how did it ever come [ T O . T H I S ? ] -- open

[Anonymous]

A slight breeze made the faintest howling sound as it blew across the entrance of yet another canyon-side cave. It was barely detectable to the human ear... just white noise really. It didn't stand out from the other noises nature on mars made. Thus, there wasn't much of a chance anyone would try to wander into the seemingly small cave. The entrance would require any average-sized human to crouch down or even crawl to get through it, and who knew if the cave even got any larger. The hole in the side of the canyone was slihgtly higher up, though still near to the bottom of the gorge. Thin, sad-looking plants manage to half-hide it.

Pipra's keen senses (and small size) had helped her find the right-sized cave entrance, based on pitch, as well as allowed her to enter it. Surprisingly, the cave opened up so a few humans could probably stand in it, and a few others sit. The pixie wasn't sure what had originally made this home (she wasn't familiar with wildlife on mars, if there was any), but it was obvious to her it hadn't been visited in a long time. This made her rest a little easier--something she hadn't done in a very long time. The small creature recooperated for three days, sleeping most of the time, until finally her raging thirst demanded she get some water--fast. Her keen mind had helped her design some make-shift canteens (mostly from the underwater plants). But now her stomach bothered her for something more than just liquid.

She eyed some of the extra plants she'd brought up after making the containers for water... Would it be ok to eat them? She'd made sure the water was pure, that was something she could tell immediately when not overwhelmed by cities and their 'technology.' Nervously, she reached towards it. Pip had been away from nature for so long... her knack for just simply knowing things was coming back, yes, but the progress was indeed slow. Her fingers hovored over the dried plants, hesitating. But they were snatched back when she'd heard a stealthy noise... Something most might not pick up. Her long ears with curled tips twitched, straining for any further noise. Obviously whatever had caused it knew they had, and now there was no intention of slipping up again. Nervous, Pip quickly wove a sheet of Glamour over her... if it were something intelligable, it would see her only as a small child. However, Pip was weak, and couldn't make her Glamour perfect. From the edge of someone's peripheral vision, they would likely think they'd seen her for what she was... but no matter, as soon as they would look at her, she'd be the scared little girl again. 'Hopefully, it won't come to that,' she thought, slipping into the shadows. Pipra did her best to suppress another tiny stomach growl as she pushed against the back of the cave.

[Anonymous]

The Karidja Rift was desolate as always. Why Dier had come here he had no idea, but Caros seemed to smell something and now they had entered the canyon he could smell it too. Having animal senses came in handy but the animal curiosity that came with could get annoying and had nearly gotten him killed on several occasions.

     Fortunately the creature he could smell this time didn’t seem too dangerous, magical but not dangerous.

     A little ahead of him, Caros, his panthera paused at a small patch of plants.

     â€œWhat’s wrong, Caros?â€?

     Caros growled and pawed at…an opening? On closer inspection, Dier realised that though small, there was a cave entrance in the wall. Of course neither of them could fit in there but whatever he could smell could. It was in there, he knew.

     â€œHello?â€? he shouted into the opening.

[Anonymous]

Cain stood to attention infront of the Admirial of the Libra fleet, the man was hardly impressive but he commanded repsect, so Cain gave it to him. Dressed in the formal wear befitting his rank, he inwardly groaned the man usually had some mission for him often involving a dangerous misadvenuture, taking off the miliatary cap he held it in the crook of his elbow.

Sir, Lieutenant Jeshen reporting as asked sir!

At ease lieutenant, I have a request of you

Sir!

Have you ever heard of the Thanatos Research Institute of Metaphysics or TRIM, for short

Yes Sir! I have had no personal dealings with them, but i am well aware of some the activities that they have carried out in my time on Mars sir.

Very well, our sources have revealed that we might be able to pick up a scientist from TRIM and use them for the greater good of Libra

Sir.

I'm asking you Lieutenant Jeshen, that you go and find Dier Fenrir and using any method possible, bring him up to this space station, do you understand

That i do sir. However, from what i have heard about Dier, he's not a man that wants to bound down, after all he did leave TRIM concerning his views over their experiementee's

I'll take that as a yes. The good news is that you'll be on home turf, Dier was last spotted on Mars by a interested friend of mine, so you'll be flying into the Karidja Rift to find him, Dimissed Lieutenant.

