Ask Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

[Tahiri]

Abandoned City, Nixor​

"It's ash." Tahiri called out as she held her hand out to catch some of the snow, immediately shaking her hand vigorously to get rid of the ash that had gathered in her palm, though it was mostly a pointless gesture as the moment she stepped out from the little shuttle that had brought them there she started getting covered in the ash. Hey, at least it isn't snow, don't have to worry about freezing!

She had been scared of that possibility on first seeing the "snowfall", she wasn't really dressed appropriately for snow and if she returned to Yavin with a cold then she was sure a "I told you so" would be waiting for her from all the nosey seniors who took great pleasure in repeatedly telling her that she didn't dress like a Jedi. Well, sucks to be them, because while they were busy doing whatever goody-two-shoes Jedi did on Yavin, she was out having fun with her pal.

Sure, now that they were here she was beginning to have doubts about the spacebay listing being legit, but maybe you had to take some risks if you wanted to get a genuine SW drum for under a thousand credits. And besides, if things did go wrong then they were Jedi, they could handle it.

"River," she peeked her head back into the shuttle, calling out over the loud music still spilling out from the tiny cockpit, "you would't happen to have an umbrella, would you?"

@Arcangel @Logan @Sreeya

 

[River Kesyk]

Ash? River called back to Tahiri as she slid from her seat in the shuttle and headed outside to see for herself. That's weird. You uh, River started, shielding her eyes as she looked up at the sky, ash lazily floating down all around them. You sure we got the right place?

Nope, no umbrella. She lamented, the right side of her mouth drooping into just a bit of a frown. River was glad that she'd at least work a jacket with a hood. Almost the same as an umbrella, at least.

Looking around, River couldn't help but notice that everything around them seemed like, unnaturally quiet. She tried to reach out with the force but only felt maybe the faintest hint of something returning back. River couldn't quite tell if that meant there was nothing and no one around or if she needed to buckle down a little bit with her training.

That was when out of nowhere, the engine of their shuttle suddenly backfired and sputtered, the loud bang startling River so much she yelped in surprise. A torrent of flame shot out of the back before turning into thick, black smoke. Well... that wasn't good.

Probably got clogged with ash. River said, shaking her head a little bit. Big oof there. Guess it's time we start walking? Honestly, River wasn't entirely sure what to do but staying at the shuttle didn't seem like it would help much. Maybe they could get lucky and find someone around to help.

Little did River know that the cacophonous bang of the engine would bring much more attention to them than she realized. Both from potential allies... and definite enemies.

@Arcangel @Sreeya @Wit

 

[Ailis Drast]

Ailis had been a little sketch about the spacebay listing that had drawn the two Sith there, but at the end of the day she couldn't pass up a deal like that. It seemed that someone was selling off a ton of musical equipment on Nixor and there was plenty of items to pick from. She had drawn Altair into this venture after seeing a listing for a guitar she thought he might want, though her own prize here was something a bit less acoustic.

A space deck DJ setup was going for dirt cheap and she wasn't about to miss out on that deal, so now she was carefully lowering the ship down to land with a careful flutter of the maneuvering jets. She wasn't exactly an experienced flier and she had convinced Altair to let her take the stick so she could get some practice in. After a few tense moments she had the ship settled onto the ground.

"See, told ya I could do it." She said with a smile and a little elbow nudge before she got up. She had dressed casually for this outing, partially because they were just going to buy some music stuff, partially because most of her things had been confiscated when she changed academies. She of course had her lightsaber stuffed into her bag.

Stepping down off the shuttle's boarding ramp, Ailis stretched before looking around. At first she thought it was snowing but quickly realized it was ash as she tried to brush a bit off the shoulder of her coat to instead leave a greyish swipe of dust. "Eww. Whats up with all the ash?" She said before looking up, startled, as an engine bang sounded nearby. "Did you hear that?" She glanced at Altair with just a little bit of concern on her face.

Eh. What did they have to worry about. They were Sith.

@Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Part of the reason Altair allowed Ailis to take over the piloting was because he was experiencing horrific withdrawals. He rushed to the refresher and puked his guts out while she was oblivious, and he wiped off his sweat and shot himself up with morphine. He had to up the dose just a bit since his body was rapidly adapting to the prior doses and easily cleansing it from his system. Altair brushed his teeth and popped some gum into his mouth in case Ailis wanted to make out with him later. He couldn’t let this shit cramp his style. Altair stared at his bloodshot eyes in the mirror, his entire body still trembling as he looked at his gaunt features. He splashed some water on his face and called on the Force to steady himself, fixing up his hair before he finally went back to join her in the cockpit again.

