tushanshu_logs | We're off to see the Wizard! That is really a statue.

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We're off to see the Wizard! That is really a statue.

Characters: Toro Raymond, Tony Stark (616), Booker DeWitt, Mai
Date: Backdated to started on 4/13-4/18
Location: outside of Keeliai
Situation: Escorting pilgrims to the Shrine of Iashu and back, landslides, carnivorous birds, rain, all that good stuff.
Warnings/Rating: Language maybe, mudstripping

[They might have been running a little behind schedule, but so far so good. The kedan were very determined about getting to the shrine, despite the poor weather, so what else could they do but make sure they got there? Maybe someone should have mentioned that it was landslide season, or the birds liked to try and eat the natives, but all in all it could have gone worse...right?

Too bad they couldn't take the compass back with them, though.]

{OOC: Feel free to make comments for to the shrine, at the shrine, and the return trip.}

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[This little trip seems like a vacation compared to the last one - sure, it's raining, but hey, this is just a hike. Just an escort. They don't need to worry about stealth, they don't need to worry about being in enemy territory, they don't have to break in anywhere.

It's a walk in the park - or mountains, as the case may be.

He's keeping to himself, mostly - keeping an eye on the kedan they're escorting, sure, and alert for any signs of trouble, but Booker DeWitt is not a sociable man by nature, no matter how much Elizabeth wishes he would make some more friends.

They're about halfway up, or maybe a little more, when he hears it - a strange screeching sound from above, and his hand automatically goes for the pistol holstered at his shoulder.]

Anybody else hear that?

[Being stuck walking in all of this rain and dampness didn't make Toro much of a talker either, despite his usual attitude. He's stayed out of the sky for the most part, since there was no point wasting the energy to stand up there.

He stops in his tracks, reaching out a hand to steady and elderly kedan woman who slid on a loose rock.]

Hear what?

[Another screech - closer, Booker thinks, than the last one, but he can't see anything - it's so dark and overcast, the sound carries strangely up here and it's nearly impossible to spot anything.]

That. What is that?

[A faint woosh from somewhere sends him turning quickly, pulling his gun out, though he's not aiming it at anything yet.]

Something's out there.

[Mai's somewhere toward the rear, leading up the end of the pack. Everyone is coming to a stop thanks to the noise it seems and Mai looks skyward to try to pick up where it's coming from.

She slides a knife into her hand as Booker draws his own weapon.]

Must be some kind of bird.

Doesn't sound like any bird I've ever heard.

[He's scanning the sky as well, and a flash of wings sets Booker's mouth into a tight, hard line. It's big.]

Everyone, get down. Up against the side of the cliff, there.

[There's another screech, closer, louder and Toro definitely heard that. The elderly woman he's been helping does not seem that surprised by worried nonetheless and that cannot be a good sign.]

Maybe it's just an eagle or some kind of vulcher. [He's still nudging their charges against the wall, but trying to get as good a look up into the air as he can.] A really big vulcher.

A vulture big enough to sw -

[A shape flashes down out of the clouds and Booker's eyes go wide at the sight of it. A moment later he aims and fires a shot at the huge thing - the claws are big enough to rip a grown man apart.]

[... Well that's certainly a bigger vulture than the ones she's used to. There's a moment of surprise but then the sound of Booker's shot shakes her out of it.

She let's go of the knife she had been cradling and if her mark is as good as it typically is, that knife will fine a new home somewhere in the bird's chest.

Another one slides into the former's place as she breathes out a low sigh.]

Fantastic.

[Of course, one knife in a bird that big isn't going to bring it down immediately, or even one gunshot. Booker is suddenly, forcibly and frighteningly reminded of Songbird, and his face hardens a little as he lifts his left hand -

and sets the bird's wing on fire, sending it screaming as it dips lower, making it even more of a target.]

[The bird's wing goes up in flames and Mai turns the briefest glance over to the man. It's momentary though since the bird dipping lower makes it a much better target. And she's not going to waste that.

Then teenager lines up several knives between both hands, set on launching them both as the bird approaches and maybe even as it passes over. It's too large to even hope a few knives and fire are going to immediately bring it down.

Like before, Mai's own efforts concentrate on the body of the bird. More knives buried in it's chest, a few in the head if she can make it. Typically she would be more wont to simply pin things down rather than outright kill them but pinning down a bird like this one just isn't an option.

The bird dips even lower and now it's evident that rather than simply passing over top them like it might once have aimed to do, it can't keep that momentum anymore. And what once was a swooping pass it now becoming more of a collision.]

[Booker, for his part, switches right back over to his gun, not even giving anyone a second glance, like the fire he just tossed at the bird is a perfectly normal thing to do.

Well, on the turtle, things like that are kind of normal, even if Booker doesn't usually come across as one of those magic users.

But as the animal swings lower, his face sets in a scowl and he starts shoving the kedan out of the way.]

Move, now! Up the hill!

[As the bird comes crashing in, one of its wings nearly clips Booker in the side as he leaps away.]

Nice shot! [Toro finally leaves the lady he's been helping along, not-so-gently pushing off onto one of the other kedan who are moving faster up the hill. The earth around them shakes form the collision and Toro is glad to see the other guy wasn't injured. The bird on the other hand looks hurt and is screeching loudly in pain, body writhing on the ground as it tries to get its leg back underneath it. It may have broken something when it crash landed.]

Should we put it down now or leave it? It could be calling friends.

[Booker gives Toro a strange sort of look - good shot? Huh. Okay then.

But then he shakes his head and takes aim once more.]

Put it down. Out of its misery.

[With that, he fires - directly at its head.]

