Futuristic Into the Dark

[Alite]

Adalric figured Arthur wouldn't leave his daughter unless something happened to him. "I'll stay here and treat what wounds I can, so you to go help Arthur. I have some basic first aid training. Setting broken limbs with improvision is probably the most I can do". He begins to go around the room, first making sure that nobody was trapped under anything, then he began to apply his first aid training.


(This post is made to make it so I won't lock anyone to the best of my characters capabilities)


@Kayzo

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

HEEEERES JHONNY!

The little girl Sally was crying for her father to wake up when another Terran female tried comforting the little girl after another Terran male left to go get medical supplies. Neither female saw the Monstrous form of the Dredge loom up behind them until its tail wrapped around the Older females chest and flung her backwards into a pile of shipping crates like a ragdoll. The Alien towered over Sally and her fathers prone form, eyes flashing like a summer storm, this time the Dredge’s eyes did not hold that mesmerizing trait so the Girl was perfectly free to begin screaming any time she would like. But the girls cries of distress had drawn it here, the source was obviously the Terrans dying father.


The Dredge pondered something for a moment, turning its head behind it to check the area before moving forward and despite any screaming Sally might be doing, made a soft cooing noise as it crouched down to her and her fathers eye level, almost reaching out to cup the little girls check but paused and thought better of it, withdrawing its hand with some regret but continued that soft coo. What effect this soothing noise might have had, it didn’t really pay attention for its focus was now on the Terran male. The Alien reached out a claw and touched the mans fore head of which it then seemed to Sally that the Beast enveloped her father in writhing folds of shadow and 3-d gone 2-d layers before the Monster vanished.


The Dredge, in the mean time, had its reasons for doing what it was about to do and kept them to itself. IT found and stopped all the major blood flow from the mans ruptured spleen and stomach, repaired a few arteries, staunched blood flow and reconnected a nerve ending here and there but in so little time it couldn’t heal everything, just the life threatening ones.


To Sally it looked like there was greyish-blue spider webbed veins, threading all along and underneath her fathers skin, pulsating in time with a beat or rhythm unknown to mankind, a song all its own only heard by the creature as it went to its work. When said job was finished it burst out from under Sally’s Dad’s skin much like it had done only an hour before to Sally save this time the little girl was awake to witness every gruesome detail. The little tendrils releasing from her fathers skin, the way it parted, rippled and boiled as what was a tattoo became a living nightmare.


The Dredge stared at the little girl, her father who was just now stirring and got a full view of the deadly, primordial grace that was the DREDGE, the Serai’Drakhoul. Standing only a few feet away from it, so close he could have reached out and grabbed one of those thighs thicker than he was all around. Grey, stormy eyes peered down at him from a tilted head, those eyes held deaths promise in them, the overwhelming ability to carry out said promise just lurked behind those beautiful faceted eyes,before said eyes blinked and the aliens snorted and then leapt off out of sight.


There was nothing more to be done here, it had eaten and or lobotomized every lone Terran it had found. Now it was time to pursue its prey, the remaining humans were inconsequential… for the moment.


Standing on top of the wrecked ship at crash site alpha, its muscles gathered as it crouched atop that metal wreck and jumped off for a not too far off tree, the Alien sailed gracefully through the air and landed on one of the trees rather large outreaching branches without a single sound save for the branch swaying from its new weight. The Creature looked back at the swarming figures that It knew were the surviving Terrans… Later, it thought to itself. Later.


Turning away from the wrecked ship it leaped off onto another tree, hit the trunk, kicked off of that one, spinning through the air to land on another. Travelling through the tree tops as it was, it ate up ground quickly, moving unseen from the ground save for a few local Fauna that the Dredge startled as it made its ghostlike path through the upper canopy, leaving no trace of its passing as it leaped from branch to branch, trunk to trunk with blazing speed.


However it was not quick enough for the Alien, daylight was fading fast and it would be all but impossible to see any smoke plumes or other such debris in the dark unless it was on fire and therefore visible to the Dredge’s Second, Thermal eye. As it rushed along the canopy, one of the bright purple birds it had spotted earlier made a low pass through the trees snatching at a type of snake like creature which was hiding on a branch. The Dredge’s eye gleams as it takes a split second decision and lands, pivots and kicks off. Falling through the air to land directly on the purple avians back and then Synthesizes onto it, the sudden weight causes the Avian to rear its head up in surprise and drop its prey as its eyes bug out, making a mad dash for the sky above in order to escape whatever imagined predator had just leapt onto it. Taking of course… the Dredge along with it into the sky.


