I've Been Through the Desert on a Horse with No Name

[theskyaccepts]

Who: Tsuna and you!
Where: In the Desert
What: To complete his sentencing, Tsuna has led an expedition out into the desert to find the ruins of Tresed, and see if anything has changed Last time
Warnings: Risk of injury and possible death, hallucinations, monsters. Additional warnings to be added if needed.
OOC Notes:
-You do not need to have responded to the OOC Interest Check or the IC Interest Check to join in. Please feel free to dive right in!
-Timeline wise, ICly the expedition will return prior to the 15th so that we're all back for the event, but please don't feel you have to rush anything
-On a more personal note, while there is a risk of death with this expedition and if that's a direction you're interested in going for please do, I would also like to keep the body count to a minimum if possible. The ramifications of leading a bunch of people to their deaths is not necessarily something I want to play out with Tsuna at this time. Thank you!



The Expedition and Scouting Parties

The thing about deserts is that they are harsh environments. Unforgiving, some might say. The sun beating down, the wind whipping sand, the sound of monsters making their way through the desert. It's not the kind of place anyone would really want to go into, and yet, Tsuna is determined. Whether it is the effects of his sentencing or his own backbone finally making itself known, he has led this group into the desert for answers. It's not easy, and it weighs on him, but his face is set as he sends out small scouting parties, consulting maps and other information that he has, hoping to find the ruins of Tresed.

Sandstorms are prevalent in the area, so small scouting parties are being sent out to try and find some paths through it. Going out too far runs the risk of getting lost, injury, or potentially death. There are some monsters about, but they also have to contend with the storm.


The Oasis

But eventually, relief comes. An Oasis is discovered with clean, fresh water and edible vegetation. A respite from the harsh winds of the sandstorm. It's a chance to catch their breath and consolidate what they have learned so far. But as is so often the case in this world, things are quick to go awry. Mirages, of course, a key part of any desert expedition, start to appear. Images from that previous trip out to the ruins.

If you were on that previous trip to the desert, you've seen these images before but something about them seems off, wrong, not quite right. Warped, some might say.

If this is all new to you, you're seeing something that's happened before. But if it is wrong or right, who's to say?

But it might not matter if you've been in the desert before or not, because this vision is from the perspective of one of the Shadow Creatures that attacked before, and were ultimately killed. It comes with feelings of aching hunger, despair, and mindless fear in those final moments.

Or maybe it isn't an image of the desert at all. Maybe it's something far more familiar. An image of home, in the past, the present, or the future.

The Message and Returning Home

A message appears on the Chosen's tablets. Text, barely legible but undeniably a message:

FIND ME

But despite searching, and Tsuna will want to be thorough, the source will not be found, and they will be unable to trace it.

It's not much, but it is something. And they can return to Aldrip with that knowledge. One thing is clear though. They are not done with the desert yet.

Comments

[entreats]

Where?! There's nowhere to go here!

[ Caitlyn might as least be able to hear those words, even in the middle of the sandstorm. Even if it's impossible to hear anything more, especially with Caitlyn moving further away, making it even more difficult for Ange's words to reach her over the howling of the wind and the sand moving around.

But what is likely obvious is that the monster indeed followed Caitlyn. Ange is nowhere to be seen anymore, but the monster does slowly emerge through the sand, roaring as it tries to swing its huge-- hands, fists, claws, it's hard to tell here in the sand - right at Caitlyn, like she's a pest that the monster is trying to swat away. ]

[bulleting]

[Ange is right, once Caitlyn put distance between them, hearing anything Ange said over the roaring storm wasn't about to happen. She just has to trust that Ange will at least stay low and hopefully stay safe until she can deal with this beast.

It was only moments before it came at her. It appeared too quickly for her to dodge it's attacks, so she holds up her rifle, letting it take the blunt of the swings. It's a good diversion, really, because it probably thinks it has her on the defensive, when in reality, she was just waiting for it to get close enough. And now that it was? She used her metalbending to pull the knives from their pockets and send them at it's face, eyes, and throat-- whatever they could hit first.

She surely couldn't have shot it so far away in this storm, but at a close distance like this, her thrown knives are so much more accurate.]

