Dreams of the Past (inactive)

[Lisky]

"Fur? suit? Get? I mean... unless you're unmodified, you're -born- this way... only other option is gene-therapy, and even then, not nearly as effective.  So i guess you could say that i got my fur from my parents.  As for suit, this isn't my suit.  If i had my suit, you wouldn't be seeing fur at all."

The feline swaggered towards the congregation now.  Chances were good that if lead was going to fly, it would have happened by now.  It did little to calm his active mind, but it was enough to let him drop his hands from the rifle's grip.  Further observation revealed everyone seemed rather confused... perhaps it wasn't a simple matter of being displaced, but perhaps he'd ended up on some lost, dark world.  Unlikely as it was... there had been a few cases of colony ships, and colonies turning up in weirder places.  

He considered what he'd heard.  If she was as unfamiliar with gene-modification as she seemed, he considered the possible demonstrations he'd need to perform to show he wasn't wearing a costume.  The thought amused him.  Humans who weren't openly suspicious, if not outright hostile towards a hybrid.  

[Inumo]

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Sifa muttered under her breath. "Another roleplayer?" Raising her voice, she continued, "You don't wanna break character, fine. We've already got one of those here." Sifa gestured at the Tauren roleplayer. "I guess I'll just have to learn to deal." Sighing, she sat down completely next to Cinna, patting her comfortingly on the shoulder while she remained curled up.

[SquirrelWizard]

Cinna sat up, and shook her head to try and clear it. Her hearing had returned to some degree, albeit everything sounded like she was listening though a cone. "Owww...." she rubbed her ears, "that was too loud... what happened? what was that thing? Is everybody else alright?" The conversation around her directed her attention to Wraith. She opened her third eye and seemed to stare at him through it, the iris focusing in and out for a few moments.

Suddenly she spoke, "I dont think he's a cubi, his aura is the about right, but that looks too big to be a clan marking... so... maybe a half demon? That would explain the tribal tattoo, but not the lack of wings," she paused again, as if thinking, "but it could be his wings haven't come in yet." Cinna realized she had inadvertantly slighted the halfdemon and quickly added, "But thats nothing to worry about, I'm sure they'll come in sooner or later. Its not like being wingless will prevent you from going on bloodthirsty rampages." She cocked her head to the side and smiled.

[Shachza]

The rabbit(-ish) lady didn't seem to need his help either.  She wasn't behaving any more disoriented than the rest of the people in the clearing, so there didn't seem to be any permanent damage to her ears.  Nor did she appear to have other injuries.  He was now more interested in what the cow-lady had done.  Or had attempted to do.  The flash of light was a huge surprise to Tommaso.

"How did you do that?  No projectors or emitters and you still produced light.  And why did you broadcast visible spectrum radiation in order to practice an organic modification?  That's a gross waste of effort!"

Then the smell hit him.  Someone had pissed off a skunk.  That was when he noticed the black-furred cat-man.  Two plus two equalled the panther being the source of the smell, and Tommaso stood up to back away if needed.  He really didn't want any of that to rub off on himself.  He definitely wanted to hold his nose, though he refrained only with some visible effort.

"Mrs. Machnovi, all of this is real."  Tommaso gave her a small, comforting smile.  "I think we're experiencing a localized warping of reality.  Despite that, everything we experience will actually be."  He tried wracking his brain for everything concerning Marauders.  He felt a distinct association with that title and what was going on here, it was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't quite make the connection.  "I agree with Mr. Coyote over there that we need to move; if for no other reason than someone out there is using advanced weaponry in our vicinity, and we don't want to be caught flat-footed.  I-I'm not as sure about this, but I think that leaving the area may also restore things to normal."

[Inumo]

You have to be... "Am I the only normal person here, for Christ's sake?" Gesturing at each person in turn, Sifa exclaimed, "We've got a woman in a Tauren roleplay suit, a guy in an admittedly-well-done panther suit, a second chick with a suit that she built a third eye into, and a second guy that's apparently fitting it all in with his sci-fi roleplay! What. The. Fuck?!" After a moment, Sifa thought, I did not just say that... Yep, I did. Sighing, she tried to sit still and think a moment. "Sorry, I didn't mean to burst like that." Looking at the human in the fatigues, she continued, "Even if you're right, and all of this is real, I'm pretty sure I'm in denial. My professor lectured about it the other day in class." With a sigh, she leaned back on her hands and sat silent for a minute, before heading back to her mattress and checking what was there.

