RPG Latham Adytum

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][i]When she awakes, they are sitting about twenty metres from the bank of the river, ina small, guarded clearing in a thicket of bamboo. She cannot see past the wall of bamboo, and wonders how she got in there. Harlequin is smiling at her.[/i]

Spyder: What have I missed?

Harlequin: I kissed you, you fell asleep, we reached the bridge, I left the raft and took you here. you have been asleep for twenty minutes.

Spyder: I haven't slept for days... I've always felt too unsafe. But you always make me feel safe when you kiss me, so I must have just dozed off. Where is the bridge?

Harlequin: Not far. We are parallel to it on the river.

Spyder: I can hear the river. What of the raft?

Harlequin: Some howling crazies scuttled out and grabbed it. I didn't see where they took it, but it told me that althought the bridge looks deserted, it isn't.

Spyder: That's ok though, we're on the right side.

Harlequin: Go back to sleep my love, we need the rest.

Spyder: Are we safe here?

Harlequin: Yes. For now, anyway.

[i]Spyder falls immediately back into unconciousness and The Harlequin watches over her as the thick, humid darkness of the forest ebbs and eventually recedes. The only sounds that disturb the night are the sounds of the iver and the occasional burst of automatic gunfire. A scream pierces the silence as dawn breaks, but it is far away. The night passes.[/i][/font][/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]As the harsh light of day intrudes upon Harlequin, his thoughts turn to Rico and Valeigh. Had it really been the best idea to leave them? Spyder shifted slightly, and muttered something under her breath. Harlequin looked down sharply, but she was still asleep. He rose up silently, moving towards the bamboo wall. Picking a group of strong looking fibres, he clambers up them. His lightweight body bending, but not breaking, the bamboo. From the top, he has an almost untrammeled view of the bridge and surrounding the land. The sere landscape offered no refuge for any large group of people. There was nowhere to hide. A mountain range jutted into the sky in the distance, the staid energies of stone emanating even unto this distance. The aura's were wrought with disharmony. A number of people and vehicles had passed. One of the people had thrown out subconscious messages of pain so strongly that even the slow, patient stones had recorded its agony and desperation. Had to be Athen.

With catlike grace, Harlequin pushed off the bamboo, turning in the air. Landing light next to Spyder, he decides to let her sleep a while longer.[/font][/color][/I]

[liamc2]

OOC: ok guys I'm working on something here. .leave me for a while. .
____

[i]Athen's eyes flickered open, the group in the van all looked down at him. One of them got up and walked to the front and opened a door, entering the cabin. Soon enough someone else came out, a woman. Athen glanced and noticed the tell tale tatoo's and blue markings of a lightbearer. He tried to move, reach his gun even, but all his energy had gone and he couldn't even lift his head.[/i]

Athen: . . .*cough* what. .do. .you want?

Woman: *smiles and pulls out some instruments* the worm inside you has grown large...strange you have lived so long

[i]She continues to cut Athen's chest, he winces as something moves, the others in the van raise their weapons. A loud screech resounds as she pulls out something black and squirming, there is sound of gunfire and Athen blanks out[/i]

[RicoTranzrig]

OOC: Sorry I haven't been for a while, I hope the story hasn't been forgotten...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``


IC:

[COLOR=darkblue][i]Rico woke to the beating sunlight outside. He was laying on the floor of the only sancuary they could find for the time being: A small house not too far off from the city with nothing more than a door, a roof, and a window, it was abandoned for quite some time. Letting the dust settle in. Valeigh was also laying at his side, very much awake, but not moving, only staring straight into his eyes. An alluring expression came about her dust-covered face. She looked mad, but also came about a look of sensuality and strange desire....[/i]

Valeigh: Where are the others?

Rico: They went to look for Liam...I guess...how long have I been...

Valeigh: I've been awake ever since. And I've seen the darkness settle in a few times in and out.

Rico: Were you always here?

Valigh: I'm here now, aren't I?

Rico: Oh yeah...dumb question...

Valeigh: You mean "am I okay?"

Rico: *shifts around and sits up...nodding*

Valeigh: I'm alright, thanks to you...I was able to patch myself up while you were asleep. Sorry for the lack of comfort, but I couldn't find an empty bed in this place.

