Fantasy In Shambles - Main

[NickNacks]

His footsteps shuffled unevenly through the dirt-covered ground, a thin layer of tan sediment already having gathered on his boots as Gabe walked his way through the wastelands. He had long since lost count of how far he was walking, and had no particular direction he was heading in aside from avoiding danger when he could. A heavy canvas knapsack was on his back, appearing almost comically large in relation to the boys smaller stature. One hand lifted up to cast a shadow over his eyes. The midday sun could be merciless and unforgiving, but luckily he had enough water left to last a short while.

It was then that he heard the voices.

They weren't all that audible, but distinctly present, seeming to come from a ways to his right. The voices were low-pitched, not loud. He counted three...No, maybe even four or five distinct voices from that direction. Gabe paused in his steps.

He was a solitary fellow, had been since he was far younger, but the potential of human contact set about a sharp yearning in his heart that was difficult to ignore. But then again, the more people there were, the greater chance that they were bandits, or worse-that there was something wrong with at least one of them.

Gabe decided to do what he was often best at. He waited.

 

[VasiliasMellow]

Karn Bluhen​

Karn took a long pull from his churchwarden as he sat atop the boulder in the center of his backyard. A luxurious garden once radiated from the boulder like the ripples of a pond. He exhaled with a sigh at the sight of the now overgrown garden choked out by weeds and creeping ivy. What a price to pay for a little security. He was also starting to look a little choked out himself, bags under his eye were a visible sign of his stress and exhaustion. He felt tired, too much to do. Too much to lose.

it was just another sign of the times. 'Maybe' he thought, that once this is over things may be like they once were. Maybe this was just wishful thinking. He struck the large stone with his pipe, emptying the ash. As he stood the weeds and ivy began to writhe and reach towards him. With another sigh, he brought his hands together and moved them apart. The weeds parted as he moved towards the back of the house. Just the sight of it was enough to almost bring him to tears. It may be an illusion but it was all too real. Maybe it was what may come to be. He stared up into the sky trying to remember why he was outside in the first place.

Shoot! He grabbed his messenger bag from the ground near the back door and knelt next to a small stone close to where the bag had laid. He picked it up and turned it over in his hand. Double Shoot! It was full. He put the stone down and ran to the edge of the garden and plucked from it another potato-sized stone. He then pulled a small chisel from his bag and hurriedly etched a small glyph into the stone as he moved to the back of the house once more.

The ancient enchantment left his lips to impart some power to the stone. Then he quickly replaced the old one. There was a slight flicker around the exterior of the house showing the quaint home before it was shrouded by illusion. Now the windows and the doors were boarded and the house looked dilapidated and close to ruin. He kissed the stone covered in glyphs lightly before tossing it over his shoulder back into the garden.

"Alright," he whispered to himself. "Off to the council meeting." As he made his way, he looked around him. Greenstone Harbor used to be such a nice and vibrant place. Maybe the meeting was a good thing about good news. He stopped just outside of where they were meeting and plucked a small plastic bottle from his bag and unscrewed the cap. A drop in each eye as he blinked a few times before checking his breath and opening the door to the auditorium.

Oh, new Faces...

 

[StrixDesmodus]

PlasticBeach cacti.convo VasiliasMellow
Pres. Seavey: "Actually, I believe in safety in numbers. That's the advantage the Shamblers have over us, and if we unite while there are still enough of us, then we actually might be able to survive better."
I looked to the door just about every time it opened, just to make sure the people coming in were not panicking, and to see how many new faces were coming in. Perhaps I was distracting myself, but nowadays it is unwise to give anything your undivided attention.

Derpy Dev
Therese: I half smiled, half winced. I did somewhat want to go, just to see what the magical creatures were up to, but I felt like it wasn't where I was supposed to be.
"Well, maybe. I know where it is, actually, I live around here. I actually went to the school that they're meeting in."

AquaMarie NickNacks
Francis: "Hopefully we find it before the meeting starts."

 

[PlasticBeach]

StrixDesmodus VasiliasMellow cacti.convo
"So that's what all this fuss is about, eh-" Joannie asked as she reentered the conversation, nearly bumping into one of the passerby who seemed to look like one of the locals. "Whoops, silly 'ol me. Pardon my enthusiasm, mister." She exclaimed bashfully and nodded to the strange gentleman before hobbling back to the President and the young shifter as she spoke up with furrowed brows " Anyhow, this meetin's about some sorta alliance is it?"