He had his datapad up with a game up by the time Ailis commented on her flying next to him. Altair grinned at her without looking up from his shooter game, “I’m impressed you ain’t crashed us yet,” He said, his fingers still trembling just a little bit that he actively tried to stop. Altair didn’t bring any weapons with him outside of his gods given fists, horns and tail. Altair was dressed in his usual style. His wrists had multiple beaded bracelets on it. The tiefling blew a small bubble gum and popped it before he strode out with Ailis, looking up at the ash. Gross. He tossed up his custom made hood that allowed his horns to protrude through without the ash bullshit fucking up his hair. He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked.

Altair looked over as he saw a ship in the distance practically explode from the back. His brows rose, “Yoooo,” He called out, “Let’s go see if there’s a dead body!” He said almost eagerly as he began shuffling in that direction.

@Wit @Arcangel @logn2665

 

[Tahiri]

Tahiri had wandered a few steps from the shuttle, examining a fallen sign to figure out which way they had to go when the shuttle backfired. She jumped, cutting a finger and the battered and somewhat rusty sign as her heartbeat spiked. "Yeah..." She muttered in response to River's comment about walking, but only after her heart had calmed down a little, getting back to her feet and pulling out one of the drumsticks she normally kept tucked into the back of her jeans. She started spinning in her hand at her side, and feeling the familiar sensation of the stick in her hand begin to calm her down. She was a little jumpy for someone who dressed and acted like she did, but nothing a little stick action couldn't fix.

"I think its this way." She pointed towards the intersection behind the shuttle with the drumstick, and began walking. "I hope they have the original cases, because all this ash wi.." She stopped as she jumped over a downed speeder, and rounded a corner to find herself face to face with two individuals. Still a little jumpy, her hand immediately went up, drumstick pointed at them like it was a weapon, moving back and forth between the girl and the much taller guy.

She blinked, shaking her head to dust off the ash that had already gathered all over her hair, and gave a dirty look to the hoods both of them were wearing, just like River. But through that she took in the rest of their getup, and got a feeling about who they were. "Rolling Clones Musical Emporium?"

All this while she ignored the cut on her other hand, slowly dripping blood, leaving behind a trail that was easily missed by the naked eye in the ash covered ruins.

@Arcangel @Logan @Sreeya

 

[River Kesyk]

River followed Tahiri without saying much. Her attention was drawn everywhere else but watching what was in front of her. Their ship being broken was super unfortunate, but not the most worrisome thing occupying her mind. This place they were seemed so strange. Why was ash floating down from the sky? Where were all the people?

River really hoped that they would be able to find help somewhere. She was not into the idea of maybe having to spend the night here, not into that at allllll. She tried activating her comm, maybe pick someone up passing by in another ship. All she got was static. Was the ash interfering? Could be, but technology wasn't her strong suit.

When they rounded a corner and Tahiri suddenly spoke again, River's attention was brought back to the present. She saw the two others and strangely enough, recognized one of them?

Ailis? She called out, the confusion in her tone very evident. What are you doing here?

River moved past Tahiri, her own curiosity pushing past any concern on approaching the two others. It's good to see you again, and that you're okay. She said to Ailis, a smile turning up the corners of her lips. Who's your friend?

River eyed Altair up and down for a moment. She'd never met anyone like him before, but she wasn't scared or anything. At least right now, any friend of Ailis' was a friend of River's.

I'm River and this is Tahiri, River said to Altair, jutting her thumb back at her friend. Our ship kinda exploded so we're looking for help. Is your ship still okay?

A sense of calm came over River as she talked Altair and Ailis. The Force had brought them together for a purpose, she was sure of it. They were meant to help each other.

The wind started to blow through this ruined town on Nixor. And with it, monsters in the dark began to move.

@Arcangel @Sreeya @Wit

 

[Ailis Drast]

Ailis gave Altair a look as he remarked about finding a dead body. "What, are you gonna poke it with a stick or something?" She asked him. She wasn't touching no dead bodies, not if she could help it.