As the admiral saluted and walked away Cain felt his lip move in a sneer, he was being sent to mars to pick up some renegade, for the greater good. Not only that he had to search the Karidja Rift, one of the few area's he wasn't comfortable walking or flying. Stepping back to attention, he turned and left the briefing room, his mind already working fast, he'd confront Dier and explain to him lie low for a bit, that was the best way to do it, he wasn't going to force a man to do anything. Walking into his room, changing into his flight gear and picking up his heltmet he frowned, lucky that Libra didn't have any phychics on board

Popping the hatch of the Rift Raptor he punched in the co-ordinates of the Karidja Rift and consulted the AI

How long do you estimate

At maximum speed, within 3 hours

Full throttle then, we need to be fast

As you wish Cain

[Anonymous]

At first, Pipra felt relief. The sound she had heard was an animal too large to enter here... and probably too impatient for food to sit and wait for her to need to come out to be caught. It pawed at the entrance, and by her senses she identified it as some kind of large cat... She relaxed a little, and was about to tear the "web" of magick from herself when something jolted her upright.

"What's wrong, Caros?......Hello?"

Her extremely light blue eyes widened... A human? Something, at least, that was able to speak and sound fairly human. A few images fluttered behind her eyes, reminding her of the cruelty of all the humans she'd encountered so far. She hadn't been too afraid of the cat... Perhaps if she could wait until they backed off, she could fly awa... A reminding weight and the pain of memory suddenly overcame her. She now felt nearly all hopeless and sad. Pixies often just felt one main emotion at a time, particularly the strong ones. Pipra could still feel her wings on her back, but the full version of them was just a memory ghost. Her wings had long since been torn away. She now felt completely hopeless... This human was as bad as the rest, she was sure, and would enslave her just as the rest had. Who wouldn't want a pixie working for them, anyways? When controlling one, she could flawlessly counterfeit money... anything so long as she had the energy to put into the glamour. Her past owners hadn't really realized this, but they did have bonds that disallowed her to use her magic.

Idly, she rubbed the two sides of her snake-like tongue together. They writhed together often when she had to think very hard... Finally she came to a conclusion... she'd wait and see what this human would do. She still had her glamour on, afterall. She worked on it a little better, adding more strength and reality to it. Her eyes were now a light brown, and her hair was missing the fiery colors and was simply a dark auburn. Her size actually decreased a little, too, giving her more child-like porportions. She couldn't disquise her voice, but she gave it a babyish tone (her slight lisp from the split helped). "Hello? Who's there?"

[Anonymous]

Dier was surprised to hear the voice of a child come from the cavern. How did a child get all the way out here? Without a spaceship it was nearly impossible, he had only survived because of Caros.

     â€œAre you alright?â€? he shouted to whoever was in the cave.

     Though they sounded human, it was possible they weren’t. Either that or they were a very gifted child.

     Caros by now was trying to squeeze his way into the cavern but as he was about the same size as Dier he was finding it difficult.

     â€œThere must be something really interesting about them if Caros is this anxious to get to them,â€? Dier thought, “Or they might be injured.â€?

[Anonymous]

((I figure that as Cain isn't quite yet to where we are, it would be alright if I forego his post. Sorry if it's not!))


The cat was trying to get in. The cat was trying to get in. Fear overtook the petite thing... She was of a smaller size, yes, 5'2", and had had some problems herself getting in, but what if that cat got in? She knew cats could stretch and shape themselves. She'd seen it done. Pipra shuddered and whispered, hopeing only the cat would hear her. "Please don't hurt me...[/i]" She slid down into a sitting position in the back of the small cave. The size of the cat made the reality of its size apparent to her.

Pipra squeaked nervously, hearing the human's voice from behind the cat. Didn't sound like he'd be leaving anytime soon... His voice was as curious as the large cat seemed. He had asked if she was alright... Obviously that would make him not too terrible... But she'd heard from other slaves how their captors had seemed nice at first, but once they were away from the homes of whoever was enslaved, they turned a scary evil. Pipra looked at her canteens... There really was no escape, and she didn't want to die here in a cave, not so soon after her newfound freedom. How had she gotten here, anyways? Her hand instinctively went to the still-fresh injury on the back of her head. She'd been hit with the edge of some metal object, which jolted her in such a way a part of her brain, the hippocampus, was damaged. She'd already had issues with memory after her capture (she'd been abducted in a similar way), but now the memories she'd form sometimes came up slightly blurred, and some she just couldn't remember whatsoever.

