For Argilla (and/or Gale)

[scarsolderthanyou]

Option I. Syn AU

Another liminal change, another influx of new people, and Stone was tired today. The last Jaunt had been... well, strange. And uncomfortable. And Stone wasn't feeling like going out and meeting everyone else just yet.

So he and Azure were on the platform in his created space, with the door behind him to the rest of liminal open, while she preened his hair and he considered the fake canopy of leaves overhead and possibly a nap.


Option II. Three Worlds

Stone was napping when the scent hit him, and he sat up sharply, startled. An Arbora who had been tending to one of the plants on the same platform jumped and dropped her basket. "Line-grandfather?"

He waved a hand at her rather than answer, climbed to his feet, and shifted, taking off immediately almost before his winged shape had finished settling in. That was the smell of an asura, and he did not want anyone else to be the one to find him first.


Option III. ELSEWHERE take your pick, her world or another random one

Traveling had broken something, as far as Stone could tell. He hadn't seen the colony tree for more than a couple days at a time, before bouncing off to some other world again. He didn't have anything he needed to fix or change, like actual Traveling, it just... lasted as long as it lasted before he found himself able to open a portal again to get back home.

This time it seemed like one of the modern Earth-ish worlds, as far as Stone could tell. He got a few funny looks for the height, the gray skin, and the bare feet, but no one had stopped him yet. Since he hadn't tried to smile yet, no one could question the teeth. Right now, he was just looking for wherever he could sit down for a while, take in the scents, and listen to people so he could get his bearings.


Option IV. WILD CARD

Got something else you feel like playing out, an AU of some sort or a private walkabout or something? Go ahead and make a starter and I will tag!

Comments

I

[fervoreous]

Outside of his doorway is the scent of asura, though an unfamiliar one. Where Gale carries with him the scent of blood on the wind, here that sent of iron is part of fresh earth and stone. While scents can get muddled out in liminal proper, she's still able to tell this is a place that Gale frequents. He's been here often enough that he can feel the residual of it, which is more than enough to peak her curiosity.

Gale's little paintings hadn't done her justice. Still clad in her Junkyard uniform, her hair and eyes are strikingly bright. Where Gale's expressions tend to lean heavily towards placid, she's wide eyed with curiosity and wonder as she peeks in through the door.

"Hello?"

II

[vorenado]

For the first time in years, Gale has no idea where he is. Traveling, he imagines, but usually he arrives with enough information to get by on. Now he's stranded, and assaulted by a whole array of unfamiliar scents. Save one, though he's hesitant to move in that direction. He knows enough about them that they don't respond well to solitaries, of any species but least of all their own.

Trying to blend in is probably a bad idea in this case. He starts along the forest in that direction anyway, currently unaware that the forest is actually on the branch of a larger tree.

[scarsolderthanyou]

The eight-foot-tall bird, currently sitting on the grass so not quite as tall as usual, twists her head around to blink at the newcomer. She tilts her head, then clucks, a ridiculous sound coming from such a dangerous-looking beak.

Stone props himself up on an elbow and twists to the left, so he can see who it is with his good eye.

... huh. That smells like Gale does-- like asura. He can't put together the face with the picture of Gale's, not off-hand after so many months, but maybe he will with a name. "You look new," he says instead. "Looking for someone in particular, or just exploring?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

It's the mountain-tree nearest the Indigo Cloud colony tree, to be precise. That doesn't mean it's actually close to the colony tree... the branches of each tree, and the small forests on their platforms, reach quite a ways out, and his line of sight is blocked by so many smaller trees that he couldn't see Indigo Cloud even if he were looking the right direction.

Stone is arrowing straight for him, though, or at least straight for the multi-branch platform forest he's on. He doesn't think the psychic network works anymore, or he'd be calling ahead. As it is, Gale will shortly be able to hear heavy wing-beats somewhere overhead, and a growling rumble from that might possibly be familiar, if it hasn't been too long since he's heard it.

III. A wild Cielo appears!

[ovoretherainbow]

This humanish city exists under a series of domes protecting the populous from a yellow sky and what looks like a constant, totally eclipse of the sun. That black spot hangs heavy in the sky over the wasteland of empty buildings, dust, and sand. With Stone's eyesight and a good vantage point to look out into that ruined city, he may be able to make out unmoving shapes in the streets. Statues? Now why would there be statues of people trying to run for shelter?