((OOC: Sorry if I'm talking too much! Let me know if I'm going too far.))

[Paladin Sheppard]

Kandela looked back to the medic thankful that the Rabbit-person was ok, "I simply reached out to the Holy Light, but it seems I can't focus it like I normally can."

But as Sifa had her little fit of denial, she just had to ask; "What do you mean by a fur suit?"

[Tezkat]

The coyote cocked his head as the massive bovine knelt over the fallen rabbit girl. Though he didn't recognize the style, it looked like she was trying to cast a spell of some kind. And failing. Hmm. So he wasn't the only one so impaired. Did it have something to do with that strange energy wave?

He casually stretched out his arm and attempted to shape the wind. Even a light breeze--something he could have summoned with ease as a child--proved taxing for what little magic remained. He frowned. Whatever science or magic had silenced the spirits also locked away his innate power. It would take some getting used to. At the very least, he'd have to remember not to jump off any more cliffs. Missing the ground would be so much harder without being able to fly.

At least he had more mundane skills to fall back on. Including some he didn't know he had. Like the bomber that was just shot down... he couldn't recall ever having seen one quite like it before, but he recognized it on sight. And it somehow seemed reasonable that it would only be flying that fast and low if it was near either its base or its target. Neither alternative boded well. He didn't want to get caught in the middle of another war when he had no clue who was fighting or why.

"Miss Sunbless, was it?" The crusader had addressed him directly, so he walked over to her. "Well, you're right that this land's not personally familiar to me, but I do know war machines when I see them, and those are blowing up a bit close for comfort." He gestured in the direction of the crash and explosions. "Now unless anyone here's got cause to believe either side of that conflict would be friendly to us, it'd be prudent to assume this territory hostile. Even a group hauling this much firepower could have trouble securing such a wide open clearing, so I reckon the first order of business should be to get a lay of the land and find a defensible position where it's safe to take stock of our situation."

A few members of the group carried themselves like warriors, but the others... they were not unlike the villagers before the invasion--simple folk unwilling to accept that their world was about to come crashing down around them. Their survival instincts had best kick in soon if this world was half as dangerous as it appeared, else they'd be a danger to themselves and others. Still, he much preferred making new friends to making new enemies. There was strength in numbers.

"Damn. Where are my manners? Name's Tor. Tor Blackwind." He tipped his hat again. "But most folks just call me Bolt."

[Lisky]

Wraith narrowed his eyes slightly at the comment of breaking character, of costumes, "Roleplayer?! Allow me to demonstrate the difference between imitation and the real thing." 
Stepping closer he presented the girl with a bare arm.  "Feel free to squeeze, search for that bagginess you'd find in any costume.  I assure you, it's my real skin.  Or, perhaps you think the whole thing is an exceedingly well done costume, perhaps the moving eyes, flush skin, fur with hair roots, and fine muscle movements aren't enough?"

Opening his mouth to reveal the rows of pointed, feline teeth, and a flat, and very inhuman tongue. 

After his little display to the human girl, Wraith turned his attention back to the other furred individuals, specifically the canine with the shotgun. He wondered if he was simply a greenhorn and had never worked with a shadowhand unit.  "What unit are you from?"

[Inumo]

Sifa let out a small tch noise as she looked up at the panther-suiter. "You think I know what a fursuiter, or any good costumer can do? You should see some of the things people have made." Sighing, she continued, "Either way, as I said, I'm fairly certain I'm in denial of anything that is obvious. I'm clinging to that like a shipwrecked sailor to driftwood." Lying back, she crossed her arms under her head, and stared up at the sky. "I just hope I get over this soon..."

[Shachza]

Tommaso stood up and faced the Tauren.  "Missus Sunbless that doesn't make any sense.  You're still putting a lot of effort in to a visible emanation that would be better used to increase the intended core effect.  I think that you could increase the effective speed of any healing by at least five percent with the energy..."

He shook his head; he was pretty sure that he wasn't being productive by arguing over this.  "Nevermind.  If it helps you focus, then I won't argue."

