Remnants of the Earth
TEINAR => Wastelands => Topic started by: Rhi-Rhi on February 26, 2013, 01:08:30 pm
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With a growl, Soli slammed his fist against the navigation panel of his cruiser and raked his hands through braided hair. Seriously, what kind of ironic bullshit was that, that a flippin' mechanic got stranded because he'd misjudged both fuel and distance? The really embarrassing kind, that's what. There was no way the crew back home could know. Ever. So there was no way he was sending out a distress signal. He wasn't under distress, anyway! Just annoyed! Yeah! Nothing to worry about out here, just...him.
And a lot of dirt.
Yep.
Miles and miles of toxic dirt.
Good thing he kept a mask on board, because with the kind of work he did back on the Vermillion Grief, well shit, you never knew when someone would start tossing around the tear gas and worse. Thank you, foresight! He never could have guessed he'd need it because he'd be stuck out in the wastelands of Earth.
Fishing out the mask, Soli put it on, adjusted the straps, and quickly packed a backpack with a few necessities: water, freeze-dried meals, change of clothes, extra bullets, and a knife. According to his calculations, he wasn't too far from Aurora.
Once everything was taken care of, Soli holstered his gun, shouldered his pack, and headed out of his cruiser and into the wastes.
This was going to be a long fucking walk.
He really wished he had someone to bitch about it to, but he supposed he'd just have to make do with himself.
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Turlach needed a place to take a break, his power suit was started to eat away a bit too much energy. He had just returned from a small venture into a radiation den. Nasty things in there, but the creatures always leave the clothing and gear of their prey on the ground. A few guns and scrap here and there are always quick sellers.
The beeper in his head started going off. The suit has reached it's limit and has to cool. He quickly shut off the power going to his jets... not his best idea. The moment those jets went off, he went into the ground. Thankfully, he never hovers more than 4-5 feet off the ground, but he was going pretty fast.. So it was more of a rug burn than a crash.
A little dazed, a little confused, mostly pained. He just laid on his back, and made a quiet resolution to not do that again...ever.
Turlach sat up, he knew where he was.. relatively speaking.. but he needed to time recharge. He took off his lab coat and strung it up on a couple random sticks making a crappy lean to.
He laid back down, this time under the cover of his coat. Just lying here until the suit's ready, then off again. He turned his head to the open side of his little tent and saw something, a person? Out here? That was something new, didn't look like a scav. Must be off planet.. or something.
Lifting himself off the ground he turned and waved to the figure, "Hello! Care for some idle conversation in this blasphemous waste of land?"
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...And whoever said the gods didn't provide?
Soli jumped at the voice and swung around to look, soon spotting the figure who...was just sort of chilling on the ground, in his odd suit. A suit that was probably better suited to the elements than what Soli was wearing, which was all of sneakers, jeans, and a button up shirt. He raised both eyebrows. That was about the last thing he expected to find out here, a dude just laying around in the dirt, covered by a lab coat.
Well. Whatever made him happy!
Soli lifted a hand and waved. "Uh, yeah! Sure!" he said, and started toward him. "In fact, here's a conversation starter for you--you wouldn't happen to know any conveniently close stations where I can fuel up, would you? Because that would make my day."
It was doubtful, but it couldn't hurt!
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Very, very doubtful.
"Uhm, no," Turlach stopped a moment to think, "Well, unless some sort of trader happens to be crossing the path. Even then it's still pretty rare for them to have fuel." Turlach yoinked the coat off the sticks and pulled it back on.
Turlach clambered off the ground and stood parallel to Soli. He reached his hand out for a hand shake, "I'm Turlach: Treasure Hunter and Scientist Extraordinaire." A small red LED light on his chest started beeping; a female robotic voice emanated out of his suit, Power level at 10%.
He let out a sigh, "Well, looks like I still have a long wait ahead of me. Mind if I walk with you? It would be nicer than the ground." His stomach growled, "And you wouldn't have any food would you?"
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Soli's shoulders slouched and he heaved a great sigh. Of course he wouldn't have any fuel. Of course this random stranger couldn't be useful.
And now he was trying to mooch off him!
He gave the man's hand a quick shake and released him, dusting his palm off on his shirt.
"Food, huh?" Soli's mind flicked to freeze-dried meals tucked away in his pack, and he flashed a sheepish smile and shook his head. "Nope, but that'd be pretty awesome if I did, right? Too bad I was expecting to be, you know, around a city or something by now, not stuck out here in some toxic toilet."