Rico: That's okay, I'm pretty used to it.

[i]When Rico realized that he had been out for several days, he started to worry...he coudln't have been that tired, helping her back for a few kilometers away from where she was wounded. Valeigh seemed fine, aside from the caked blood on her hand and the scar that would soon follow. It was a warm gesture of her to be by Rico's side day in and day out until he regained conscoiusness. Luckily, they no one attacked them during this period of rest.[/i]

Valeigh: *Stood up*

Rico: Where are you going?

Valeigh: We should start looking for them...

Rico: Well, do you have any idea on where to start?

Valeigh: I'm not sure...they could be anywhere by now...

Rico: *Stands up and looks outside the window* Well, in the direction I remembered them heading towards was away from the city...following the tire marks of the abducter's vehicle.

Valeigh: It's too dangerous out there...and without supplies it'll be difficult for us to survive the elements of nature.

Rico: So we should head back?

Valeigh: I know...I hate it too...but we don't have much of a choice right now.

Rico: The munitions safe house....

Valeigh: That's where Harlequin and Spyder kept most of their stuff...they might return to it once they come looking for us.

Rico: Alright then...

Valeigh: Don't worry about me...you're the one I was worried about these past few days...not moving or anything...just breathing.

Rico: *Opens the wooden door* Thanks.

Valeigh: For what?

Rico: For staying with me the entire time?

Valeigh: Don't mention it...[/COLOR]

[liamc2]

[i]Athen snorted awake and looked around the van, the same crew was sitting around him while the room shook as it hit divets in the road. He glanced down to see the damage, only to find it had healed, and he was in some white robe. He checked for his gun while the crew watched, it was there sure enough. So they trusted him, good it might help[/i]

Athen: Where are we?

NPC1: Driving

Athen: No, where are you taking me, and how did the healing happen so quickly, whats going on?

NPC2: You will find out soon

Athen: tell me what the hell is going on

[i]Athen subconciously slid his finger on the trigger as his anger rose[/i]

NPC1: You will find out in time, as we said before, rest now and soon we will arrive

Athen: . . . I'm serious, don't. mess. with. me.

NPC3: Show him his reflection, he will figure out the rest

Athen: what the hell are you on about. No, wait. What the hell are you [b]on[/b]

[i]One stood up and gave Athen a grubby mirror. To humour them and himself, he raised the mirror to his eye level, and promptly dropped it with a curse rising in his throat.

His face, neck and chest, hidden behind the robe, were marked with ornate blue tatoos, it seemed the female lightbearer had overstepped herself in repairing his broken body[/i]

Athen: you made me one of them you scungy b*******

[i]The door to the cab opened, revealing the lightbearer in flesh. She walked forward and closed it behind her before speaking[/i]

Woman: Not one of them, no, I left them long ago. One of us. We are a group of a select rebellion. Many of our kind lie rotting in that accursed forest because of your actions.

Athen: . . .[i]bloody hell[/i]

[RicoTranzrig]

[color=darkblue]Valeigh: ...Do you want to travel now or should we wait until the sun starts to go down?

Rico: Let's go now...we might not have enough energy left if we just wait here.

Valeigh: Okay...

[i]They begin their walk...[/i]

Rico: ...where if I don't remain active for a period of time, I start to loose energy instead of regain it...up to the point where I'm almost dead...

Valeigh: Seems to me that you just get easily bored...

Rico: Yeah, that might be it...

Valeigh: Rico?

Rico: What is it?

Valeigh: *looks down* Nothing...

Rico: No really, what?

Valeigh: You know it's really obvoius, isnt' it?

Rico: *Thinks for a split second* Oh...

Valeigh: I might just see this with you the entire time...

Rico: Yeah...but we shouldn't, not until we get more pressing matters settled.

Valeigh: True...but Spyder and Harlequin told us to wait for them...not go look for them.

Rico: I know that...but we shouldn't...give in.

Valeigh: And we're not going to...just fight alongside with me...

Rico: I'd like that too...

