middleofsomewhere | Day 11 Catfish

Fëanor is at the back when he spots movement in the darkness. It's not enough time to react before they're surrounded. The benefit of knowing your terrain is clearly on the side of the natives.

We should have brought weapons. It's the first thought that crosses his mind the moment he sees the other group is armed.

He picked up enough obsidian, earning himself a couple of surprised glances, that he should be able to sacrifice some to fashion himself a dagger. Even if he had to divert it from its intended purpose. For now, it's useless. Just rocks weighing him down. That's the second time he lacks arms and he'll make sure that's the last.

Good news, if there can be any in this situation, it's five of them against five of the locals. Fëanor is not counting the children for obvious reasons.

Raven had kept her senses open, and is not surprised by the appearance of more people. Her hands are brought up, and out--although she's not calling any energy to them yet. She hasn't had to yet, but she can shield all of their group if needed.

Unfortunately Danny's one useful sense only worked on ghosts and his night vision wasn't great when he was human. He tenses as the people surround them and gets ready to move. He could cover the group with a shield or take a couple of them invisible or intangible if he had to.

He was really hoping he wouldn't have to. Because turning half the group intangible would be really hard to explain later.

Curufin lifts his shield several times to catch falling rocks, bang, bang, bang! This is a minor hazard, but he keeps an eye on the others to make sure he shields anyone who doesn't lift their own shield fast enough. However, a greater hazard manifests itself soon enough -- the people they have come to save. He goes on high alert as the five people surround them swiftly.

"We are here to help you escape this dying planet," he says, looking around at the five faces, which he can see because Elves have wonderful night vision. "We received a radio message, a mayday call, an emergency request for help. Does anybody know who Viyanli is? The one who sent the call spoke that name, though it wasn't clear to me whether or not it was the name of the caller. In any case, we are not here to hurt you, but to help you survive. You can see that we are not armed and mean no harm."

Edited 2019-11-22 03:51 (UTC)

“People were in here,” Joscelin cautions, following his nose, “recently. They...”

Then they turn a corner, and suddenly they’re surrounded by people pointing guns at them. Joss sees perfectly in the dark, and can make out their features clearly. Part of him wants to draw his own weapon, but that would be a Bad Idea. So instead he raises both hands and indicates to the others—at least the other children, anyway—that they should do the same.

“We are armed, actually,” he calls out in his child’s voice, taking pains to sound even younger than usual, “but we mean you no harm. Please lower your weapons.”

Tony was the last to enter, he had taken up the rear guard with Feanor. He was attempting to let the natives lead this endeavor- mainly by trailing behind and keeping watch of any of the kids who might have trouble or any attack from behind them.

His large, transparent shield of blue light was starting to lower when he was alerted to others moving around them. His eyes narrow at those surrounding them, ready to change from a defensive stance at the first indication of aggression.

He was just glad no one did anything too drastic at having weapons pointing at them. But from what he had seen so far there was a smattering of discipline in these void warriors.

"Viyanli? A woman hissed, looking around behind her. Those who are able to see in the dark who look that way will see another group of people, huddled at the back. About ten figures, all of them quite small.

One of them, a girl in her mid teens stepped forward.

"Yes. I called them." Her voice was defiant but there was fear there.

One of the men shook his head. We do not need saving. You may leave."

Joscelin pushes his way to the front. He looks very small next to the adults, and maybe that’s the point.

“Your children are going to die, and soon. Have you made your peace with that?”

Edited 2019-11-22 05:37 (UTC)

"Hey, the kid had the right idea. You should be thanking her for making the call to save you guys."

Reigen spoke up, inching forward a bit to be heard more easily. If Joscelin wasn't going to pull any punches on telling the situation, Reigen didn't see reason to dance around the issue either.

"Look, I get the sentimental attachment to your planet, guys, but there's a giant volcano that's gonna take us all out if we don't get moving. You can find a better mountain somewhere else, trust me! I know a lot about real estate."

“Is that so?” Fëanor asks as he moves in to face the man. The others, Joscelin, Reigen, have spoken the truth but he doubts the way they phrased it is going to convince anyone.

“You may believe that you are safe here. With such strong walls around you what could possibly happen? That the world is not ending and all this is just scaremongering to some unforeseen end. Maybe you don’t trust those scientists. Your world has been like this for years upon years and yet it hasn’t ended. Yet you live when they told you that you will perish. But perish you shall if you stay. Your world is ending, it’s demise is happening right now. Consider this, worlds die far slower than people.”