He gave a disgusted look around the place and shuddered. "Anyway, I'm Soli, and I guess you can tag along if you insist. Since I obviously know my way around this place I've never been before in my life and that can't be a bad idea at all. Say, what's with the girl, anyway? That suit fit two or something?"
He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.
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It was worth a shot. He took note of his new acquaintance's attitude. Gonna be a fun time with this one.
"Really? That's a bummer man.. but kinda expected. Even if you did have food. Why would you share it with somebody that knows where he's going?" Turlach just had to put that little bit on at the end. A slight smile pulsed across his face.
He pointed to all the little gauges and lights on the upper right palate of his bio-suit. "This is A.B.A. By that I mean Advanced Biomechanical Aide. She's the AI that was found in this here suit."
The robotic voice sounded again, Sir, at current rate. Suit will not have sufficient power until morning.
"Crap..," he hung his head is annoyance for a second and then threw it back up, "you and I have a better chance of staying alive when we're together." Turlach poked Soli in the chest. "Yep.. and by the way you're outfitted, you'd make a nice snack for a legion of Squeeks."
He locked his left arm with Soli's and started to drag him in the same direction he'd been flying. "Best we get a much ground as possible!" His tone was energetic and light for the area they were in.
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Soli kept the perky smile plastered on his face. That's right. No food here. None. Nope. Though it did bring up an interesting complication, like how he was planning on actually eating said food without catching the guy's notice. Oh well. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it.
He blinked as he was poked, reaching up and rubbing his chest when Turlach was done. "Huh? What's a--oof!"
Then the guy was dragging him along and Soli had no choice but to stumble along with him. He gave one final, furtive glance back at his ship and bit his lip. Oh man. Hopefully she'd be okay on her own for a while, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice. Besides, this place was all abandoned and stuff. Empty. What could possibly go wrong?
"Uh, what's a 'Squeek'?" he asked once he'd gained his footing and fallen into stride with Turlach, and he tugged lightly at his arm in a subtle attempt at dislodging it. "Some kind of rat or something?"
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Aah, Forced Friendship for his own good. Warmed Turlach's heart. He loved meeting new people, even if they'd rather not be met. But this this one looked like he was gonna need the help. Not everybody can just survive in this place; those who do, in his own opinion, were badasses.
He smiled at his new companions question. He let go of Soli's arm when he tugged and turned to face him. Almost too enthusiastically he put his hands out in front of him about 2 1/2 ft apart.
"Okay! To answer your question... sort of rats. We think they were at some point. Now they're more of... rat/bat/rabbit/demon things. They travel in giant swarms of about 200-300, are about this big, and love to eat everything."
He put his hands down still with the smile on his face. He turned 'round and started walking again. A slight skip in his step Turlach threw a little more info out there, "Yeah, we best get off their hunting grounds; considering that the sun has to go down at some point and they're nocturnal."
He was still hungry, but that could wait a little bit. He thought he saw a little tuff of toxic dirt bulged a few yards a head. He hoped it was nothing; knowing his luck... it won't be.
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"You're kidding." It was said flat and tonelessly as Soli stared at Turlach's hands in horror, his mind conjuring up images of giant rats the size of dogs. No, scratch that--"giant rat/bat/demon things". Hundreds of them. All at once. With their little claw-hands and yellow teeth and veiny wings and...
And where did he think he was going?!
With a shuddering roll of his shoulders, like a spider just slipped down his back, he picked up his pace to keep up with his newly appointed "guide". Who was acting way too cheerful after a story like that for his liking. Soli had dealt with a lot of things. He'd lived a life of crime! He'd done bad things! But those were human problems, and he knew people. Mutant things that wanted to eat you? That was another story altogether.
"Haha, funny. You're a funny guy! Is this what they tell all the poor suckers get stranded out here?" he said with a scowl. "Because I'm onto you! I'm not falling for that! Demon rabbit-bat-rat things, hah. Yeah, right. I'm not stupid." Except for miscalculating mileage. His scowl deepened at the thought. "Well, I wasn't born yesterday."
Ahead of them, that bulge moved, the ground cracking. Soli didn't notice it at first, but then the movement caught the corner of his eye and he turned. A faint, scrabbling, scraping sound was heard, and something dark broke the surface, its features nothing more than a dark silhouette against the fading sun.
Another bulge formed.
Jolting in alarm, Soli grabbed onto Turlach's arm. "What's that?"
