Lurking Shadows

[tsundullahan]

WHO: Celty, Open!
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Another new...face?
WHEN: This week
WARNINGS: N/A


Around Temba
There's no warning, other than the light crunch of gravel beneath tire treads, or the scattering of loose stone and dust from a tight turn. And yet there it is, a black motorcycle speeding around the wider avenues of the ruined city. There's no growl of an engine that those familiar with such models would expect, and yet it can't simply be powered by gravitational momentum as there are obvious times it speeds up or slows down.

Its rider is difficult to discern given they're likewise dressed in black, a full bodysuit and gloves to match. The brightest thing is the yellow helmet with its blue trim, with molded cat ears and a dark visor. Where they're going is anyone's guess, but if there's someone out on the road or somewhere nearby, they'll make a stop.


SPACESHIP?!
I've been kidnapped by aliens.

She's been trying to deny this as fact ever since she'd touched that horrible glowing ball thing at the fountain, but even then it had been a slippery uphill battle. And now she's found her way to the hangar, filled with actual spaceships. In her thoughts she might be screaming, just a little bit.

Slowly, hesitantly, the helmeted rider walks her motorcycle along towards one of the closest shuttles, the Starduck. Maybe they're just...movie set props? Yes! They've gotten really good at models! That's all this is! Wariness bleeds away from her shoulders at this prospect, and she steps over to the hull to run a hand over its surface.

Eeeh. It's...very solid for a set piece, she notes, pulling her hand away. That hesitancy has returned as she starts to circle around it, and she just about jumps when the shuttle opens up as she nears its hatch. Shoulders hunched, she backs away hurriedly with her bike, looking on the verge of panicking.

No way! It's not real! Aaah, why did it open up?? Are there aliens inside?!

All the while she's silent, her thoughts a nervous swirl as she edges back a little more, looking just about ready to vault onto her motorcycle and speed away for whatever reason.


Network - Text

I found this device when I arrived. If it belongs to someone, I'll return it. It's a lot different than what I've used before.

I seem to be missing my phone, but I guess it probably wouldn't work here anyway. Still, it's important...

Is anyone else here? I really hope the alien thing is a joke.

Comments

aaaall around Temba

[in_extremis]

It certainly looked like a motorcycle. At first, Tony thought his audio wasn't working properly, either from the ground or some kind of interference at this height, making him drop several feet out of the sky in a freefall while he flipped through the cameras again trying to spot the spray of the gravel as it moved. The feed was still strangely quiet as he caught sight of the movement again, even with the Iron Man reporting all systems clear, making Tony narrow his eyes at the clear sound of the crunch under the tires and the unfamiliar, black form, like it was made for stealth. Except for that big, yellow target.

The Iron Man stopped falling, its engines kicking in with a mechanical whine to send him rocketing across the city and toward the ground and the D.A.T.A. unit that had spotted the vehicle last. In the stillness of the dead city, Tony could see the plume of dust it kicked up as he dropped closer, and the roar of his engines quickly drew up behind it in a chase through Temba's streets. The silent, black bike was pursued by a glimmer of polished red and gold that came blasting from the sky.

[tsundullahan]

Such a sound wasn't difficult to pick up at all, although Celty had very little to compare it to, to even begin to guess what it might be. She was only certain that it was coming closer, something quickly confirmed as she stole a glance over her shoulder.

What is that?! Were the aliens after her?? No way! She hunkered lower against her bike, urging it faster down the lane. She'd outrun police before, but a rocket? The moment she saw the opportunity to do so, she took a sharp turn down a narrower street. At least there weren't many people around, but although the roads were hardly the smoothest, she expertly kept her bike from the worst of impediments.

[in_extremis]

The glance over the shoulder was recognizably human(oid) enough that Tony stopped second guessing whether or not this was really a motorcycle, and started wondering where it had come from. This wasn't some new game they were supposed to be playing, was it? He pressed on to catch up with the vehicle, and was taken enough by surprise by the expert turn that he went wide and almost clipped the corner of the facing building, twisting to kick off of it with one foot instead and flipping in the air to reorient himself. He should have easily had both the advantage of speed, and not being constrained to the ground, and didn't expect the challenge that dime turn presented. With a snicker, he dove down further to skim just over the road to see what the bike would do next as he darted up alongside it with a leisurely wave.

