Revision as of 05:10, 17 June 2013

Participants

• Edel
• Glein
• Jenneau
• Morten
• Rorne
• Sithra

Date

17/6/2013

Log

The top floor crashes, sending another cascade of dust on the inhabitants. More coyotes leave as the building begins to shake, the third floor coming down to the second, and the second was quickly readying to come down to the first... Jean screamed out as she was picked up, shivering, a bloody mess, bleeding all down the front of whoever's carrying her, as she yells, "Hurry the FUCK up!"

Rorne glances up suddenly as the next floor collapses. She puts her hand back to her ear, stating hurriedly, "I know I said take your time, but you need to get out of there, now." She takes a couple steps back, putting some distance between her and the building. She looks to a coyote in one of the allies nearby, giving it a respectful nod while saying to it, and not into the earpiece, "Thank you for letting us out, at least." Looking back to inside the building, she prepares herself for the worst scenario. She is ready to leap at a moments notice to help anyone caught in the rubble out as quickly as she can.

Morten whines and shakes her head as she is ordered to go, scowling a little at Glein, "I can help, why do you think im so fragile.." she mumbles, ignoring Glein as she tries to help Jean stay on her feet and help carry her out, wincing as Jeans blood trickles down the front of her, she shakes her head and tries to ignor it as the cracking above her makes her more worried about their limited time frame.

Glein growled, and stepped in front of Morten, and stopped the little huskey. Letting go of her rifle, letting it hang on her armor, she picked up Jean from Morten's arms, knowing that the pressure of walking on the shredded legs was doing more harm than good, and hefted the woman onto her shoulders in a fireman carry. "MOVE NOW OR I WILL KICK YOU OUT!" Glein growls at Morten, and motions for Edel to do the same. They needed out, and they were in no shape to bring up the rear as they left. If it came down to it, Glein would get Jean out of hte buidling, even if it meant throwing her out at the last second. Grabbing ahold of her rifle with only one hand, using the strap to keep it accurate, she started to back out of the building, her gaze on the coyotes inside still.

Edel offers a little shrug and skitters out of the building. "Fine, fine! But you better hurry, yourself!"

The building doesn't hold well, and the whole time Jean is almost screaming, trying to fight it back but failing. The bandages are already soaked through by the time everyone is out of the building....

Outside the building, the group finds themselves surrounded by a half-circle of coyotes, all only... Staring. All of them are identicle, all of them look the same, even in their eyes.

Rorne first breathes a sigh of relief as they get out, moving to join them after they escape. When the building falls and they are faced with the semi-circle of Coyotes, she keeps her back to the party. "At least the building didn't kill us, right?" She asks, panting a little. Amidst all the chaos and the fact that she did something that could have been suicide masked the pain and everything. Her mind drifts to her fur, the strange coat covering her body. It felt off, very different from when she was a coyote, but very like her paw. She didn't want any more of her body to feel this alien to her.

Morten groans and looks at the circle of coyotes surrounding them, she scowls as is still somewhat angry at Glein for shouting at her, a little childish to be upset over it but she was regardless, she turns her attention back to the circle of coyotes however and looks at the group, "Uhh... Maybe if we make a break for it... or.. " she sighs and shakes her head, not bothering to make anymore foolish suggestions.

Glein As the building began to collapse, Glein wasted no time in staying. With Jean on her shoulders, she spun around and sprinted out of the building, only to silently curse and raise her rifle one-handed while the other made sure Jean didn't fall off her shoulders to land in more pain. "So, Rorne... Got any other ideas for this group?" Glein asked, her rifle slowly swinging back and forth, aimming at each one in turn without staying on any one.

Edel folds her arms and adjusts her goggles. "We need to come up with something. They're not attacking now, but who knows how long it will last?" She rubs her muzzle and sighs. "We need to find a way to get home. Jean needs help."

The husky, Jean, holds on to Glein's shoulders weakly, shivering, shaking. She mumbles, "What's going on?"