The Alien Avian rose high into the planets sky, of which the Dredge was thankful for it now had a birds eye view of the layout of the geography. A smoke plume in the distance confirmed the landing zone of the particular Hooman of which it sought. The Dredge extends its mental dominion into the creatures brain and gives it a subtle suggestion to fly in that direction of which it complies after a brief struggle.


When said bird was over the crash site the Dredge simply ‘fell off’ and dropped into a free fall. Excitement brought up rising core temperatures of which caused the surrounding air to heat up and ignite. Creating what appeared to be a blazing blue piece of debris falling from the sky.


The Alien hit a tree branch which partially broke its fall, the leaves instantly set on fire from the heat of its passing as it tucked into a ball and was basically played like pinball amongst the canopy branches.


When it hit the ground it unfurled its body, four arms shooting out, slamming into the ground and raising the beast up from the earth. Ohh it was in the right spot. The monster opened its mouth slightly and breathed in the air, lower jaw splitting slightly and chittering about. Head tilting this way and that like a bird might. Trying to get the best feel of the area, scent wise. It took a while to pinpoint its preys scent and when it had it noted the smell of blood and two others with it. One of the local predators had followed the Terrans interested but lost interest along the way and moved on to more known prey.


The Dredge itself set off at a breakneck pace, covering in little an hour compared to what took the injured humans almost a full day.


…… said hour later.


Movement down below from where ‘Ice’ kept watch, just there along the tree line. Barely made out by where the stream curved around a bend and was lost amidst the foliage. Whatever it was stopped by said stream momentarily, its silhouette drinking from the stream for a few moments before raising its head and stared directly up the slope to where the Terrans were camped … Six red eyes flashed, pulsated in the twilight cast by the bioluminescent plants. . . then it was gone. They had been found.

 

[iTrinity]

Sebastian chuckles weakly, as not to spurt too much blood onto the stone. Though despite his best attempts, it still erupts out of his lips. He'd go into a coughing fit for a few moments, putting his hand on his knee. He was visibly shaking. Whether it be from the fear of dying or starvation and dehydration, one couldn't tell. Perhaps both. He slowly pulls his head back up to look at her with his own pair of hazel eyes, each of which having dark circles around them. "As good as I could be, thank you,".


The Doctor's mouth opens briefly as if to speak again, though his jaw hangs there a moment. He shakes his head and snaps his jaw shut again, simply continuing to pack up the supplies he had used. There were words that he wanted to say, so desperately needed to say, but couldn't. He was afraid of opening up to someone. He hadn't even told anyone his full name at this point, and perhaps people would start realizing how little they actually know about their mystery captain.


Sebastian's heart skipped a beat. He had seen the movement. The eyes. All of it. "Islia," He says quietly, "Run.. Run, and please, for the love of God, don't look back,". He grabs his walking stick, pushing himself to a stand.


"Run!"


@Jarkov Malachai @Lenchan @PingFire

 

[Lenchan]

“With all due respect former captain, there's no ship for you to sink with here so piss off!” Islia spat quietly, standing to her feet again. She’d see the bright orange reflect in his eyes and turned in time to see a silhouette slither back into the fold of the forest. A small orange fire licked the leaves, seared them to ash where its form entered the treeline. She had no idea what they were up against but it sure as hell was bigger, faster and fucking emitting flame?? How the hell were they supposed to combat that?? Split up? Maybe I can lead it away… It will just make quick work of me and be back. Think of something better than that damnit. She cursed her foot throbbing in pain as she scooped Sebastian’s free arm up around her shoulder and took on his weight. She held her hand down at his waist careful not to disturb his back and jumped down into the water, dragging him with her.