[After the whole bird ordeal and whatnot, Mai greets the top of the shrine with all the enthusiasm one greets coming out of one bad ordeal for a slightly less problematic one.]

Finally.

[She sighs out heavily, turning her eyes around the area.]

So is this it?

[He runs a hand through his hair, only to stop and wrinkle his nose because his hands are dirty and just adding more filth up there. Never thought he would want water around this much.]

It isn't as big as I thought it would be. Maybe there's more inside?

Maybe. I guess it doesn't matter how big it is if it's just for religious observance or whatever.

Guess you're right. [He steps toward the opening, getting a good look around as the kedan file in. They can at least set up camp inside this cave entry, it's wide enough.]

I've been a lot of places, but never anywhere that felt this...old.

I've heard this war has been going on for thousands of years so the land itself has to be older.

[A moment, then:]

Or the turtle is.

Tu Vishan is pretty old, ain't he? [Sometimes Toro forgets just how old the turtle probably is.] I guess it must take a few thousand years of not washing behind your ears before life starts growing out of it.

[He chuckles at his own joke because it's oh so funny.] So what do we do now? Just let 'em have their time with...the statue?

[Mai huffs an amused breath, a faint smirk rising on her lips. She can appreciate bad jokes to some degree.

She glances over to the group of kedan filing off to do... whatever it was they so desperately wanted to do up here.]

I guess. We have to stay to escort them back down, right?

That's what the mission said. [And Toro tends to read those reports close enough. He's used to it.]

Maybe we should check it out ourselves? Usually the polite thing to do, pay our respects and all.

[She looks a little bemused at the idea.]

You sure they wouldn't get upset over non-believers walking in?

Best way to convert people is to introduce them to how the faith works, right? 'Least that's how things work back home.

[He gives a bit of a shrug.] It couldn't hurt to learn more about what it's about. I can't read their language as it is, so nothing back in Keeliai helps much.

[He's already heading inside, so if Mai is curious to, she's welcome to come along.]

{OOC: Journey back home will partially take place during the blackout and bombings event starting on 4/17.}

[His injuries this time are minor - superficial. Just a couple of bruises and scrapes. He looks worse than he actually is, what with all the mud that seems to get everywhere.

Booker will be glad to get back home. Elizabeth will fuss, and he'll acquiesce, like always. It's a sort of routine between them. She'll worry about whether he'll catch cold, and feed him up, and get him dry clothes. Booker likes coming home to his daughter.

But as they approach the city, he squints against the rain and the fading light - something is, well -]

Something's wrong.

[Oh so very dryly:]

It's not birds again, is it.

I only wish.

[He thinks there's smoke there, on the horizon, above the city.]

Wasn't a bonfire scheduled for today, was there? [The dread in the pit of his stomach is growing. This is not right. There is something very, very wrong going on, he can feel it.]

Not that I know of.

[Now Mai is squinting a bit, trying to look closer.]

[Booker takes a whiff of the breeze coming from the city, and frowns.]

Smells like burning. This is bad. [He is intimately familiar with the smell - the smell of burning people, even, though they're still too far away for him to know for sure.]

[The smell of burning isn't exactly uncommon to Mai. For her it smells like a regular fire, though it probably shouldn't smell this intensely given how far they are from the city still.]

Looks like it.

[Mai turns a bit to those behind her, mostly kedan they had escorted.]

Stay put a moment.

[She looks to the rest of the group now.]

Someone else keep an eye on them. We can't all go down into the city just yet.

Goddammit. [He mutters the curse under his breath as he draws his pistol and starts moving forward.]

This is probably his doing. [And Booker's daughter is in the city - maybe safe at home, maybe something else entirely.]

The big bad that can't be named?

[What, was he cropping up now? Hadn't he been more or less sitting around for thousands of years doing crap all?]

Every time somethin' bad happens, it's him.

[Please, Mai. Booker knows. He's been here a while. His mouth turns down and he starts forward, toward the city at a quick trot.]

I have to find my daughter.

[For a moment Mai hangs back, just eyeing the city from this distance. Hearing the man's tone of voice she's not of a mind to try and stop him. And as she stands there, her first thought skips to that stupid ex of hers being somewhere in the city too.

Not that she could go looking for him. Not that he needed her to look for him. He was more than capable of caring for himself, at least when boiling lakes weren't involved. They hadn't even really talked since she arrived.

Mai finally starts picking her way down the rocks as well, heading toward the city. She might as well be following, though she's doing so from a distance. She's not about to try to stop the man or slow him down, she knows what it's like to have very little time on your hands and another's life in the balance.]

[Booker is aware that she's behind him, somewhere - vaguely, anyway. He's completely focused on getting to his suite, on finding Elizabeth, but after a while he turns to Mai.]

What's your Sector?

Fire.

[A beat, then:]

I won't slow you down or anything but if you need someone to help find your daughter... I can try.

[There's some sympathy in there, not because she knows what it's like to have a child or maybe even worry about a family member like that. She sure hadn't worried much about Tom-Tom at one point.

For a loved one though... no, I'm not going to go looking for that moron.]

Earth. If - she'll be home, if she can get there, if she's not -

[If she's uninjured, of course, but Booker has no idea where she could be - Elizabeth likes to be out and about, she almost never sits at home during the day even when she could. And he's been gone for almost a week, so who knows?

He knows if she can, she'll try to get home, to safety, if home is even still standing.]

What the hell is goin' on?

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We're off to see the Wizard! That is really a statue.

TO THE SHRINE

ATTACK OF THE FLESH EATING BIRDS!

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Apologies for the lateness! For some reason I'm just not getting notifs.

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AT IASHU SHRINE

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RETURN TRIP

EXPLOSIONS!

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