[i]They walked on until the sun beated down right above them...which was when the first glimpses of the city could be seen through the waves of a massive mirage. They wanted to forget about it, for that horrid place to be just a simple blur, they wanted to escape...but they had a responsibility to make sure the hope for a better future was safe in the hands of the undead and not in the anarchist jurisdiction of the lightbearers. Even if it was just holding down a supply house, it was important...especially if one seeking Athen, or Athen himself, were to be hurt severly. The view of the city became clearer as they wiped the sweat off their foreheads and refreshed themselves with what little fresh air they could breathe.[/i]

Valeigh: We're almost there...

Rico: *Looking off into the distance...* That's strange, do you remember half of the city being green?

Valeigh: What are you talking about?

[i]Valeigh focuses into the region Rico was pointing at...she could see a feint patch of greenery off into the distance...she never remembered a forest growing on the other half of the city...[/i]

Valeigh: That wasn't there before...

Rico: Hmm...it's not possible for it to have grown overnight...maybe we never noticed it.

Valeigh: I've traveled this city...and not in my entire life here have I seen that...

[i]Before they could even notice it, dark clouds looming over the forest began to pass over the outer arid region of the city, near Rico and Valeigh were at, from the strong wind current coming from the north...a drizzle began to form...warm water...but refreshing...[/i]

Rico: :therock: This is really weird...but we should keep going...desert rains are unpredictable...

Valeigh: Yeah...flash flooding...

[i]The two started walking faster...[/i][/color]

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][I]She awoke with a start at a stabbing pain at her side. Jumping up, Spyder inspected the pain and a large, fat, hairy spider flopped to the ground as she shuffled her clothing. Gasping, she found a red welt on her left hip, with some swelling. Harlequin jumped down at my gasp, landing on the spider and squirting blue slime across the ground. Spyder gave a scream and fell back to the ground, kneeling in front of the dead spider and moaning. [/I]

Harlequin: What's your problem?

Spyder: You killed it!

Harlequin: So I did. Sorry. I heard you wake, what's wrong?

Spyder: It bit me.

Harlequin: And you're sad that I killed it!

Spyder: It was a defence mechanism to bite me. I probably just rolled on it.

Harlequin: I think not. I was watching you very closely, you didn't move a muscle.

[I]Spyder frowned, and looked at the blue smear. Harlequin stepped back and scrutinised it too.[/I]

Harlequin: blue blood? are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Spyder: I think not, B2, spiders have blue blood because they have copper in it, not iron like in ours.

Harlequin: Are you sure that this isn't a lighbearing spider? You know they do a lot of animal testing.

Spyder: Animal warfare, not the first time it's been tried by those bastards?. But we don't have enough proof. And I'm not dieing, either.

Harlequin: Hmmm.

[i]Without another word, they leave the bamboo circle and enter the forest beyond. Spyder gasps and Harlequin stops, looking at the direction she is staring in. The forest floor is carpeted with a writhign mass of thousands upon thousands of thick, fat, hairy, black spiders.[/i][/font][/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Harlequin: Copper blooded you say? I'd like to know what they had instead of haemoglobin then?

Spyder: Oh just leave it. It's time we left.

Harlequin: Definately.

[I]They start running, Harlequin diverting Spydre towards the mountains where he picked up Athen's trail earlier. The spiders continue after them, their unnatural speed showing their unnatural origin.[/font][/color][/I]

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][i]They run towards the mountains until they reach the wall encircling the city. Scrambling over it, they stop to catch their breath and Harlequin inspects Spyder's wound again, in a shadowed cover of a house. Blue celtic-designed tattoos and markings were spreading slowly out from the wound in an uneven radius, but he merely kissed the bite and stood up again, keeping the information from her until they were entirely safe. [/i]

Harlequin: We have to keep moving. Uphill, keeping to the wall.

Spyder: Whatever you say, you caught the trail better than I did. All I can smell, for some reason, is the ocean.

Harlequin: It was a lighbearing spider. You are adapting the markings as we speak.

Spyder: ...... oh. ****.

Harlequin: I wasn't going to tell you, but you know I can't keep anything from you. Especially since it's about your body. Do you feel ok, my love?