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Turlach was slightly offended! He wasn't a liar. It did show how much this person actually knew of the wastelands here. Hell, if he wanted to he could tell this guy anything, and he would be none the wiser. He was too nice for that though.
"Hey man, trust me if you want to. But when you get ripped apart by some Squeeks or Beetles don't come haunting me."
He saw the ground move and crack some more. Yep, there was definitely something there. He felt the grip on his arm. Wow, such change in heart. He laughed a bit.
"Uhm, no idea. Could be a large array of burrowers, considering nothing lives on the surface anymore."
Turlach shrugged and continued walking. He was sure not to be too close to the creature, whatever it may be. He stopped about 4 meters away from it, it put his hand to his goggles and pressed a button, a little scanner protruded from the right side. "A.B.A. could you do a scan please?"
The scanner lit up and a small red grid appeared on the bulge. The grid slowly move around on it until it turned green. A.B.A. spoke, Sir, scans show that it is not a 'Squeek" but what you may refer to as a 'Stinger'.
Turlach jumped back, "Shit. Okay.. Let's just made a wide circle around it so we don't piss it off."
He was still backing up when the ground burst open. "Too late!" A long, segmented tail started flailing around. It was bright red with a giant spike at the end. It arched and went straight for Turlach. He dove out of the way with only a small nick on his coat.
He got up and ran to a distance he thought was outside of it's range. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small pistol and started unloading a few shots that the tail. Missing more than hitting. But stunning it none the less.
He yelled to Soli, "You know how to shoot?"
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Before he could speculate on why it would be called a stinger, the thing burst from the ground, flailing a wicked looking stinger around, and Soli scrambled back away from it so fast he nearly tripped over his own feet. Then the thing aimed for Turlach and slashed at him, and Soli shrieked--higher and louder than he'd intended, but fuck it, there was a giant bug and it was trying to kill them!
"Kill it, kill it, kill it!" he yelled, putting distance between both the creature and himself, as well as himself and Turlach, because if Turlach got taken down he sure as heck didn't want to go down with him! And then Turlach was firing at the thing and--oh right! Guns! Haha!
He drew his gun from its holster, aimed, and started firing away, and cringed when it took several hits to its tough exoskeleton before the thing started to show actual damage.
"Oh my god why won't it DIE?! Whoa! Whoa! Oh no you don't! Oh hell no!" It had been hissing and flailing at Turlach, but it took notice of him then and whipped around to face him, crawling further from its hole and snapping wicked looking claws. "No, no, no! Go back in the hole! Back in the hole! Turlach! What the hell are you doing?! Kill it!"
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He slammed his pistol back into his coat pocket and stretched his back. Turlach relaxed his muscles from the surprise. He took a couple steps and yelled to Soli, "Could you just, hold it off for a sec?"
That was the truth. Turlach took off his coat and folded it as nicely as he filled-pockets would let him. He placed the coat on the ground. His black and red suit in complete view. He stretched out his back and arms while Soli was taking the brunt of the Stinger attack. "Jussst a feew.. more seconds.." His back cracked, "Aaah, there we go." He laughed a little bit and all the lights on his suit flashed on. A red light surged from the center of his chest toe the four ports on his hands and feet. A.B.A spoke up, Sir, the suit is only at 12%. "A.B.A, not the time. I'll conserve energy though."
He looked at Soli, still jumping around, barely dodging his adversary. "Okay, I'm coming!"
The ports on his feet jumped to life for a second and launched Turlach into the air. He angled himself right above the stinger and started his descent. He channeled power into the ports on his hands and grabbed onto the tail of the stinger. "Gotcha!" chimed Turlach as he was throw about.
The tail suddenly blew in half, the spot that Turlach was holding had just disintegrated. The stinger screeched in pain and scurried back to it's hole. Turlach splashed to the ground with a thud. He groaned, "Soli, are you ok-" The other side of the stinger, the pointy side, landed right between his legs... stinger side down. Turlach stared at it, "Well..... holy shit..." He scrambled to his feet and dusted himself off. "Very well handled, A.B.A?" 10% again, sir.
Turlach shrugged and picked up his coat. "Should we continue on our way?"
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Oh my god was he ever taking his sweet ass time! Swearing furiously, Soli continued to fire at the thing, growing ever more frantic as it began to crawl from its hole and towards him.