[tsundullahan]

The brightly helmeted rider was a little dismayed to hear the sound once again coming up behind her. She however hardly anticipated what she saw next. For a split second it seemed like the world slowed down as the supposed rocket zipped easily up beside her...and waved.

It's...a person??

The shock made her swing the bike around to a sudden halt, wheels grinding against the uneven paving, kicking up gravel and dust.

[in_extremis]

The stop was as unexpected as the turn, and while Iron Man had started to lose the momentum and slipped behind the bike as he brought up one of his repulsors in the wave, he still had to pull himself up abruptly and slam a knee into the ground to slide to a sparking stop of his own, pivoting around much like the bike did with a hand to the road and his trailing bootjet trying to redirect the energy. He was left facing the broad side of the motorcycle, kneeling like he was ready to take it on in another sprint, free hand balled at his side but with an unmistakable whine of charge and glow escaping around his fingers. "That it? I just got here," he challenged.

[tsundullahan]

It really was a person. Someone in full armor, with rocket-powered boots? The armor was sleek but still too bulky to be a play off of classic Sentai heroes. She had to admit, it looked pretty cool, like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. But you're pretty much in a sci-fi movie, she reminded herself, and as she saw and heard that suspicious glow build beneath the armored figure's hand, her fingers curled tightly around the handlebars of her motorcycle.

Does he mean to attack? What does he want? Is he some sort of space police? I didn't see any of those come up from touching that strange sphere...

It appeared she made up her mind then, deciding not to stick around to find out whatever the armored one had in store. In an impossible maneuver the motorcycle swung upwards on its rear tire, and she twisted it around to gun it back down the street. The strange echo of its departure surely must have been imagined, almost reminiscent of a horse's whinny.

[in_extremis]

The sudden wheelie almost shocked Tony enough to miss the chance to analyze the bike's belly, quick imprints and extrapolations drawing before his eyes on the HUD before he realized he was doing it and shunted to the side to run in the background as he smirked again and pushed off after the mystery rider. He meant to be testing the vertical limit today, but it looked like he'd been granted a pressure test for this first flight. In a couple of steps, he took a running jump back into the air with a burst of his jets that echoed like an answer to that curious sound the motorcycle left in its wake. Iron Man went high this time, arcing up and letting the rider gain the distance to decide what they wanted to do next, and show him what else they were capable of.

[tsundullahan]

It looked like a motorcycle, it moved like one, but no light reflected off of its black finish, and no heat signature came off of it despite the obvious power pushing it on. There were no schematics to be gained on a deeper level than external because so far as things went, there seemed nothing to scan.

Again Celty looked over her shoulder as she heard that by now familiar sound roaring after her. Fine, she thought, gloved hands tightening. The motorcycle responded beneath her, tearing past the flanking buildings before coming out onto the main road again. She veered sharply once again, leaning almost parallel to the ground into the turn until she and the bike pulled out of it again, a straight shot towards the lake.

[in_extremis]

The turn was an easy roll for Iron Man, cutting over the top of the buildings and using this new angle to weave back and forth across the wide road with the sun behind him to tease the flicker of his shadow in the rider's path. They weren't going to keep going this way, were they? Either they really were a new arrival with a fancy toy and had no idea that they were shortly going to be up against the sand, or they weren't and they knew the city well enough and that the sand didn't pose a problem at all for this mysterious vehicle.

Tony wanted to see how they handled it either way.

Those tight turns weren't going to be easy to control, but Iron Man tried to force them to commit to their straight path by pitching down closer to the road again and boosting up closer, not quite coming alongside this time but pushing the rider to lean on the gas if they wanted to stay ahead and not let Iron Man clip their tire.

[demjiin]

Kaz was walking to elsewhere when it was more apparent that there was another person behind him. He had not clocked that this person was riding a motorcycle. He didn't even know what a motorcycle was in the first place. He just had a very well honed survival sense.