Meanwhile, one of the coyotes shakes, and shivers, before it blinks, and stands up on two legs. It's the one in the middle, before them. Its muzzle parts into a grin as it looks over them all, as it looks around the group. It says nothing for awhile, before it laughs. "...Well... Now that we have the formalities out of the way... Maybe you'll be more willing to talk, instead of shoot!"

Rorne glares over at Jean, knowing she probably fired the first shot. She shakes her head, telling everyone quietly, "Stand down, negotiations are the best choice for us. We're outnumbered, and Jean is too badly hurt. We can't afford to ignore this." She takes a deep breath and looks to the talking coyote. She takes a small, tentative step closer, asking the talking Coyote, "What is it you want?" Her voice was strained, her open hand now gripping and massaging her paw from how it felt in general.

Morten sighs in relief, "Oh thank god.. " she smiles, almost laughing in relief, "Talking.. talking... Im good at talking, maybe we can finally sort this out .." she says aloud, ignoring how, after everything that has happened that such a thing might even be possible, she looks at Rorne as she asks what the creature wants, making morten sigh and rub the back of her neck.

Glein would shrug if she wasn't holding Jean. "Just make sure you don't make them think we're good for dinner." She says, not quite letting her guard down.

Edel stares down at her own paw of a hand for a moment before looking back up to the coyotes. "I don't even remember how it started, but yes, what is it you want?"

THe standing coyote smirks, looking around at the others, and then back to the group. Jean shifts on Glein's back, trying to look over her shoulder, but she can't. Her blood trickles over the dragoness's hind legs.

"What we want? Well, we wanted to welcome you. We've heard what's happened to Fox... Why the sudden interest in Oregon?"

"I... have no idea why they are so interested in Oregon," Rorne states to the Coyote, "other than the fact that infections here are different than those in Fairhaven." She looks back to Jean, seeing the injuries she sustained, and that she is still bleeding. She then quickly moves to Glein, moving to Glein's back to be able to assist Jean. She looks over Jean, then asks her, "You're healing so much slower than anyone else. I mean... I did what I could and you've been bandaged, yet you're still bleeding, pretty badly. Any particular reason why?"

Morten raises an eyebrow, looking at Rorne with a very confused look, "We're surrounded by coyote-things and your worried about her injuries? Maybe we should worry about getting away first??" she asks, not expecting an answer, moving forward away from the others and closer to the talking coyote, "What do you mean welcome?? you call that a welcome?? because if you do, then hey, you did a good job, now let us go!" she states unhappily, folding her arms.

Glein kneels down seeing Rorne come over with a concerned look on her face. She wasn't putting Jean down, just making it easier for Rorne to look over her rounds. HEr gaze wasn't leaving the coyotes in front of them. Frankly, after her previous experiences with the Pack Minds, both Wolf and Fox, well, she didn't exactly have the greatest view of trust for them.

Edel scratches her neck and frowns. "I could try something more for her, I guess, but I'm no medic." She glances at the coyotes, opting not to do anything other than frown.

The coyote tilts his head. "Different? Howso? Is that why you're all shaped different, and not the same? Is that why you flew in on that strange buzzing animal? How... Interesting! Different than here!" The coyotes seem to whisper to themselves without words. "But... What are infections?"

Meanwhile, Jean is anguishing. "I... I don't know... It's probably just a lot of... A lot of damage... I don't know what else you could do, god... It hurts so much...

Speaking of hurt, those infected are still very much in pain.

Rorne winces, her entire body feeling the pain now that her adrenaline was dying down. "Aw, shit," she mutters, the pain making it difficult to focus. "Okay... I'll try to... explain..." She pants a bit, the pain coming back quickly. "In Fairhaven, there... there are many different creatures... avians, reptiles, mammals... injury slowly turns someone 'infected' into that form... but no Packmind." She grunts, her good hand pushing against her head, feeling the fur in both. "The... the buzzing animal was a... helicopter, and not... not alive." She does her best to look back at the coyote, "Plus... your infections are more invasive... and painful... guh, this hurts..." Looking back to Jean, she then asks, "It... it has to be more than damage... is there... is there something more?"

Morten sighs and rolls her eyes, moving back to the group and Just unhappily sitting down, staring mournfully at the coyotes and shrugging, letting the others talk and sort everything out.. she grumbles to herself and closes her eyes.

