9th Protocol--[Action sort of]

[idkmybfforin]

[In front of 1248 Williams Road]

[Well, that plan hadn’t worked. Somewhere along the line Utsuho had fused Virginia’s “find Caesar or Balin or these other people” ideas, to the news breaking around the carnival that there were rifts opening to strange places accessible by those trinkets people were carting with them, to the fact that she didn’t have one of said trinkets. So she stole one.

It disappeared after she went across, and then—then there was nothing but fog, suffocating and dissolving at once. Like each particle of her body had broken loose from the bonds that held them in place and scattered in every painful direction.

Okuu did not exactly think her clever plan all the way through. But then again, she never really did. Thinking was bad!

And thus there’s now a pile of an…ash-like substance in the front yard, and has been for several days. Minus the blood everywhere aspect, it could be assumed that that was similar to what the hellraven looked like just before she revived. The ash is smoldering, very warm to the touch, and seems as much liquid as powder whenever it’s disturbed. It also stays heaped up over something in the center, no matter what breeze kicks up or when the drones try and sweep the mess away. The pile either stubbornly resists extraction or flows all around the broom or rake like some bizarre liquid. Other than that, it doesn’t do very much.

Utsuho hadn’t reappeared, so her precise location was probably easy enough to guess by now.

Today, though, was a bit different.

A blue jay, emboldened by the usual blue jay hating inhabitant’s absence, fluttered down to investigate and peck at this ash pile.

—but as soon as it does, the inert heap of powder comes alive, forming into a spit of molten, red-orange slag that surges up and out and consumes the bird completely, before it can do much more than a single alarm squawk. The pile returns to being properly ashy in a moment, though it seems to…ripple, like something liquid, even as it does so. The smoldering light has grown brighter, shining through all the cracks and crevices.

Though, aside from hating bluejays from beyond the grave, the ash-pile-that-was-probably-Okuu does little else.


For the moment.]

Comments

[rankaloid]

[Gumi's out on a walk with her kappa when she spots the ash pile. oooh she's gotta go poke it-!!

the kappa tackles the back of her legs, effectively stopping her from getting closer. she frowns and crouches down to face it.]

Eh? Why not?

[the two begin arguing; or, more like the kappa making vague gestures with its stubby arms and Gumi having a one-sided argument with it.]

[idkmybfforin]

[NO DON'T POKE THE CARNIVOROUS ASH PILE

...or at least get a stick first.


The possibly-Okuu lump does seem vaguely aware of things now, though.

...and seems to be crawling, slowly, towards what it had detected. Very slowly, though. Did we mention slow?

As it does, though, the ashy powder in the center parts, revealing larger and brighter flashes of something glowing orange; like a polished and glowing stone.]

[rankaloid]

[the kappa begins waving its arms more frantically and headbutts Gumi in the gut.]

Ow! What was that for?!

[SHE JUST WANTED TO POKE TH- oooh what's that shiny. trying to move closer-!! but the kappa keeps headbutting her away from it.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The shiny thing seems to be roughly the size of a grapefruit.

Also an eye.

...at least, that sort of looks like a pupil peering out of the ash.]

[rankaloid]

Uwaaaaah...! Look at that- ow! Ow! [and that would be two more headbutts. the kappa's getting frustrated.]

...I forgot to hit post again

[idkmybfforin]

[It's also looking back at Gumi; following her movements for a moment.

Then the pupil rotates downwards, to focus on the other, smaller creature.

In the meantime, the pile has advanced maybe...oh, three inches or so. The grass has begun to scorch wherever it touches.]

|'D

[rankaloid]

[what there's nothing weird or creepy about this at all SHE STILL WANTS TO POKE IT. Gumi brushes the kappa aside and grabs a stick. the kappa, on the other hand, seems to have finally given up on trying to get her to leave and hides behind her leg.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The ashes have stopped moving, and instead held completely still. Waiting. Waaaaiting.]

[rankaloid]

...

...

[/poke]

[idkmybfforin]

[SUDDENLY (and unsurprisingly)


HAND

...or what might be a hand, if one was being generous in that definition. It only has three fingers and one thumb claw, they're all curled over like small talons and made entirely of that slag-like substance.

They reach out quickly to grab the end of the stick.]

[rankaloid]

[WELL OK YOU CAN HAVE THE STICK she's just gonna fall backwards.]

[idkmybfforin]

[NO YOU'RE NEVER GETTING THIS SOCK STICK BACK--oh well be logical that way then.

The "fingers" curl around the stick, charring the surface into the bit it was holding onto ignites, begins to burn through--and then the ash pile...eye...hand blob thing seems to lose interest and cohesion, the talons falling back into the amorphous mass and the stick falling in several smoldering pieces.]

[walking_nuke]

[Some time on that first day back from the Other Mayfield, Virginia had told Balin that she'd asked Utsuho to find both him and Caesar.]

[When the carnival vanished and neither Utsuho or Caesar were back, it was clear they hadn't made it out. Trapped in that glitching, failed replica ... and what happens to people caught in a collapsing virtual world? If it really is virtual, like he suspects ...]

