crescentview | 🏝️ dulces sueños group excursion! 🏝️

🏝️ dulces sueños group excursion! 🏝️

🏝️ who: intrepid adventurers (vacationers?) and more!
🏝️ what: ori organized (origanized?) a group trip to the resort! mass memshare ensues.
🏝️ when: fall 9-10
🏝️ where: dulces sueños resort
🏝️ warnings: threads will be marked as needed for memshares.

[ Hopefully everyone had fun on the Arco Lunar! The morning after the boat departs from the docks, a letter arrives to your mailbox: ]

Hello, intrepid adventurer!

I am excited to have you along for a group excursion to the mysterious new island! In two days' time, let us gather in the town square and set off from there! Please be prepared to stay the night. It will be so fulfilling and memorable for everyone to spend a night on an adventure together!

If you have any questions or concerns, please come find me at my flower shop in town or at the forest farm where I live!

Sincerely,
Oriphi

[ If she accidentally delivered it to a few wrong mailboxes, then... Oops!

On the promised day, once everyone (and likely a few surprise tag-alongs) has gathered or been gathered, Ori distributes little paper bags of snacks to everyone. Inside are cookies, oat snacks, and a freshly-picked apple from her and M-21's orchard. Do with them as you please... Just don't let her catch you throwing it into the sea or something. 🥺 ]

Alright. I think we should head out, then! Thanks for coming along, everyone! I hope it'll be a great time. Oh, and please don't forget to drink plenty of water and use this incredible ointment I discovered on this island! It's called "sunscreen!" Tieflings don't really get sunburnt, but you should use it!

[ And with that our intrepid adventurers set off to the mysterious, dangerous, unknowable... resort island! ]

( This is the ill-fated mass ~~extinction~~ memshare event. Please refer to the event for details on the resort and the plotting post for any specific details for characters' memshares! There are toplevels for each area of the resort (and for the memshare). Enjoy! )

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[ The floor protests, as it usually does, as you stride over to the door, but your feet are light and manage to avoid most of the creaky spots as if by instinct. There is some familiarity that makes navigating in the poor light easy, despite your obviously blurry vision, and so your pale hands with their dirty fingernails grip the rusty door handle and pull it open.

The cool air brushes against your face as you step out, careful to pull the door shut behind you. The moon is bright, Lady Night in all her glory out as usual. It is, for once, an almost peaceful night. You can hear no howls deep in the woods, out of Keelburn's borders. No screams, of things human or inhuman...for now. It is quiet.

Perhaps that is just as dangerous.

Your 'hideout' is a dilapidated, abandoned home, wedged between newer buildings and left to rot. There is a rectangular space in front of the entrance, as dirty as the house itself, and to enter said space, there is a small entry from the alleyway- you have all piled it full of random debris to make it smaller, so even yourself would have to turn sideways to slide out...to make it all the more difficult for randoms to waltz in and grab you. You have a hidden hole in the back of the house, in case you need to make a quick escape, for the fumbling through the passage would likely alert you to any wrongdoers.

There is nothing around, when you look. It is still. You can go through the passage, into the Back Alleys, or you can go scale the rickety boxes you've set up to get onto the roofs. ]

[ Ellis looks around. For someone who usually opts to run away by securing escape routes, there's some sort of admiration he feels when he feels that everyone is set up so well with what could have been provided in the area. He's not sure if he'll find food up on the roofs, so he'll go into the Back Alleys. ]

[ The air is still as you approach the passage, and you have to turn and squeeze as you slide through. Your ragged, ill-fitting clothes catch on wood splinters and bits of stone on the way, threatening to tear, but you know how to twist to prevent this from previous times. Something pounds in the back of your head- you know you shouldn't go too far, abandon your post, but the emptiness in your stomach is just as convincing. You are fast, you think. You could get something small, even if it isn't good, and nobody would be none the wiser.

When you step into the alley, it is blissfully quiet, as well. Most people are indoors right now, but every town has it's drunks and it's insomniacs. It's not the Dead Night, so the danger isn't too bad. It is not nonexistant, but none of you have ever lived a life with that luxury.