Glein shifts knees, and looks over the whole situation. They were surrounded, and these 'yotes wanted to talk. While Glein wasn't going to look a gift, coyote, in the mouth, something was off. Something else was going on. But what?

Edel continues to remain silent, slowly sinking down to one knee, in order to take pressure off of the injured leg. This movement does not seem to react well with her torso wound, causing her grunt in pain. "We have several wounded. We can't sit around forever."

The coyote begins to speak, "Weell, I don't really get that. I get the part about the--" The building begins to rumble behind the team, as it all starts to collapse in on itself, causing a huge cloud of dust to rise up into the air. Every brick falls into the building, the ground shaking as it compresses down. By the time it's done, the yote says, "And that's what I understand about that. Hm. It looks like your friend is hurt. Maybe she should get gooped so she can go home and reform."

Rorne pants a bit, stating, "I don't have time for this." She looks back up at the Coyote. "Gooping... that won't work for her," she responds somewhat darkly. "When you would 'goop,' we would not... we instead die... no reforming." She shakes her head. "She needs help... help we can't give her... we need to get back... to where we came from." She winces, falling to the ground, catching herself with her hands: She's on her hands and knees. "Dammit," she whispers. She places her medkit on the ground next to her and retrieves a syringe of nanites. She stands, preparing to inject it into Jean, using every bit of focus she can to remain steady. "This... this should help..."

Morten sighs and watches the coyote talk to the others, watching as the building falls into a large pile of rubble, listening to the term goop makes her shudder a little before she finally just gives up on caring, laying back on the grass on her side and waiting for everything to just sort itself out, if it does.. she at the point of no longer caring at all and just wanting to go hime.

Glein glances behind her to see what Rorne was doing. "I think we need to get going. I don't know how long she'll last with these wounds. But staying here is definitely not an option." Glein says, her gaze returning to the coyotes.

Edel glances over her shoulder and slowly stands once more. "Any news on that chopper? That would be a reall nice thing to have right now."

The husky groans, as Rorne injects her with nanites. More of those damn things. She's really bad off for awhile. You can't tell if the bleeding stopped for awhile, because the bandages are so soaked... Eventually, the husky shivers. Her ear perks at Edel. "Repairs... No go... Not till mornin..."

Meanwhile, the Coyote tilted its head at Rorne. "Can't goop? Will die? Hm..." It looks at the others behind it. "Well, that is strange. What can we do? It's strange. You're not all fully turning into one of us. Weird. Should we take you home then?"

Morten feels a hot lick on her paw. If she sits up, she'll see a coyote skittering back shyly. It must have licked her foot.

Rorne looks up at the Coyote, somewhat pleadingly. "If by home you mean... ours, yes. That would be... that would be great." She doesn't look down at the rigs, knowing that they were most likely keeping them from changing fully. "All we need... is a way home... so we can take care of... take care of the injured. Please," she asks very politely, as well as somewhat pleadingly. "Maybe, if possible... you could reverse... reverse the changes on us... could you? They... this hurts..."

Morten blinks, ears folding to the sides as she lets out a soft giggle, sitting up to watch the coyote skitter away, she blinks and smiles for the first time in hours before she shrugs and sighs, looking back at the others... she opens her mouth as if to speak but quickly decides against it, she stays sitting up but keeps her gaze on the floor.

Glein's head snapped toward the sound of the giggle, seeing one of the coyote's backing away from Morten. Considering there didn't seem to be any wounds on Morten from the coyote sneak up and attacking them, Glein didn't shift her weight and stance to be prepared to engage that coyote. It'd be stupid as hell to try. "So, no medivac from RSX? No surprise there. Rorne, can you see about them letting us pass if they aren't going to help? We need to get moving or I don't think Jean's gonna hold up much longer." Glein says, glancing once more towards Rorne.

Edel limps closer to Jean and reaches out to take the injured husky's hand, trying to give it a reassuring squeeze "Well, she's going to hold up as long as it takes! We're not losing anyone here. If we can't get out, we need... Supplies, at the least. And a place to recover."

