Inside the Packmind Pt 1 - RPLOG
Participants
Date
4/5/2013
Log
The ground is bare, and there are no trees anywhere around except for one gnarled and twisted, whose branches stand naked against the endless void above. The area seems to fade around the immediate area. This is all there is, the ground, the tree, and the old man beneath it. Three beings had come here, two adorned in pelts and masks of the Coyote, and the third naked as the day he was born. Of course, the man under the tree hadn't said a word to either the snarky one, or the other, distraught figure donned in furs. He was silent, watchful, even of Angus's retorts, though he could not help hide the slightest of smile.
There was nothing, all around them. They'd just died. Smokie was crouched over the newest comer, wiping a tear from his eye with her fingers, clothes in the fur of the animal that they once were...
"I've..." what was the right word for that? Sithra hardly remembers how to speak, as he has gone feral himself, with the packmind nanites' help. He stares at the person who just wiped a tear off his cheek, "Sithra... Sithra is d-dead?" he manages to let out a gruff answer, before he stands up and looking curiously at the old man.
Angus frowned, crossing his arms as he stared at the old man. He knew that they were dead, or something in between as he looked around at the endless void around them, before his gaze was once again brought back to the tree and the old man before it. "So, mind telling us why we are here?" He asked with annoyance, that grin not setting well with him.
He says nothing. He's dressed in furs, too, though not nearly as elaborately as the two former Coyotes. Only about his torso is he covered, with black hair and skin of red copper. "That's a demand. What even IS here? There was nothingness before, but now there is something. That is strange..." He strokes his chin. "But it seems that you've come to join me, and perhaps even give some company."
Smokie is still leaning over the newcomer. Sithra? That Coyote on the truck from earlier? "I don't know if Sithra is dead... Were you friends with them?"
The human points at himself, "M- It is...Sithra..." he doesn't talk with the old man, though. He makes his way towards them, still looking at the old man.
"Yaaaaaa, sorry. But when a cryptic weirdo, wearing pelts, and standing in front of a tree starts talking about company. I tend to say no" Angus shot back, glancing up at the gnarled old thing behind the old man. He didn't say a word as Sithra started to walk by him, all he did was place a fur covered hand on the humans shoulder. His grip strong as he trys to hold him back.
He looks taken aback, frowning a little now. He stands up with a sigh in front of the tree, which still almost towers above him. "You are being very rude. I was looking forward to some company..." He circles the tree a little, his right hand on it. He looks up at it. "You know, I just want to help you. You three are all in a very dark place, with much danger behind and before you..." It's then that one might notice, as he stands, that the pelts he's wearing are similar to those on Angus and Smokie.
Smokie, of course, brings up the rear alongside Sithra. So, that is Sithra? A smile under that mask, and helps him over to Angus. "Don't worry, Sithra, it's Angus and I, we're here, all three of the Coyotes... But if you're here then... Huh. Perhaps we did die. I don't know what's going on out there anymore. It feels like it could have been forever."
Sithra looks over his shoulder as he feels someone holding him, "B-but he..." he points at the old man, "He is...alone!" he tries to free himself, but without any success, he lowers his head and keeps standing in one place.
Angus turns his head to look at both Smokie and Sithra. "Thats intresting." He said as he turned back to the old man. "You
Angus turns his head to look at both Smokie and Sithra. "Thats intresting." He said as he turned back to the old man. "You've been standing there talking about wanting to help, but you haven't even told us who you are." He shrugged, giving them a smile. "Trust is earned, and with trust comes help. And company."
He turns to look at the three. There's a little something about how they all stand together that way, side by side. He traces his hand upwards along a branch until its out of his reach. He sighs softly. "I just know that I want to help. Would you deny a stranger helping you, if you were hurt and lost and needed water? What more do you need to earn your trust than intent?"
Smokie sighs softly, looking at him. She's very confused. She shivers and looks at Angus to her side, across the human Sithra. This was a pretty tough nut to crack, but she held on to Sithra gently, to plant him tight. She looks at Angus... "He's wearing furs, too... They, they look like coyote, too..." she says, low, to him.
Trust? Sithra doesn't remember what that word means, but if it makes everyone be not alone, then they should trust to the old man. He looks at Angus and nodnods as he hears Smokie's words, "Trust..."
