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Kirin Quest! [open!]

Started by Rhindeer, December 06, 2014, 01:58:49 PM

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Rhindeer

"Consumed your fair share of..." Kuan started to ask, but then she eyed the fish more closely-and did a double take.

It had already been altered. Belly slit, eyes gone.

...that wasn't creepy at all or anything.

"I see," she said, voice calm as ever. It didn't look contaminated, and the fire would surely purify it. With a shrug, she skewered it on a sharpened stick and held it over the fire.

"What ARE you, exactly? How did you come to be?"
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DaGlobster

At her question, Swarm was still for a few moments before they joined her by the fire, sitting down across the flame from her.

"There was a man. A wizard. His name was Jython," Swarm said, letting a ladybug dance across their fingers.

"He was rather accomplished, until an assistant's error resulted in his untimely death. The first of us, The Maggot Elders, fed upon his shoddily buried flesh, and something within the magic that had killed him sparked life into our collective being. We gained his intelligence, his magical aptitude, but not his personality. The Maggot Elders quickly learned how to bring this magic onto other insects, and we have grown since then," Swarm recalled.


Rhindeer

A chill went down Kuan's spine at his words, though her expression didn't change. She was still watching him, eyes looking to where his--its--should have been. This sounded like some sort of devilry, some abomination that shouldn't be allowed to exist. And yet, exist it did, just as alive as her. Killing it would be a sin, wouldn't it? Since it was alive and existed now, even though by Inima it shouldn't? So didn't that mean that it was alive by Inima's will, and thus had just as much a right as her to exist?

Her temple throbbed, and she resisted the urge to rub it. Oh, she was learned in Inima's teachings, but she was no Scholar. She was a Warrior. She decided then that she would have to bring it up to the Temple and let them handle it, whatever their decision would be. But for now, it was too late. They were out in the middle of nowhere on a hunt.

So for now, what would be, would just have to be.

"Interesting," she said plainly. "Well, let us hope that magic aids us in our hunt."

She checked the fish, found it was cooked, and began to eat, taking care not to burn her fingers or tongue.
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DaGlobster

"There is no hoping required. Our magic will prove useful," Swarm said, and they sat down, crossing their legs. The rags touching the ground unraveled slightly, and soon enough there was a thin bed of insects beneath them. They started crawling about, doings things insects normally did like pick up leaves, pieces of vegetation, and even insects not originally from Swarm and carrying them back under the rags.

"Do not be alarmed. We are merely gathering."

Rhindeer

"Gathering," Kuan repeated with raised eyebrows, trying not to show that she was unsettled. "Meaning...?"
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DaGlobster

"Just that. Food and new minds to add to our collective."

Their head focused more fully on Kuan's face, like millions of eyes had just been turned onto her.

"We understand that we can be rather daunting to your kind."

Rhindeer

"It's...unusual," Kuan said, choosing her words carefully. Wouldn't do to insult him. Them. It.

She rolled her shoulders, putting it out of her mind, and finished off her meal. Brushing off her clothes, she rose. "I'm going to catch a few hours of sleep. I assume you'll do whatever it is you do to recuperate?"
Adamaris // Aderyn // Aki // Alexander // Angel // Axieva // Beatrid // Briar // Cadmus // Corryn // Einin/Owl // Emery // Fang // Faolán // Faris // Frost // Hayate // Ife // Jayari // Jirou // Juniper // Katxiel // Khaiya // Kota // Kyran // Liam // Makani // Max // Maya // Mei // Nakato // Naovi // Nasrin // Niaaki // Niamh // Noor // Pepper // Qiana // Qismat // Quinn // Raxta // Riyarin // Rook // Sachi // Sahar // Siobhan // Simonea // Sita // Song // Summer // Valor // Yasmin // Yiroa

DaGlobster

There was a ahort moment of quiet, before Swarm bobbed their head down in a stiff, comically morbid way.

"We will."

And just like that they stretched out onto the ground. In an almost dazzling array, the wrappings came undone and Swarm lost their shape. The wrappings changed shape as the insects beneath moved around, and their final shape ended up being a dome, resting there on the ground as if it was a tent.

Rhindeer

Ah...huh...

Kuan stared at the dome for a long moment before she shook her head, shrugged, and slipped into her tent. It was warm and humid out, so she hardly needed any blankets, except to spread them out to sleep on, and she kept the tent flap open to let in the air.

She wasn't concerned, though, as she stripped out of her clothes, mopped the sweat from her face and beneath her breasts, and curled up to sleep. Swarm was out there, so anything that decided to cause any harm would have to go through it, first.
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DaGlobster

As the night settled, the dome shifted slightly. Insects like cockroaches and beetles moved to the exterior of the dome, putting their shells out towards the exterior of the dome and encasing it in chitin. Small holes dotted this "armor," allowing Swarm's denizens to come and go from the dome to forage or keep watch. Swarm never slept. How could a creature comprised of millions ever really "rest"?

Swarm would remain like that, provided that nothing disturbed their stillness.

Rhindeer

In the distance, standing in the shadows of the trees, a slender creature watched the camp with eyes like fire and shimmering scales, its tall antlers blending with the branches and leaves wreathing its head. It was quiet for a time, simply observing with still calm. Then those luminous eyes blinked once--and it was gone.
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DaGlobster

The night went without disturbance, and it was around sunrise when the wrappings on the ground around the dome started to shift and rise to encase it. The insects were recalled and before long the wrappings had regained their humanoid shape, and Swarm sat up.

They stood to their feet and looked around, mostly just standing still as some latecomers who were ranging a bit farther away from the dome crawled and fluttered to the safety of their wrappings.