Her nails dug into Sebastian's back as her eyes watered in agony. Somehow she’d managed to muffle the scream trying to tear through her. At least, if nothing else, they could lead it away from Erich. She loosened her grip on his wrist and pulled the revolver from where it sat tucked in her pants at the small of her back and pointed it into the sky. Perhaps the beast would hesitate, would falter? Perhaps it would just become further enraged. Either way, it was hunting them and her goal was to alert Erich of danger. She fired a single round then discarded the gun on the bank, hoping Erich would hear and find it and put the last of its bullets to good use. Holstering Sebastian up again despite his protest she dragged them both forward. This water had to flow somewhere. They just needed time to formulate a proper escape. “Come on Sebastian!”


@Jarkov Malachai @iTrinity @PingFire

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

Let the Chase begin

"RUN!"


The Terrans voice was recognized by those memories of which the Alien had stolen from the girl, its head whipped around from where it had been tracking them along the water bank to where the Humans now held camp. It spotted Sebastian and its eyes go from Storm grey back to that Blood red color of which The Doctor was all to familiar with, locking on like a laser designator.


It slams all six limbs into the ground, tail whipping in the air behind it and opens its mouth, jaw unhinging and splitting apart to reveal the hidden mouth of hell in all its glory. The Dredge's own Bioluminescent change from their normal silver steel grey to that self same pulsating deep, rich blood red color, the color of power, of death, of life! Fire erupts from underneath the creatures armored chitin, red, to orange, to yellow then to blue creating a symphony of colors and emotions. But out of all this display its scream was the worst, it rose from a rumble to a high pitched shriek which the Humans felt down into their very bone marrow. Into the DNA which made them up, it clicked every button that screamed Predator, Monster, Hunter, Reaper of which had been ingrained in mankinds survival instinct that allowed him to survive the demons that of which lay in the dark. Both of mans mind and in his waking world.


It rushed at them then, eating up the distance between them as if it were nothing, its powerful thighs and fore arms working in a harmony that had it not been coming straight for the Terrans to most likely devour them, would have been hypnotizingly beautiful. The creatures movements were perfect, sensuous and sinuous at the same time, flowing over obstacles like fallen trees or boulders without pause.


The Gun shot in the air only made it dig its heels into the earth and Kick straight up in the air, flying almost 40 feet up to where it hit the tree branch above it and vanished. But its flames gave its general area away, those flickering lights of the damned.


Islia caught one of those blood jewels in her sight, just between a branch and some leaves, peering at them from that small crack in the foliage, pupils so thin they might as well have been non-existent. Now Sebastians words made sense when gazing into those red vortex's. Now she could understand of which the fire he had spoken, the broken and lost lives... and the fear. For that was without a doubt which controlled this things mind as of right now.

The law of the Jungle... Kill or be Killed

​

 

[PingFire]

Erich jumped up hearing the pained cry of a over used gun. He raced towards the shot, looking where he stepped, leaving the camp and his box. He soon fell over when the tremendous monster landed on the ground in it's earth shaking power. He arrives at where Islia tossed his weapon, shattered against a rock on the bank. Erich quickly picked up the pieces and then ran in the direction his best friend and new acquaintance ran off, following the Monster.. as well but he didn't care. The only thing that was going though his mind was trying to help his life long friend no matter the cost. "You fucking owe me for this Sebastian.." He told himself out loud.

 

[iTrinity]

Sebastian shoves himself away from Islia. His breath grows heavier, and with it the amount of blood that pours from his mouth. He takes off his glasses, shoving them into her palm. "Listen to me," He stares into her eyes, "Why would she leave the others. Why would she leave a bigger meal for the three of us,". The Doctor looks at the flames again, "She wants one of us,". He then looks down to Islia, "Perhaps, if it can deduce that I showed leadership in the.. Well, ship, she can reason,".


Sebastian backs away from his blue haired companion. "Go get Erich.. If she's after me, I can only hope she'll come after me, and me alone,". He looks at the canopy, now lit ablaze.


His voice crackles and wavers as he begins yelling at the treetops, "Listen to me! If you can understand me, I need you to hear these words!" The young man places his hands on his knees, continuing to look up. "The prison that you were confined to is one of which no creature should be confined to. But you cannot blame us!" His eyes begin to well up with tears, "Remember who you've seen aboard this ship. Our children! Our young! They've done nothing to you!" Sebastian pounds his fist into the water, "If you're looking for the people who caged you, they are long since dead. I killed the last owners of that damned ship," He raises his palms to the sky, "With my bare hands! They murdered my family, and caged you in the deepest part of their damned ship!"