They walked through the falling ash not to find a dead body, but two very alive girls who seemed just out of place as they were. Oh and she knew one of them.

"River?' Ailis called out, the confusion in her tone very evident. "What are you doing here?" She asked before stifling a laugh at them saying the exact same thing. She glanced at the other girl with River as she mentioned the place they were supposed to be buying their stuff from. "Yeah the Rolling Clones... You aren't here for the space deck are you?" Ailis grew concerned. She'd fight a bitch for that deal.

"Good to see you too." Ailis returned the pleasantry with a smile before glancing at Altair. "Oh this is my... friend, Altair." She said, trying not to pause on the friend bit. That's all they were after all. Just friends. Ailis listened as River introduced herself and her friend before she piped up again.

"Yeah our ship still works, not like I would crash it or anything," she laughed before continuing, "Nice to meet you Tahiri, I'm Ailis." She held a hand out for her to shake before looking down at Tahiri's hand with eyes that quickly shifted to concern. "Uh, did you know that you're bleeding?" She asked. A faint shuffling sound echoed nearby.

@Sreeya @Wit @Logan

 

[Altair Din]

Altair nodded as Ailis asked if he was going to poke the dead body with a stick, “Damn straight, that’s exactly what Imma do,” He said confidently as they kept walking. He was surprised when they came across two girls walking away from the doomed ship. Altair took in sight of their appearance and attire and they didn’t register as threatening or from here. He paused when one of them addressed Ailis, his gaze flicking back and forth between the two. Huh, small galaxy. Altair didn’t miss the white haired chick’s gaze moving up and down, and he responded with a wink while blowing and popping his gum while the ladies talked.

“Sup,” He said simply as an intro, though he didn’t miss how Ailis fumbled over the word friend and lingered there for a bit. The tiefling’s eyes switched over to Tahiri, catching the drumstick in her hand, “You actually play or you carryin’ around a magic wand?” He asked before looking over at River. The hell kinda name was that? Her parents must have smoked a lot of glitterstim and protested wars, “What kinda help ya need?” He asked, “‘Cause we ain’ exactly trynna leave.”

Altair looked over when he heard the faint shuffling, though he couldn’t make out what caused it. In fact, he had the sinking feeling this supposed music shop didn’t exist. There was virtually no sign of civilization around and there was a strange and thick fog. But damn it if he wasn’t determined to scope out the place just in case he stumbled upon the guitar he was promised.

@Wit @Logan @Arcangel

 

[Tahiri]

Tahiri knew she should have been surprised by the fact that River knew one of the strangers, but what little she knew of her so far actually made this encounter seem completely plausible. If there was anyone who would run into an acquaintance in the middle of the middle of nowhere it was her.

"No," she replied to Altair, her voice a little on edge as she awkwardly tried moving the drumstick to her other hand without getting blood on it and shook Ailis' hand, "I just like using them as chopsticks. Last longer." She had been rejected from more than one band because she was a girl, what sort of band has a girl drummer, they had eloquently explained. So the question hit a nerve, though the flash of anger was quick to pass as she saw the concern on Ailis' face about her arm. "Sorry, that was rude. Yes," she replied, giving Altair a smile before turning her attention of her bleeding arm, though the apology didn't sound particularly sincere, "I do play. We're actually here to pick up a new drum set from Rolling Clones, so if you guys could give us a lift whenever you leave? I really don't wanna carry a new set in a spuber."

As she was talking she was tearing off a bit of her t-shirt, having nothing else on her that would work, and started using the torn piece of fabric to try and bandage her bleeding arm. It was then that she too noticed the shuffling sound, and then noticed movement. Still fiddling with the bandage, she took a step away from the group to get a better look, though she stayed well away from the alleyway the sound seemed to have come from. Even then, she almost jumped as something clattered in front of her and a dark mass scurried past her feet. She almost screamed, but she caught herself on realizing what it was. A womp rat, larger, and grimier than your average womp rat, but still just a womp rat.

"It's nothing," she said as she looked over her shoulder at the others, "just a womp rat. Probably hunting for trash." She turned around to give the alley one last look and her eyes widened as the shuffling sound started again and another figure emerged. This one was much larger, and moved far slower than the rat, but was infinitely more terrifying. An armored figure, its body barely holding together, moving slowly towards them, dragging a ruined foot behind it, a hand towards her.

