ataraxionlogs | [Plot Adventure] an astral projection and six-year-old warrior walk into a spooky tunnel...

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[Plot Adventure] an astral projection and six-year-old warrior walk into a spooky tunnel...

CHARACTERS: Takeshi and William! And then open to all to tag in with a new thread!
LOCATION: Some mysterious chamber/tomb location recently found! October 11th dated.
WARNINGS: Probably just William's potty mouth. And corpses! Eiiiieeee!
SUMMARY: Takeshi wanders off, and William follows — and they find some interesting stuff.
NOTES: If you need any information, the mod response is located here! If you need to ask a question, should you decide to tag into the log, go ahead and ask mods for clarification over there! Here is their mirror post over here.

There will be a closed Initial Discovery Thread for William and Takeshi, but you're more than welcome to post a future thread where your character stops by to investigate what they displayed in the mirror network post they put on the main comm, if you'd like to! Takeshi or William may tag you back, since they're hanging around.

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"Takeshi," William's pursuit is soundless because he doesn't have feet. He doesn't have mass or a body. He's a ghost running downward through darkness, following the pitter-patter of Takeshi.

Who does have feet. Tiny feet. And mass, and a body. Parts small and fragile.

And, apparently, wildly disobedient. Naturally, William's astrally-projected form had failed to catch up with Takeshi right up until Takeshi was ankles-deep in the bizarre decline of foliage, his small boots having somehow found the steps despite the density of foliage already. The fact that the stairs, the tunnel mouth, the glowing in the recesses of it, bore no resemblence whatsoever to the main camp had not apparently deterred Takeshi. It had, of course, been ludicrous to think that shouting at him would. "Takeshi, wait—"

William is fine. Everything is fine.

Nothing is fine. Heather is going to fucking kill him, and for once, that isn't wishful thinking.

William actually pauses at the start of the tunnel, hesitating, but Takeshi's tiny form, silhouetted against the distant glow, shrinking and shrinking, is enough to send him floating fast as he can down the stairs. His phantom feet scuttle. He tries not to look too closely at the incandescent shapes as they take form on the walls around him. If they constitute an interpretable warning, Takeshi isn't listening to it, so William very well can not either. In fact, he is incapable of doing pretty much anything except to waft along and observe the situation progress to his horror. Whether flesh or stone, his physical body is too far away now to be any use.

Finally, he catches up to Takeshi, but only as the big round door emerges into view, the same labyrinthine etchings glowing on its surface. "Jesus," he says, looking anxiously around. "How old are you? Did you hit puberty while I wasn't looking?"

Takeshi looks up at William, apparently missing his wild concern for the moment. Instead he just smiles like he discovered something super duper big. Which maybe he did. He's not sure yet, but it looks really exciting! And that's the important thing. He points ahead at the door, breathing just mildly, like the kid's only ran a slight jog over a hillside.

"I thought it was other people... but I think nobody's here. Look at that!"

If he wildly waves his hands at it, will it be any more obvious. That is the question.

"I'm looking, I'm looking," William mutters. He looks. The incandescence emanating from its surface is very interesting. He leans his face closer to the door. From where Takeshi is standing, he can tell that William is definitely his ghost-phantasm self at the moment; the light actually shines through his head as if the blackness of his hair, the density of his skull is two, three layers of stained glass. A holographic illusion, rather than a person of solid and material substance.

A holographic illusion who is very intrigued by how this glow is happening. Bioluminescence? He sniffs loudly, as if the odor might betray the organic matter of responsible for...

And then he abruptly remembers what is really the point of this entire encounter. He straightens, jerking away from the round door. Turns toward Takeshi. "Takeshi," he says. "I was really fu-- I was really worried about you." He opts not to set a precedent for trying to express the intensity of his emotions with bad language, which is undoubtedly a good conclusion to arrive to, but one he probably should have done so at least some months ago. "You can't go running off by yourself to weird places. If anything would've happened to you..."

At least he doesn't finish with 'fuck.'

He stares at William for a moment before turning away - embarrassed? - and toeing the ground.

"... M'sorry, Mr. William... I forget sometimes that grown-ups get freaked out..." He knows you guys can't help it. You're worry warts like that. He looks up with a little frown that slowly turns into a hesitant smile. "It wouldn't be your fault, though! F'something bad happened. It'd be my fault for not being stronger. So don't feel bad... 'kay? I'll stay closer. Where you can follow me easier!"

Does that seem okay?

William looks at the little boy's face, then proceeds to crumble into ash and blow away on the near-nonexistent breeze within the tunnel.