[Caesar came back wrong a full day after the carnival vanished. Almost like he had been permanently droned and replaced with another Caesar Silverberg. No memories of his time here, like what happened to Alfred, except—he didn't even remember who he was before coming here. And as of today, still doesn't.]

[... But Caesar's return has spurred Balin to check around town to see if Utsuho was back. She's a big girl in her humanoid form, if she wasn't hanging around their household she'd likely be flying around lazily in the air. Yet, he's seen no indication of her being anywhere. She belongs to another household though doesn't she? So maybe she's around there, especially if something happened to her like it did Caesar.]

[... but in the past two days he checked, he found nothing. He was sure Utsuho's home was here on Williams Road somewhere. He didn't know exactly where, but he's certain he's seen her landing around this street before. There was a dog house on a house near where Crowe lived, so maybe—]

[Wait.]

[Did he just step in something?]

NO BALIN NO

[idkmybfforin]

[Yes, in fact, he did.

Said thing-that-he-stepped-in seems thoroughly displeased at having its personal space trampled on.

So much so that it's started roiling and glowing virulent orange and red and reaching up to claw and grasp at his boot with a molten slag-like talon, suddenly very, very warm. In a bit of an understatement.

KEEP OFF THE GRASS.]

[walking_nuke]

[... Yeah, that warmth gets his attention fast. He looks down, and—]

Holy FUCK!

[—jerks his offending foot away from that pile of ... magma? And backpedals.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The burning talons are startling, yes--but not particularly strong. When the metal failed to melt the talons skittered and sparked off the surface instead. It couldn't maintain its grip at all when Balin twisted his foot away, and left the claws grasping at air for a moment before falling to the grass, burning the green into an ugly black.

The talon looked like a bird's, for a moment--before it retracted into the ash...magma pile.


...or, no. The ashes were moving forwards.]

[walking_nuke]

[After a few seconds, the portion of Balin's boot that had been damaged by the severe heat and clawing of that magma slowly starts to repair itself.]

[Ladies and gentlemen, the merits of Mech Armor.]

[Meanwhile, Balin's staring incredulously. Magma doesn't scrape on armor like that. That thing scraping him was solid, and it looked like a—bird's talon ...]

[Balin watches the pile of ashes moving toward him and enveloping the talon where it lay. Though he feels he's far away enough that he can at least get a good look without being attacked by that talon hiding in the pile of ash.]

[Enough time for him to gawk at what Mayfield has done to the hell raven upon her revival ... if one can call this revival.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The remains are moving at a...very...slow pace. It might be neck and neck with a slug in a race.

The yatagarasu's eye seems untouched by the damage, at least now; as the pile started to pull apart and advance, little glimpses of the eye in the center of the mound came through. It seemed to focus on Balin after a moment.

...and then the ash pile seemed to gather and heap itself up a bit, just like a sadly flattened bird puffing out its feathers.]

[walking_nuke]

[The talon already gave him good enough reason to assume these are Utsuho's remains—glimpses of that eye within that ash pile just confirm it. What's shocking him is that the ash pile is mobile, however slightly. Its Utsuho conscious? Or is this just the yatagarasu trying to control whatever it could of the host body?]

[... was that ash pile actually puffing itself up?]

... You awake in'ere?

[He's not expecting an answer.]

[idkmybfforin]

[He doesn't really get one; display or not, the heap of ashy magma or whatever it was intended to be keeps creeping along.

...though there is a fraction of a pause after Balin speaks.

So maybe she had.]

[walking_nuke]

[Even with the ash pile trying to come toward him, Balin doesn't move yet. In fact, he kneels down to get a better look. The Mech Armor suit ought to keep him safe even if he's exposed for longer to the magma or whatever it is contained within all that ash.]

[And the way the ash pile stopped for a brief moment after he spoke makes him wonder about how aware Utsuho is of her state presently ...]

[idkmybfforin]

[Closer. Clooooser. Cl--GRAB.


...or at least that was the idea. The talon reforms, though with a bit less cohesion than last time. The top claws catch on the armor plate covering Balin's kneecap, and...stop. The bottom claw scrabbles and tries to anchor itself, but once the initial HOLY SHIT THE MAGMA IS ALIVE shock factor wore off, it didn't seem terribly dangerous. The talon's grip strength was weak, its movement was slow, and all it can do is smolder and scorch black marks into the metal, not dissolve it.

Not at all like a bluejay.]

1/2

[walking_nuke]

[It's not unlike a snake, how sudden the talon's initial latching onto his suit of armor is. It does startle him, but this time he keeps his ground. At least, long enough to watch it scrabble uselessly against the Mech Armor suit's plating and with less vigor than before.]

2/2

[walking_nuke]

[And then with the back of a hand where his gloves are most armored, Balin just ... tries and brush the talon off of his leg, looking a little unamused as he does so.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The talons cling to the armor plate they had latched onto for a moment--no longer, though. Balin finds them easy enough to bat away, back into the ash pile.

It seems to be capable of a little more conscious thought now; anyway. The talon doesn't immediately dissolve, but it doesn't move again either. There was biomass over there! ...yet surrounded by some not-biomass substance.

The pile stops moving completely, almost looking...contemplative, in the barest stretch of the word.]