The man pauses a moment to catch his breath, "If you're looking for someone to kill, someone to blame, pick me! I'm these peoples' leader! I'm the one you should seek vengeance against! Not Sally, Arthur, Islia, Caitlyn, Adalric, Erich or Alex.. Not to mention the other children and elders of my species that you've chosen to torment!" He pants, "These people have been stripped away from their homes, their livelihoods, everything! Just as you have!"


He ends his speech with a loud, painful scream as he falls to his knees,


"Get down here and kill me already!"




@PingFire @Lenchan @Jarkov Malachai

 

[Maki]

Caitlyn sighed in relief seeing that Adalric had found her. It was great to see that there was another adult as well as a familiar face. When he started to talk about the injury on her leg, she quickly shook her head. "No, don't bother. Make sure that the others have been taken care of before me." She instructed, not planning on letting him help.


 
@Alite

 

[Lenchan]

Islia stumbles backwards into the water, tripping over the slippery rock bed beneath. She moves to get back but Sebastian stops her, grabbing her hand and practically begging her to just let him go. He had a point, however. Maybe this thing had a directive aside from predatory instinct. She watched him back away from her then slid her eyes to finally take in the thing before them.


She’d felt its heat, but looking it straight on seemed to sear beneath her skin, burning and charring at her bones. Even the most composed man alive would tremble at the sight, eerie, beautiful, haunting, terrifying. This was death. Her entire body froze and her mind blanked of anything but that singular thought. This is death. This is the true dark. There is no running. There is nowhere to hide. There is no cowering away; no fending off the inexorable. There were countless times in her life where she’d been afraid, plenty of them in her childhood where fear was most raw. None of these moments – hell, all of them combined could never scrap the surface of her panic. She had never known depths of despair such as the form that ceased her heart and squeezed it tightly, painfully; harder and harder still, stealing away her breathe and keeping it; lost in the ecstasy of her desolation.


She was going to sit there paralyzed as it maimed Sebastian and then came to claim her next. Maybe she’d have time to drown herself before then...Could she do the same for Sebastian and save him the awful fate awaiting them? Her stomach turned.


@iTrinity @Jarkov Malachai

 

[PingFire]

Erich continues to follow the spotlight like lit forest as he runs after then shouting "Sebastian!" Although everything escaped him as soon as his eyes feel on the huge beast. Stopping dead in his tracks staring at hell. Even from behind the monster his mind is unable to do anything but stare. "N-no.. Not th-this.." His lungs refuse to take in air as he stares blindly at the monster attacking his friends.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

The Moment of Truth. Friend or Foe?

As Sebastians dying words echoed in the air, as despair gripped his companions, the creatures armor flickers up and rattles on its body, warping its figure to the point of after a moments disorientation the Alien vanished.


Only to re-appear five inches from Sebastian, its body heat pouring off of it like an open furnace, blazing, scorching in its intensity. Looming over the man by almost 3 or four feet, it stares down at him from over its chest, red eyes narrowed to thin slits. They never even saw it move from the tree branch it had been sitting on to right FUCKING in front of them. It was unnatural, something this big couldn’t move that fast, or quietly! It didn’t make sense, nothing about this thing made sense! Where the hell did it come from? Did someone make this accursed beast and if so WHY?!?! Questions along these lines filtered through the humans mind, in the dark recesses of their soul as their comprehension struggled to understand the quandary it had been presented with.


The beast tilted its head to the side as if it was inspecting Sebastian in greater detail before it opened its mouth to say one single word, garbled, chopped up and rolled of a foreign tongue which found the word it spoke equally strange.


“LIAR.”


The Alien Bore down on Sebsatian, its tongue shot out to touch his forehead and that was all it took. It slid onto his skin with precise ease, flowing like oil onto every contour of his body that it could fit itself in like a snug glove. An immense weight pushed down upon his shoulders, as if he were ATLAS holding up the sky all by himself yet oddly he didn’t feel encumbered by it, his movements were perhaps even faster than before despite what the rest of his body was telling it resulting in a rather serious headache as it tried to reason what was going on. Sebsatian’s body experienced cold and hot flashes, each passing with burning or bone chilling intensity as a liquid fire filled his veins which banished away weariness but left him feeling as if he might be consumed by flame at any moment whilst remaining oddly fine. His vision sharpened and blurred, the contrasts so extreme that he could pick out every single pore on ‘Ice’s’ face with absolute ease but then fading so that it was impossible to tell his own hand from the background.