Well not really. But it's close. William's expression crumples first, his eyebrows falling down on the outer-corners first, and then his mouth doing the same, all the outer-edges of his facial parts drooping in defeat to gravity. Nooo. Noooooo. "Oh, it's all right," he says, perhaps somewhat more quickly than parenting manuals advise. "That's a good idea. Yes. Yes. You're really clever, mate, that's a good solution."

It doesn't really address the bit where Takeshi, in his suit, can run about at highway speeds whereas William thunks around at average human speed at his very best. But he appreciates the sentiment, any rate.

"When I get here -- properly," he means, not in ghost form, "I'll have to try and figure out how all this glowy shit is happening. It could be some kind of a bioluminescent bacteria. In the meantime, this looks an awful lot like a door, doesn't it? We should probably wait for reinforcements, like responsible people, but—" He's mumbling to himself now, preoccupied and problematically distracted, trying to avoid the sadness in Takeshi's round face or at least his own anxious reaction to it. He glances at Takeshi a few more times, but his attention keeps tennis matching back to the big round door. William takes a few more phantasmic steps toward it, his feet silent, unwitting over the brittle segments of ruined arrows underfoot.

And then he disappears halfway into the round door. His head vanishes entirely, but the ghostly backs of his shoulders protrude. The mass of his lean frame is lucent, so that the stone carvings actually show through him, like bathroom tiles through frosted glass. He's still talking; it doesn't occur to him that Takeshi can't hear.

Well, that's no good! Takeshi's doing his best to stay focused, listen to every word carefully, but then his buddy goes and poofs through the door like that! And while Takeshi is a patient child, he's also most definitely a child who is aware he's super duper strong for his size.

He stares at the half-missing William for a long moment.

And again, stares.

.......

.......

........

AND SUDDENLY HE BURSTS THROUGH THE DOOR, SMASHING IT TO PIECES.

"What was that you said, Mr. William?! I didn't hear!"

William screams. Not in a very ladylike way! "FU--UUU--!" specifically, flinging his arms up, as chunks of stone fall around and through him and scatter all about the floor of the dark chamber he had discovered, skidding away from his shoes. For a moment, one especially large piece of rock fills his whole head and he can't see anything at all, and also blots out his voice, but the next--

--gravity finishes its fine work. The entire door is perforated by a Takeshi, just in time, not a split-second earlier, than arrows abruptly rip out of the darkness. At least half a dozen of them, cut through, lancing vicious lines through the air inches above and behind the tiny boy's head. Finding nothing to cut or bleed, however, the shafts merely strike the opposite walls of stone, shattering, rebounding off the glowing patterns. One useless half-arrow winds up pinwheeling through the air, bouncing off Takeshi's shoulder.

William's face is bloodless, even for the face of a ghost.

"FUUUUCK," he shouts again, for good measure. He moves toward Takeshi unthinkingly, and his arms sail straight through the boy's shoulders.

"Whoa!!"

Not quite as loud and concerning as FUUUUCK, but it's enough as Takeshi looks around wide-eyed; the arrows are just flying every which way but at Takeshi directly, and he looks up in confusion after they woosh past his head, barely fluffing the hair atop his head. He's not all that scared. And actually, he looks rather collected. Compared to William, anyway. Takeshi looks at the panicked image of his friend, wondering just what he's doing, flailing through Takeshi.

"Don't be scared, Mr. William! What was that..."

William stops after his first futile attempt to grab Takeshi. He winds up straightening his own narrow frame, his forehead creased with consternation. Looks left and right, lancing the darkness with suspicious stares. It's not paranoia if there are literally arrows shooting out over your tiny baby charge's tiny baby head. "Booby traps," he hisses. "There's bloody booby traps in this place. There's--" a beat.

"There was people."

Who wanted to hide something, specifically. William walks a quick circle around Takeshi, knitting his path so closely around the boy that his hand accidentally brushes through the crown of Takeshi's head once or twice. Fortunately, William ins't substantial enough for that to matter, really. "I can't see anything else," he says, warily. "It doesn't look like the floor's got mobile blocks or anything. That would have been a basic spring mech--oh bugger." He breaks off, tapering, when he winds up behind Takeshi and looking in.

Looking into the chamber, that is. The altar in the middle, the strange holes going along the walls, the wink of something in the center chest there. This doesn't look like nothing, but then, most sentient creatures wouldn't have bothered to booby trap it if it were.

He looks around, and —

"I can't see!" Oh, right. It's pretty dark in here, William. It's only illuminated enough that he knows you're here, what with your nice glow there, buddy. He gropes around a bit, but only finds a wall. "There was people?? Where are they now! Maybe we can let them know we're not bad guys...!"