The alley opens at both ends- it is dark here, but the streets are lit by flickering lanterns that sway in the breeze. There is more noise on one end- that's where the tavern is, leading the street to the market stalls, and where most prefer to hang around to drink and forget their woes. The other leads to one lined with homes- small, squished together with their cracked windowpanes and drawn curtains, likely with few awake. ]

[ Time to rob some houses. Give bread!! Ellis will try to be sneaky, but he's not particularly great at it. Adelis, lend him some of your stats. ]

[ Bread sounds wonderful, even if it's just a bite at this point, as your boots make the lightest noise against the uneven paving beneath your feet. While breaking into houses is inherently more risky than picking pockets, there are bound to be some empty of it's patrons, and you are small enough that windows are of no consequence...and the small glass shiv at your side, edges jagged and handle wrapped in ripped cloth, is always a boon-
You pause.

There is a light hum near your ear, and you are keenly aware of the large shadow suddenly hovering over your form. You hadn't heard a thing.

'Ah, so you did deign to come out. And here I was thinking I'd be forced to draw you out in some other way.'

Something icy crawls through your veins at the realization, and with the light crane of your head, you can see there is a man smiling at you over your shoulder. A very familiar man- specifically, the man you'd told everyone else to avoid these past few weeks, working your routes around him to avoid messing with powers beyond your ken. Every instinct you have is screaming, from years of scavenging and tasting your own blood.

You are in danger. ]

[ Oh.

...

Ellis will just... try to make Adelis run as fast as he can right now. Run away!! Turbo speed!! ]

Edited 2023-02-12 03:01 (UTC)

[ Adelis is very fast, despite the hunger in his chest and the awkwardness of his teenage limbs. It's how he has gotten by, with fast feet and faster hands.

Unfortunately, the man is even quicker, and he is in front of you before you know it, blocking off the exit with nary a sound in his wake. The smile on his face has not diminished, but it crinkles lightly, expression unreadable as he tuts.

'Going so soon? After I came all the way out here to see you in the first place.'

A step forward on his heeled shoes, and you feel a surge of anxiety, coupled with an defensive aggression in your bones that feels red-hot. If he notices, the man doesn't comment on this, continuing to loom.

'I just wish to talk for a while. Why don't you humor me, as an apology for avoiding me so fervently these past few weeks?' ]

[ Nope! Nope, nope, nope. Even though Ellis is fond of Mishka, he's very sure that this memory won't end up like some cheesy high school romance. Also, anyone who says "humor me" moments after getting in his way? No thanks. That's enough foreboding on its own.

Are there any other routes for escape? It's time to book it. If not, get ready to fight for your life. ]

[ There is the way behind, but part of you wonders if you can run faster than him- he has proven himself quick enough to catch up, and it doesn't help there is an odd buzzing noise that wasn't there before. Turning your back, in your brain, sounds like suicide. But it is still possible.

He takes another step towards you, gaze unflinching. If anything, your escape attempts seem to be amusing him more than anything.

'Nothing to say? You're quite ill-mannered to your guests, aren't you.'

You have your shiv at your side, the comforting weight of sharpened glass one of the only things making you feel safe right now. ]

[ Oh no. The dangerous words before something bad happens. Ellis tries to prepare what he can. He'll just depend on Adelis's reflexes to get him through this because fuck if Ellis knows anything about combat other than stab and die.

He'll try to see if he can make out Mishka's next move to try and counter. ]

[ Your muscles are tense, your brain high on adrenaline. You have been in danger before, been hurt, nearly been taken...but you are quick, you are vicious, and you killed your first man at 13, with a blade to his throat and blood under your fingernails for days after- what is another, if you must?

( you know this will not be the same. )

At first, the other man does not make any quick movements, taking his steps leisurely. Unbothered. As if your fear is fun for him, and he's just watching a rat in a cage, eager to see what it will do next. And then you blink, and he is in front of you, and his hand is so close to you-

Your hand closes around the cloth-wrapped handle of the shiv, but where you aim is up to you. ]

[ Ellis thinks this is so high-wired that he's like "oh, this must be how adrenaline really feels without getting possessed by a passive survival mechanism". When the other man's hand is close, he tries to slash at it and then go for palming the nose. If he has additional momentum, he'll go for the eyes too. ]

[ You are fast. Faster than more your age, and a lot of adults. Even if you don't come out unscathed, perhaps one right move and you can manage to run while he's distracted. You know this town better than anyone- you know the nooks, the crannies, the hideaways. You can-

Your hand is empty.