Spyder: I feel incredible. Really amazingly wonderfully not like I just woke up from a deep sleep, was bitten by a lightbearing spider, ran up a mountain, and climbed over a wall.

Harlequin: I love you.

Spyder I love you too.

[i]A spider dropped from the top of the wall onto Spyder's scalp. She ate it.[/i]

Harlequin: Race you to the top...[/font][/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]They run up, Harlequin not having much trouble letting Spyder win.[/I]

Spyder: You cheated!

Harlequin: Not really. I didn't lose by that much.

Spyder: Oh shut up.

Harlequin: True. We have more important things to do.

[I]He laughs at the look in her eyes.[/I]

Harlequin: Later my love. First, Athen.

[I]They start off along the trail again, Harlequin feeding in excess energy to halt the flow of Lightbearer residue along his love's body. He can purge it later, but for now this will have to do.[/font][/color][/I]

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][i]Spyder and Harlequin reach the corner of the great wall, lined with a narrow, dirt track shaded by huge oaktrees on either side of the wall and road. Spyder felt very weak, but said nothing and kept going, knowing all to well that it would probably kill her outright if they didn't rest soon. But being dead would probably be better than being a lightbearer, right? She mused over advantages and disadvantages of life and lack thereof, not noticing that they had slowed to a very gradual pace. She looked at harlequin questioningly.[/i]

Harlequin: I was walking at your pace.

Spyder: Why?

harlequin: Because you are hiding something from me and this is how I can tell how you are feeling.

Spyder: Bastard...

[i]Spyders words trailed off as she collapsed to the hard ground in a dead faint.[/i][/font][/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]OOC: I was under the impression you were dead already?

IC:[I]Harlequin leaps forward and catches Spyder as she falls, gently lowering her to the ground. Given the opportunity, he centres his mind and auras and slowly enters Spyder's consciousness. The lightbearer's infection is spreading slowly, but surely. He destroys what infection he can, but the larger percentage still remains. Left no choice, he takes it into himself.

The firestorm of pain that assults his keyed nerves almost leaves him breathless. Fighting for control, he gives the ravening beast now within his mind no room to grapple. More a physical threat, a Lightbearer infusion attacks and alters the mind. Which is what Harlequin is trained to combat. His mastered defences strike a firey barrier against the rampaging Lightbearer chemical. He winds it into his mind, leaving it wrapped in thought and memory. The virus responds, mutates, attacks again. Harlequin again leaves it bewildered, and closes in. He burns it out of his mind, through the malice it directs at him. Given a mirror in which to see the soul, the virus wilts away.

Harlequin's eyes snap open. He no longer drifts in his own psyche, but instead lies in Spyder's arms. She looks down at him in concern.[/I]

Harlequin: I'm alright my love. We should leave. How are you?

Spyder: Much better. What did you do?

Harlequin: Took it into myself, and used my auras to destroy it.

Spyder: I really should learn all that. Time to leave then.

[I]Harlequin kisses Spyder hard before they again start running.[/font][/color][/I]

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][i]Suddenly, Harlequin stops and looks confused. Spyder looks at him questioningly, and he shakes his head slowly before pacing backwards.[/i]

Spyder: What's wrong, my love?

Harlequin: The trail... has... split here.

Spyder: Hmmm... must be a trap. Unless they cut him in half. Which I don't think they would...

[i]Spyder looks around at the houses constructed of bamboo and thatch. A distant flag bearing celtic blue symbols caught her eye. She pointed it out to Harlequin.[/i]

Spyder: I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and say that our path will lead us there.

[i]Harlequin shrugs, good enough for Spyder, and they set off towards it, ignoring the trail.[/i]
[/font][/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]Harlequin and Spyder approached the hut cautiously. Not sure who or what was inside, they circled around and approached it to the side, the slight creaking of the bamboo enough to cover their movement. They sidled up to the wall, listening in before entering. They heard nothing. Spyder shrugged, and walked around to the door. Harlequin spins his twin viper into his hands before following.[/font][/color][/I]

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][i]Spyder stepped inside the hut and found it empty. Not trusting anything, she walked into the next room and found a large bed, covered with a chiffon veil of azure blue and occupied by a very, very old man.[/i]

Old man: Hello, Spyder.