To the others, it simply looked as if a mass of writhing shadows and flickering tongues of fire had forced its way into their Captains eye, nose, mouth, and ear sockets.


A blazing presence tickled at the back of Sebastians mind which shouldered its way into making itself know. “WHERE?! Demanded the presence, the words not so as much being heard as they were felt. An image popped into his mind of others like it, they to in cages, their screams echoing in his own ears before being silenced and their cages then remaining empty. “LIAR!” Screeched the voice, tearing a stream of agony down his mind as it searched through his memories to find what it believed was the truth. Fear rode heavy on the edges of its mind, the need to not be alone any more, to go home but behind all of that was the despair that sadly… it knew deep down it would find none but it dug any way in its desperation.


“ What did… you DO? Where are THEY?!” The presence once again demanded not finding anything of value in his forefront memories. A small part of his mind noted that the presence was indeed feminine in nature, looks like this alien species did have tits for the females. Hey one never knew with aliens right?


But both parties in this equation knew that no matter how deep it looked, no matter what it did or tore apart in its futile search… Sebastian was not the one it wanted, not the one who had caused it so much pain, and that It was oh so very alone.


Nevertheless it felt as if someone had to pay didn’t they? For the crimes that were committed to both it and its brothers and sisters! These transgressions could not go unpunished! The scales had to be balanced, they must, else all would fade away as it did before. It did not want to go back to that gray place, that non-death that it had been forced into by the Cryo sleep chamber.


Sebsatian felt it this time, it in his mind, its survival mechanism kicking in gear once more as its Conscious struggled with it and once more loosing. It needed a ground, a place to stand firm but on what?


To the rest of them, Sebastian was just lying on the floor comatose to everything they tried, eyes staring nonexistent as an inner war was waged within him. A perfect replica copy of the Aliens face/muzzle planted on the side of his cheek with its neck snaking down underneath his blood flecked shirt. Red, blood, ruby eyes staring out into the world.

 

[iTrinity]

Sebastian's sanity begins crumbling the moment the Dredge makes contact and slips onto his skin. For the few moments he was conscious and could look at the world, he looked at Islia for those few brief seconds. His hand, beaten and torn from the crash, would shakily reach out to her, before slamming down into the river with the rest of his body.


The Doctor feels something within his mind. Something worming, snaking and clawing its way through his thoughts and memories. It's a sensation that one could not describe well enough with words. What.. Are you? He thinks to himself. Though comatose, he somehow manages to have a small thought process. As the creature begins speaking, no, screaming in his head, the man responds as calmly as one could. It was a quiet thought, one of relaxation. It could be compared to the flow and temperature of the water they now both rest in. I told you. I haven't done anything, and neither have these people. He would pause, the darkness of his unconscious body still enveloping his sight. Dig deeper if you wish to find further validation.





Sebastian's body now lays face up in the shallow river, the glowing water gathering around the edges of his body. Oddly enough, everything just went silent. The birds of the forest returned, and with them the sound of the river dribbling its way through the soft dirt.


Sebastian had acquired some new, noticeable body art. The figure of the Dredge, black in nature, was almost stamped from his check, trailing down his side and to his thigh. Those damned eyes that once symbolized death now remained oddly still upon his skin. There was no possible way this was the creature that once rose far above them, mighty and terrifying. Was it?


@Jarkov Malachai @Lenchan @PingFire

 

[Lenchan]

Islia’s eyes watch wide and disbelieving of the sight unfolding before them. In a blaze of what she could only describe as possession in her mind, the beast became a fluid inferno and forced its way into Sebastian through his orifices. It was a horrific thing to behold and her mind screamed insanity as her visual perceptive processes tried in vain to find a prototypical explanation of the abnormal input. Clearly she was going insane. There was no other conclusion to draw. None that lie within the realms of reality. Islia felt her mind slipping from her grasp and she made no effort to hold on to it.