Angus scowls as Smokie speaks, causing him to look at the old mans furs once more. "alright...I'l trust you....for now." He muttered as he looked down, he still didn't know if they could truely trust this old man. So many things about old man were still covered in shadows, so many things were left in the dark, but he might as well give them a chance.
He smiles warmly now, and moves over to the small group. He stands before them awkwardly, though, not really knowing how to interact. Hand shakes, you know, weren't really a thing to him. He nods to each in turn, and says, "My name is-- Well... It's... I suppose it's not important right now. Thank you for trusting me, I hope I won't disappoint... Perhaps we'll all make it, even! Now, what can you tell me about how you all got here?"
Smokie goes to offer her paw to him, but as he just stands there, she lets it fall and looks off into the void. There's... So much nothing. Shouldn't there be something out there? Maybe a continuance of this bare landscape? And as she thought about it, it seemed that the small circle of where they were began to radiate out in the direction she was watching, making her eyes widen as it continued on and on, the land uneven and broken in random geological features as it went...
Sithra shakes head at old man's words, "Sithra does...not remember..." he scratches his head with weird expression on his face. He sighs and shakes his head once again. He can't remember anything about his death, he barely can remember what was before that. He looks at Smokie and curiously tries to follow her gaze.
Angus didn't offer him a hand shake, and he just shrugged at his question. "Don't really remember, all I know was we were ambushed. We tried to retreated and then.....nothing" The last memory he had was the pain of his form changing by force, everything else was blank. Turning he stares in shock at the change in scenery, and he just shakes his head. This place was just weird.
He nods to both their stories, then looks curiously to the expansion of the land caused by Smokie, who was peering out over it. He suddenly seems to get excited, "That's it, that's it! That is the key!" He laughs as he goes over to her, taking her hands, almost hopping excitedly. "You've figured out how to work it! Something is nothing! There was nothing and now there is something!"
Smokie gasps as her hands are taken. She tilts her head, standing firm and not being pulled into a jig by the strange fellow. "That just sounds like a lot of nonsense to me right now, but okay."
Sithra stares at the changes of landscape, captivated by it's weird features. "That's..." he looks at the old man, "Sithra can do that too?" he asks, throwing a glances towards the changes caused by Smokie.
Angus stares at the landscape, wondering how that was even possible as his thoughts wandered.. "I wonder..." He muttered, thinking he should test his theory out. "Smokie, what were you thinking of when this happened. What was your thoughts right before the landscape appeared?"
The man in the coyote furs laughs and nods at Sithra, "Yes, you may, you may indeed! All you have to do is want to make nothing into something! But huh, you might want to start small though, maybe specific, otherwise you might use up all the nothing and there wouldn't be any left, and who knows what somethings we'll need to make that nothing into later?"
Smokie turns to Angus as she's released, and goes over to him. She looks at the excited man, and sighs, then looks over at the strip of landscape extending forever. "I just thought that, y'know, there had to be something out there... Oh god, Angus, I mean... I know we're here, but, something... I can't shake this feeling of worry... I can't remember exactly why we're here."
"Nothing into something..." Sithra nods and looks at empty landascape and tries to think about something. Image of the honeycomb suddenly pops in his mind and he concentrates on it, trying to make it out of... nothing.
Angus looks at Smoke and shakes his head, hugging her. "Are you telling me you forgot about our mission, forgot about the packmind..." Taking a step back he sighed, before looking back to the old man. "Okay, you need to give a better explanation. We need more then just to save nothing for later."
The man nods, standing before Sithra, with a hand on his shoulder. The hand is not heavy, but light and reassuring, soft and firm. Sithra's thoughts are soon rewarded, as a chunk of fresh honeycomb falls out of nowhere, onto the ground before him. The man laughs, and picks it up, to offer it to Sithra. "See, you've done it!"
Smokie looks at Angus, her look of concentration visible through her mask. She thinks a moment, before her eyes go wide, and she clings to Angus. "Oh god, Angus, the packmind... Oh Coyote, Angus, we did die... We're... We're inside the packmind? Maybe that's why... All three of us are here, but we didn't go at the same time... And it's just us..." She looks around at the void, before, in the distance of her strip of landscape, she sees something running, something dark. "What is that?"
The man stops his joyous attitude with Sithra, and peers over into the long strip of landscape. That speck is rapidly growing close. And it's... "Is that a wolf?"