Tahiri instinctively scampered backwards till she slammed into one of the other three, her eyes still plastered on the figure so she didn't know who. As they watched the thing's mouth, what was left of it, opened, and it drew a long, raspy breath. Tahiri watched in horror as a deathly voice emerged from the ruined mouth.

"Ruuuuuuun."

And in the alley behind the figure, barely visible through the darkness, more figure moved.

@Arcangel @Logan @Sreeya

 

[River Kesyk]

River thought it was kind of weird that Altair seemed so standoffish for like, no reason. Ailis had seemed pretty chill in the time they had met before so River was surprised she'd be friends with someone like that. Though, maybe it was just this place that was throwing off everyone's vibe. River was willing not to cement her opinion on Altair just yet.

Before River could say anything else, the armored figure emerging from the darkness made her eyes go wide and any thought she might have had kind of disappeared. She stumbled back a bit as Tahiri ran right into her after not paying attention to where she was going during her frightened backpedaling, River catching the girl and holding her steady so neither of them ended up on their ass.

What the heck is that thing? She asked, hoping at least someone here might know. The only time River had ever seen anything like what was before them was in holovids.

Are we running or are we fighting? She was talking to everyone, more or less. At this point, splitting up seemed like a horrible idea. There was definitely more creatures out there, and she and Tahiri had no real place to run to. They needed Ailis and Altair to get out of this place, so River would follow them no matter which choice they made.

She hoped to the force that they picked running, though.

@Arcangel @Wit @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

“For real?” Altair responded to Tahiri, face lighting up as he smiled. He loved coming across other musicians, “I sing and play guitar. Acoustic, and I do percussive slapping with my songs. You got music on NoiseNebula?” He asked eagerly, “Can find me on there-” Altair paused as the noises continued and Tahiri mentioned a womp rat. He had an uneasy feeling about this and he took a step back and then another. It was then that the creepy ass figure came out and he could smell the stench of rot from here. Altair had seen enough scary Holomovies to know the exotic races like himself always died first, and he had no intention of running towards it. When the creature actually spoke and said ‘run’, Altair blinked.

“You got it, bro” He responded to the creature with a peace sign before turning on his heel and booking in the opposite direction, “This way!” He called out to the others as he ran back towards their ship. Altair thought they had a pretty good shot before he saw that similar dense fog in front of him that blocked the path. He could see shapes through the fog, suggesting that more of these things were coming the way they came. The tiefling skidded to a halt, “Fuck!” He looked around frantically before spotting a path to his right. Altair whirled around and began running down that path. He hoped the others would keep up.

He could see a fence and he expected that to put some distance between them and the creatures. Altair approached the fence, grabbed it, and then hesitated. Cursing his parents for instilling southern charm habits into him, he jumped back, “COME ON COME ON!” Altair held his hands out to give the girls a boost to each to help them over the fence once by one, saving himself for last.

The ladies were all over the fence and he just barely grabbed it to climb over when he felt a massive hit to his side. The tiefling was bodily thrown clear across from where he was, crashing into the side of a dumpster like a rag doll. The source of the hit was a superinfected that had been infected years ago and far beyond the initial stages. The monster roared as it turned and began to slowly make its way towards Altair’s slumped form on the other side of the fence from the girls.

@Wit @Arcangel @Logan

 

[Ailis Drast]

Ailis listened to the exchange between Altair and Tahiri as she peered into the fog. Falling ash, check. Creepy fog, check. Mysterious noises, check. She was starting to get a bad feeling about this whole deal.

"Oh wow, your ship exploded didn't it... I think we could give you a lift." Ailis nodded as Tahiri finished asking for a ride from this creepy planet. Was the fog getting thicker. She wasn't going to leave the two girls all by themselves, especially River who had helped her out in a pinch. "We'd be glad to." She smiled.

Everyone's eyes seemed to go the same place at once and Ailis followed suit as... A dead body started walking out of the mist towards them. She backed up a few steps, eyes wide as the body told them to run in a death rattle. "Running!" Ailis agreed, answering River's question as she turned and ran along with Altair and the rest.

They reached a chain link fence and Altair stopped to help the girls up, what a gentleman. Ailis hit the fence jumping at a run, grabbing the lip and pulling herself over it to come down on the other side. She turned to see what was after them but couldn't see anything through the thick mist as the two other girls came over the fence. Turning to keep running, she glanced back for Altair just as something stumbled from the mist and slammed Altair to the side.