As the flames disappear and Sebastian’s body returns to a reflection of normal, he reaches out to Islia, and the pleading, diminishing life in his eyes pulls her back into her body. Instinctively, she lurches forward and catches the young man’s form as it goes limp, splashing up waves of luminescent liquid to cover them both upon contact with the river surface. The sight of the beast planted on his face and trailing across the length of his body was horrific, so much so she nearly tossed the man aside. But she willed herself to hold on to him, to face fear in the way she knew best: directly.





Islia shook the man roughly, calling out to him; smacking his cheeks. Nothing affected the void of his eyes, staring plainly up at the night sky above them. He was completely out of reach. And so she addressed the thing:


“Listen to me, you bitch! If you know reason then you know this man tis not the source of your pain!" How can something so powerful and graceful be so savage?! "If you've any intelligence at all, then act like a higher being! Face me!” The truth of it was she had no idea what the nature of the beast was, but she’d unmistakably heard it speak. Speak. It was cognizant afterall and the best chance at saving anyone was appeal to its self-awareness. “If you’ve any desire for resolution to your grievance, then show some damned reciprocity!”


Her words fell hard in the silence and made her fully comprehensive of her powerlessness. The frustration and anger boiled within her, happily replacing fear now that it had waned. Around her, the night played a beautiful symphony of life, churning on unaffected in the way the world manages to do, unconcerned with the worries and woes of all the individuals inhabiting it.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

The truth is said to set one free... Im afraid its just the opposite

“NO!” Bellowed the presence in Sebastians mind in a mixture of both fury and despair, mixing to create a swath of confusion inside both heads. Its captor couldn’t be dead, it wanted to be the one to kill him, it NEEDED to be the one to kill him. There would never be a balancing on the scales for what he did to it, to them, all of them. Nevertheless the truth is the truth, no matter how much we wish it were not so. The alien presence made a few half-hearted searches in the Terrans mind before slowly receding from it, like the ocean tide from shore and control once more was Sebastian’s. His conscious was free once more to assert control over both his body and mind.


However, the creature didn’t leave his thoughts or his body. It stayed there on the fringe realms of his thoughts, on the skin of his flesh. A slowly boiling volcano of emotion and unstable ground as It seethed and brooded. Loathing clashed with honor and duty, which clashed with the strength it needed to survive but the thing is… what was it to do now? It was just as shipwrecked as these terrans, mayhaps more so for they at least had eachother. It however… it was still alone. Oh the irony behind it, breaking free from a not-death and loneliness only to be alone any way in freedom. Fate truly does have a sense of humor doesn’t it?


“no…. “ came a half hearted whisper in the back of Sebastian’s head before it faded completely. The aliens presence becoming background noise in his mind.


The Tattoo did not fade away when Islia started to yell and shake the comatose man back and forth like a rag doll. But instead, the Tattoo’s head turned on Sebastian’s skin and blinked at Her, storm grey eyes sparkling unnaturally on the mans skin before returning to its former position and ceasing to move. The Tattoo had spread out to cover almost all of the mans back, fore arms and shoulder blades with two arms wrapping around his chest and the other around his neck.


Sebastian was now free to wake up… But just what his passenger would do after After its deliberation was done was another matter entirely.

 

[iTrinity]

A loud gasp for air escapes Sebastian's lips. He rockets into a sitting position, clutching his chest as he looks around in a state of utter shock. "I..." The man begins laughing, bringing his hands up to hold his head. "I'm alive," He whispers to himself, gazing down at the luminescent waters.


As the Doctor refocuses into the plane of reality he belonged on, not the one of nightmare or delusion, but the one he was on while he enjoyed his brief moments of relaxation with Islia. Islia. Sebastian realized Islia had a hold on his shoulders. Removing his hands from his face, a small smile cracks the blood that had caked to his lips. "Hello,". Sebastian began to casually play with the waters around them. "This would have been a beautiful place for it all to end, would it not?".


His eyes turned to Erich. "Hey, Box Boy. Go to sleep, this was just a nightmare. Ted will help you sleep, just go find him again,". Sebastian leans up and away from Islia, "I can hear it.. Feel it," He runs his hand around his neck and shoulders. "She's docile for now, I think,". His shoulders rise and fall in a shrug, "Though, I could be wrong. She seeks vengeance against her captors. Up until now, she thought that was us,".