"Oh my gods I hate you!" he yelled, and it was unclear as to whether that was directed at Turlach or the Stinger. Scrambling backwards and away from it, he felt like he had barely put a dent in the thing and--"Ah! You bastard!" The Stinger had lashed out at him, catching him on the jeans with its claw and tearing a strip of fabric along his left thigh. It scored his flesh, too, though fortunately not deeply, a thin line of red standing out and seeping into the surrounding fabric.
Great!
"Will you hurry your fat ass up--!"
And that was when Turlach did exactly that.
He blasted into the air, grabbed the thing's stinger, and fucked it up.
Panting heavily, eyes wide, Soli stared at Turlach. And the stinger that landed right between his legs. And then, suddenly, surprising even himself, he burst into laughter. Genuine laughter, partly borne of stress, partly born of relief, and two parts borne of the sheer ridiculousness of that finale. Rubbing his sides and drawing deep breaths to try and calm down, he shook his head.
"Fuck. You sure know how to take your time," he said, and started toward him, then winced as the burning in his thigh reminded him that he'd been cut. He paused and pressed a gloved hand to the injury. "Ugh. Now see what you did?"
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Underneath his goggles Turlach furrowed his brow, "What I did?! It's not my fault you can't dodge a giant scorpion-like bug!" He crouched down to get a better look at the wound.
He inhaled through his teeth, "Yup, that's a cut. Thankfully it used it's claw. The stinger holds a deadly venom used to kill the biggest things out here. So it would've killed you in seconds." He stood up and turned back to his coat, "Wait here."
He tried to keep that as calm as possible. He walked over to his coat and picked it up. He ruffled through one of the many pockets and pulled out a red T-shirt. He ripped it a couple times in order to make it more suitable to be a bandage. He also took out a bottle of clear liquid. He poured some on the makeshift-bandage.
He walked right back to Soli and started tying it over the cut, "Here, this'll keep it from getting too infected." He finished tying and pulled it a little too tight, just to be safe. He stood up and started walking in the same direction as before; going a bit slower just because of energy drain.
The sun was starting to move a bit closer to the ground; not good. Soon all the nocturnal creatures would be out and about. And they were not much farther than before. Turlach looked at Soli, "We best get some sort of shelter goin', unless you wanna see the Squeeks for yourself." He laughed, although he didn't want to see them again, scary fucking things.
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"Sweet mother of pearl!" Soli yelped when Turlach tied the makeshift bandage to his leg, hissing through his teeth. "What did you put on it?!" Some sort of antiseptic, probably, but whatever it was, it stung something fierce.
Still, he knew better not to struggle, so instead he grit his teeth and clenched his fists and took deep breaths as he waited for the pain to ebb. Another grunt left him when Turlach tightened the bandage. "Ow...what do you mean, 'too infected'? I don't want it infected at all!"
Not that he had much choice in the matter.
And still Turlach was acting like this whole thing was a freakin' riot. How could he laugh after that? ow could he be so light-hearted as he talked about crazy demon rat things that swarmed and ate people?
Rubbing his injured leg, he shuddered and limped after the man.
"Uhhh, yeah, I'd prefer not to," he said, catching up. "And you could sound a little less happy about our impending doom, you know. Ah, shelter, shelter...where are we gonna stay? Have you done this before? Do you actually know what you're doing? Would those rocks over there work?" he added abruptly, pointing toward a rise in the near distance.
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"Yeeah, my own little batch of stuff that'll keep your leg from falling off. It'll burn like hell and leave marks afterwards, but nothing more than that." A little explanation is always necessary, to keep his company somewhat comfortable.
He looked over to the rocks, "I guess it would be better than being on the ground. They burrow. Hell, we've probably walked over a hundred of them." With that he started to walk over to the rocks.
His coat blew lazily in the weak wind of the Wastelands; the sun still steadily falling into the horizon. "Hey man, I've lived here my entire life. But this will only be my....... 8th time outside for longer than 14 hours." He couldn't just let the sly comments of Soli just go by. He had to defend himself somewhat even if his cvomments meant nothing.
He giggled again, pulledf his pistol out and pointed it at Soli, "Hehe, I could very easily kill you right here, or just maim you and leave you for the Squeeks," he lowered his pistol and put his other hand into his goggles giggling, "But that would be a waste. I'm not some barbarian mutant." He put his pistol away and walked up to the nearest rock. They weren't too big, but big enough to keep them from being noticed too easily.
He slammed his hands into the side of the rock, making a grip for Soli. He continued this process until they got to the top. Turlach laid down on the rock, the sun almost completely set. "Yeah.. should probably work in shifts, so we don't oh y'know... die in our sleep," he said is so lazily, "I'll take the first shift." He sat up and yawned.