Another notable thing is that there's a heavy scent of other in the air along with these humans. Specifically from solders dressed in pristine white uniforms, wearing black badges that look like a wreath of thorns. They are a noted military force, and while they may look as human as everyone else, they are most certainly not.

The dome to the east has an unbearable sense of wrongness about it. Blood and meat and death, and it only gets worse nearer the center of the dome. As the sun lowers, taking what little light is offered, dingy street lamps come on and there's a notable influx white clad soldiers, bringing that scent of other which just adds to the wrongness of the place.

There's a heavy, grinding metal sound which could only be the doors between the domes closing, and people scurry to get where they need to be before they're trapped.

"Heeey, buddy! Gotta run, ya?" A young man calls in a loud whisper, peeking around a nearby corner that leads into a narrow alley way. This accent makes his voice sound almost melodic. "Gotta be gettin' home now, mon!"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I just got here, and I don't have a home to run to," Stone answers, though he does get up from the bench he'd been sitting on and starts considering places to get inside. This is not looking like a particularly safe place to loiter, with guards and wild magic, and statues that could well once have been people. Not really a thing in his world, but he's seen enough other worlds to know magic can do some very strange things.

Because the groundling seems helpful, even if he's probably stating the obvious, he adds, "I wouldn't turn down advice on where else I could run, though."

[vorenado]

He does discover that he's not on the ground as he initially thought, having pushed through some trees to find the edge of the branch the forest is growing on. In all his time traveling, he's never seen anything like this. And even now, years after he'd last seen his tribe mates, his first thought is still of them and how they might have reacted to something like this.

As he continues, he tucks himself back under the canopy of heaves and branches, feeling safer under the security of cover for the time being. Most things tend to avoid him, but he knows better than to count on his aura entirely.

Gale would know that scent anywhere, sensing the line-grandfather on the wind before he even hears anything. He can't see him yet, but he can feel him, and he darts off towards a larger clearing in the trees in hopes to catch his attention. "Stone!"

[scarsolderthanyou]

There's not quite enough room there for Stone to just land as he is, so he dives, shifts halfway down, grabs a tree branch to slow his fall the rest of the way, and drops to the grass. "Gale, you idiot, where have you been all this time!"

He's not smiling-- he looks like he might growl some more, in fact-- but he does all but pounce Gale with a hug once he's on the ground and close enough. How dare you make him think he wasn't ever going to see you again, Gale. How dare.

[fervoreous]

While she has a pretty nasty scar cutting across one eye, it doesn't seem to have affected the way her eye moves and functions. Both are just as bright and vivid as her hair, the color of cotton candy and flower petals. Neither of which she's ever encountered before.

"That's because I am new." She says with a smirk, taking and overly careful step inside. The way her eyes dart around is ingrained. Programed. Seek out all living personnel, threats, and possible exits. Yet her expression and demeanor doesn't show any undue paranoia.

"I'm Argilla of the Embryon Tribe. Gale told me I should explore."

[ovoretherainbow]

"No home?" Stone is met with a pair of wide sky blue eyes, and the beads in his equally as blue hair clack together lightly as his head cocks dramatically to the side, much akin to a puppy encountering new sounds for the first time. Then he takes a quick but deep breath in through his nose and mouth as though scenting the air, eyes daring around as distant sounds of movement start picking up.

He bites his lip, then sighs and shakes his head. "Betta come wit me, ya? Don't wanna be ending up in a can!"

[vorenado]

Gale doesn't bother to respond at first. He just rushes blurringly fast in Stone's direction, stopping in time to catch the other man in a fierce hold. Taking in Stone's scent directly helps him relax, letting out a shaky breath.

"I was lost." He admits, not knowing how else to describe it. "But I found my way here."

[scarsolderthanyou]

Oh. Oh. Stone sits up the rest of the way, blinking. "He made a picture of you once." He doesn't really think much of the way she's taking things in. Moon does the same thing. (Stone would if he weren't 500-some-odd years old and no longer really worried about being surprise-attacked or escaping things.)