"Oh, bugger. Please don't move 'round too much," William says, turning to watch the little boy put his hand to the wall. His spectral eyes narrow for a long moment, and when no arrows immediately burst out of some new sockets unseen, he doesn't let his face relax out of its raging suspicion. He doesn't trust this place. "Hang on, I'm going to take a quick look and--" --it really is impossibly dark here, the glow of the tunnel failing to reach very deep into the chamber.

Unfortunately, night vision isn't one of William's various and many abilities when he is in this form. Night vision has never been one of William's various and many abilities, as a matter of fact. He frowns, squinting hard at the recesses in the walls. "Have you got a flare on you?" he asks.

"Kay!" He won't move around. He's being good. Even if he has to really keep his hands to himself, because he wants to poke everything. Kaze taught him to be good! He'll be good. William mentions a flare, and he perks right the hell up though; he's got his backpack on him! "Uh-huh! I got it! The one you gave me!"

He slips off his raggedy pack and whips out the unused flare proudly.

"Here!!"

Rey had done plenty of wandering in the jungle. She hadn't found anything remotely like what Takeshi and William had claimed to have discovered.

That said, she didn't waste much time talking about it over the mirrors. Instead, she hastily traveled towards the location specified.

Eight miles eastward.

For a normal person, eight miles would be nearly a three-hour hike. For a soldier with enhanced durability and fortitude, Rey makes it in a little more than ninety minutes, not giving much of a heads up before she makes it to the scene. She only slows down once she locates the trench-like area, nearly tripping over herself and downward.

In what is only a brief break, Rey resumes on her own, continuing the descent until she reaches the entrance to the reported tunnel, dimly lit down the far, far path.

Wiping her forehead with the back of her good hand, she heads deeper in, ears perked and ever-attentive in case William or Takeshi were still around.

Score one for Rey, there are little pitter-pats that are most definitely Takeshi.

"Hello?? Who's there!"

... Tactful, espionage action, this child. So smooth.

"Better tell me fast, or I might accidentally throw you hard!"

Taking a step forward, Rey squints at the tiny silhouette of a small child moving towards her.

"You're welcome to try," she says, a tone of amusement carried in her voice. Though she probably wouldn't be as amused to find that a six-year-old boy really could throw her down. At least with his suit intact.

But she isn't here to start any brawls with children.

She shrugs a shoulder. "Am Rey. Just came here after hearing about your find, and wanted to check it out."

Oh! That's Rey. Takeshi knows you (because Takeshi knows everyone ever, what's up, oldie).

"Ah, it's me! Takeshi! I'm six, maybe seven!"

Because that is clearly important information. He wanders over to her, looking to be in good spirits.

"You wanna see the weird gold and stuff? There's a little bit. And dead people..."

(What up, whipper snapper?)

Rey just blinks at the bizarre introduction. Not having spent that much time around children, the nuances of age is beyond her. It isn't like she would have a clear concept of her own, anyway. She's just old.

Bodies, though. She remembered hearing about there being bodies on the mirrors. Rey considers asking about them, but how much a six-maybe-seven-year-old would know about the stages of rigor mortis, she can't be sure without seeing these things for herself.

"Yes, to both. How far in are they?"

"I can show you! Just follow me!"

He's a bit merry and light-hearted in how he paces onward, but that's just how we do.

More importantly, he seems to be a mind reader. Only not really; it was an accidental mind read.

"They're super duper old! They're skeletons. A lotta' bones! How many's in our body...?"

If Rey had been one to spend more time interacting with normal children, she'd have found Takeshi's disposition unsettling. As it is, she just accepts this as normal childish behavior.

Though his question may have been rhetorical, she finds herself blurting, "About two-hundred and six. More than that, when you're younger."

You tend to learn a thing or two about human anatomy during first aid training. Now she's just rolling out facts while she follows the kid.

"Whoaaa."

Teach me your ways, robo-woman.

"How come I got more? Where do they go? Do they disappeared when you get older?"

Because that is a concerning thing someone should figure out. Just sayin'.

Sorry, she isn't accepting applicants for Padawans at the moment.

As she walks, Rey links her fingers together, with just enough of the three stumps on her left hand for her to make this gesture. Like she's illustrating a fusion of sorts. "Some bones come together as you get older, and start getting bigger." The way she talks, she almost sounds like a science teacher.

Speaking of...

"The bones you found... Can you tell whether they're human or not?"

Edited 2015-10-29 02:10 (UTC)

He considers it for a moment.

Well...

"They look shaped like people..."

Is that people-proof, though?

"--shaped like people."

Right.