The husky can't hold on much longer. Jean shivers, some, weakly grabbing Edel's paw, before letting go. She's still, until she snores. Hm. Passed out. At least she's one less to worry about.

The coyote shakes his head. "No, we cannot take you to your home. The ones that have been bitten, they need to stay here. They'll become coyotes, too, and join us. Maybe some day they will come back to you? It is their choice if they go then, but right now, they have to stay. This is what our dreams have said to us." A soft sigh. The leader-coyote falls back to his forepaws. "Changes don't reverse, only progress. Just a paw for now, but I know. Every time someone changes, they will change all the way, eventually. If they don't change at all, they will just be hurt. Usually, they will be eaten the natural way, but your strange-looking dog did not change, and will not be eaten, because she is not shooting at us anymore. The other, short dog and you, bird fella, will have to stay."

Shocked at the coyote's statements, Rorne falls to her knees. "No," she states sadly, her voice full of both physical and mental pain. "I... I can't stay..." She raises one of her hands to her stomach. "There... must be some way..." She shakes her head. "I... please... there has to be... be some way..." She remains there, becoming mostly silent with some painful grunts and heavy breaths. She couldn't accept that there was no way back. There had to be some way to fix this... there just had to be... for him.

Morten blinks, lowering her ears at the coyote as it states the others have to stay, looking to miss Edel and the others, she shakes her head, looking unhappily at the coyote, "Hey! you cant make them stay, what gives you the right?!" she yells, blushing a little at her outburst...

Glein shakes her head. "No go friend. We all get out. No ifs ands or buts." Glein states, her right thumb moving up to rest on the selector lever on the rifle. It was set to safe, for now. But it wouldn't take much to flick it to semi-auto or even full-auto. And if this situation got ugly, they'd be having to shoot their way out.

Edel sighs and looks at her paw. "Even if I were to join you, I could not stay for long. Such is the lift of a drifter, yeah?" She gives a slightly pained chuckle. "Could I just cut this thing off? Hypothetically speaking, of course."

The coyote tilts his head. He looks confused, and concerned. "Something is keeping you from changing further, or you'd already be one of us. My friends, you are keeping this pain from ending with it. It is... Something. A device on you. It's in one of your pockets, or pouches." It sighs and turns away. "You might cut it off. I don't know. That hasn't worked before, but it might, with your thing that stops our gift to you. Do you... Not find us attractive? Well... If Short Dog cuts off her paw, she might be able to go. If the changes don't continue. But Bird Fella, you can't cut off all your skin, your wings and arm, can you? That will not work. You will stay..."

At Morten's outburst, the coyote that licked his paw seems to pin its ears, and pout.

Rorne closes her eyes, shaking her head. Something was bothering her, but it wasn't much. "Did I... forget something?" She mutters before she shakes her head again. Looking back at the coyote, she remains silent, a look of desperation in her eyes. She didn't want to stay, she had a reason not to. "I... can't stay... I have... someone waiting..." she manages out. "Please... there has to be something... anything... I'll do whatever... whatever it takes..."

Morten sighs and whines, grumbling unhappily, "This is stupid.. 15 minutes ago they were trying to kill us, now theyre negotiating, how do you know they'll stay true to their word and not just kill the ones they 'let go' ..." she states bluntly, groaning and shaking her head, lowering her ears as she starts to get a headache..

Glein grunts. "It ain't like I can carry ya'll out of here by myself. And we don't exactly have a lot of choice. I don't have nearly enough bullets to take on an entire pack-mind, and we're definitely not in good enough shape to try." Glein states, shaking her head. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place, and it wasn't looking to be getting better soon.

Edel gives Jean's hand another squeeze. It's hard to say if it's for Jean's benefit or her own, as the goggles work wonders for concealing the expression in her eyes. "If I did stay, by chance, how long would I be staying? Because I do not wish to join you. It is not that I do not think you are attractive or any of that, but I have family and duties that need to be taken care of. Responsibilities. I could not afford to stay with you for long, nor do I want to."