The conversation between the Panther and Sifa then eclipsed any thoughts he had about the cow-lady's "magical" ability...  er, Tauren, according to Sifa.  He badly wanted to enlighten Sifa about the relatively simple nature of creating what would appear to be a human and animal hybrid, but that seemed like it would be an even less productive conversation.  So while the Panther hadn't specifically addressed him, Tommaso responded to him anyway.

"I am Tommaso Vennet, Grand Master of Biomechanical Sciences to the Sons of Ether brotherhood of Northern Italy.  Pleased to meet you."  He put on his friendliest smile, though the effect was likely ruined as his pack suddenly shifted off his shoulder to his elbow.  "I think we need to get moving asap.  We can keep talking on the way to high ground and a better view of the area."

[Paladin Sheppard]

Chris' examination of his back would reveal what looked to be general survival equipment, which included water purifying kits, some food packets with MRE labels, some spare clothes, spare .44 rounds for the Revolver, and what looked to be spell components specific to his world.



And a Map....



**********************************

Standing back up to her full height Kandela towered over Sifa, and personalty she found it quite insulting that this woman was insinuating she wasn't a shu'halo ((Tauren in her own language)) but a human in some kind of suit.

Scowling the Tauren snorted in Sifa's direction, before calming herself and turning to Tor and Tommaso. "Thank you both for the introductions. So where shall we go? Follow the creek or thrash though the woods?" She asked with a smile.
 

[AmberCross]

A map! This was certainly a find, though he'd probably need to see a bit more than the clearing they were in before being able to figure out where they were much less what some of the other stuff meant. These darned things never came with a 'you are here' sign, but still... it would be useful later. In the meanwhile however it looked as if there was somewhat of a to-do over by that half-cat from earlier who seemed to now be missing his shirt. Chris didn't really understand the younger generation's obsession with not wearing shirts despite situations that often called for them. Granted, a shirt wasn't VERY necessary for their current situation, but it was still strange to duck out of sight just to take off your shirt.

Regardless, he felt it was time to get involved and he had already met the one man who had offered to help him earlier. So he reangled his hat to block out the sun and flexed his wings to work out any knots and ambled over in time to overhear most of the conversation, though he only arrived just before the half-cow (he really should find out what to actually call these people eventually. Or at least her name.) asked her final question. "If I may suggest? Several people here may not be suited for forest travel and it might be wise to stick near a source of water for now. I suspect I am not the only one here who would normally be able to summon water, but I KNOW I'm not the only one experiencing difficulties with things that I should be able to do." To demonstrate he tried arcing a small jolt of electricity from index finger only to have it dissolve into sparks.

[Inumo]

When the winged person was finished, Sifa turned her head and added, "We could also find higher ground if we follow the water upstream." Sitting back up, she picked up the handgun where it lay, then tossed it into her pack. Noting that someone else had rolled up their mattress, she tried following suit with acceptable success. Slinging her pack over her shoulder, she said, "Either way, who wants to take lead?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   The human Nick seemed to have not been noticed yet, just as he planned. Being near-totally unremarkable in this assembly, and hiding behind the large bull-thing probably helped. One person seemed to think that everyone else was faking it. Nick didn't know what to think. This was more lucid than any dream he had, yet he couldn't quite believe it was real, either.
  Some seemed to talk about leaving, possibly to investigate the crashed aircraft. Nick kept on his toes, ready to quietly and unobtrusivly tag along, and with both hands in his pockets, ready to pull out either of his weapons if necessary.

[Lisky]

Wraith flexed fingers before looking at the surrounding again.  "I'd suggest sticking to the water myself.  Running water will conceal our own noises, and, should we get tired, it would provide an excellent means of resupply, and refreshing.  We have the added advantage of the natural cover that tends to line riverbanks.  Beyond that, well... i don't know who has the sharpest ears, or the strongest nose, but we should space those with sharp senses in the front and back."

While waiting for the others, Wraith started flitting through his own pack, trying to figure out what supplies he had brought, or had been packed for him.

[Shachza]

Tommaso steeled his expression; the Tauren smiling was only a little bit better than her scowling.  Either way she towered over him and he was feeling exceptionally small without access to...  He shook his head.  Was my whole life really a dream?  No!  It couldn't be, because I don't remember a damned thing about this life.  He would just have to try harder.  But to do any proper practice he knew that he needed tools first; the more modern, the better.

"I'm willing to defer to anyone with suitable rural combat experience, and backtracking the stream sounds like a decent idea.  There's no garauntee that it will go up one of these hills is there?"