She sighs. William would probably be a better candidate to ask for this sort of thing, or she can just see for herself.

"Should be able to tell when we get there." Rey has seen plenty of bodies to recognize a human skeleton. And if it's alien, then...

Well, she wouldn't be too surprised.

"Okay!" He's eager to hear anything, too. He likes knowing things; likes being smart enough to keep up with the grown ups. He's in their team after all, isn't he? He keeps up with her pace easily, looking up like a studious little field trip kid. "You know lots of stuff about people bodies, huh??"

I have seen a lot of blood and guts, but I have no clue what is what, alright?

Does she know stuff about people bodies.

Well, she certainly knows enough about how to make them dead.

Rather than making that tactless remark to a kid, however, Rey instead says, "Know enough about them, yes. Picked up on a few things during basic first aid."

Though she's always been better at taking people apart than she is at putting them back together.

Man, adults are so smart. He needs to get with the times.

"... Did you see lots of dead people before?"

Once again, normal question from a kid. But he does at least sound serious about it.

For all Rey knows, it is a normal question. At least it doesn't occur to her to act all surprised.

"Used to be a soldier. So, yes, saw a lot of dead people. Killed a lot, too."

Oops, was that last part age-appropriate? Fuck, whatever.

Takeshi nods, like that's the most expected answer.

Really, he just expects too many people to fight for a living now.

"You... um... You kill bad guys, right...?"

Shit. How does she answer this question...?

"They were enemies. It's never as simple as good guys and bad guys when it comes to fighting a war."

Most of the time.

Strange, he's never heard someone say that before. But usually... he's fighting aliens who are horrible, awful creatures to him. And actually, now that he thinks about it, it's kind of relate-able, he thinks.

"I think... I fighted in a war, too. It was bad. Real, real bad."

Edited 2015-11-11 07:44 (UTC)

When you're someone who's been from a decent, all right, to an absolutely horrible person over the course of your lifetimes, you tend to think of perspectives a little differently. Everyone has their own cause. That much Rey has learned when fighting on different sides.

"War usually is real bad. Sometimes necessary, but bad."

Just because she was made for war doesn't mean she always liked it.

He nods.

"I don't like it. It's — real sad. Lots of people die who never did nothing bad... They just got hurt for no reason." He's quiet for a moment, eyes suddenly lost in some other time and place. His gaze hardens, sad but resolved. "I saw kids littler than me — I saw them get killed, too. Sometimes you gotta kill the bad guys who hurt the littler people..."

"In the military, they sometimes call incidents like that 'collateral damage'. Usually, though, it's a pathetic excuse to justify the deaths of innocent civilians. Make them seem less human so they can dodge the guilt." And/Or look less culpable for having allowed those people to die. "Back home, it isn't always just 'bad guys' who let that sort of thing happen."

It's heavy shit. One would even wonder why she is discussing all of this with a kid. Though, to be fair, he's the one talking about having seen dead kids in a war, too.

What in the hell is wrong with people.

His gaze softens as he listens — and if she looks at him, she can see the face of someone hanging carefully on her every word and putting it in some place in his head to recollect on later. Very focused and attentive, this one. "I don't like it... I don't like all the dying people. Lots of people fight so they don't die... I got killed once, and it was bad — nobody should gotta have to get hurt like that."

Basically, he seems to be in full agreement.

"Are they really good guys if they kill other good guys?"

While Rey wasn't looking directly at the kid before, his mention of having died does earn him a quick glance. She isn't always the best judge of character, but she usually could tell when one was being sincere. Takeshi, though casual, wasn't talking light of his own death.

Before she could ask her own question about that, Takeshi counters with his own. To which Rey pauses to think.

"Suppose it would depend on the person, and whether or not they can and want to atone for what they did... Because sometimes, good people do bad things."

Rey wouldn't consider herself a good person, and she's done plenty of bad things herself. But she wants to do right by some of the people she's wronged in her own world, and that has to count for something. Right?

"Oh... I guess so... Good people can make mistakes."

He makes mistakes, sometimes.

"I hurt my dad once. Mr. Ned. I throwed him once. Like that, you mean?"

Everyone makes mistakes, and Rey knows she's made her fair share of them.

She pauses at Takeshi's answer, squinting an eye before nodding reluctantly.

"Sort of like that, yes." If it'll help him understand in his Little Person logic, then fine.

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[Plot Adventure] an astral projection and six-year-old warrior walk into a spooky tunnel...

Closed Discovery Thread — Takeshi and William

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ok we have to 'improperly' open this door for arrows, how 2 do it in an IC way :(a

1/2 can do can do

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OTA (hope this is okay!)

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