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone does grumble a little growl, at that-- quite likely more at Gale being lost than at him finding his way, at least-- but he's holding tight, right back. After a beat, he turns his head to give Gale a bite on the side of his neck-- not hard enough to break skin, but harder than necessary for a greeting or reassuring nip. "I've been back ten days. Figured our try to get you to come with me just didn't work at all."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I'd rather not end up in a can, either." And he can always shift and step on the boy if he tries to mug him, or something. He moves around the bench to join blue-hair in the alley, making his own surreptitious tasting of the air, resisting the urge to flick out his tongue to do it more deeply. Then he says, "All right, I'll come with you."

[vorenado]

Having someone's open mouth that close to him, let alone actually biting him, isn't something he'd ever imagined could possibly be considered a good thing. Yet here he is, a pleased rumble thrumming in his chest as well. "It felt.. like much longer, though I have no way of knowing for sure."

[fervoreous]

"Of me?" She asks, looking surprised. Then a bit confused. She only has the barest inclination about pictures outside of intelligence data information.

[ovoretherainbow]

Blue-hair is rather short, barely above five feet but built like a soldier, not like the soft, lay people that seem to populate the majority of the city, nor is he dressed in the crisp, clean white and grey they are. Grey, yes, but mostly black and with odd metallic places on the corset he's wearing, not to mention the jarringly bright streak of orange across his midsection.

It's hard to miss with skin so pale, a brand blackened into the skin on his thigh, arches over a cloud. He also smells very much like asura.

"Dere's a save house not far, ya? Should be able ta call me comrades from dere."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"There was one of these liminal things--" He gestures to the door she just came through. "--with colored paints and things, and he made a painting of you. Wasn't bad, now that I see you." Maybe it didn't entirely do her justice, but he can still recognize her from it, and it's worlds better than he could ever do, should he ever try. "I'm Stone. Gale is a friend of mine."

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone finally lets him go, stepping back enough to look him over. "You're here now. And you look all right. We can work out what happened once you're settled. We'll have to figure out what to tell the court." Because obviously he's not letting Gale just wander off, even if Gale wanted to. He's staying with them. Once Stone convinces Pearl to let him keep him.

[scarsolderthanyou]

That's interesting. Another asura here-- does that mean the others are here, too? Or are his "comrades" newly made upon being dumped in this world? Questions he's not going to ask right now. Maybe later. "Let's go, then. I'm Stone," he adds, because if he's going to a safe house, the boy ought to know his name. Also, he'd like to know if this asura-- Embryon, from the orange, he's guessing-- is one Gale ever mentioned to him.

[vorenado]

He looks just as he had. Long green hair, data ports, and all. Unfortunately that includes the Twister atma still branded into his leg.

Gale doesn't seem to have any intention of wandering off, remaining close to the older man. The question about what to tell the court is obvious, at least to him. "We should tell them the truth."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Yeah. About that." Stone looks a little annoyed, distracted by thinking. How the shit are they even going to make this work. "I didn't actually tell them I went anywhere, to them it seemed like I didn't. So suddenly saying I have a friend I've known for a couple of turns from another world is going to make them think I've finally gone crazy in my old age, and might just make them want to kill you."

[vorenado]

He's quiet for a moment, eyes narrowing in thought before he tilts his head slightly. "Did you not say your mentors could read the truth from our minds? I would be willing to let them see."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"They can see if you're being influenced by any outside powers, and what you're feeling," Stone corrects with an irritable twitch of his head. "They can't see 'the truth'. I could make them try to auger for any potential danger that comes from you, I suppose, and looking inside your head could at least be a starting point." The only one likely to really try to stand up to him if he's determined in this (which he is) would be Pearl, and he usually thinks he can handle her. He's not so sure this time. Pearl doesn't like groundlings. The slim likelihood of Pearl believing him about being gone for over two turns when nobody noticed him being gone just made it worse.

Maybe he should have just told them all ten days ago and dealt with the fallout then. But since Gale hadn't been here, there hadn't seem to be any point to stirring it up. He growls under his breath. What a mess.

[fervoreous]

She smirks at that, striding in a few more steps with her arms crossed over her chest. "Nice to see 'Mr. Personality' is getting along with people better." But then her expression softens to something a bit more sad. "He... said he's been here for years alone. If it was coming from anyone else, I'm not sure I could believe it."