What should she say? What could she respond with... She didn't know how children spoke, particularly human children. Her hand came down from her head... there was mostly dried flakes of blood on it, but there was also a little bit of blood that had oozed fresh from the gash. Pipra realized she probably could use some help... but she just didn't trust the human. She spoke, but faltered in her lie. "I'm... I'm f-fine! Go away!"

[Anonymous]

Dier could smell fear now, whatever was in the cave was afraid of him.

     â€œI won’t hurt you,â€? Dier shouted into the cave, “I was just wondering how you got all the way out here.â€?

     He crouched down next the entrance of the cave, nudging Caros out of the way slightly so he could hear and smell into the cave better.

     Now as well as fear he could smell blood. So they were injured.

     â€œI can smell blood. Are you sure you’re alright? I promise I won’t hurt you and neither will Caros. He’s a big pussy cat really.â€?

     Caros snorted indignantly at the comment but Dier ignored him.

[Anonymous]

Cain having made his descent to Mars seemingly unnoticed by his old friends, heading straight to the Karidja Rift, pulling the Rift Raptor to a halt he landed at a small village near the top of the canyon, popping the hatch knowing that it was safe to breath the air he unlatched his harness and leaped out of the cockpit.

Quickly looking over the place he frowned, taking of his military issue jacket, he tossed it back in and closed the hatch, he'd have to act like a mercenary. Throwing a bit of a swagger into his walk he raised his upper lip in what he hoped would be a sneer.

Heading straight for the bar he kicked open the door and walked up to the counter, dropping some coins he motioned to a dusty bottle of brandy, wincing as the barman struck up a conversation he hoped that his accepted wouldn't give him away

New to these parts eh?

Just passing by

We dont get many travelers here these days

Is that right

Yup, only the odd Core pilot and TRIM 'recruitment' officer to claim tax or some bounty

Trim? Hmm know any of the employee's by name?

'Friad not, heres your brandy

Grunting a thanks Cain took a slug straight from the bottle, he'd have to fly over the rift itself and perform a censor check, but the rocks would inhibit it, why did Libra want people that were so hard to find...

[Anonymous]

"I won’t hurt you, I was just wondering how you got all the way out here... I can smell blood. Are you sure you’re alright? I promise I won’t hurt you and neither will Caros. He’s a big pussy cat really."

Pipra let her lip be sucked into her mouth a little, and she gently held it there with her teeth. She did need help, it was true... she didn't know how to heal herself with any of the strange plantlife she might come across here on mars... She turned her hand over in the bit of light that was in the cave. The blood on it prompted her to at least answer. "I don't know how I got..." Pipra hesitated a moment, realizing she was talking with her normal voice. She still had the slight lisp, granted, but she didn't think she sounded much like a child. Who knew whether or not she really did... She quickly glided her voice to sound more childlike as she continued speaking, "here... my head hurts.[/b]"

She now had to turn over the thought in her head of what he had said... He could smell her blood? Most humans couldn't, she knew. They could in large ammounts, usually, and some had slightly hypersensitive noses, but even then they couldn't smell blood. Pipra was now even more wary of this man... and she knew that when many cats could smell blood in something smaller than them, they were likely to try & finish off whatever was bleeding...

The pixie dropped to her hands and knees. She was fairly quiet in doing so; she couldn't help that. In fact, she had to purposefully make the noise of her movement. She pulled her knees up so she could rest her chin on them. Pipra wasn't quite ready to come out yet, she needed something that would convince her of her safety. She was going to come out, but it might take a while if something didn't feel right.

[Anonymous]

Dier couldn’t help but notice the change in the ‘child’s’ voice, it was clear now she wasn’t human. That might explain how she got there by herself. He was a little bit more wary now but she was injured and he wanted to help her.

     Maybe he could find another way in the cave, through a back entrance or something. Though the creature might have chosen that particular cave because there was only one way in and out.

     By now, Caros had started to dig at the ground which was apparently softer than they had first thought. If Caros wanted something he was sure as hell going to get it. Like Dier had told the girl though, the panthera wouldn’t hurt her, he smelled the blood and wanted to help her as well.