 

[NickNacks]

His eyes darted to the side, now being near enough to catch some of the conversation. Meeting? What meeting? Was anywhere organized enough to really have a meeting anymore? From what Gabe had come from, all had been desert and wasteland. Even the idea of a house seemed improbable to him.

 

[VasiliasMellow]

"No worries..." Karn said smiling at a new face. "but is that why we are here, to join together and what? Fight them, push them out of our fairish town?"

Karn took a seat and pulled an almost empty sleeve of crackers from his bag. He pulled 2 out before wrapping it back up and putting it back in his bag. He took a bite or more like a nibble from one. Looking back to President Seavey, "Are we expecting more people or will we start soon? If so, I will hold the rest of my questions until we begin."

StrixDesmodus PlasticBeach

 

[AquaMarie]

Marina gently nodded "I bet we will get there before they start...from what the signs say it should be around the corner over there" she said hoping she was right.
"well I guess lets get going" she said with a small smile before starting to walk off towards the meeting. As they made their way over to the meeting area Marina made sure to keep her distance from the man and the wagon he came from. She kept to herself their whole way over to the meeting spot.
NickNacks StrixDesmodus

 

[NickNacks]

There were a whole gathering of people ahead, it looked like, and Gabe paused for a moment to consider them. The ones closest looked to be a girl, older than him, dark-haired and smelling faintly of seawater. The other was a boy, much closer to his age, with a proud sort of face and a sharp jaw that Gabriel was just a little bit jealous of. As the two began to walk off, Gabe paused and tried to decide whether or not it would be creepy to follow them-he was armed, after all, and had no idea who anyone here was. If they thought he was a threat, he was done for. But, the promise of companionship, even for a little while, was enough to make him heft his pack and begin following, eyes flitting carefully from place to place.

(( AquaMarie StrixDesmodus

 

[StrixDesmodus]

cacti.convo VasiliasMellow PlasticBeach
Pres. Seavey: "Well, that's part of why we're all here. The other part.... Well, there's bad news. I'll elaborate when the meeting officially starts, which will be soon if everything goes right." I hoped it wasn't obvious that I was uncomfortable, but then again I was good at hiding discomfort.


AquaMarie PlasticBeach NickNacks
Francis: I followed the young woman, probably to Sorin's chagrin, not even noticing the other boy that had by now gotten closer.

Sorin: My jaw dropped when I realized Francis wasn't turning back to go with me. He refused to carry any weapons, and I feared that would be his downfall now. I was already separated from my nephew, I wasn't keen to lose another person in any way. I almost signaled the horses to start galloping when I realized a young boy, around Francis's age was nearby, almost in our path. I sighed loudly, half at Francis's rash decision, and half at myself for almost running over a kid.

 

[Derpy Dev]

Argent
​

Argent nodded in understanding. It made sense - not everyone was some weird nomad like her. They stayed in groups, and for many, this meeting was just small town news - not just something an outsider decided to go to out of boredom and curiosity.
"Ah, okay then," she responded. "Well, I'll be heading there now. I'll need to if I want to see what all the fuss is about." She started to walk, before turning back around to the girl.
"Wanna come with?" she asked. It wasn't that she needed someone to walk with her - but after being a nomad out on her own for almost a year, one started to get lonely.

StrixDesmodus

 

[PlasticBeach]

StrixDesmodus
The woman placed a free hand on her own hip, tapping her hat against her thigh with the other as she thought about the small amount of information the president had given them.
Well, I'll be damned. I can't even remember the last time I even saw another person before this town, and now I've walked into whatever this thing is? And what's this about 'bad news'? It's the end of the world!
Joannie gave a tense sigh, pushing her thoughts aside for just a moment, spotting a hint of Seavey's anxiousness through her facade. She pursed her lips and gave a quiet nod of understanding as she responded in strained optimism "Sounds like a plan, ma'am. I'm sure things'll go on fine and dandy."