Spyder(nods): Sellum.

Sellum: I see that you are one of us now.

[i]Spyder glances at Harlequin and he closes his eyes slowly and bowed his head. She felt a tear slide down her patterned cheek.[/i]

Spyder: I thought that...

Sellum: Stopped the partial decay. But a decayed mind is not what makes a lightbearer, Spyder. Neither the tattoos.

Spyder: Well, then, why do you think I am one of you?

Sellum: Come closer. Please.

[i]Spyder hesitates, but Harlequin pushes her forward gently. She sat gently next to the most powerful creature in the history of the planet.[/i]

Sellum: You know how it goes, you get lucky and stumble across a theory that makes everyone happy. Then before you know it, you control the world. And some stupid fool who believes that the way things were before were better works his way into your heart, and suddenly... it's time to leave. [i]He sighed and closed his eyes.[/i] I was eighty one when I started this cult. I thought to myself, "Hey - one more accomplishment before I leave this stinking hole of a planet." And here I am.

Spyder: But what about the powers? The portals, magic, connections..

Sellum: I'd be ****ed if I know, honestly. Nothing to do with me.

Spyder: There must be some master mind, though...

Sellum: If there is, they are writing everything off as My Holy Doing. Perfect way of stopping questions and saving identification. Happy hunting, is all I can say, really.

[i]He takes Spyder's hand in his own and smiles at her.[/i]

Sellum: Your love was right, it would not matter if you killed me. I was nearly there anyway. They don't follow me, they took something from me and then they put me in an undisclosed location and forgot about me. I'm not complaining, after all, all I wanted was another accomplishment. And this is pretty cool, don't you think? [i]He chuckled and closed his eyes once more.[/i] Well well, after everything you guys were up to, planning, combining, taking oaths, saving your a*sses, you never would have thought that one day, after anything and everything, you would just find me lying here drowning in my own snot. But what else... what else do you expect...

[i]His breathing shallowed until it could be heard no longer. Spyder pried his hand from hers and stood up.[/i]

Spyder: Oh well, that's that.

Harlequin: You know what we said about someone taking over...

Spyder: Yes?

Harlequin: Looks to me as if that's you.

Spyder:..... oh ****.[/font][/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]OOC: Well, I was not expecting THAT! Sorry my love, but it's time to have a litte fun.

IC: Harlequin: And we can't let that happen.

Spyder: What do you mean?

Harlequin: We cannot have the Lightbearers unite again under any leader. Not even you. I may not believe in my oath, but I do believe in tactics. Forgive me my love.

[I]Harlequin spins his twin viper up, a snaking blow aimed at Spyder's head. She jumps back, startled. He spins his weapon around behind him, catching it inches away from the blade with his left hand. With the larger proportion of the weapon extending back hand form his left arm, he sweeps his arm around twisting it and catching it forehand as Spyder again dodges. He slashs downwards, swordlike, and his right hand darts into his cloak, and with a whiplike motion, he again strikes at Spyder, before throwing his kris knife. The waved blade strikes deep into her arm. She gasps in pain, then fights back. Her fingernails shoot out at Harlequin, who spins and ducks, striking a backhand blow at her legs. As he spins back up, he leaps, twirling the stafflike weapon arond once before attacking again. At the apex of his jump, he pushes one point into the dirt floor, cartwheeling over the staff and kicking Spyder in the head. He lands, the grounded point arcing up towards her again. It stops just shy of her head.[/I]

Harlequin: Fight back ...my love.[/font][/color]

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][i]Spyder sobs and desparately attempts to touch her love as he stares cruelly down at her and her tears.[/i]

Spyder: I never wanted to be like him... nobody would know! I'm not on their side, oh god, please don't do this... I love you, please don't...