The ground started to move here and there in the wasteland. The ground was becoming more of an ocean of dirt. All the little creatures are starting to wake up, ready for a night of hunt.
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When Turlach pulled that gun on him, Soli's blood went cold and for a moment there he thought he might actually shoot him, that he'd misread Turlach and wound up flouncing off into the wilderness with like...a serial killer or something. It was the giggle the cinched it. But before he could do anything to defend himself, or make any stupid, impulsive decisions, the man put the gun down and Soli could breathe again.
His hand fluttered to rest on his own gun, just in case, and he let out a weak laugh. "Haaa...yeah...a waste, heh." Dear gods what kind of person had he just aligned himself with? Sweet tits, but if it wasn't already dark, and if there weren't bloodthirsty things out to get them, he might have looked for a way and a reason to slip away then and there.
And, you know, if he had any sort of confidence in his rugged survival skills.
He'd just have to put up with him for now, but color him nervous.
"Don't do that again. With the gun and everything," he muttered as he continued to tag along.
It was a tiring climb to the top of the rock, or was for Soli, who wasn't used to so much outdoors activity. By the time he got to the top he was panting and sweaty, and he flopped onto his bottom at the top and leaned back on his hands. When Turlach suggested taking watched, and mentioned dying in their sleep in the same sentence, Soli gave a weak smile and shook his head.
"Uh...I don't think I'm gonna be able to sleep much, actually."
After all, he'd had a gun pointed at him, been attacked by a Stinger, got terrorized by the notion of Squeeks, and now the terrain was coming alive beyond them. The movement definitely hadn't escaped his notice. He shuddered and rubbed at his arms.
"They can't climb, can they?"
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"Climb? Only if they smell you, but that little antiseptic is very potent and blocks out most other scents from escaping, so you'll most likely be fine." Turlach yawned again, such a nice radiated night it was turning out to be. He doesn't see night often. Too busy working or sleeping.
He heard Soli,"So you think you can stay up? Then by all means. Just don't piss 'em off. They'll kill us both so quick you wouldn't have time to see your life flash before your eyes." He laid down again. Seemly exhausted from this day of scavving and fighting.
He liked this guy, but he needed to lighten up, being too serious will be the death of him in a place where everything else is dead, or worse. Other than that he just liked him, though.. what was he doing here of all places? Or was this the last place he wanted to be? Meh, didn't matter to him. Just gotta make it back home in once piece.
The ground was moving faster and faster, like it was a rug just filled with bugs, it would take a hell load to make these ripples. It would only take a few minutes for thin, rat-like tails to begin popping out of the ground. Searching around for something to eat. A few of the tails found the stinger that was left in the ground. Two large rat-like creatures burst from the ground with terribly large jaws filled with sharp teeth. They grabbed the stinger and tore it to shreds with no problem whatsoever. The exoskeleton didn't even stop them for a moment.
A few hours would go by and the number of tails will increase and some would be bigger than others, a LOT bigger. Some started to come closer to the rocks that they were sitting on. Sticking their noses out smelling something that they couldn't place.
A few of these wonderful little creatures popped out of the ground, looking for something. Soli might have been covered up, but what about Turlach? What was his defense against them following his scent?
They started snapping their jaws. They looked up the rocks, then away. Trying to pin point the scent. They couldn't find it so they quickly scurried underground with their brethren. Hundreds of them are there at this point. Too much for just two guys to handle.
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Soli didn't move a muscle.
He stayed seated where he was, knees drawn to his chest and arms wrapped around them, scarcely breathing, not moving, eyes wide and watching the ground as it came alive. He didn't know how Turlach could just...relax and go to sleep like that. He sure couldn't, not with so much nightmare fuel on the brain--though if Turlach was to be believed, if they were going to die, it might be better if he did sleep so at the very least he didn't see it coming.
The Squeeks were out, making short work of that armored stinger, and Soli swallowed hard. Two squishy humans would be nothing to them, and he felt awfully vulnerable with just some rock in between them. Funny to think he'd been in gunfights before and hadn't even broken a sweat, but this? This was so out of his comfort zone it was ridiculous.
And the Squeeks were acting funny now, getting too close to the rock, too interested. Turlach said they should be alright, but should wasn't good enough, not with those things sticking their noses up like that--and then the few that got too close vanished, but there were still so many out there, and it had shaken Soli. What if more did the same?