THe coyote yaps! A laugh! "That all depends on YOU! Of course. Like you... If you're strong, you might not be lost. You might be able to take one of the bodies we'd give you, and take it. Make it your own. You might be able to leave tomorrow! Or this morning! It all depends. You might not WANT to leave, or there might be nothing left. Or, you may cut off your paw. I suggest, at the elbow. Your packmates can help."

It then looks at Rorne, a smirk, knowing...

THe coyote blinks, and laughs. "Ooooh! So your boxes hold the changes at bay! But your... Company? Whatever that is. It wants them back. Soon as you take them off, you will finish changing. It will hurt... Also, Bird Fella... I like your mate. He's pretty attractive. He's a coyote, too! Is there another packmind like us there, where you are from?"

Rorne gasps, placing her hand to her head. She grunts a little, saying aloud, "Get out... get out..." She falls forward, catching herself with her paw, making her wince in pain. Looking back up at the coyote, a definite bit of anger present, she states directly, "There isn't... a packmind there... he's mine..." Her body glows a bit, the heat radiating from her body growing slowly. "You hurt my packmates... you take those rigs... I'll burn this city... to the ground... I'll raze you all... into a grand funeral pyre..."

Morten groans and sighs, getting very uncomfortable at the notion of leaving anyone behind, watching the coyote clearly get under Rorne's skin just makes her more uncomfortable, "Please just let us go!! why are you so obsessed with making them stay... whats wrong with you things? " she asks weakly, not expecting an answer really but cant keep her muzzle shut it seems.

Glein brings her rifle up with a snap, not as stablized as if she'd both hands for it, but stable enough, her thumb quickly flicking the lever to AUTO. "You mgiht want to be REAL damn careful 'bout what you say next." Glein states, eyeballing the 'lead' coyote here.

Edel holds up her hands. "I think they are just making the observation. Let us not get into another fight here, please. I do not think it would end well for either of us." She sighs and rubs her face. "But I am not sure what to do, either. I am uncertain if the nanites can regrow limbs. I don't know if I want to cut it off. On the other hand, I am sure that I could break away just fine. But what if I'm wrong? Such a problem. I hate problems."

That coyote that was being nice to Morten, well, it just kinda slinks away to the back. Obviously, Morten doesn't like any of them.

Meanwhile the orator grins "Well, you're bright. You're pretty nice. Listen, soon to be coyote, you have to do this or you will turn at a place where we cannot help you... They will not let you keep your box. Once you turn it in you will continue the change... If you do it here, we can help you get another body, and you might still want to leave, and return to your mate, if not..." The coyote grins, making eye contact with Glein. "Take off the box."

Rorne stares into the eyes of the coyote for a few moments, immobile, and also strangely silent. She couldn't explain it, but, for whatever reason, she felt he was right. She reaches over to grab the strap, beginning to remove it. She is hesitant, though, as there's something there, something in the back of her mind. A voice telling her to stop, telling her this was wrong, that she shouldn't be doing it. It persists as she continues, lifting the strap from her right shoulder over her head and to her left shoulder. The voice is still there, screaming at her now. She doesn't listen to it, and continues to remove the rig from her body. When she removes it fully, she places it on the ground next to Glein. The entire time she does this, her eyes never leave that of the coyote's. Something about him, about those eyes, told her it was right, that everything was going to be fine...

Morten blinks, everything around her seems to stop as she watches rorne remove the device, making mortens eyes widen as she watches, "Rorne what are you doing.... Rorne?!" she asks repeatedly, moving closer to her and trying to take it back even though the rig is fully removed, she takes it and shakes her head, "What are you thinking?!.. Jean?.. Edel! .. Glein! do something!" she demands, ignoring every other issue at present.

Glein shakes her head, knowing that what she had in mind, would likely either infect them all, or worse, actually kill them. "Rorne, you put that rig back on. They're playing mind games with you." Glein says, her focus, and aim, not drifting from the speaker amongst the coyotes. "You've someone waiting for you back in Fairhaven. Don't discredit him or yourself by giving in." Glein states, hoping to speak some since into Rorne.