"Altair!" Ailis shouted. She didn't think, instead seeing red as she shoved a hand in her bag and pulled out the black hilt of her lightsaber as she turned towards the fence.

Snap-hiss.

The telltale sound of a lightsaber echoed through the air and the mist burned red with its light as Ailis brought the saber up and around in a circle to carve a hole in the fence. She stepped forwards, eyes locked on the... the Thing that lumbered towards Altair. It had hurt Altair, and she wasn't going to let it hurt him again.

All she felt was anger as she held her hand up towards the thing, her face twisting with rage as she drew on the darkside to send the still glowing circle of cut metal flying at the beast to tangle against it, another shudder of the force driving it stumbling back to topple over as Ailis advanced on it.

"Grab him!" Ailis shouted to River and Tahiri behind her as she came to a stop, standing ahead of the dumpster against which Altair had been slammed, her eyes glued to the thing and the fog behind it. Vague shapes started to appear through the mist as the thing started to break free. "Quickly!" She yelled with a sense of urgency and almost panic in her voice.

@Sreeya @Logan @Wit

 

[River Kesyk]

Whelp, Altair didn't have to say it twice. As soon as the dude started hoofing it, River would sprint right after him, making sure to grab Tahiri by the hand so she didn't get left behind. Not that Riv thought Tahiri wasn't capable or anything, but she had seemed pretty freaked out when the weird creature showed up River wasn't going to let her get left behind if she were frozen in shock or something.

When they hit the fence, River wasn't quite sure what to do. Luckily, Altair didn't have the same hesitation and started boosting the girls over.

Thank you! She'd say as she went up and over the fence, grabbing the top of it with Altair's help and falling deftly onto the other side.

Just as she was turning around to see how Altair was going to get over, River was met with the sight of some... abomination creature straight trucking him into a nearby dumpster. A squeak of frightened surprised escaped her lips, but River would have little time to react beyond that as what Ailis sent her through a loop.

The sound of a lightsaber activating was one you could never mistake. Nothing else sounded like it. That snap-hiss, the smell of burnt ozone, the glow from the kyber crystal. Of course, when Ailis' lightsaber erupted in a flash of red light, River nearly shit herself. The girl she had met, that she had already helped once before, was a Sith????

"Grab him!"

There was no time to dwell. Sith or not, River trusted Ailis and if any of them were going to survive, they needed to get the fuck out of dodge. With all pretenses of normalcy shattered, River reached out with the force and lifted Altair into the air, gently placing him inside the dumpster. Luckily it wasn't particularly full, although the trash that was in there had been there for.... a long time, and it appeared they were outside of some old seafood restaurant. Oof.

Everyone hop in, we're getting the hell out of here! River called. She never said curse words, but things were starting to get crazy.

Riv would wait for everyone to hop into the dumpster or at least grab on. Running to the dumpster, Riv would grab onto its short side, and letting the force flow through her, would release a strong and direct release of force energy behind her.

Hold onto your butts!

The force would act almost like a swoop bike engine, rocketing the dumpster forward and away from the creepy monster. Unfortunately, the thing didn't really include a steering wheel, so how they were going to stop or not hit stuff was really up in the air.

Speaking of up in the air - as they shot forward, the rusted wheels of the dumpster straining after such a long stretch of inaction, the dumpster would hit a knocked over road barricade that acted as some sort of ramp. The dumpster-tobogan would fly into the air and after just a few seconds of weightlessness, the group would come crashing down on top of a lower rise building.

The dumpster would skid to a stop before falling over on its side, spilling out its contents of old fish and people, and send River somersaulting. She would land flat on her back with her eyes staring into the ashy sky, but alive.

Holy. Shit. Was all she could manage to say.

@Wit @Arcangel @Sreeya

 

[Tahiri]

Tahiri, while curious about getting Altair's NoiseNebula link, realized there were more urgent matters at hand, and when everyone started running she followed. Even without River tugging her along, her fight or flight response had kicked in once the decision was made to run, she knew just how badly things would end for her if she was the only one who got left behind. She had seen way too many holomovies to know what happened to the pretty blond when she went off on her own. Beauty, unfortunately, could often be a curse. And Sollywood had bought her that even monsters weren't immune to its appeal.