 

[AquaMarie]

Marina stoped to the sound of the wagon behind her come to a sudden stop. The wagon and the horses had come pretty close in running over a boy. She signed in releif to see that no one had been hurt. She wondered if the boy was also heading towards the meeting, it seemed quite a few people were. Part of her was glad about the meeting it hopes that a solution of what's been happening might finally come to a stop. But another part of her was scared, or more so nervous about being in an enclosed space with so many people.
The girl was worried about the stories she heard. Worried if this meeting was a trap. A trap to capture beings like her 'no stop it Mari! You cant think of that it's all fake....its just a meeting nothing more' she thought in her mind as she shook out the bad thoughts in her head.
StrixDesmodus
NickNacks

 

[cacti.convo]

Jesse pinches the bridge of her nose, glancing between Seavey and the redhead. How could there be more bad news? Jesse desperately wanted to push it and find out everything she could but she could tell that Seavey didn’t want to talk about it.
She turned to the redhead slightly as whispered, “What do you think the bad news is?”
StrixDesmodus PlasticBeach

 

[PlasticBeach]

cacti.convo
"Whatever it is, don't think it's gonna be about them runnin' out of complimentary bagels." She joked back dryly to the girl from under her breath. Humor had usually been the best way to deal with an awful situation, at least in her opinion. "Joannie Mcoffey, and you?" She asked quietly.

 

[cacti.convo]

Jesse smiled at Joannie, something she hadn’t done in a while, and extended her hand, “Jesse Arganfolk.” She glanced up and down Joannie, “I like your hair, and you’re right; there aren’t nearly enough snacks here for me to survive this meeting.”
PlasticBeach

 

[NickNacks]

The sound of hooves thudding against the ground made Gabriel freeze, turning quickly to see a horse-drawn wagon approaching him before stopping abruptly. Horses...Actual horses. He'd never liked them, but it was somewhat nice to see that they were alive and whole. Gabe raised his hands in a universal gesture of apology, stepping quickly out of the carriage's path, his heart still pounding in his chest. He'd been so distracted by all the people, he hadn't even bothered to look where he was going. He noted the signs for a meeting, and was rather incline to eavesdrop just to get a general idea of what it was about-so far, he hadn't the faintest idea.

StrixDesmodus AquaMarie

 

[PlasticBeach]

cacti.convo
"Much appreciated, it's all natural." She smirked, giving Jesse a strong handshake in return "Though, I gotta say I'm a little green with envy when it comes to your hair, adds to the whole ' Miss Mysterious' look ya got goin' on."

 

[cacti.convo]

PlasticBeach ”Ah well, you know. At times like these you gotta make sure people keep their distance...unless of course, they’re nice.” She smiled slightly. Jesse then rolled her shoulders back and gently ran her finger along the bottom of her scar, “I wonder how many people are left to arrive.”

 

[PlasticBeach]

cacti.convo VasiliasMellow StrixDesmodus
"Well, considering there's only a handful of us, I'm sure there's quite a few left." The redhead replied, gesturing to the rest of the room. "Must be holdin' out on a few people in particular."

 

[cacti.convo]

PlasticBeach StrixDesmodus VasiliasMellow
Jesse shrugged, “I dunno, with things the way they are... who knows how many of us are left. But, I’m sure you’re right. There’s gotta be at least a few more here, and then we can finally find out what this is all about.”

 

[StrixDesmodus]

Pres. Seavey: I left the two to their conversation. It was almost time to start, and most of the locals were here. I stuck my head out the door to see if anybody else was on their way.

Derpy Dev
Therese: I shrugged and stepped towards her.
"I guess. It can't hurt to. "

NickNacks
Sorin: "Sorry," I felt pretty bad about almost running the kid over. "You headed for the meeting too?"

 

[PlasticBeach]

cacti.convo
Joannie pondered again for a brief moment and sighed to herself, speaking wearily" 'Suppose that's true. I guess all we can do is wait for the time being, huh?" She fumbled with the brim of her hat as she absentmindedly watched the president leave.

 

[cacti.convo]

Jesse watched the President leave, her mouth pursing into the familiar tight line that it usually was. She hummed in response to Joannie and stuffed her hands into her pockets. Eventually her eyes drifted to the contents of Joannies hands, “What’s with the hat?”
PlasticBeach

 

[PlasticBeach]

She looked down at her hands, looking at her dusty wide-brimmed hat and back up at Jesse with a smile, replying sarcastically "Well, I'm not quite sure. I usually just.." The redhead placed the hat on her head, did some form of jazz hands, then glanced at the gentleman sitting down "This is usually what you do with these sorts of objects, am I right?"
cacti.convo VasiliasMellow

 

[cacti.convo]

Jesse chuckled and shook her head, “Yeah, yeah ok.” She glanced at the gentleman, “Vampires, eh?” She smiled at the both of them before watching the President from afar, “I think it’s going to start soon.”