prologue ♔ we're all stories in the end

[moonheart]

WHO || Sydney, Faith, Anastacia
WHAT || Sydney arrives in this world
WHERE || The Phillipines
WHEN || Backdated to sometime in late April
HOW || Actionspam

As the Veil fog parts around her, Sydney finds herself surrounded by warm air weighted with humidity. The dissipating mist seems strangely out of place, even without its sudden coming and going, when she gets a view of the tropical scene before her. She appears to be looking out over some kind of small pool of water that flows into a cove, and there are small boats up against the shore, into which several men are loading crates, shouting to one another in Filipino.

Comments

[celerystick]

[Color her very surprised, both by her answer, and resulting question.]

You want me to help you?

[They'd just met, after all, but...]

Would you get me out of here afterward if I do? I don't want to be stuck here.

[moonheart]

You can hop a ride out of here with us! We help people who are new here all the time. It's kind of our job. Along with stopping bad guys.

[celerystick]

That...would be amazing. I'm not entirely sure where I'd go after that, but it's a start.

[She breathes in deeply, then exhales before giving the girl a nod.]

Okay, what do you want me to do?

[moonheart]

Depends. [ she squints ] What are you better at: running fast, or aiming?

[celerystick]

Um, running. Probably.

[Because she has no idea what she would be aiming. She knows she can use a gun, but not particularly how well.

But she's in good shape, thin and light.]

[moonheart]

Great! So what exactly are your feelings on being bait?

[celerystick]

Seriously? [A beat.] Okay, yeah, you really are serious.

[This is going to take all the courage ever.]

Sure. Fine. Just tell me what to do and let's get this over with.

[moonheart]

All you have to do is go pretend to be taking pictures of them and get 'caught'. [ she hands over a drakenet phone, and hits the button to make it a camera ] Then book it along the edge of the stream that way [ she points past the cave ] and I'll do the rest!

[celerystick]

[This was dumb. So, so, so stupid. But the sooner this was over with, the sooner she could leave, and hopefully find a way home.]

Yeah, okay.

[She takes the phone, checks the buttons, and nods slowly.]

Let's get this over with.

[moonheart]

Just give me twooo minutes to get to the top of the ridge. [ she heads off through the trees lickity split ]

[celerystick]

Two minutes. Got it.

[And as the girl disappears, she breathes out through her mouth, her nervousness returning. How in the heck did she get into this mess?

She starts counting. One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi, etc, til she gets to two minutes. (Never let it be said that she can't follow instructions.)

And then, she begins to move back toward the group, phone in hand, positioning herself so that she's deliberately not fully hidden by the trees.

And then she starts to snap photos. With the flash on. Muttering under her breath.]

...I'm going to get myself killed.

[moonheart]

[ they're still not noticing her... even with the flash. hmmmmmm. it's gonna take more than that to get their attention, it seems. ]

[celerystick]

Oh, come on.

[She glances around, finds a rock nearby, and kicks it as hard as she can to make is sound like she tripped over it (Str 17) and hopefully catch their intention.]

[moonheart]

[ welp... apparently that sure did it. because they ALL stop and look that way... and immediately start yelling at one another, some hurrying to drop their boxes in the boat, others rushing to the shoreline.

one picks up what looks like an assault rifle.

well shit. ]

[celerystick]

[Oh holy shit is right.

Sydney starts to run the moment she hears shouting. Because no thank you do not want bullets, please.

She runs as fast as he can, following the path Faith described. (Con(?) 17)]

[moonheart]

[ as she takes off down the path, running madly, shots ring out behind her. but lucky for her, the dude is an abysmal shot (atk 8) and the bullets come nowhere near her. she can see the cliffs up ahead - and a spot check of 22+ means she can see faith crouching up there as well. otherwise, the girl is entirely disguised by the brush on the cliff. ]

[celerystick]

[(Spot 15) Sydney still ducks her head at the sound of the gun starting to go off, her hand reaching up to clasp around the cross that hangs from her neck through the fabric of her shirt, going as fast as her legs can carry her. She doesn't see anyone ahead, but she was told to run for the cliffs, and so run she does, hoping to God that she doesn't trip.]

[moonheart]

[ better make a dex check to make sure you don't trip, sydney...

as she runs below faith's hidden location, a flash of brown appears below - and a net comes sailing down far above, landing on top of sydney's pursuers.

well. almost all of them. one at the front, with a pistol, is still in pursuit as the others fight against the bonds of the net. ] ... Whoops.

[celerystick]

[She's going to stride quite gracefully over these rocks apparently (dex 16) as she makes her way down the beach.

The flash make her gasp, but thankfully not scream, but a look over her shoulder reveals the extra gun man still coming after her.

A wisdom check of 16, however, tells her that running in a straight line will only make her an easy target, so she turns and runs back into the tree line. Hopefully that will make it harder to hit her.]

[moonheart]

[ her reasoning seems to work well - the bullets pwinging off the trees around her (atk 10). behind her, the man shouts threateningly but it's clear he's getting closer, probably more used to the terrain. ]

[celerystick]

[Sydney tries to dodge between the trees to hide any sight he might have on her in an attempt to find a spot to eventually hide hoping he'll run past, but instead her ankle hits the root of a tree wrong, and she twists it, crashing to the ground painfully (crit fail).

Crap. No make that triple crap.]

[silvermaid]

[ everything happens so quickly - she falls, her ankle twists sending searing pain through her leg... she hits the ground... the man appears around the tree, looming over her and pointing the barrel right down at her face--

and then a silvery projectile comes hurtling through the air, a sharpened lance that pierces him right through the side, sending blood spurting out as he staggers. and then the lance dissipates away, and he's left with a strange silver glow outlining his body as his eyes roll up in his head and he falls to his knees and then slumps to the ground.

between the trees where they'd come from stands a tall, willowy woman of immensely striking beauty - supernaturally golden hair and brilliant blue eyes, and the face of an angel, although her expression is riddled with concern and horror. she watches the man fall, and then runs towards sydney. ]

[celerystick]

[Okay, so having a gun pointed at her is fucking terrifying, but so is watching a guy get fucking impaled by a magical lance, blood spraying her knee-length gray skirt and her pale shins. Watching him die is just as bad, and she is pretty sure she's never seen anyone die like this in front of her because surely she would remember something like that, memory issues or not.

Her now wild eyes catch the sight of a gorgeous blonde woman, and as she rushes toward her, the first thing Sydney thinks is that this woman killed that man with magic, and instead of being relieved for being saved, she's fucking terrified.

And trying to back the hell up as fast as she can on her butt, because her ankle hurts too much to actually stand up and run. Pitiful, really.]

[silvermaid]

[ well, the woman stops short, towering over syd, since she's tall even when someone is standing beside her. ] Are you alright?

[celerystick]

N-no.

[She was the absolute furthest thing from alright. She's shown up in the middle of a foreign country without her personal memories, ran for her life from a guy with a gun just so she could get out of here in the near future, sprained her ankle, almost got her head blown off, only to watch her attacker get murdered violently with what could only be magic, something she's been taught to be completely against.

Worst. Day. Ever.]

No, I'm not.