Once at the fence, she didn't have much time to thank Altair about the hand he offered to help her across, even though she felt guilty about making him wait when River and her could have easily jumped over the fence. But it was best to keep their Jedi-ness on the down low, specially given all the anti-Force sentiment in these parts, so she let him help her over. But before he could join them, giving her the opportunity to properly thank him, something huge barreled right into him.

At that point keeping their presence a secret was off the table, they couldn't just sit around if someone was in danger. But then Ailis stepped forward, and a blade was in her hands as she rushed to Altair's aid. Tahiri, having neither the benefit of knowing either Ailis or Altair, nor having ever really encountered a Sith before, didn't react as quickly as River did. But seeing her jump into action finally got through to her as well. She didn't know if he was Sith as well, and even if he was did that automatically preclude him from qualifying for help due to someone in need?

Still a little confused, but with enough of an argument to make her move, she rushed after River. As Ailis faced off against the thing, and River lifted Altair into the dumpster, Tahiri started running, gracefully kicking off against the wall besides the fence and launching herself over it to land in a run besides Ailis. She reached out with the Force, wrapping it around the drumstick she still held in her hand and strengthening the wood with the Force, threw it like a tiny javelin straight at the thing. She had hoped for a piercing blow, but all it did was bounce harmlessly off the thing, and fall in two pieces to the ground.

"Fuck!" She turned away from the monster, grabbing Ailis and tugging her towards the dumpster, taking care to avoid getting slabbed by her blade. If she complied and turned, she would let go and proceed to jump in after River. Soon enough they were sent flying, first figuratively and then literally.

"Whooo!! Suck it toad-face!!" Adrenaline still coursing through her, she momentarily forgot about the absolute terror they had just escaped, and let out a whoop as they soared through the air. Unfortunately, with her hands in the air in celebration, she didn't have anything to hold onto, and the landing sent her flying out, coming to a tumbling stop atop the building. Pushing herself to a knee, she found her vision obstructed, and immediately let out a blargh of disgust as she noticed a rotten and slimy piece of something handing from the stud above her eye. Immediately grabbing and tossing it away, she flopped back on her ass, beginning to laugh at the fact that they had survived.

The laugh stopped at once though as she remembered why they had just evel-knievel'd their way here, and scrambled around to look for the others.

"Everyone alright?"

@Arcangel @Logan @Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

“Wha?” Altair said stupidly as he was unceremoniously dropped into a dumpster. Everything smelled so bad that he almost puked right there. He covered his mouth as Tahiri popped in shortly after, almost impaling herself on his horns. The tiefling was still dazed and was entirely disoriented to what was going on. He began to reach towards the lip of the dumpster, feeling himself get carted around at top speeds. He had no clue what was happening and he only remembered that he was attacked by some terrible monster. Altair poked his head out and glanced back to see River pushing him and the others away from the monster. How was she…? The realization dawned on him at once as he felt the Force use all around him.

He yelled as they were casually tossed over onto the roof of a low building, sending them all crashing. Altair ducked his head in, doing his best to ensure his horns didn’t spear into anyone around him as he rolled out. He stumbled up to his feet, glancing down at his outfit covered in trash juice and a stench that wouldn’t leave too easily. He picked a rotten fish off one of his horns. Altair spotted River, the person spared the trash, taking a nap on the roof and walked over to her.

He reached a hand down to hoist her up to her feet. Altair gave her a huge smile, “THANKS, BUDDY!” He called out cheerfully before purposely pulling her into a bear hug to cover her in the same disgusting filth that caked the rest of them. Altair pulled back after a moment before bursting out laughing lightheartedly and stepping back before she could slap him.

The tiefling looked over to ensure everyone else was okay before walking over to edge of the building. He looked over to see a small army of infected gathering below. While most of them repeatedly kept running into the wall, he saw one or two that were standing perfectly still. Their gaze slowly shifted towards different means of climbing up. Altair grimaced as he turned towards the girls.

“We can’t stay here long,” He explained, “Listen, there are mutated infected here. They got basic intelligence in them. They can open doors, climbs shit and keep followin’. They ain’t the mindless types that give up when they can’t see ya. You can’t let any of ‘em bite ya anywhere and you gotta cover up any open wounds,” His gaze flicked over to Tahiri, “If any of their shit gets into a wound, it’ll infect you.”