The Doctor couldn't help but chuckle, "She's also lonely. Perhaps, we can temper this flame. Perhaps we can help it, in exchange for our lives,".


@Jarkov Malachai @Lenchan

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

OI!

When Sebastian ran his hand along his neck and shoulders of which the Dredge's 2D body resided upon, instead of feeling his natural flesh and skin, he felt a warm hard, slick surface which rose up from his skin in response the stimulation.


Said touch drew back the attention of the Alien in his mind which snapped at him with a red hot spear in his mind, making its displeasure at having been distracted known before receding back into the depths.

 

[iTrinity]

"Fuck!" Sebastian exclaims quietly, holding the side of his head suddenly. Hey, I didn't know. It's not like I have a guidebook to dealing with a symbiotic alien, He thinks, therefore effectively tossing out a loose form of communication to the Dredge.


After a few moments of recovering from the sudden and painful poke, he returns to his previous position.

 

[Lenchan]

Honey-colored irises glistened in a quiet storm. They lacked any particular emotion swirling around within them, but around them salt water gleamed and multiplied, reflecting the things that surrounded in a shimmery display. The woman attached to them was glistening, too; strands of blue curled and looped in little wet locks against her skin, complimenting the blue of the water streaming from them, making its way back to the mother stream in which she rested. The orbs revealed nothing of the thoughts whirring behind them. At best they were emotional; at worst they were emotionless – it was hard to tell in the night, and probably equally difficult to tell in the light. Who knew where Islia Bulvardo had gone? If asked, she probably wouldn’t know herself.





Islia remained in the hollowed state as she watched Sebastian’s body regain form. The only sign of life she was able to show was the small, quick intake of air through her lips as he sprung to life. The trembling chills that’d overtaken her body didn’t cease and honestly she couldn’t tell if it were from the cold of her skin or her heart. She had no idea who sat before her – it reacted as Sebastian had, shared his gracious smile, his trite humor that matched her own, his carefree personality. But still the branding of a hellish beauty rested upon his face, its eyes full of life and the Fantastic. That was what this all was, a fall into the Fantastic. Her own personal rabbithole. She always believed in extraterrestrial life – it was foolish not to believe – but she had never knew the surreal capacity of her own mind. And now she didn’t believe in her mind at all.


“I see.” Was all the woman could manage to say, though in reality she’d barely even comprehended what it was Sebastian said. She was still descending down from the peak of every emotion within her range of experience. She inhaled deeply again out of necessity, having starved her body of oxygen long enough for her brain’s automaticity to take survival into its own hands.

 

[Lenchan]

Though her body remained still, Islia's eyes immediately dropped and widened at the sight of the beast taking shape from the tattoo then receding back to wherever it resided within him. At least, she reasoned with herself, you can trust that he's.... real.

 

[iTrinity]

The tall, built legs that supported Sebastian began to push him up into a stand. His hazel irises gazed out at the forest around them. It glew both literally and metaphorically. It glew with the hope of a new home, with the glow of life and with the same, luminescence that had always been with the biology on the planet.


Sebastian's beaten hand, the same one that had just reached out for her seconds before what could of been his death, is offered to her again. "C'mon, get up," His smile remains genuine and soft, showing his strong, germanic jawline. "It's been a long day, hasn't it?" He chuckles with a certain amount of exhaustion himself. "Islia, I hope you know I'll keep pulling dumb shit like that,". He looks past her and down to his feet in shame. "I thought, maybe I could distract her.. And you'd be able to get away," He looks at his shoulders a moment, "Turns out I was more than right, I've..." He pauses, unable to think of the word, "Come to an awkward silence with her. For now, you're all safe. Just as I've always wanted you to be,".


His eyes trace up her body, back to the wet cobalt hair that sits plastered to her face by water. "You're right, there's not another ship for me to go down on," Sebastian laughs, taking in a nervous breath. "The truth of the matter is, ship or no ship, I won't stop doing dumb shit to make sure you live,".