It knocks you a bit off-balance, and when you look in shock, he's effortlessly batted the blade out of your hands. Like batting a toy from a child's chubby fingers. The hand that wraps around your other wrist is uncomfortably, deceivingly strong- and yet his expression never changes. You feel icy, and the panic starts to thud in the marrow of your bones.

'A dangerous thing for a child to have.'

He's close. He's dangerous. You feel like a trapped animal, with a predator circling you with no exit or chance of escape. You are all too hyperaware of how small and scrawny you are, and you have no other weapons-

But your eyes are drawn to the arm currently holding yours. Defenseless. And for a moment, the instinct that jerks your body is not your own, but that of a feral, desperate teenage boy- who darts forward and promptly sinks his teeth straight into the arm in front of you.

There's cloth in the way, so you don't taste blood- but you can feel your jaw creaking as it clenches down tighter and tighter, in an attempt to hurt. An attempt to fight back. The smile drops, eyes blinking in surprise, as if he wasn't expecting that, and for a brief millisecond...

He's caught off-guard. ]

[ This is so wild. Ellis is trying not to freak out so much.

He'll try to deck Mishka's face with a free hand, if he... has one. ]

[ He does! It is a valiant effort, of course, but he seems to regain himself mere moments before the jut of your boney fist hits his face, and snaps his other hand around the wrist with little effort. The grip is far stronger than anticipated, and even with the adrenaline surging through your veins, you are still at a disadvantage- smaller, malnourished, and very, very unprepared.

There is a brief moment of quiet, and you realize Mishka's simply looking at you- an unreadable look on his face even as your teeth stay sunk into his arm. Perhaps the quiet is more unnerving than anything else. And then he lets go of one wrist, freeing up your hand in time for him to lean in with the smile on his face seeming ever darker in the light of the moon.

'What a ferocious little beast. Most animals would turn tail and run, but it seems your teeth are sharp, aren't they?'

It doesn't sound condescending. It's a bit cold, but there is a vague amusement in it, despite the harsh thud of your heart on your ribcage.

'But not sharp enough.'

Something slams into the back of your knee, and your legs buckle, and your mouth opens in shock and releases him as you drop. The harsh ground nearly tears through the paltry cloth covering your scrawny knees, and with your arm held high above you, there's a painful tug at your shoulder that threatens to pull it from it's socket. You glance up, and the sliver of eye you can see in the shadows is boring right into you.

'I've only so much patience. Have you decided you're willing to listen yet, or must I pry a proper answer out of you myself?']

[ Things that aren't sharp can still kill people, is what Ellis wants to scream out but there's a lot of pain happening all at once. jesus tapdancing christ THIS HURTS! A LOT!! Also, he tried running anyway. Stupid Mishka. He'd usually give in, but the adrenaline and the pain won't let him. Also, he doesn't foresee Adelis just giving up, so he'll try to turn to the tugged shoulder to bite it. ]

[ That...earns a curious look, even as Mishka hovers over your currently far smaller form. Your actions are very obviously not the norm for him, but even with the sight of the ravenous bite of your teeth, his grip doesn't seem to be loosening.

Rather, a hand snakes out and grabs onto your chin, wrenching it away before your teeth can dig much further. Your heart is pounding against the curve of your ribs, and for a moment, it almost feels like your arm may wrench from it's socket.

'My, you just don't quit. Would you gnaw your own arm off if it meant your own survival?'

It sounds like a legitimate question, almost, as he stares at you with those nigh empty black eyes. The ground is cold beneath your knees, but his gaze makes you feel colder still. You feel like you're treading on thin ice, it poised to crack beneath your feet, and you wonder how much it would take for him to snap your neck before you even realized what was happening.

Time stands still, if but for a brief moment.

'I suppose I made the right decision coming out here.'

His smile does not reach his eyes, but nothing really prepares you for what comes next.

'Yes, I think I'll keep you.' ]

[ Ellis would have nodded without hesitation at the question of gnawing his arm off if it meant his survival. Yeah? You think he wouldn't?

But then Mishka says that last bit about keeping him and... oh. Right. Ellis was getting too into this for a moment that it separates him from Adelis mentally. Wew.

But he's pretty sure Adelis doesn't appreciate being talked to like a stray dog, so just. Spit on his face. ]

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🏝️ dulces sueños group excursion! 🏝️

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