Following the example of the others, Tommaso took the pack from his elbow and opened it to see what he had with him.  Tools were high on his list of hopefuls.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Salem's investigation of the pack would reveal similar items to Chris' pack, bar a larger amount of ammunition for this pistol and rifle, plus a pair of frag grenades and two smokes. It also contained a map and compass, which had symbols that seemed to represent military units around some city by the name of Wien...though none of them seemed to be armored or artillery, only infantry.   

Tommaso's pack however while containing the basics and his Barreta's 9x18mm ammo' had a fully stocked trauma/surgical kit.



The pops and crackle from the plane crash continued in the background.

****************************

Kandela wandered back to her pack and went through her pack after rolling up the strange mattress. It contained more of the ammo for the belt fed Machine gun she was carrying as well as some for the pistol she found on her thigh, and some of the components she used for certain spells..

Slinging the whole thing on her back, she returned the the small knot of people ready to move. "I'll go first, if anything comes up I seem to have the largest gun here, and I'm sure my size might intimidate any attackers."

The Taruen waited long enough to see everyone that was coming to grab their gear then headed upstream walking along the banks for the creek.

[That_wolf]

      After several moments of cowering, Greg decided that he was relatively safe here, for now. He also decided that if no one had been shot yet, it was  not going to happen. Getting to his feet, Greg saw a small pack, a revolver, and a sniper rifle by the place he was cowering. Feeling embarrassed at his over reaction, he decided it wold be best to try to establish himself in a good way. "I could help lead through the woods," the fox said, "I used to spend a lot of time in the woods."

Reaching down to grab the revolver, Greg decided to also check through his bag.

[Lisky]

Putting his own pack back together, placing the spare magazines in the combat harness rather than the pack, Wraith was feeling mostly recovered.  Muscles still a little fatigued, but nothing he hadn't felt before.  The feline approached a nearby tree, and started to climb.  He moved quickly, using his enhanced speed and reaction time to flow up and through the branches as he climbed towards the top.  He was careful to pick sturdy branches given the pack he was wearing, along with the several pounds of guns, ammunition, and harnesses.  He flowed from branch to branch until he was high enough to get a better view of the surrounding area.  He looked first towards the area of the plane-crash, and then upriver of the stream.  He was looking for signs of movement, listening for voices, sniffing for scents that would give telltale signs of where people were coming from, and feeling the direction of the wind. 

He stayed there for a few moments before ducking down a little bit, and turning his attention back to the group below.

[Tipod]

Angel kept his mouth shut for the rest of the exchange, taking a moment to dig through his own pack. At first, this made some tiny bit of sense. Now, he had no idea what was going on, all because of Sifa's reaction to the more bestial members of their group. Even the most sheltered suburban brats back home knew about metahumans, animal-like or otherwise.

Something didn't add up. He quickly gathered his things, not quite rushing, not quite walking to Sifa's side. "Sifa, was it?" He hadn't given his own name, but they had the whole rest of the day for introductions. "Tell me, do you remember who got elected US President in 2008?"

[Shachza]

The contents of his pack were very disappointing.  He could work with the contents of this medical kit, but he wasn't going to like it.  Everything was just so primitive.  There wasn't even a simple multispectrum biometric scanner/imager.  He sighed.  Maybe he could make one by dismantling what was in his pack maybe scrounging bits from the others of the group.  While he was considering he noted the Tauren leaving while the panther lept into the lower branches.

"Missus Sunbless?  Hold up a moment.  Our cat's gone up the tree."  Tommaso stood there watching Wraith's progress.

"I grew up in a country called Italy on the continent of Europe, and this terrain and flora seem really familiar.  If we are in Europe, and he can see a good landmark from up there, I can probably tell you exactly where we are."

[Inumo]

Sifa turned to look at her questioner as she started to follow the Tauren-suiter. "Bush, why?"

[SquirrelWizard]

Cinna had flipped through her pack, noting its contents, and then slung it over her shoulder.

"So... anybody got any ideas why we were brought here? I mean, its not like they left anything in writing. I mean... there was this one time I woke up in this strange underground cavern with some other people, and this Mythos wanted us to dress up like some sort of adventuring group, and go questing with him as the 'dungeon master,' the only things we had were whatever clothing he gave us... I ended up being the wizard... and the one of the other guys was left with the amazon gear," she giggled, "that was funny looking." Cinna then thought for a bit, "Come to think about it, that entire thing was weird."