What if the next ones figured it out?
Shivering, Soli slapped Turlach's shoulder, and would keep smacking it until he woke. "Turlach? Turlach?" he whispered. "Turlachturlachturla chturlachturlach... !"
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Dear god... why does he have to do that? Turlach couldn't help but wonder. He rolled over slightly and growled at Soli. He pulled his legs to his chest trying to ignore the never-ending calls of his name. Just stay in a ball....fuck it. Turlach uncurled and shot up, he stared at Soli trying to burn holes in him with his eyes, "What?! Just WHAT?" His voice was tired and irritated. He sighed and dropped his head, "I guess I should have assumed you would've done this." He took a deep breath and lifted his head up and looked over the lively land around them. He started to laugh a little, "Look at 'em all! They're so funny, they don't even know we're right here! Right above them." He tilted his head a little, "Hm, I can't see too far with these damn goggles on." He removed his goggles; revealing his lidless eyes.
He sighed with relief, "Much better.... but yeah, 'bout 130 of 'em." He stretched his arms out and stifled a yawn. He picked up a little rock from the boulder they were on, "This'll keep 'em off us." He threw his arm back and a little volt of red light traveled up to his palm. He launched that little rock off into the distance, it flew and hit the ground a couple hundred meters away. The surrounding Squeeks followed that noise and impact of the rock; away from the two.
Turlach looked back to Soli, "Yeah, you want me to take over or are y-" Turlach started looking over Soli's shoulder. The ground was moving again, and this was a huge thing moving. Moving towards them. "Shit.. I think something's on it's way. I wouldn't want to stay here.." Turlach tapped a button on his shoulder, 38 percent power, sir. "it'll have to do.. I wish I had some food, it'll charge faster.. but y'know I kinda didn't think I'd be out this long."
The ground was changing fast, a couple Squeeks got pulled under this massive mound, it looked as big as the rock they were sitting on. It was pretty far, but not for long. It would soon be right there with them. Turlach stood up as quietly as he could, more red lights traveled down to his feet from his chest. The panels on his feet lit up and he began to hover a couple inches above the ground. He held his hand out for Soli, "Wanna get closer to 'the fuck out of here?'" His jets wobbled a little, not operating at their fullest potential.
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"What? Food?" Soli had hardly heard most of what he'd said. He'd been too focused on the horror of the situation, and how bizarre Turlach's eyes were, to really retain much. But one very important word stuck, and it burned in his mind like a glowing beacon of hope: food. Food would repair the guy's energy thingy?
And then the ground began to change and morph and grow.
Oh gods, they were going to die!
Turlach was powering the rockets, though, and Soli spun around from watching the terrible scene unfolding and faced him. The man didn't have to ask him twice. Shouldering his supply bag, he grabbed Turlach's hand and clasped it firmly, then looked over his shoulder to watch their approaching, and growing, doom. His heart lodged itself in his throat, making him choke out his next words.
"Okay, now go! Go go go!" Closer it was growing, and then Soli watched in horror as the top of the mound split, revealing huge, snapping jaws with more jagged rows of teeth than seemed possible on a creature. They seemed to lead all the way down the beast's cavernous throat.
Soli let out a frightened shriek. "I LIED! I HAVE FOOD!" he told Turlach desperately, squeezing him harder. "Protein bars! Things like that! You can have them! You can have them all! Just please, hurry!"
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[OOC: Sorry about the long response, life and relationships and jobs were happening.]
Turlach stared at Soli in disbelief, "Bitch.."
The creature was getting closer but Turlach wanted to see this. It's not like he was asking for much. If he was a mean person he'd throw Soli right into that monster's mouth. That was only if, but seeing as he's a nice guy, he'll just make him shit his pant in fear.
The creature was still getting closer, teeth going around and around inside it's gigantic mouth, it couldn't be very far away. They were just dangling there, he just could not believe Soli. He thought better of him in the few hours that they have known each other. C'mon, after all he had done for him: Kept him alive, fixed his wounds, gave him the best company in the wastelands. A little food would've been a nice trade for his services!
Maybe he should drop him in... nah, then there goes the food. He just sit here for a little bit longer "paralyzed with fear."
The beast couldn't have been more than 200 meters away, they could hear the sounds of the earth as it broke underneath this monster. It bellowed a vicious roar, something that sounds like if you took a blue whale's call and a lion's roar and put them in a blender being overclocked by a nuclear power plant.