At the last possible moment he used his cane to take a single step out of the way. Only then did he see the motorcycle and rider pass. Confused but very curious he had stopped walking in order to stare at the passing riding machine.

[tsundullahan]

With so few people on the road it wasn't difficult to see when there actually was someone there. The motorcyclist gave more than ample room in passing, even as Kaz stepped aside.

The vehicle didn't go too much farther, its rider bringing it around in a u-turn as it slowed, rolling to a stop once facing the opposite direction it had been traveling. The rider set a foot down to keep it from tipping, that bright helmet tilting in Kaz's direction almost inquisitively.

[demjiin]

Kaz had a faint note of awe in his voice, though when he spoke his voice sounded like he gargled with whiskey and broken glass every morning; like a grizzled old man speaking from a teenager's mouth.

"I've never seen a machine like that before. Are they common where you're from?"

His mind immediately went to the possibilities of what he could do if he did not have to walk everywhere or keep his body weight on his leg for much of the day.

[tsundullahan]

The rider remained silent, nodding at Kaz's question. Well, they were fairly common, anyway. Not as much as cars, but if he'd never seen a motorcycle, which was strange enough in itself, then would he know what one would be?

Turning slightly to pull the tablet from a thigh pocket, the rider began to type at its screen once the proper application was pulled up. She held it out once she was done.

[You don't have motorcycles where you come from? What sort of vehicles do you use to get around?]

[demjiin]

This is not the only time that Kaz had interacted with a mute person but he did wait an extra beat when the other person did not speak. Seeing their written message he was more inclined to speak with the person as if they were having a normal conversation and shook his head in reply.

"No. Even vehicles without horses is something of a novelty. The most I have ever seen is a tank and that was really big and clunky. I don't suppose you would actually know what you need an order to build one of these machines?"

[tsundullahan]

[I do miss the simplicity of a horse-drawn carriage sometimes, but there's clearly no place for such things in the city I'm from.]

The figure seemed to sigh, at least with the slight movement of her shoulders. She started to shake her helmeted head in response to Kaz's question, though she might have laughed a little at the thought.

[Unfortunately no. I'm no mechanic. Just a courier.]

[demjiin]

Then Kaz was resolved to find a way to take the machine apart and see how it worked. But on that subject, Kaz tilted his head to the side quizzically.

"What if I could find a person to act as a mechanic? Someone who knew how this machine is supposed to work already, I mean."

[tsundullahan]

Celty shrugged, her fingers tapping at her tablet again.

[If there's anyone knowledgeable enough to make one wouldn't they have by now? How long have you been here?]

She really wasn't sure how long anyone had been in this place. To her most of the city was ruin, although she could tell where work had been put into fixing and clearing up places, but the roads were in sorry shape. But she was used to smooth asphalt.

[mutedsuspicions]

The noise had been so strange. Like one of those demons from an open rift. He ducked behind the fountain as the not-a-carriage approached on its strange two wheels with its strangely armored person on it. Her helmet looked neat though, and the yellow reminded him of plaidweave. The elf stayed silent with his own yellow eyes watching the other. How did they see out of the helmet?

He waited with simmering curiosity. Finally the other moved away, and he ducked down just in case they headed this way. But footsteps were receding and as soon as they stopped, another peek out. Gone! He headed right over to the device to look at it.

So much metal! But it wasn't a weapon, was it? Lerith didn't touch it, but moved this way and that to look at it. There was a chain, so many gears, lots of pipe, and only two wheels! No horse! Maybe it was a demon? If there were other words like where Felwinter and Kaz came from, surely this was from here! So enthralled in the contraption, Lerith stopped being on alert for its owner.

[tsundullahan]

It was solid black. None of its surfaces reflected light, which might be strange even for someone unfamiliar with these sorts of vehicles. Perhaps stranger still, despite there being no horse, one might have sworn they heard one, like a distant, ghostly whinny.

There wasn't much sound to herald the rider's return, but she tended to step lightly, and despite her rider blacks, they made no sound of friction the way leather or cloth would. But eventually that feeling of no longer being alone would dawn upon the elf, the slender motorcyclist standing like a shadow a few steps behind him, her odd helmet cocked slightly to the side.

