IC The Shard Coast

[Samlen]

"I have no idea. You might want to ask the inquisitors over there." Sverrir points over where he had last seen them next to the horse and man. "Sorry for the rush but I've got to help stop the beast before it hurts anyone else. Good luck," says Sverrir as he rushes towards the path of destruction.
((Infected_alien8_ ))

 

[Faliara]

Pingere stood there, feeling lost.

So... What do I do now?

It was then that he noticed a large hole in the ground.

'...'

It was rather large. About as large as the creature itself, Pingere noted. That's where it came from?

Curiosity taking hold, he prepared to jump in, stopping to look around the area one more time.

The sight still made him feel ill- the bodies were littered everywhere, the smell of blood beginning to fill his nose. Nausea began to rise up in his throat again, and he covered his mouth and shut his eyes, kicking down the urge to puke.

He looked at the direction Olivia headed down, considering going after her to speak of it, before dismissing the notion. She's going after the creature, he thought. I can tell her about it later, if I see her again.

With that said, Pingere began to lower himself down the hole.

'...'

Only to push himself right back up when he realized the direction the creature headed was exactly the direction the other guy and the baby had gone.

~.~.~

Upon the assumption that he is looking in the correct direction, Luke might be able to see a person (far too androgynous to tell for certain if they are male or female without staring directly at their chest) making a beeline towards him, running far too quickly to be considered natural.

 

[Infected_alien8_]

Before Luke could respond, the guy, who he realized looked strangely like someone Luke knew back in his home town, had gone again, running towards where the monster had gone. Luke looked down at the baby and sighed, and then up at the sky. And then back to where he was headed...and noticed a figure in the distance, seeming to be sprinting towards him. He stopped still in his tracks, baby clutched closely to his chest, and cautiously waited for the figure to either pass or approach him.

((Faliara))

 

[Faliara]

Pingere spotted the boy he gave the baby earlier, standing still and watching him, the baby clutched to his chest. Relief washed over him, and he slowed to a walk, stopping in front of him.

"Hi," he greeted, attempting to control his panting. He could not stop the smile of relief spreading on his face.

 

[Infected_alien8_]

This person's face jogged Luke's memory. "Oh! It's you!" he said, watching as they tried to get their breath back. "You gave me this, right?"

 

[Faliara]

"Yeah." Pingere took a moment to look over both the boy and the baby for any injuries. The boy was around his age, he noted (possibly a little older?) and taller than him, as well; understandable, since Pingere was always a little on the short side. All things that he hadn't realized in the rush earlier on. "The... Mutt... Thing... Came by this way, right? Are you two alright?"

 

[Infected_alien8_]

"Yeah, we're fine. I think. Would you like him..her..back? Him?" He held the baby out in front of him to the other boy... at least, he thought they were a boy, but it was fairly difficult to tell. What he did notice was their eyes. They were golden. In an odd sort of way, Luke trusted this person purely because of their eyes.

 

[Faliara]

"They're not mine," Pingere let him know, hesitantly stroking the baby's cheek. The baby stares back. "I... The mother died earlier, when the mutt appeared. I just found them crying."

 

[Infected_alien8_]

A lump formed in Luke's throat. "Oh..."

He looked down at the baby, back up at the boy's sad, warm eyes, and back to the baby again.

After a pause, Luke asked, "What should I do with it? Them?"

 

[Faliara]

Pingere thought about it. "There were a couple of Inquisitors back there," he told the boy. "We could go and pass the baby on to them, and they'd know what to do with it..." and then he remembered the absolute massacre that has become of The Marble Square. "But, uh, I could bring the baby myself, if you don't want to go back," he offered, carefully not thinking about his own nausea. "Or we could find their headquarters, or... Or something." Pingere averted his eyes. "I don't know where that is."

 

[CaffeinatedKitty]

((sorry to stick this in the middle of your conversation but I have to before I forget <3))

Eitri is relearning very quickly that their endurance sucks.

Sure they made it a decent distance outside the city before they started flagging...but they've been sitting on the ground trying to catch their breath for a good few minutes now.
After several more they deem themselves ready to continue on and do so, not far behind the Inquisitors that had passed them by, hidden as they were.

They can only hope that they'll manage to find the trail of some other beast--one that's not doomed to be dead within the day. They can't get much of the information they want from a corpse, after all.

 

[Infected_alien8_]

"Speaking to the Inquisitors sounds good. I'll come with you though, I don't mind."

