Coyote: The Packmind/Chapter 2
Sorien comes to, her face on the ground again. Her eyes come into focus and she looks up, and there's the mouth of a cave, shaped like the muzzle of a coyote, maw wide, as if to make a snack out of her.
Apostasy comes conscious to the sudden feeling of falling, the air flowing over their face and the sickening drop is all they feel at first. It takes a moment for them to make sense out of what's happening and they try to stretch their wings, but nothing happens. They notice finally that they have very masculine human arms flailing in front of them. Purples and greys spin around them and doesn't stay still to make any sense.
[Sorien] The air hums, and a sudden swift wind picks up almost knocking the rising Sorien off the ground the gust is so powerful.
Sorien crouches to resist the force, using an arm to protect her eyes so that she can perhaps see what's coming.
Apo can't even hear their screaming over the sickening spinning and rushing air, but suddenly they feel slammed by a force that hits them hard like a rock. Air gusting underneath them and amazingly slowing their fall just before they crash to the earth below.
[Sorien] Sorien hears an odd noise and behind in the distance she sees something falling, and hitting the ground. It looks like a body.
Apostasy screams out in pain at the sudden, jolting stop, blacking out momentarily from the pain before coming to and looking about.
Sorien heads for the form carefully, not knowing who or what it is; she's still shaking-mad and frustrated, and not at all trusting of her surroundings.
The twilight sky above, and grass fields surround, waist high into the distance. There's the full moon in the sky, red and yellow, with a black dot in the center.
[Sorien] Sorien hears a scream of pain as the body collides with the ground, definitely alive. Or at least used to be.
Apostasy climbs to hir feet slowly, grunting with pain as shi does.
"That.... is gonna leave a mark..." Shi stops and stares at the bizarre looking moon. "What the hell..? Where am I?"
[Sorien] Sorien sees the figure get up, and a deep masculine voice talks, "That.... is gonna leave a mark..." and then a moment later "What the hell..? Where am I?" He appears deep red skinned, and completely nude, his genitalia hanging out in the cold air marking him as clearly male. He's very tall, bordering on seven feet, and muscular.
Apo sees someone female approaching them. She has dark black hair running down to her shoulders, and she's covered by a coyote fur, enough to cover her modesty. She's bare foot, and has clear Amerind features.
Sorien slows down, realizing that the person isn't dead, or even crippled. She becomes a lot more wary as she continues to approach.
Apostasy blinks at the sound of hir own voice. "Wha..." Shi looks down at hirself, and almost falls backwards in shock. "What the hell? What's going on? Where's my body? Why am I a -man-?"
The wind howls in the air above the two strangers, and the grass at their knees sways with it.
Sorien stops a distance away, at least two body-lengths, and waits for the person to react to her.
Apostasy finally realizes shi's not alone, and looks at the other person. Hir eyes narrow and shi fires off several questions, not even leaving enough time for replies between each. "Who are you? What is this place? Why am I here? Why have I got this body instead of my own? What the hell is going on?!"
Sorien blinks. "Um... My name is Sorien, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know and I don't know, but I think we've been absorbed into some kind of group mind thing?
Apostasy blinks. "S-Sorien? Sorien! You're alright! Well, sort of. It's... uh... me, Apo. Though I obviously amn't myself right now, in terms of body..."
Sorien says, "No... No I'm not alright. Not really. I wanna go home, I hate this place, the others here talk in fucking riddles, and I am SO gonna beat the living hell out of them on principle. (She sits down where she is with a sigh, tears in her eyes.) "
Another earthquake rumbles beneath, the ground shifting like waves of water, behind where Sorien came from, the cave entrance slopes upward, rocks begin to fall down the hillside as the earth rumbles in anger.
Sorien turns and looks at the cave. "Oh shut the FUCK up."
Apostasy moves over to Sorien awkwardly, completely unused to moving around without a tail and wings, and sits beside Sorien, putting an arm around her shoulders. "We'll find a way out of here. I made a promise to Kale, one I have no intention of breaking. And we have to get you back to REDACTED. She's near out of her mind with worry." She looks over at the cave curiously, but shrugs... it can be investigated later.