[i]Harlequin ignores her frantic pleas and strikes once again, kicking her savagely in the ribs and making her scream with agony. She does not attempt to fight back, rather, opens herself to him and lies still on the floor as he continues to kick her inert body repeatedly until the floor is soaked with blood. Red blood.
Harlequin, noting this, stops immediately and kneels down, windering if Sellum was right in her being a lightbearer. She was unconcious, and cold to the touch. He rolled her onto her back and stared into her eyes, checking that they were original colour. They were. He opened her mouth and inspected her tongue. It was red, not blue, and the appropriate length and shape. The roots of her hair were not brittle, and her fingernails still white at the edges. She was not a lightbearer. [/i]

Harlequin: My goddess, my love... wake up, please...

[i]She would not. It was already too late. Although already dead, she had bled too much and withstood too much emotional torment for her to ever regain consciousness. Her last words had been a plea for help, a proclamation of her love, and he had ignored it. She was gone.[/i]

{last post in Latham Adytum}
Edit: As if!
[/font][/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]Harlequin sank down, stricken. He tried to calm his mind, to think clearly, but he was defeated by grief. He thought over what he knew, desperate for anyway he could save his love. She had already died, but was unconscious. Without healing, she would not naturally regain consciousness. Harlequin sent a questing thought out, and found nothing. He stabilised his mind, and slowly bled his consciousness into her own. The effort was telling, it took nearly an hour, and had to be carefully controlled, lest the backlash kill him. And her. Eventually, flickers appeared in her mind, and thought again spun its joyful dance. She awoke, reclaiming the scattered strings of her mind. As well as hers, she latched onto Harlequin's. As he had used his mind, bleeding it into hers, they were now even more one than before. Through the empathic soul link, Spyder could feel his remorse. And he could feel her forgiveness. They rose up, embracing each other silently. There would never be the need for words between them again. Thought, feeling and emotion, they were one.[/I][/font][/color]

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][i]Raven lies back onto the floor and clutches at her throbbing head. Harlequin senses the pain and picks her up, placing her on the bed beside the deceased Sellum.
He then picks Sellum up and, pausing, slides the old man's body under the bed. Spyder looks at him questioningly but does not complain as he pulls the covers over her and draws the dark blue drapes, sheilding the outside world. The room is stained deep blue and Harlequin climbs into bed beside Spyder, holding her tightly and adapting to the odd feelings of another mind bound tightly to your own. Spyder again falls into a deep sleep.[/i][/font][/color]

[The Harlequin]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]As Spyder falls asleep Harlequin entwines his mind deeper into hers, using her somnolent state and lowered defences to increase the bond between their minds. He resists the urge to sleep that crosses into his mind. He sifts her dreams, her unconscious desires. He laughs softly. Then rolls her onto her back, keeping her asleep mentally. Following the fantasies in her dreams, her removes her clothing and his own. He holds himself up above her, then sends a slight tendril into her mind. She awakes, gasps, then in cut off as he passionately kisses her.[/font][/color][/I]

[RicoTranzrig]

[COLOR=darkblue][i]Rico and Valeigh were walking for several hours and night fell once upon them again. As they got closer to the jungle, the constant showers began to blanket them with an unnatural amount of water that they both haven't seen for a long long time. They took cover in a derelict building intertwined with plantlife. Thunder struck their ears while they huddled closely together as the rain and light winds continued to beat their bodies.[/i]

Rico: I never expected this to happen...

Valeigh: I hope we can find the others soon...

Rico: We better take care of ourselves first.

[i]Rico reached into his pack and pulled out a large piece of cloth intended for patching up wounds. He then tied the four corners to the exposed pillars of the building, making a shield from the incoming wind and rain. Valeigh kept on the lookout for anyone who might hurt them...being near the city, they both knew there were a lot of them lurking around.[/i]

Valeigh: Where can we start looking once the rain stops...you know it'll be harder once we're in that section of the city, near the shelter

Rico: It's been a while since we've seperated. And it makes we wonder if those "things" are still there.

Valeigh: We can take them on if they do come at us :smirk:

Rico: Maybe...but I'd more sure about that if Harlequin and the others were here.

Valeigh: Stop saying that...don't wish...just do!

Rico: Alright...:rolleyes:

Valeigh: Whatever comes at us, we're not alone and......we're not going to die no matter what the lightbearers do to us.