Having remained rather motionless for the duration of all of this, attention focused solely on staring at her arm, Edel's movement comes rather suddenly. "You seem to be intelligent enough to negotiate, so I will ask this. If I did agree to join with you, would you be willing to release me? Or at least make it easy for me to cut myself off? You know I'd rather avoid having to cut my hand off. Do you have any idea how much that would hurt? And suck? Even if it does grow back!"

The coyote grins, smiling, looking at each of the members of the team. "Don't worry... She will come back to you in the morning." It then turns to Edel. "We will do our best to make sure you're able to return home. We can't just cut you off, but we won't stop you. We will train you to control your new body, if you need..."

The pain immediately attacked Rorne's body, enveloping her whole being as it rips her apart, cell by cell, and reconfigures her, but the whole time in her mind, the coyote coos softly to her, and as the changes continue, more voices join the gentle encouragement.

That voice remains, screaming at her to get the rig back on. It continues to tell her that Sithra wouldn't want this, that she doesn't want this, and that it was all a trick by the coyote. Even the voices of her friends lingered in her mind, she barely paying any attention to their protests. However, that voice is silenced when the pain seeps in, clouding her mind in general. She falls to the ground completely, spasming and squirming on the ground. However, despite her obvious pain, she didn't scream, yelp, or shout. Something about it felt right, that the pain was merely the passage to where she needed to be. Her wings twitch violently, losing mass by the second. Her good hand twists and contorts, shifting into that of a paw, like her other 'hand.' Her tail shifts and twists, forming together into a slender tail of a canine. Her legs convulse rapidly, her hallux, the toe behind the others, painfully shifts forward, now having all four of her taloned toes pointing like a digitigrade foot. They then fuse, fur covering the once bare appendages, as their orientation becomes that of a hindquarter and paw. By this point, her wings were completely gone, her torso elongating and shifting to match the coyotes around them exactly. The only thing remaining normal was her head, beak and all, but covered in fur instead of feathers. Through this whole ordeal, she could, oddly, hear the cooing from the coyotes around her, calming her. However, her friends are completely silent to her, no matter how loud they may speak.

Morten lowers her ears, colour draining from her face as she watches Rorne change, something she normally enjoys, form shifting and transformations but something about this one, felt almost painful, like Rorne was being chipped away in the process, she clutches Rorne's rig tightly to her chest as she tries to find the words... any words.. even a scream would do right now but she finds herself unable to talk or breathe, her vision locked on Rorne as her body almost becomes locked in a petrified limbo...

Growling, Glein's grip on her rifle tightens, though her finger doesn't pull the trigger just yet. "Pack Minds. Your all the fucking same. Only seem to care about strengthening your, pack, without concern or care about others." Glein grinds out, holding back only by strength of will in knowing that to let loose would doom them all.

Edel scratches her cheek with her good hand. "... Be back in the morning, hm? That short?" She sighs softly. "Could be worse..." She glances at Rorne, frowning. "I wish I could put you at ease..." She straightens up and glances towards the rest of her group. "What do you three think I should do? Assuming that I would, and most likely will, be back before long?"

It wasn't long before Rorne's head finished changing, and then, pow, their hips popped out of place, and they fell to all four paws. This is it, the final bit, as their mind flees...

Rorne sees a place, dark at night. An eye, far up above them where the moon should be, canine. They're human, what they were before the change. They're being held by an old man, skin sunned so red its color is even seen in ths night. They're both in a pool of water, waist deep, surrounded by trees. If Rorne looks, to the north is Crate Lake, they just know, and to the south is Mount Shasta in California. The old man, who is wearing a head-dress of a coyote, smiles. "Welcome. Now, back to your body. We will talk later. Your child is safe." He then submerged human-Rorne into the water with one arm, the other, cradling an infant-sized bundle...

They wake up again in their new body, a nonmorphic coyote. There they are, back in Klamath Falls, a thousand voices welcoming them, the coyotes around Rorne, smiling.

The speaking coyote smiles. "We have another... And you all are free to go if you please, except for the Short Dog, who must make her decision. Paw, or packmind." and as he says that, the coyotes open up a large clear way for them to leave.