This was enjoyable, watching Soli's face in this normally fatal situation. Turlach released a satisfied sigh, "Okay, enough is enough..." An incredibly bright red wave traveled down the arm that was holding Soli. "You'll be fine after this... maybe..." Turlach started to spin in the air still holding onto Soli until they reached what seemed fast enough. He released the power in his arm and sent Soli flying far into the sky in the direction they were heading initially. Putting his hand over his eyes, "I might have overdone it... ha..."
He set his jets to "Move like hell" and blasted after Soli, y'know, gotta catch him before he gets.... flattened. The creature swallowed the rock they were at. It sank back into the ground, still hungry, not knowing where they went.
Turlach brushed some sweat off his forehead, phew. He looked back to where he was flying, towards Soli.... right.. He's pretty high... I bet I could catch him. But then he might die. But I don't wanna fly that high. I'll meet him halfway. He might crack a rib or two.. better than dead.
Up he went, keeping his eyes dialed in on Soli, 400 ft...300...200..150 ...Okay, should be good to wait here. He started to hover and held his arms out so Soli, in hopes to catch him in one piece. That's just what he did, Soli slammed into his arms; pushing the two down a bit. "Hey baby, fell right into my arms, should I take you to my palace now?" Turlach snickered and brought the two to the ground. "Saved your life twice in one day.. tsk tsk, you owe me."
-
[Nooo, I totally understand! That's what got me there for a while too. Dx]
Soli didn't speak for a long time after that. He couldn't. Physically couldn't. As in, the wind had been driven clear out of his lungs and so he was left gasping and wheezing as he shamelessly clung to Turloch in a death grip, eyes clenched shut, face pressed to the man's chest, breathing short and rapid, and heart slamming away so fast he thought he might have a heart attack. That is, if he wasn't already dead. Was he...was he dead right now? Was he alive? Dear sweet gods, but he found himself literally paralyzed with fear for several moments there and was surprised his trousers were still dry.
It was the pain that brought him back--sharp, cutting pain in his ribs. With a grimace and a quiet whine, he cracked his eyes open and looked slowly up at Turloch's face. Turloch could probably feel him shaking, and he wasn't quite able to stop it.
"U-uh..." Soli swallowed back a wave of nausea. His voice was hoarse and his throat felt dry and scratchy from all his screaming because, you know. Monsters and falling to your death and all that? "Heh, yeah...uh. You got a palace?"
He only realized how stupid a question that was about five seconds later, but couldn't find it in himself to care. His brain had short circuited with the shock and stress of everything that had just happened, not to mention the very distracting pain in his side.
-
He stared him right in the eyes, his as wide as possible, "Yes. It is gigantic and filled to the brim with servants. Now it would be very much appreciated that I get some food or we both die." He spoke slowly and each word was just filled with as much sarcasm as he could shove into it. The night was still moving forth and the big'n had scared off the majority of the creatures, so it was just them, standing there, with a power suit running on fumes.
The lights on his suit flickered and made strange beeping noises. He shook Soli a little bit, "Food. Food or death. Your choice. Not really, my choice. Now." He knew that right now Soli must be in a tumult of many emotions, but he couldn't help but express the fact that they are both very liable to die right now if he didn't get food in his system. "Now, Soli, I like ya, that's why you're alive. Snap out of your little daze and get me a bar or I will drop you and get it myself." He couldn't help but smile, he was such a cruel creature, but he wouldn't hurt him that much, then he'd have to go to through Soli's stuff... and that takes forever.
He start shifting his weight around, rocking them back and forth. Then came the robotic voice of A.B.A., 30 percent power, sir. Sir, it is in our best interests to get back as quickly as possible. You do have experiments running. Turlach sighed, "Yes, yes. I know.." He let go of Soli's legs so he could get some footing and then let go of his torso. "Now... food." He whipped out his left hand awaiting food and the other went to his hip. His overall person was nonchalant, awaiting his rightful prize.
-
It was rather hard to focus on doing much of anything with Turlach rocking around like that! Soli heard the words, heard what he was saying, but it was hard to comprehend them when he was still, mentally, 500 feet up in the air, plummeting to his doom. His grip was tight, his body still locked up in panic, and his ribs were really hurting.
It took Turlach letting go of his legs to snap him out of it.
