undergrowth without much caring which direction they go.
Using a combination of air and ice magic to try and make the ground unsteady for the spider and to blow it off course, Jack's telepathy screams for any sign of someone that might help them to orient. As it stands they could just be running deeper and deeper into the forest - but you know, as long as it keeps them away from the nest of hungry, many-legged beasts, he's cool with that.
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Flora - 10-19-2024
Running blindly on the captain's heels, the queen hazards a glance over her shoulder to see if they were still being followed which, of course, they were. Noting the way the terrain had suddenly grown slippery, the crystal spider had taken to the trees, leaping from trunk to trunk like some medieval version of spiderman, using its webbing to ferry it along. It's slower going, but at least it isn't sliding around on Jack's ice.
Lifting a hand, Flora blindly recalls her daggers to her palm. Though none of them slice through the spider, they do sever a few bits of webbing that cause it to fall, its legs feebly trying and failing to get purchase on the puddles of ice left by the good captain.
If it isn't clear by now, Jack is the navigator. Flora is not; having paid little to no attention on their way into the forest, as the Doubletake's lungs begin to properly burn, she realizes that she has absolutely no idea where they are, or how much farther there is to go. [say]"Jack—"[/say] She calls out as if he might provide an answer, before she's flinging her daggers over her shoulder in quick succession once more.
RE: carry your baggage up my street - Jack - 10-19-2024
Glancing around for any route through the trees, any sign of them thinning out, as the spider continues on their heels it becomes quite obvious that continuing to run for their fucking lives might well make them more lost in the long run. As Flora calls his name, Jack's steps start to slow and he turns to try and catch the Doubletake against his side. [say]"If it's just one, we can kill it,"[/say] he pants, and already the air around them - ice cold - is beginning to shift, making them into the eye of a storm Jack is more than ready to unleash on a hapless arachnid.
[say]"Once it's dead we can get up high, find out where we are."[/say] Or, he thinks belatedly, if Flora has brought Spice along for the adventure, maybe the little dragon could get them properly oriented. For now, though, there's a spider to kill, and as it lumbers into view, Jack drops all his other magic to send out a lance of lightning towards it. Do spiders explode when they are electrocuted? Let's find out.