@Lenchan

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

well gotta have somethin'

Ancient, storm centered eyes flickered on his cheek to the girl who stood before it, staring her down as if daring her to do something about what was. The tattoo rippled and distorted, an emotion coming to Sebastians mind, distaste at both the form before its host and the proverbial olive branch Sebastian threw it. The alien dismissed both and after a 'wiggle' a flexing of muscle and mental might it retreated once more into the dark. Its host was in a bad way, damaged organs. Unacceptable, a injured host reflected badly upon its owner yes? Grudgingly, the Alien set about the task of fixing the man up as payment of a sort for the grief it had caused. It didn't like that idea to much but Honor demanded as such. Personally, the creature wouldn't have cared if the Terrans had died in the crash, wouldn't have made much difference to it.


Human speech, bah. It was perfectly capable of responding, but it chose not to do so in such a barbaric language that the Terrans used. It refused to stoop to their level, even though it also knew damn well that the human throat was not capable of producing the intricate sounds which made up the Serai'Drakhoul's native tongue. Or even come close to understanding it. This host was the most intelligent of the bunch, therefore the most beneficial as well for the Dredge.


A wave of heat shivered through Sebastians body, like warm honey running through his veins, as the creature though of a particularly interesting scenario which brought it much glee but said happiness faded quickly back into the black, foreboding storm clouds which blanketed the fringes of the Terrans mind.

 

[Lenchan]

Islia stares at the man towering over her for a long, silent moment. Water streamed down off his body, finding its way along the grooves of the outline of the beast that’d made his body its home. Her better mind told her to get as far away from this man as she possibly could. To the other side of the river, the forest, the world. But her heart was the strongest thing in her, winning easily over her weakened mind. She lifted her eyes back to hold his and took his wrist, pulling herself to join him with little acknowledgement of her body’s condition. If the beast inside him was ready for peace, then she would gratefully oblige. If she was foolish enough to stay with this group, what other choice did she have? There is no other choice to be made. The thought rang firmly within her. With him she would face whatever new being they’d happened upon, even if the others favored life over death and abandoned him. That was her decision and it was no longer up for debate.





“I know you will, foolish man. For someone who claims to save lives for a living, you lack fundamental building blocks for life preservation.” She offered the light jab as reassurance, and couldn’t help but chuckle lightly in kind. She shook her head softly and inhaled deeply. The act that should’ve come naturally was still laborious and tiring, but the grip on her lungs had loosened and she was learning the joys of oxygenated blood all over again. Releasing his wrist, her eyes rested now on the young man on shore. How was he fairing in the midst of all this? “I’m glad we’ve come to a temporary calm.” Surely they’d reached the eye of it now, this storm who’s darkness outperformed the sky. At the thought, her eyes looked up and met the stars.

 

[iTrinity]

A shiver overcomes the young man as the feeling of warmth trails through his veins. Sebastian had grinned at her teasing, "Good to see you're back in business,". The doctor chuckles and looks down at her while she stares at the stars. His jaw soon tilts up to stare up through the canopy with her. "Perhaps, you should take a more than well deserved nap. You haven't slept in days,".


A sigh of anxiety slips through his lips, "I doubt I'll be able to sleep much, if at all. I have a feeling this creature isn't too happy with its broken host. I'll keep watch, you need sleep. Tomorrow I'll look for other sources of food for us,".


"Go," He grins at her, waving her off in the direction of the camp. "I'll join you if I feel as though I'm unable to keep my eyes pried open,".

 

[Lenchan]

“Sebastian, you’re more foolish than you let on if you think you’ll get a moment to yourself after what’s happened. You might as well get comfortable with company.”





The sentence was met to be self-referential but turned out to be particularly poignant in light of the being sharing his body. The thought of escaping this moment to have one to herself that didn’t require quick thinking, battles with death and despair, and general concern for the time limit hanging over her head sounded so pleasant it didn’t even seem real. She waded out of the river, limping onto the bank and looked to Erich, nodding. “You definitely should get some rest. We’ve all had a few long consecutive days and I’ll be counting on you to watch over our friends soon.” She gave a glance back at Sebastian before dropping herself down the dirt.


"Come out of the water Sebastian. Your injured enough - you don't need illness as well." Come out and get comfortable with company…And I’ll do the same.

 

[PingFire]

Erich left to the camp as soon as Sebastian said so, not saying a word as his untrained mind continued to try and process what had just happened. His path clearly lit by the algae and grass he walk upon to the makeshift tent. He lies down on the illuminating grass, making his body seem no more than a silhouette against a vibrant background. His body only shifting time to time from his breathing.