Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

[Alberich]

Anfisa fumed internally though she came no nearer and kept her face passive. Oh, she still couldn't hear the words, but she could see the tears and well she knew what an act it was - nothing but pretense to manipulate sweet Desiree. As if this super-tough mass-liberator man-warrior woman battlemage without peer was, all of a sudden, a scared and lonely girl in the middle of the tree city! And only showing it just by coincidence when Desiree was looking at her. Riiight. This was manipulation plain and simple. Disgusting!

[Drusia]

For the first time in a very long time, tears formed at the corner of the redhead's eyes. "But I'm not at home any more, Desiree. I'm in a strange place, not like anything I've ever seen before. My organization, the Sisterhood, doesn't work outside the Confederacy, and there's just nothing like it up there. I thought I was strong enough for whatever this quest would take. Damn, by the Five Great Mothers, I am strong ... but I'm not this strong. This place ... it's much more your kind of place than mine. And it's running up against the limits of my strength. Beyond them."
She took a deep breath, said it. "I'm scared, Desiree."

I don't need to think or consider. There's nothing to think about. She's in pain, and I can ease it.

I step forward, put my arms around her, and kiss her.

I could tell her that I'm feeling very out of my element here as well. Snamish is a nice civilized town with fishing and farming - I know snakes because of the lake, which is sacred to Anilis, not because it's all that wild near Snamish. And snakes kill mice and other vermin that might attack our crops. Part of me wants to defend Snamish to her, but that would mean talking about Snamish at all and also not kissing her, which I am still doing.

I consider calling on Anilis to help me calm her, but what she needs to know most is that she's not alone. It is very hard to feel alone when someone is kissing you. It happens, now and then - usually when something is very wrong between those who are kissing - but I don't think it will happen this time.

I could pull away and say something like 'it's okay, I'm here,' but the kiss is already conveying that message.

-- Desiree

OOC: Well, I sure hope that lesbianism isn't forbidden here or something, because if so Desiree and Therese are in trouble. Desiree would never even think to ask. As for Anfisa... hopefully she won't attempt any murders immediately.

[Alberich]

The embrace and kiss absolutely infuriated Anfisa, not only for the way she was being thrown over so fast, but the nakedly crude manipulation Therese was using to make it happen. She was so angry, if she had the chance, she would...without hesitation...without the slightest hesitation...without a hint of mercy...show up at a party wearing the EXACT same dress, only looking twice as pretty in it, and pay her insincere compliments 'til she turned pink and squirmed!

Only trouble was, that fake little twit would probably change back to her mannish invulnerable super-sorcerer-warrior-amazon persona and not care; and Desiree would be as turned on by that as by this utterly false and completely unbelievable and disgustingly deceptive "vulnerable child" act. Jurana's teeth! She'd have to think of something else.

On the surface all was calm.

[OOC: I'm afraid Anfisa just hasn't got an appetite for violence.]

[Drannin]

(OOC: Still here. Things've been kinda stressful lately. GB, feel free to put a word in Argus' mouth here and there)

[Graybeard]

Father Morton, Minister Musoke and the strange "mushroom man" all seemed oblivious to what was going on in the back of the room with Desiree and Therese; either they didn't see it or there was no particular reaction. A frown passed over Father Barnaby's face -- the Reformed church considered itself more tolerant of social foibles than their Orthodox brethren, but there were limits. Still, Patriarch Jeramel had thoughtfully arranged it so that the clergy who went abroad to do Luminosita's Work were more accepting than most when it came to bizarre practices among the foreigners ... at least at first. (Once they were converted, it was a different story, and if he'd known that Desiree was technically from Veracia, things might have been different even now.) He pointedly looked the other way as the conversation with the Douagans continued.

Therese, however, would think about the shiver that had run down her spine for a long time. Was it the strangeness, the alienness of the setting catching up with her? Concern at the frown she'd seen on Barnaby's face? The onset of a strange tropical disease? Or was it ... pleasure?

"Thank you," she finally said simply, pulling away from Desiree's embrace and gathering herself to resume listening to the orientation. As she did, however, she caught a glimpse of one other person's reaction to what had just happened ... Anfisa's.

Uh, oh.