[entreats]

[ It seems like Caitlyn's plan is effective enough. Apparently the monster wasn't quite prepared for an attack like that this close up, and it roars in pain as the knives slash at it, odd-colored blood starting to leak out.

It also makes it easy for Ange to follow where Caitlyn and the monster went in the sandstorm - she can just follow the source of the noise. Not being able to see much doesn't mean anything when you can just follow sound, and it really doesn't take too long before she's reached the scene where Caitlyn is slashing at the creature. She can't even see Caitlyn because of all the sand, and due to her being on the other side of the monster, but Ange knows she must be fighting the creature judging by the way it seems to sway in pain.

Ange raises her hand, summoning two of her demons in the only shape she can here - weirdly decorated stakes - to have them drill themselves into the creature's back.

It seems to be the final strike. The monster was already injured enough due to the knife attacks, and when the stakes pierce it from the back, it roars one more time and then falls down on the sand, no longer moving.

With the monster obstacle cleared between them, Ange can finally spot the other woman in the middle of the sandstorm. She opens her mouth, calling out: ]

Are you okay?!

[ She has to raise her voice to even be audible over the sound of the storm, but Ange's wide-eyed look probably makes it pretty clear she's concerned about Caitlyn having lured the monster away by herself all the same. ]

[bulleting]

[Caitlyn couldn't be sure exactly what was attacking the monster from behind, but the combination of her attacks and Ange's demons seemed to do the trick. It finally fell, and Caitlyn held her hand out, summoning back her daggers and bullets back into their rightful spots (used bullets can be reshaped and used again later!), before she looked up and realized Ange was approaching. She had wondered if the other attacker was her, and she was glad to confirm it was indeed her, and that she was alright-- at least, the best she could tell through the storm.]

Yes, I'm fine! Are you alright?

[She has to raise her voice too, edging around the monster and moving closer to Ange. They needed to regroup and get out of this storm. Where there was one monster, there would probably be more.]

[entreats]

[ Ange takes another few quick steps, trying to do her best to not trip in the sand, until she's next to Caitlyn. Her hand reaches out to momentarily latch onto the other's arm, like she wants to make sure Caitlyn really is there, or that they won't be separated in the storm again. ]

Yeah. Thanks to you.

[ Because Ange knows she wouldn't have been able to do anything about that monster by herself. It had already overpowered her.

The stakes she summoned pry themselves out of the monster's back, flying over to hover in the air next to Ange, seemingly less affected by the sandstorm than the two humans present. ]

The storm made me lose track of everything. [ She shakes her head. ] I don't know where to go.

[bulleting]

[Walking on sand is hard, especially in these conditions. When Ange reaches for her, she's quick to grab her arm. She has no plans to let go, either. No need to risk getting separated again, just in case.]

You made the final blow. I just distracted it.

[They both played their part in taking it down. It probably would've overpowered them both, if they had been alone.]

I can't be sure, either. I'm all turned around. [Usually she was good at keeping track, but that was impossible in a storm like this. Good thing she had an ace up her sleeve. She reached into the neck of her shirt, pulling out a small whistle she kept tied on a string around her neck.

She had left her chocobo back at camp, wanting to let him rest after traveling so far, but they needed help to get out of here and back to the Oasis. She put the small carved whistle to her mouth and blew, but whatever noise it made, her ears didn't register it. Hopefully Toby could hear it still.]

[entreats]

[ She doesn't try to remove her arm from Caitlyn's grip - which is saying a lot, considering how distrusting and paranoid Ange can be in most other situations. She just stands there, accepting it, and then watching as the other uses that whistle, despite not knowing the origins of that either.

It's just-- she trusts Caitlyn. The other came to save her, even though it wasn't necessary. There's no way she's going to question what that whistle is in the face of that, even though Ange can't hear any kind of sound coming from it. Is Caitlyn trying to alert the others?

...

The questions stay inside of her for now. Instead, as they stand there waiting in the sandstorm, Ange can't help but say: ]

You could just have walked away, you know.

[ Many people would have. She's aware of it. ]

The monster wasn't even attacking you. You didn't have to save me.

[ And yet Caitlyn did.