He did not address the issue of the kid that called them on purpose. She’s a brave soul but she’ll be branded traitor by her own. He doesn’t need to add to that by drawing more attention to her.

Curufin is mentally kicking himself for naming Viyanli. Apparently, she made that call without telling anyone she was going to, and now they know who made it. The best thing he can do now is to help convince this group that they must leave to save their lives. He'll have to add his persuasive skills to those of his father. He'll use his ability to cast a spell with words if he has to, but people don't like it later when they realize they've been ensorcelled, and so he won't do it unless there is no other way.

"My father speaks truly. Please listen to him, for he knows whereof he speaks. Our world came to an end, and many died who might have been saved." Never mind that he's simplifying. It was only Beleriand that came to an end, drowned in the raging tides as the continents cracked with the fury of the war between the gods. But Beleriand was his world, and he grieved its loss still.

"Please listen. Worlds really can die. Save your children. You will have help in finding a new world where they may live and grow, and all of you can create new lives."

His patience was already shot to hell. These jackasses had three minutes to listen to reason- and so help them if they take one step toward that brave girl- before they were all getting dragged out by their ear.

2 minutes 59 seconds. 2 minutes 58 seconds...

Romeo was being good, sticking in the middle and deflecting rocks. It was a little bit scary to have weapons pointed at them but scarier still when he realised that Viyanli had made the call on her own and the grown ups wanted them all to stay on the planet! Even though it was about to be exploded by volcanoes!

The kids all looked really scared, even if Viyanli sounded brave at the same time! at the angry glances the adults were sending her way... Everyone was talking now. Romeo took a breath and spoke quietly. "Ringoki. Umbra."

He disappeared. He hadn't actually tried any spells since arriving on the train but he had to believe it would work. If he didn't believe in himself it wouldn't!

He moved as fast as he could towards the children and reappeared. "Don't worry! We will get you out of here!"

The man looked at Joss, a small child speaking so frankly threw him off enough that he had no time to speak whilst the others threw in their opinions.

Rath let the void warriors speak, they all spoke sense and truth and frankly had more experience with other worlds and planets than Rath did.

"This is our home, we will stand protecting it or die defending it. We do not run." The man shook his head at those who had spoken, "You say our world is ending yet they have said that before. It did not happen then. It will not happen now. You are not welcome here. Leave."

As if to undermine his point the ground shook violently as another tremor ran through the rock, rocks tumbled down around them.

One of the other women had turned to check on the children and she swung her weapon around when she saw Romeo stood with them.

"Get away from them?"

To his defense, he tried talking. It just didn't work. Stubborn fools. All that was a waste of time and time they do not have to spare.
Fëanor gives them no more chances. They are just Men, they can't stand against him. His movements are but a blur to those unaccustomed to the sight of the Eldar. It is no more than a heartbeat before he's right at the man he spoke to, a half more before he has the man disarmed with his own weapon now in Fëanor's hands pointing at his chin. Fëanor counts that at least Curufin and Tony would follow his example and the rest have their shields ready. That would take three out of five adults. But it needs to be done quickly.

"Enough!" he cries letting his voice echo with authority he once wielded. His words as powerful weapons as the one in his hand if not more. "You will come willingly or we will make you. Recalcitrant fools that you are. Be glad there are still some that want you saved. I would let you burn."

Oops... Did he get carried away a little?

Edited (spelling duh) 2019-11-23 15:25 (UTC)

Raven sensed the currents of magic, from Romeo and Feanor and called dark energy to her hands. As the chaos of voices and actions hit, one hand came up while she intoned "Azerath Metrion Zinthos". A shield of dark-energy, marking a barrier but not blocking sight completely, dropped over the group of children and Romeo.

Letting herself levitate up, other hand held ready to block or disarm or shield as needed. Ready and waiting, and if need be she could add her own Empathy to boosting the Elf's Command.

Curufin summoned his own magical powers. He smiled and said nothing for a moment, and then he spoke, using his voice as a vector for a vision. Unless the people had strong natural defenses against the intrusion of his energy, they would begin to see in their heads what he was describing, and the visions would carry a powerful emotional charge. They would most likely respond with a profound impulse to do as he was suggesting.

"Heed, all you who hear my voice. Your planet is dying, it's fiery core blasting out of the ground and from the tops of mountains. The stars are falling, the meteors that surround your world in a cloud, and the sun is flaring with fierce electrical energy that will lick the face of your world and kill beasts, birds, insects, and possibly you. But you are not alone. There are ships floating high above this welter of ruin, and if you will come, you and your children will be saved. Do not delay, but assent to our offer of help. You will not regret it."