The cave itself looks like a coyote's maw, hungry and slavering. Rocks settle around near the entrance, giant bolders and smaller rubble a like.
Sorien sort of hugs herself. "I... I don't wanna be touched right now... We'll get out, over the dead body of whatever son of a bitch did this if necessary."
Apostasy takes hir arm off Sorien, and nods. "Sorry, sorry..." Shi chuckles and nods affirmatively. "Damn straight we will. you mentioned other people were here?"
[Cilan] Cilan wakes in darkness. Oppressive weight on top of her is overwhelming and she can't breath, choking on dirt. She feels as if she's been buried alive, and her instincts kick in.
Sorien says, "Not... Friends. " and then "Not that I can tell.
Apostasy seductively says, "What do you mean?"
Sorien says, "One old bastard who only talks in riddles if he talks at all, one psychotic woman, one warrior-wannabe with a spear who didn't say a thing, and some others. All totally acceptant of this being 'right' and none sympathetic at all."
Cilan wakes up in a strange area, and her first instinct is to let out a few dry heaving coughs, choking as she attempts to find the needed air, finished she slowly rises to her feet and groans, "Ugh.. where the fuck am I?.." anger at her vision attacker obviously still there
Apostasy sighs. "I guess all of them gave in."
Sorien says, “They're distinct personae. I don't think that's it precisely."
Apostasy shrugs. "I suppose I might as well gie talking with them a try. Where are they?"
Sorien says, "I was about to go all Bruce Lee on them and the old guy threw me into the bonfire, and I landed here. I dunno."
[Cilan] She sees no light around her obvious, in the darkness she shivers, not sure of where she is, she spins around trying to find something her eyes can make sense out of, until she finally sees a soft light in the distance.
Apostasy can't help but giggles. "I presume you attempted diplomacy first?"
Sorien says, "Yeah. Getting laughed at after everything else didn't exactly improve my mood."
Cilan blinks her eyes, rapidly, seeing nothing around her but blackness, "H-Hello?!.. Anyone there!" is called out in the attempt to find another voice in.. wherever the hell this is, noticing the light her eyes go wide, and she runs to it, hoping to find a way out.
Apostasy seductively says, "No, I can't imagine it would have. Still... maybe I'll have a bit more luck? Assuming you knwo how to get us back to them."
Sorien says, "No idea. And that stupid cave is just screaming 'bad idea' at me."
[Cilan] Cilan notices first her stride seems off, although it comes naturally to her, it's not right at all. The light begins to grow in size, and before long she realizes she's in some kind of tunnel, and the outside world is growing in size. Dim glowing twilight can be seen ahead.
Apostasy looks at the cave again. "Yeah, kinda does. After all, it was a Coyote's mouth that got me into this mess in the first place, and I'm guessing the same for you."
Sorien says, "Yeah... But a took down half the pack before the bastards got me."
Apostasy chuckles. "We had a hell of a brawl. Lost count of how many I took down before one manged to wing me when I was getting them off Kale. Still, shi's safe as far as I know, so at least there's that."
Cilan pays little attention to her stride, having been through many forms, she's gotten used to each style of running, and it continues until finally the sky shows itself, prompting the soldier to push herself even more to find out just where she is.
[Cilan] As she emerges into the light, she gets the creeps as she looks up above at the cave entrance, a large rock coyote's maw looks as if it's about to swallow her again.
Cilan turns to look at the maw and without thinking, attempts to jump away, diving to move out of its path.
Cilan lands with her head in tall grass. Behind her the stone maw looks down on her, hungry but unmoving. To the side of it rocks and boulders have slid down and are piled. The sky above is deep indigo tinged with purple, and red tipped mountains that rise up high beyond the cave look at if they are hiding a dormant sun just behind. And above the full red-yellow moon is bright and shimmering like a reflection on a water surface.
"Ooof!.." is called out as Cilan lands, finding her vision marred by tall grass, she rises to her feet once more and looks to the sky, still remaining silent she gives the entrance one last look, scoffing at it, before she moves next to scan her surroundings, attempting to find a familiar face, or at least scene.