[mutedsuspicions]

Such a dark metal. It was like it absorbed any light that hit it. It didn't even seem to show his reflection! Such a strange armored... thing. A bony hand reached out towards it, curious to see if it felt as strange as it looked when he swore he heard a horse whinny? Was that what he had thought to be a demon sound?

The hand snapped back and he stared at it. Was there a horse trapped in it? He leaned to it, trying to get his ear close without touching. No, there didn't sound like a horse in it.

The elf was about to try the touch for a second time when he didn't feel... alone any longer. The hand froze in midair as he started to turn slowly around to look. Oh! Oh no, it was the strange demon-horse-carriage thing's rider. The hand shot back, eyes wide as he stared at her helmet.

He brought his hand back up as a fist to circle against his chest in an 'O' shape. [Sorry.]

More signs were made. [Your metal horse?] Lerith was too surprised and feeling corner to even think about using his journal or the device to communicate.

[tsundullahan]

Not that she was unaccustomed to people startling at her presence, but the silence that followed even with the strange man's obvious panic was a curious thing. She caught on immediately as to what the reason for that was once he began to sign. Unfortunately while she realized what he was doing, she hadn't studied much by way of sign language.

It was probably a funny sight, seeing such a figure look a bit flustered. She waved her gloved hands from side to side to get him to slow down, then reached for her tablet in her pocket. At least she'd familiarized herself with the thing that she could find something she could type in. It was such a fascinating device, like a laptop but pocket-sized, and with no keyboard attachment. Her fingers danced across the screen's surface before she held it out towards Lerith.

[I'm sorry, I don't understand. I didn't mean to frighten you.]

[mutedsuspicions]

Right, RIGHT. Only Lord Felwinter understood his hands. Damn it. Nevertheless, Lerith reached into his bag to pull out the weird device just as she did. He noted it immediately and raised his brows. Did she not speak either? Maybe her helmet was stuck on. Could she breathe with it on? How did she eat or drink? Did it muffle any snoring?

No! Focus!

[it is oky. i startle easy. your... not-cariage is strange. i thought i heard a horse1! is there a horse in it?]

He gestured to the front where he thought he had heard it. Did he really though? Strange place, strange noises maybe. [i never seen something like this. two wheel carriage!1

[tsundullahan]

It was strange to meet so many people (read: two) who were unfamiliar with motorcycles in one place. On top of that, this person had interesting features. If this wasn't an alien planet she would have wondered that he was cosplaying. Were those real ears? A real elf?

Lerith wasn't the only one who needed to bring thoughts back to focus. The helmeted woman started to type again. What a funny pair they must make! Then again it wasn't an unusual thing seeing people texting each other while sitting across or besides one another, at least back home.

[I guess you could say that.]

It wasn't that the elf was particularly wrong about her having a horse in her motorcycle.

[It's called a motorcycle. There are many sorts of vehicles like this or with four wheels, sometimes more, where I come from. They run on their own power.]

[mutedsuspicions]

Lerith got to his feet, not even slouching to make himself small this time. No, he was excited! This vehicle was so strange! And there were more where she was from!

Ah, she was so much faster at typing. Lerith felt jealous of her skill at the device. She seemed so much more familiar with it. The elf thought of using his journal, but he was getting short on charcoal and pages. So he typed again.

[only horses and cariages where i am from. your––] He looked at her device to read how to spell the word, [––motorcycle sounded like a horse mixed with demon from a rift!] How she was describing it was strange, but it did sound like a mechanical horse of some kind. It ran on its own power? So maybe it was a horse? Or maybe just a strange magic.

[what is yuor name? i am lerith.] Did her horse-motorcycle have a name? Did people do that here like they did with actual horses?

[tsundullahan]

A demon from a rift? The rider hesitated at that. Well no, she certainly was no demon, as much as some might think she could be related. Leaning forward a little as she peered at the next message, she straightened abruptly. Oh, how rude of her!

[My name is Celty. It's nice to meet you, Lerith.]

Her motorcycle did have a name! Not that many people asked, but then people didn't tend to ask about her ride very much.