------------

Sister Rose, for her part, was also oblivious to what had just happened, which was just as well. The "mushroom man" was reciting, and Musoke translating, a whole litany of dangers that awaited in the jungle, particularly things in the upper canopy of foliage. It certainly sounded imposing enough. In addition to half a dozen different lethally venomous snakes, all of which climbed trees, there were huge carnivorous birds that could swoop down and carry off a human ("but only a small one," Musoke reassured her, not that that was all that reassuring); similarly huge ticks that could drop on one's shoulders and infect one with a lethal disease while sucking blood, and were all but impervious to attack; and even meat-eating plants that could drop a loop of vine to lasso the unwary traveler and haul him up to the canopy for leisurely consumption. Against a panoply of hazards like that, the shield-like hats made plenty of sense.

"I wish Harker was here to hear this," she said aloud to Argus; no reason for mind-speech on this subject. "Those birds sound like a real threat to someone like him."

Argus shrugged. "He's nearly indestructible, remember, and he does have his defenses." A wolf back in Veracia had learned that to his own misfortune.

"Speaking of whom, any idea where he is?" Rose persisted.

"I wish I knew... I think." Rose had heard that sigh before.

[OOC: Sorry to hear life is stressful, D; I'm still going to leave the Harker/Fayna stuff up to you, but there's no rush, get more relaxed and then write something.]

[Drusia]

"Thank you," she finally said simply, pulling away from Desiree's embrace and gathering herself to resume listening to the orientation. As she did, however, she caught a glimpse of one other person's reaction to what had just happened ... Anfisa's.

"No problem," I reply breathlessly. I take a moment to compose myself and then add "And I wanted to say, I understand. It's okay to be scared. I spend quite a lot of time on this trip being terrified. I think I've gotten used to it. Maybe that's why you think I seem more in my element. I'm not, I assure you." I cut myself off before I start talking about Snamish being a nice civilized town. First off, I shouldn't mention it at all. Secondly, I don't want to imply anything negative about our hosts.

"We're in this together," I continue instead. "When you need someone to talk to, someone to help - I'm here. And... is it okay if I look to you for the same?" I look at her hopefully.

-- Desiree

OOC: Desiree, facing the wrong directly, is entirely oblivious to Anfisa's current state.

[Alberich]

[OOC: And given Anfisa's survival-trained habit of keeping her outward mien impassive, Desiree would have to be trying pretty hard or else using an empathy spell even if she were facing the right way. If Desiree does look at her she'll be sweetness'n'light on the surface.]

[Graybeard]

Therese's poise had returned following its breakdown, and she gave Desiree a simple, one-word answer.

"Yes."

-----------

"What do you know about the town where we're going? How far is it?" Sister Rose asked the mushroom man, having established that the translator gadget was working, and thanked Minister Musoke for his "help" in getting its vocabulary up to par for the job. (In fact, as far as Rose could tell, the thing functioned entirely without human input, but diplomacy called for recognizing the man's own efforts to translate.)

He smiled. "Half a day's ride from here, ma'am, on the -- _______."

Rose had placed her trust in the translator too soon; it had just been handed a word that it couldn't translate, and the result was just a burst of vowels and consonants. Musoke stepped in smoothly. "We call it 'tree-that-walks,' Sister."

The barest hint of a smile played around Rose's lips as she spoke to Argus' mind. <"Now this, I have to see...">

[Drusia]

"Yes."

I smile brightly. "Good," I reply in turn. Then, because I'm not good at tacturn one word responses, "I'm glad."

-- Drusia

[Graybeard]

"We'd better get ready to go," Father Morton said, now that things were calming down.

"We"? thought Sister Rose, with more than a little surprise. She'd expected that her little group would be on their own, as usual; the military unit on the airship wasn't going to accompany them unless there was a call for them, and she definitely hadn't expected anyone from the mission to go along. Well, maybe she underestimated this man.

The group headed down a stairwell to the ground level, putting them alongside a straight, level road leading away in both directions through the tree-buildings. On bending to touch the surface, Rose was surprised to find that it had a live, woody texture. The mushroom man saw what she was doing and said something in his home language. "A root," the translator gadget explained. "Of the _____." It sounded like the same term he had used for the "tree-that-walks," and in fact, looking toward the east (or so she thought), she could see in the distance a, well, walking tree coming down the road in their direction.

This seemed wondrous, but she'd also noticed something else. <"Vibrations,"> she thought at Argus. <"Coming from inside that closed-off level. There's something alive in there, or at least something moving.">