[Tezkat]

Bolt smirked. His gun was nearly twice as large the giant warrior's, but he had to admit that she did present the more intimidating figure, armed or not.

"I can watch our tail, if y'all are comfortable with that. I've some experience with scouting, and I could render assistance should anyone need help keeping up."

He might need to free both hands quickly for that task, so he unslung his pack and secured the carrying harness so that his rifle was comfortably balanced over his back. He took the opportunity to transfer several magazines of pistol ammunition to his web vest and pockets. Noting that several of the others had discovered what looked like maps in their packs, he checked his own for navigational tools before returning it to his back.

"So are we just going to follow the creek upstream until we reach higher ground? If we need a better view of the surroundings, we could just climb a--" He looked up. The skunk-perfumed panther had already made his way up into the branches around the clearing. "Well, that takes care of that."

The coyote drew his pistol, screwed the suppressor into place, and hung back at the treeline, scanning his surroundings while waiting for the rest of the group to mobilize.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Greg's bag was much like the other's, with ammo food and clothing. It also included a map, but unlike the other maps the one he had  seemed to be a political, with the borders of the four nations on the map in a different colour from each other. Closer examination would reveal a legend and a makers mark, describing it as a map of  Western and Central Europe.

Angel's examination of his bag would reveal more of the same food, water purification kits, and clothing, with a side order of ammo, a pack of eight flashbangs and some quickcuffs.


Cinna's pack is also more of the standard contents along with her own magic's components, and what appears to be a rabbit's foot.


Now with a clear line of sight to the world around them Salem could make out several landmarks. The stretch of creek they were camped on flowed from the South west and made its way to the north east then north, there was a line of hills to the south, and in the distance he could make out a smaller group of hills to the north. Of more immediate interest was a small grouping of buildings only a few hundred meters to the Northwest behind a road, and a factory of some sort to the north east only few hundred more on the same road, with a small town past both of them directly north a kilometer or so away.

The plume of smoke from the Bomber was easily visible from inside the factory, but there seemed to be no effort to put it out, nor any alarms or people nearby.

There was also a clutch of buildings to the south west.


***********************************************

Kandela paused and turned back as Tommaso called to her.

[Lisky]

Salem memorized the positions of what he'd seen, and about where he saw it.  Taking note of direction, location and approximate distance.  He gingerly lowered himself out of the tree and got the map out of his pack.  Using his mental image of the area, ahead, he compared it to the map.

"About a click downstream we've got some type of urban development.  I think i saw something similar on the map i found in my pack.  Hold up just a second."

[Shachza]

Tommaso would give the panther no such reprieve.

"Wait, you have a map?  Let me see."  Tommaso tried to peer at it around Wraith.  "Did you see any markings from up there?  Any flags or symbols?"

[Inumo]

Sifa looked back and forth between where the Tauren-suiter was and where the other human stood now, talking with the panther-suiter. Well, that seemed... abrupt. Wonder if he has ADD... Looking around at the other members of the group, she grinned slightly. Heh, they don't know what's in their own packs. I know I've got... The grin turned to an expression of concentration. Opening up the bag, she murmured, "Come to think of it, what do I have in my pack..."

[Tezkat]

"Downstream?" The coyote frowned. "Towards the explosions? Did you spot any men or materiel on the route that could pose a threat?"

He glanced over his new companions. Some of them looked painfully unprepared for dealing with danger. On the other hand, if indeed there was a settlement nearby, perhaps they could find answers about this world and their purpose here...

Or at least learn which questions to ask.

[Lisky]

Without missing a beat, the Panther drew and leveled the pistol at Tommaso's torso without so much as a second glance,  "Back the fuck off, and chill the fuck out." His tone flat and deadpan.  "I'm working as fast as i can, and you aren't helping.  Now, just because i didn't shoot you when first meeting you, doesn't make us pals."  Digging through his bag with his free hand, the feline retrieved the map and studied it again. 

"Looks like infantry positions.  Some dug in, some mobile.  I dunno how you guys do it, but red tends to mean hostile." the feline spoke while looking at the map.  "If i had to make a wager, i'd say that the plane was a bomber, making it's run over the site when it got hit with an EMP... probably an ion weapon."