His feet hit the ground, and then Turlach let go of him completely and, wobbly-kneed, he stumbled and then fell backwards onto his rear. It hurt his tail bone, but it also jolted him out of his stupor, and he stared up at the expectant Turlach with some hybrid of relief, horror, and anger. Relief he'd been saved, horror at what he'd been through, and pissed beyond belief that the guy had put him through that in the first place and was now demanding to be fed!
But he knew better by now than to refuse. He wanted to get out of here. Now. Before something worse came along, if such a thing were even possible.
With a groan, he pulled his pack off, set it in front of him, and fished out a bar, then tossed it to the man. "There. Now hurry up! I wanna get out of here..." Shoulders hunched, his eyes darted around the place, as though afraid something were going to pop out and eat them at any second.
-
Yum yum. Turlach caught the bar happily. He hastily unwrapped it and threw the wrapper on the ground and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. With his mouth full he pointed at Soli, "Y'knolw.. Tha' biggun probgly scurred them ouff for now." He continued to chew and then finally swallowed it all in one big gulp. He let out a sigh of relief, it was the only food he had in a whole 24 hours! Probably a little bit more than that.
"Now we just gotta wait for a few moments for the suit to process the food. Then I'll be going faster than anything out here at all." He held out a hand to Soli, "Get your ass up. I just saved you again, with minimal damage! You should be paying me for this shit! Maybe we can work something out when we get to town.." He snickered, this guy is just too funny.
He pulled Soli to his feet and started walking again.
"Seeing as we're awake and the big guy made this place relatively safe for walking, we should make more ground," His suit started to pulsate with little red lights, "Oooh, here we go."
The pulsating increased in frequency and brightness, the metallic voice of A.B.A spoke up, We are now at 50 percent and climbing. We will be at optimum operating capacity in about 4 minutes. The lights had stabilized and just continued to glow in the night. It looked almost like a wild torch in the wasteland.
"We're almost ready to go, would you want to ride on my back or want me to hold ya by the scruff of the neck? Either'll be fine with me."
-
This man was positively insufferable.
Pulled to his feet, Soli walked along beside him, hand pressed to his aching ribs to try and relieve some of the pain. Saved him, his left butt cheek! True, he'd kept him from getting eaten, and Soli would have otherwise been stranded out here with no idea where to go, but he felt like Turlach could have at least saved him in a way that didn't end with him wounded. If they had to run for some reason, he didn't feel like he'd be able.
Tossing him like that had certainly been unnecessary!
"Pay you? I'll already be paying for hospital bills as it is, no thanks to you!" he huffed--and regretted it, because it made his ribs twinge. He sighed again, more carefully this time. "But I suppose we can figure something out, provided you don't hurt me again. Which also means..."
He motioned to Turlach's back. "I'll opt for the piggyback option here. Just...just don't throw me. Or drop me? Or do anything weird?"
Flying was frightening enough without Turlach messing around.
-
A little bit of a sigh escaped from Turlach, "tsk, tsk. No appreciation. Just imagine what would've happened to you if I didn't get up from my nice little spot," He leaned in, "You'd be so dead, man." He purposefully intensified his vision, not sure of Soli could tell or not. He was probably freaking out from the bug eyes still.
He slapped him on the back and grabbed his shirt, "Okay, up ya go." Turlach hoisted him onto his back using just his one hand. He grabbed Soli's wrists and made sure that it was a tight grip. He was gonna need it.
It was just then that A.B.A chimed in, Power has reached it's maximum, sir. Turlach got a grin. He started full out sprinting, tightening his grip. He laughs out a sentence, "I won't throw you, but I will fly with you on my back, so you better hope I keep my grip!"
He jumped into the air mid-sprint and the jets on his feet blasted to life. They were at least 10 times as powerful as before. They were only a couple feet off the ground, for safety. "We're gonna be home in no time at all!"
Nothing could catch them even if they did happen to cross more wildlife. Turlach's suit at full power could crush just about anything in this wasteland, with the exception of the REALLY big ones.
It would only take them a couple of hours to get to the nearest settlement. This would just happen to be Turlach's home. It was a smaller settlement, nothing like Teinar. But still large enough to be considered worth defending. When they got to the entrance Turlach kicked his feet out in front of him and brought them to a halt.
"Ah, there we are. You know how settlements here work, right?" He floated back down to the ground and dropped Soli. "This is where our association ends, Soli. For a little bit. We have somebody around here that can help you with all of your self-inflicted wounds. But if you ever need me, look for the shack with the..the...stuff around it. Pipes and crap." He turned and started walking off, "Gotta tend to my experiments!"