[i]Thunder struck...[/i]

[/COLOR]

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][i]Spyder awoke to the scent of jasmine flowers and her love's naked flesh. She opened her eyes to a scene of blue, the chiffon floating lazily in the breeze above them, the mutated vines growing in through the window and across the roof, the blue patterns covering her naked body, lying in the tangled sunshine spilling across the bed.
Looking at Harlequin, she smiled again. Even after her whole life and everything she had seen, he was still the most incredible creature alive to her. She reached out to him, and stopped. A noise, from the outside of the open house. She pulled a sheet over herself just in time before three lightbearing monks walked into the front room and the door way to the room she lay in. They stopped suddenly and looked at her. Then, kneeling in respect, they walked to her side of the bed and stood her up, taking her to the front room again and dressing her, anointing her with oils and then placing a garland of jasmine vine on her head before leaving. She stood there, perplexed, before undressing herself once more and returning to bed.[/i][/font][/color]

[RicoTranzrig]

[COLOR=darkblue][i]Valeigh woke to a light drizzle from up above a hole in the concrete box they were in. She felt the cool, fresh air for the first time as she looked upwards and opened her mouth to let the rain kiss her. She shifted her laying body and felt a bearing weight on her legs up towards her sides. Her arms were holding him throughout the entire night, keeping each other alive from the storm. The piece of cloth that loomed overhead the previous night was gone. She shook Rico awake.[/i]

Valeigh: Rico?

[i]His eyes opened quickly like they always had any other night and the first the he felt were the arms of Valeigh holding him around the waist. He arched his head backward and saw the face of his closest friend. The light droplets of water diverged on her chin and fell to his forehead. He too felt the intoxicating smell of fresh air.[/i]

Valeigh: Rico...are you awake? Or do you sleep with your eyes open.

Rico: Closed...*gets up*

Valeigh: Do you remember anything that happened the night before.

Rico: Other than the it was raining and we were huddled up under a blanket that isn't here anymore. How's your side?

Valeigh: It doesn't hurt anymore...

Rico: Should I check to see if it healed properly?

Valeigh: An excuse to get under my skin?

Rico: Are you complaning?

Valeigh: :nope:

[i]Valeigh lifted her clothing and revealed where the wound was...a small blue scar...nothing indicating that it happened a few nights before. After Rico glanced at it he stood back up.[/i]

Valeigh: We should keep moving...

Rico: Yeah...

[i]Rico picked up his pack and shouldered it. Valeigh stood up and dusted herself off. Their clothes were still somewhat soaked from the rain but there was no use in drying for it would rain soon enough. They stood by a hole in the wall caused by blast damage. One side stood the desert wasteland that they came from. To their right was the luscious but most certainly confusing greenery of the city. The seperation of the two sides was so apperent, a border was nearly visible on the ground and in the sky. Everything that was plated in the desert wasteland refused to grow.
Rico jumped down first and helped Valeigh's light frame to the ground without further injury. The faced the inner sections of the secion of the city they were unfamilar with and continued their search for the others...[/i][/COLOR]

[Ravenstorture]

[color=darkgreen][font=gothic][i]Harlequin awoke as Spyder climbed back into the bed. He looked at her, confused, and she took the garland of jasmine off her head and placed it on his own. [/i]

Harlequin: What just happened?

Spyder: I don't know... they did this kind of ritual thing on me and left.

Harlequin: Did they look surprised?

Spyder: Yeah, but they did it anyway.

Harlequin: What are you going to do?

Spyder: Find the real man in charge, I suppose.

Harlequin: And then?

Spyder: I don't know... I guess I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

[/font][/color]

[liamc2]

[i]Athen scratched his head and sighed. The back of the van was silent, lurching forward as the brakes were pressed. Athen looked up and took his Sig and ammunition back from one of the men. The back doors opened and he stepped out, feeling the weight of the womans gaze.

He turned around when he landed in the mud to see the van rocketing off, belching black smoke into the air. Athen sighed and holstered his gun, buttoning up his coat[/i]

Athen: Now where on earth am I?

[i]He walked along the track, surprised to see the tattoo's glowing a bright blue when they were in a shadow. He smiled, this could be very useful. .very useful indeed.[/i]