@Arcangel @Wit @Logan

 

[Ailis Drast]

Everything happened so quickly as Ailis stepped forwards towards the downed superinfected, her Lightsaber lashing down to sever its legs at the shins before she stepped back away from the advancing horde. She felt a shimmer of the force and looked back at the group as she heard River yell. Ailis saber flicked to lop the arm off a closing zombie before turning to run and hop into the dumpster, deactivating her saber as she hurtled over the side and into...

And into a pile of who knows how old rotten fish guts.

Ailis gagged as the dumpster started to roll. There were many terrible odors in the galaxy and living in the lower levels of Coruscant had introduced Ailis to a fair number of them. She definitely rated this among the top 10 though as the rolling bucket of guts and teens rattled back and forth before taking a jump somehow.

Muck splattered around and Ailis came to a stop, rolling roughly on the roof to come to a stop. Dazed, dizzy, nauseous and disoriented, Ailis found her knees just in time for her breakfast to come up and splatter onto the rooftop. She went to wipe her face with her sleeve only to stop herself just before she could as she saw the garment stained with fish rot.

Instead she found her feet and her eyes searched for Altair and the others.

"Holy shit." Ailis said as she approached the others. She realized her lightsaber hilt was still in her hand, a white knuckle grip still on it and she relaxed her hand, clipping it onto her belt, now that there was no reason to hide it. Ailis listened to Altair's explanation about the infected and shuddered. If anything of theirs got into a wound... She glanced over at Tahiri.

"Fuck... We gotta, we gotta find the ship." She started, trying not to let terror leak into her voice as the adrenaline from the fight and flight faded. She looked down at the slowly gathering horde below them, her wide eyes scanning the crowd, turning away as she met the eyes of an infected that was staring right at her from where it stood immobile behind the crowd.

"We gotta get out of here." She looked around through the mist. She squinted as she saw a flickering light down the street. Was that?

"Is that..." She pointed through the mist. "Is that... The Rolling Clones Musical Emporium?" It was strange seeing the sign flickering lightly in the distance after everything that just happened and it felt almost surreal. Or like a dream. Real but not.

@Sreeya @Logan @Wit

 

[Tahiri]

Listening to Altair's explanation and noticing the flick of his eyes reminded Tahiri of the cut she had suffered earlier. She needed to patch that up, and given their apparent lack of supplies, following the a logic train of thought brought her to the lightsaber. Which subdued some of her adrenaline induced high, giving rise to questions once more. But for now it didn't matter, Altair and Ailis were right, they had to move.

At Ailis' mention of the Emporium, Tahiri gladly welcomed the distraction to push away thoughts of Sith and crimson blades. "We should check it out," she said as she stepped up besides Ailis to take a better look, "at the very least there might be someone there, could get some help. Someone was putting up those listings, though given how fucked up things are here I wonder how helpful someone trying to turn a profit in the middle of all this would be."

Still, despite the doubts she herself had voiced, she did want to check it out. At the very least it would get them out of the open, away from the creepy cannonballs of doom. But before that she wanted to make sure she didn't accidentally turn into a zombie herself, so she turned to Ailis, with a glance towards her lightsaber. "Could I borrow a light?" She held up her still bleeding hand as she asked the question, and if Ailis complied she would use her lightsaber to cauterize her wound. "That'll leave a scar." She would mutter mostly to herself, realizing it was the first scar she had ever had, somehow having gone through her sixteen years without a lasting mark to remind her of the many stupid choices she had made over the years. Seemed right that it was a literal life and almost-death situation to finally change that.

She didn't make any mention about the blade, or the color, though she was dying to. Instead she would thank Ailis and return her attention to their surroundings. Looking around she spotted a door, likely opening up to a stairway that might take them down from the roof they were stuck on. "This way." She called as she stepped up to the door and grabbed the handle, feeling a moment of relief when it swung open with little resistance. The door swung open, and revealed a figure standing in the stairway beyond, a tiny figure. Some part of her mind identified it as a chadra-fan, or at least someone who had once been a chadra-fan. But before her conscious mind to make that connection, her unconscious mind made the more important connection, creepy, scary, dangerous. She immediately slammed the door shut, and turned back to the others.

"On second thought probably not the best idea stepping indoors. So much better out here...under ashen skies. Charming."

@Arcangel @Logan @Sreeya