He turned towards the initial site of destruction and adjusted the baby in his arms, smiling at the other boy and nodding his head towards the direction he wanted to go in, as a gesture to walk with him.

 

[Faliara]

"Alright then." Pingere smiled at him, and turned towards the direction he came from- and then turned his head back towards the boy. "Um... I'm Pingere, by the way. What's your name?"

 

[Infected_alien8_]

"Luke. Pleased to meet you Pingere."

He walked along with Pingere down the rubble-filled path, over bits of broken stone and glass.

"So, do you live here?"

 

[Faliara]

Pingere shook his head. "Just passing by. I travel a lot. You?"

 

[Infected_alien8_]

"Same here. I arrived here yesterday. Slept on the streets last night, but a lady from an inn let me in when she saw me in the morning and helped me wash up and fed me. Why do you travel?"

 

[Faliara]

"Well..." Pingere scratched the back of his neck. "I'm actually looking for someone."

 

[Infected_alien8_]

"Oh... who, if you don't mind me asking?"

 

[Faliara]

"My guardian. Or at least, they were my guardian until five years ago." Pingere frowned as he thought of Bobeep (a nickname only he used for that person). They informed Pingere beforehand of their departure, but he had to find out about their reasons through a book in the basement... "It didn't occur to me to look for them until two years ago."

Pingere knew there was a chance that his guardian was already dead- and that still keeps him up at night, whenever he thinks about it too much. But he can't stop worrying about them until he knows for sure how they are.

The boy remembered, suddenly, that he drew a few pictures of Bobeep in his notebook; the one he keeps in one of his fortunately large pockets. "I can show you how they look; or at least, what I can remember of them," he tells Luke, smiling. "Maybe, if you see them, you can tell them I'm looking for them?..."

Pingere pushed the jacket tied around his waist slightly aside to reach his pocket, inadvertently flashing what seemed to look like a crossbow for a few moments before it was hidden under once more as Pingere triumphantly pulled his notebook out.

Somewhat less triumphantly as a few pencils fell out of his pocket, forced out by accident. Pingere looked down at them forlornly.

 

[Infected_alien8_]

Luke reached down and picked up the fallen pencils, holding them out for Pingere. The crossbow-looking item that Pingere had hidden on his person intrigued him, and he pointed towards where it was with a look of approval on his face.

"Yeah, if I see them I'll let them know. So do you think they're in this town?"

Luke tilted his head over the notebook, waiting for Pingere to show him his drawing.

 

[Faliara]

As Pingere flipped the pages, he silently squished the worry over the modified crossbow hidden under his jacket Luke had seemed to point to. He can think about that later. "Here they are."

Pingere showed it to Luke. Two figures were shown on the page; a cloaked figure, hunched, their face hidden; they seemed to lean against the shepherd's staff. The other showed a person whose gender is more ambiguous than its illustrator, if only because the cloak hid anything beneath. The lines of their hair drawn to look as though it was graying, the strands shaded here and there, tied similiarly to Pingere's own, serving to make them look similar to each other. They stood tall, wielding their shepherd's staff proudly. Their mouth was drawn in a little smile.

 

[Infected_alien8_]

Luke stared at the drawing Pingere held out to him. Two cloaked, figures, one rather ominous-looking, the other smiling slightly. "Huh, okay. I guess I'll easily recognise them then. Do you have any leads at all as to where they are?"

 

[Faliara]

Pingere laughed. It would have been a pleasant laugh, if it hadn't been for the slight tinge of hysteria in it. "I thought I did, but... No. I think I'm at a dead end. Again."

[Gonna tag this Infected_alien8_ right now and see if it still tags if it's an edit -8/3/2017]

 

[Infected_alien8_]

"Oh... well, what was your last lead, if you don't mind me asking?"

[It didn't tag me again but I'm <o> and this popped into my head today and I remembered to check it, sorry for the delay]

 

[Faliara]

"..."

A pub in the middle of a shady part of town. A question to a man. The drunk man mistaking him for someone else. The drunk man angrily replying "you pushin' your new boyfrien' in my face, 'Beth?!" A tavern brawl that somehow pulled in the entire street. Worst yet, all of his leads turning out to lead to one of the most disgusting people he's had the displeasure of meeting who had dropped 'Beth' like she was rubbish after he had wormed his way into her heart for eight months- and actually started trying to seduce Pingere after having told him all of that.

Pingere somehow managed to put on the face of utter radiance.

"I don't want to talk about it."

[ Infected_alien8_ This time I am responsible for the delay. Sorry :x ]