Sithra looks at the honeycomb and takes it, He slowly moves it towards his nose and sniffs at it's sweet, favor scent. He shrugs a bit as it brings some strange sad and at the same time happy feelings. He shrugs the feels off and follows the old man's gaze, trying to find what everyone is staring at. Something is coming. He hears old man's words. A wolf? Sudden pain in his head causes him to drop the honeycomb, but it leaves him as sudden as it arrived.
Angus stumbles as Smokie clings to him, and he hugs her once more. "Yes....yes, I think we might of died. And we are inside the packmind..." He sighed, closing his eyes as he hugged her. "What?" He asked, eyes flying open as he hears that there is a Wolf. Letting of Smokie his eyes narrow. An image formed in his mind, anaxe, heavy and sharp taking form as he takes a step forward.
The man held onto Sithra and pulled him back, watching the wolf. Angus's axe just fell out of the sky to land beside him in his grip, though the feeling of it played only on his memories, the grip cold, the iron frigid as if the first time he'd held an axe after so long.
Smokie followed beside him, falling in once he took hold of his axe. The wolf was now right there, at the edge of where the old circle of ground and the new strip of landscape. It lowered its head and growled, but did not pass in... Instead, the Wolf seemed to smirk, and turn away, to begin off at a lazy walk as if the four here were no such threat, its tail held high, just as another sign of superiority.
Sithra tilts his head as the Wolf smirks and walks away. The Wolf. "Sithra... remembers-" he says as the images of many wolfs pops in his mind. Eating wolves, fucking wolves, howling wolves, fighting wolves... It hurts. He doesn't know why, but those images hurt him. He doesn't want them... He holds his head trying to suppress his memories, but they're washing over his mind, without a sign of stopping.
Angus grined as the axe fell into his hand, and he swong it experimentaly. But when the wolf starts to walk away he frowns. "How cute." He muttered when the wolf started to walk away, and when it's tail went up he smiled. "Big bad wolf presenting itself is it?" He taunts. The superiority coming from the wolf just pissing him off.
The man is holding both of Sithra's shoulders, looking into his eyes. He knows the man is speaking in his mind but it's completely almost lost to the voices. He only can catch just a word or two, that almost make no sense. Trust. Resist. C'mon. Coyote. Coyote.
Smokie turns and looks at Angus, frowning a little. "If we let him go... Well hell, it doesn't matter. Damn packmind knows already. It's oddly smug. ...It'd make a little sense, I guess, if we were in the packmind... It must be going towards the wellspring... Wait. Maybe it knows the way out..."
"N-no... you can't..." the wolves're looking at him. Whispers. Wolves're just staring at him with their empty, almost glass-like eyes. He feels how they're sucking something out of him. Pain. 'Coyote.' He can't just look away from their eyes. 'Trust.' Are they coming closer or it's just his... imagination? He can't say if they're moving as his eyes are fixed on their. 'Resist.' Resist? What? How? "Stop it... It hurts..." he flops onto the knees, whimpering and holding his head as if he trying to crush it with his hands.
Angus stares at the wolf as it walks away. "I don't know Smokie, I don't know." He growl, the handle of the axe in his hand creaking as he tightens his grip in anger. "What do you think Sith-HEY." He blinks, staring at the old man and Sithra as Sithra falls to his knees. "What are you doing to him?" He asked as he walked towards the old man, placing a hand on his shoulder as he looked down at Sithra in concern.
The man looks at Angus, his eyes wide. He's nervous. What the hell IS happening? He lookes down at Sithra, then goes to his own knees before him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He holds him firmly. "Come on, come on, you have to resist them. Come on, hang on to your memory, don't let them take you!" He ignores Angus and his anger, except for a nervous glance now and then as if to say 'I really don't have control of this.'
Smokie can hardly handle it, as she looks to Sithra, and then to the wolf. She shakes her head, sighing, turning towards the others. "The longer we wait the more likely we are to lose that wolf. Sithra, you have to pull yourself together!"
They're coming closer. Or is he walking towards them? Or is it just they eyes got bigger? Sithra doesn't know. He can't tell as he can't look away from their eyes. Are they can't do that either? Because they're just staring at him. Though he feels how something is being drawn out of him. What could it be? Life? Power? Sanity?
Something tells him that he must resist. He must hold to that something that being drawn. Maybe he should get rid of the wolves? Just throw them away? And he throws. He begins to wipe the wolves out of his mind, one by one, but there is no end for them. Pressure is just getting bigger and bigger. Endlessly...