Not a vision of war, but a vision of rescue.

Edited 2019-11-24 01:09 (UTC)

"Line!" Romeo threw up a borderline the moment he saw the woman point the weapon at them, shielding himself and the children. A moment later there was another barrier, not a borderline but something purple and darker. Also protecting them.

That was good! Two barriers.

"Don't worry! They will talk to your adults and then we can all go up on the space ship to the stars!"

"Lower your weap..." Rath didn't get very far before Fëanor moved. The moment he disarmed the leaders the other moved as well, moving to attack even as Curufin spoke.

His words seemed to strike them though, or perhaps whatever magic he was using to influence their decisions. Perhaps the two other psychics were helping as well.

The leader raised his arms in surrender, weapon at his chin. The others looked to him, weapons still raised, but paused now. Listening.

"We will come." The leaders voice was angry, as if he were aware that there was magic in play. But it was an agreement.

Tony's lip curled upwards when he heard Feanor react. He was impressed he was the one who had made the first move instead of Tony- though the self-appointed leader had been only a moment away from doing something very similar.

He lifted his hand, the whirling sound of electricity was heard as the glowing circle on his armed palm glowed. He didn't take the last step of firing, though, since the others began to surrender.

"Drop your weapons. I warn you if any of you try to sabotage this further or interfere with your children being saved, I promise you, you won't like what comes next. Trekkers, grab their weapons and lets get moving. We've already wasted enough time with these fools. Rath, lead us back out of here. Children go first. You're the slowest, so you set the pace. We're not letting anyone fall behind." He would've ordered the adults have their hands bound, but the journey back up to the surface was going to difficult enough without that extra burden.

It could have all gone to hell very quickly, but surprisingly it didn’t.

Before even Joscelin’s absurdly fast vampire reflexes could react, it was all over. The elves were barking magically-enhanced orders, Romeo was shielded (thank god) after doing something unspeakably stupid that Joss is going to yell at him for later, and the leader had capitulated.

Joss makes a point of confiscating the weapon of the woman who had threatened Romeo, and even though it looks comically large in his arms he handles it expertly. It’s more advanced than the rifles he’s become used to using, but the general principle of the thing is the same.

“Right then, you lot. Let’s get off this dying lump of rock. And if you threaten any of the children again, I will kill you.”

Somehow, the threat is made all the more real when the little boy giving it is holding a gun and smiling in an unnervingly cheerful way. Should his canines really be that long and pointy, or...?

'None of us want to hurt you or anyone else."

Elfnein felt powerless over what was going on and how Romeo was threatened by the people they were trying to help. But, she knew that given the situation anyone would act like that, they were strangers coming in saying that the world was ending.

"Please, just trust us for a little while?"

Ok, in Reigen's opinion Feanor's speech was a little much, but to be fair these cave people were being annoyingly stubborn. Thankfully Curufin had enough persuasion skills (or magic) to take care of that.

"Alright, let's get going. You! Hand it over." Reigen steps up to confiscate the weapon from a still-armed man, giving the head of the group a severe look as he does so.

"Honestly, you better knock off the whole 'never run away' deal, idiot. Your pride could have gotten a bunch of kids killed!"

"It has already started."

Fëanor does not posses the premonition or the prophetic dreams of his son but he was closely attuned to a world once. He spent enough time on this one to learn its ebbs and flows. To start to recognize the signs when its agony, slow at first but already advanced beyond repair, started to accelerate. What was but a loosening of the bonds, now is tearing the very core of this world apart.

The tremor they just felt was its harbinger. Destructing travels like a dark wave through the rocks. It will take hours to reach the surface but reach it it will and when it does nothing, not a living thing, not the sturdiest of structures made by the hand of man, will be able to withstand it. High above their heads, the world's star is in convulsions. A blazing arch is forming on its surface, growing heavy with every passing minute, threatening to release its cargo, to drown this world in a fiery torrent of radiation. A deadly flare.

Fire from below, fire from above. Only a couple of hours and there will be nothing left.

"Time for idle talk is over, we need to move now."

Edited 2019-11-25 01:05 (UTC)

Curufn was using his energy to maintain the vision spell he had cast, and so he didn't take on the task of getting the weapons away from the people. Instead, he came near to them and kept his face and voice calm and his eyes reassuring.

But he recognized his father's concern and knew where it came from. Fëanor had the most complete connection with the earth that any Elf could ever have, and if he said it was time to move, then it was.

"Come, all of you. We must get off this planet, as my father asserts. You will all be saved."

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