Maybe that's why Ange can't help but say all of this, sounding vaguely baffled. It's like the redhead has trouble wrapping her head around it, even though her impression of Caitlyn has never been negative. But the idea that the other came to save her is-- It's a lot. ]

[bulleting]

[Chocobos are fast, but Caitlyn knows it's going to be a minute before Toby gets to them, so for now, she keeps her grasp on Ange. There's no point of moving. There's no shelter to be had, so they were better off staying still to avoid missing the chocobo's arrival.

Ange's question, however, has her pause. Was it really that surprising that Caitlyn would try to help her? She didn't think it said anything about her, per say, but maybe more of what people are like in Ange's world. She had always seemed a bit mistrustful, and Caitlyn never faulted her for that. Vi was like that, honestly. Trust has to be earned.]

We're friends, right? [Maybe acquaintances was a better word than friends, but still. Caitlyn had always enjoyed Ange's company. She was the first person that she confided in about Jinx, too. That was a big deal. But even if they didn't have any connection, Caitlyn wouldn't just abandon her. That's just not who she was.]

I couldn't leave you behind. That wouldn't have been right.

[entreats]

[ See, at least that last part is something Ange could have chalked up to Caitlyn just.. being the way she is. It doesn't sound like her world was particularly good, but maybe she was stuck in the good enough parts of it to be able to live with that thought in mind.

But the part before that isn't something Ange can shove to the side so easily. The redhead is quiet for a moment, the only sound filling the air the sound of the storm raging around them as she stares at the other, looking a little baffled.

.. and a little flustered, too. ]

Are we?

[ It doesn't sound like skeptism. Or rejection.

It sounds like someone who isn't used to hearing those words, and doesn't quite know how to deal with them. ]

[bulleting]

[Ange isn't the first redhead that she's encountered that doesn't seem to understand friendship. If she hadn't spent all that time, pushing past Vi's walls to get to know her, she would have a bit of a harder time now, but she understood. Not everyone grew up in a home, loved and cared for. She was so fortunate to have a good family and friends that had her back. And Caitlyn's finding most of the people here fall in the same category as Vi, from broken homes and broken worlds, making it hard to trust.]

I like to think so.

[Maybe her idea of friends is different? Again, it could be argued that they would be acquaintances, really, but still. Caitlyn still stood behind them.]

[entreats]

Oh.

[ It's such a small sound that it's almost lost to the winds still sweeping around them. Maybe it's the fact they are in the middle of said sandstorm, or maybe it's just the particular topic they're discussing, but Ange looks really tiny for a moment as she's standing there, trying to take in the other's words. ]

That's.. um.

[ ...

It seems like she doesn't even really know how to respond. Ange doesn't directly look at Caitlyn, instead glancing down, perhaps partially to protect her eyes from all the sand too. ]

Thanks, I guess. I haven't had many friends before. [ Apparently she feels like she has to clarify as much - maybe to explain her reaction.

Though her reaction would have made that fact painfully obvious already to pretty much anyone with even a vaguely normal sense of social skills. ]

[bulleting]

Oh.

[Likewise, the response is all but lost in the raging storm. It's not... surprising, though, from what Caitlyn knows about the other girl. She lost her family too. She's been through a lot. She's always been more on the quiet side, maybe a bit blunt and awkward at times, but she's been nothing but helpful to Caitlyn in all the times they've interacted. She can't imagine people don't like her, but sometimes when people have been hurt, they don't exactly put themselves out there.

Caitlyn opened her mouth, ready to say more, when a loud squawk interrupted her thoughts. A white chocobo was pushing through the sandstorm with almost ease, and it wasn't long before the bird was at her side, nudging her with his head. What a relief, they had a way out of here.]

Ange, this is Toby. He's our ticket back to the oasis.

[entreats]

[ Thanks, Toby. You're truly a savior when it comes to social awkwardness here, because Ange isn't too sure whether she would have been able to answer any follow-up questions about that one.

So she turns her mind away from what she said a moment ago - though Ange still looks noticably more awkward and a touch more vulnerable than the usual - and instead turns her attention towards the chocobo. ]

Is that-- Is that going to fit?

[ There's just a slight touch of concern in her words.

Ange's never traveled on a chocobo before, after all. She's seen other people do it, but she was kind of skeptical of the concept herself - though it's likely she doesn't have much of choice right now. ]