Cilan looking around sees nothing but grass behind her, but scanning closely she spots two figures in the dim light sitting in the grass, one's head significantly taller than the other.
Cilan moves close to the figures she had seen, but rather than dashing frantically to them, she sneaks, attempting to make as little noise as possible just incase the figures are another of the coyotes she had fought earlier.
Apostasy sighs and looks up at the strange moon again. "I hope Kale and Cil are alright... the others better be taking care of them..."
Cilan notices as she's moving through that she's most certainly human, and she's quite naked, the waist high grass is actually quite bothersome because of that. Her skin is a lighter shade of soft red and brown hues, but the twilight hides some of that. Sorien says, "I've been trying to snap loose of this... Fake place. I actually got kinda loose, only to see me attacking REDACTED as a coyote! God, I hope that wasn't real... I KNOW I can control things here. I know it... I just have to figure out how."
Cilan notices her skin as she creeps up on the figures, giving the sight a surprised look, blinking, but shortly shaking her head of the matter, figuring that she'd figure out what happened after seeing who those two were.
Cilan reaches just into hearing range without being noticed, having to get fairly close with her weak human ears. So far her presence has gone unnoticed.
Apostasy seductively says, "You'll have to tell me how you did that... if we can manage that, and actually take control of the coyotes we end up in... we can still help them from here."
Cilan sees two human figures, although she stays low in the grass to hide herself incase one looks her way.
Cilan kneels down, watching the two figures intently now that she had entered earshot, and listens, watching them intently, figuring out whether the two are friend, or foe.
Sorien says, "I want my OWN body back. I'll be damned if I let... Whomever... Win."
Apostasy seductively says, "First we need to get back into the real world. Once we do that, getting our own bodies back will probably be a bit easier than trying it from here."
Sorien says, "Sweetie... Our bodies are IN the real world. THis, (she gestures) is fake. A construct. THat much I've figured out. Our real bodies are coyotes now. "
Sorien says, "Only way back is to take them back."
"The real world?.. so.. where the hell am I?" is whispered as Cilan muses to herself, continuing to watch, and learn more about her situation.
Sorien says, Or to take over here. At least as far as I can tell."
Sorien says,, "I'll try again... Just to see."
Sorien closes her eyes, and tries once again to force her way back to her own body. She breathes slow and long, focussing on her 'self' and her body, knowing there's SOME connection on some deep level, and PUSHES to try to reach it!
Apostasy watches Sorien carefully.
Sorien feels dizzy and sick, and visions spin of many eyes and ears, but she feels a resistance, almost like a feedback.
Sorien suddenly passes out, falling to the ground.
Apostasy seductively says, "Sorien? Sorien!"
Sorien feels really odd as she slips into something. She wakes up, in a hut, and looks at her hands, still female, but they're -very- different hands than a few moments before. She realizes that she's in the Raven haired girl's body.
Her head spins as she tries to make sense of who she is and what's going on and realization dawns on her. "Hah! Hehehehehehehehe! She cries out and looks around, sees what she can, and writes in the dirt on the floor: "Bitch, Guess what- I can GET IN YOU." Then she feels a sucking sensation and is punted back into her own body.
Cilan continues watching, blinking in surprise as Sorien collapses and further surprise is added as she hears Apostasy call her name, "S-Sorien?" is called out, easily heard as she rises from her kneeling position, and promptly rushing to the two.
Apostasy blinks as another human woman runs up to them. Shi looks at her curiously for a moment and says "Who are you?" before returning hir attention to Sorien, concern clear on hir face.
Sorien sits up slow, and is actually giggling! "Hah. Gotcha."
Apostasy pokes Sorien in the side. "You... you! GAH! That was just mean." Shi tries to look annoyed, but can't stop a smile from tugging at hir lips.
Cilan rushes to Sorien's side, only then does she answer, "Names Cilan.. don't know who you are, but right now Sori--.. huh?" blinking as she rises back into a seated position, "Ugh.. you just had to make me fear the worst, didn't you.." her palm covering her face and she shakes her head as she says that.
Sorien says, "Sorry..." and "I didn't get you, I got someone else."
Sorien says, "I'd not do that, sweetie."