Rhindeer

Morning came, and Kuan rose, dressed, and strapped her sword onto her back. She stepped from the tent and flashed Swarm an uneasy look; they were already up, it seemed, and she couldn't quite look at them without envisioning what lay beneath those wrappings. No matter. Once the job was done, she could wash her hands of the creature as well. For now, she just had to focus on the task at hand, and for all intents and purposes, Swarm was at least useful.

With a nod of acknowledgment, she went about disassembling the camp and packing up her tent, rolling it up neatly before putting it away.

"Rest well?" she said to break the silence as she wrapped up. She didn't know how to really speak to the thing, but not talking felt even more unnatural.
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DaGlobster

After they were in a more solid shape, Swarm gave a little roll of their shoulders before bending down to grasp their robe and put it on.

"It was good downtime, yes. Many of us were fatigued from our long travel. The hunters and foragers did well," they said as they straightened their robe. They scanned the surrounding area, and then "looked" back to Kuan. They'd finished forming, and once again looked like a man wrapped in bandages.

"We must be honest, we did not expect your hive queen to accept our services, or even our presence. Usually, the human hives are more... unwelcoming."

A few insects were still trickling in from the environment around them, hunters and scouts that ranged farther from the hive.



Rhindeer

Kuan bit the inside of her cheek, swallowing down the words that sprang to her tongue: She wouldn't have had she known what you were.

She wouldn't have accepted a mission with them had she known what they were.

But she was in deep now, and she would see this through to the end. She couldn't do this on her own, and this creature was, at the very least, useful. As long as it remained her ally, they wouldn't have a problem.

Kuan nodded. "Catching a kirin is notoriously difficult, and few have managed historically. Only one was caught, and it was kept for centuries, until it broke free. I think she was willing to employ anyone crazy enough for the job."
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DaGlobster

"You seem perfectly sane to us," came Swarm's reply, and finally, the last few stragglers came trickling in.

"And we are a rational consensus above all, we-"

At that moment, a thick moth came and landed on the side of Swarm's head, crawling under the wrappings. Swarm went still and quiet, before turning to fully face Kuan.

"A forager has returned. She speaks of a new smell."

Swarm pointed away from camp. They didn't know it yet, but it was in the general direction of their nightime observer's peeking spot.

"We know many smells, have kept records. If it is new..."

Swarm snapped their fingers.

"...we should investigate."

Rhindeer

Kuan finished her work and grabbed up her belongings. "Does your...forager have anymore information?" she asked, already striding in the direction Swarm had pointed. She didn't want to get her hopes up--she didn't know how reliable the knowledge of insects were, and besides, wouldn't "new" be pretty relative to a creature that only lived a few weeks? But it was something. Better to have a lead at all, even if it turned out to be nothing, than to go in utterly blind.

And besides, she admitted, she really didn't understand how that creature worked at all. Perhaps her assumptions were way, way off.

"I'm sure there are many new smells here, to you, since you're foreign to this land. After all--"

She stopped cold.

Kuan had only just pushed past some bushes and ducked beneath a low-hanging branch when she saw the hoof prints in the soil. Dainty and cloven, they were scorched into the earth as though by fire, some of them pointing in the direction of their camp. There were more, though, showing that the creature had turned and left, the prints fading after several strides.

Breath held, Kuan knelt and touched the earth around one burnt print, and rubbed the ash between her fingers.

"...It was here."
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DaGlobster

"It would appear so,"

Swarm knelt across the tracks from kuan, and dispatched some flies to the tracks and surrounding area. They watched Kuan rub the ash between her fingers and mimicked the motion once she finished it.

"Last night was a good gathering cycle. We learned much from the area and even managed to find some... "locals", as you humans would say. Their knowledge has been invaluable for our records. But enough about us."

Swarm stood up, glancing around.

"If it already knows we are here, then our task is going to be a lot more complicated. It may be able to hide its footprints, but it cannot hide its scent. One of our observers will no doubt find the trail soon..."

At least that was the plan. There was something about a creature of fury and ancestral fire that set Swarm on edge. None of its members liked the idea of fire all that much...

Rhindeer

"If it knows we're here, then it's imperative that we work even faster," Kuan said.

"Kirin are clever beasts. If it's aware of us, we'll have to be even more careful. While I'm not certain of their veracity, I've heard tales of hunters being lured into traps or on wild chases by the things. This could be bad. How soon will your 'foragers' know?"
Adamaris // Aderyn // Aki // Alexander // Angel // Axieva // Beatrid // Briar // Cadmus // Corryn // Einin/Owl // Emery // Fang // Faolán // Faris // Frost // Hayate // Ife // Jayari // Jirou // Juniper // Katxiel // Khaiya // Kota // Kyran // Liam // Makani // Max // Maya // Mei // Nakato // Naovi // Nasrin // Niaaki // Niamh // Noor // Pepper // Qiana // Qismat // Quinn // Raxta // Riyarin // Rook // Sachi // Sahar // Siobhan // Simonea // Sita // Song // Summer // Valor // Yasmin // Yiroa

DaGlobster

Just as she was getting done speaking, Swarm snapped their fingers.

"Done."

They lifted an arm and pointed down deeper into the forest, on a bearing that broke off from their original travel route.

"It went that way. The creatures are good at hiding and moving, but they cannot conceal that smell of fire, especially from us."

They "looked" back to Kuan and gave a stiff but meaningful shrug.

"It is smart enough to value its concealment, smart enough to hide a trail and observe from the silence. Even wolves know how to lay traps, so a creature like a Kirin?"

They crossed their arms.

"A creature as smart as you or us? A trap is all but guaranteed."

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