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Kestra15

Rapture

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"You mentioned that you can kind of sense these 'soft spots,' right?" Erin pressed, "Where someone can end up Slipping? I'm thinking that if somebody crosses one of them with someplace in mind, or at least someone in mind, it might spit them out there.

 

"As for how to find them, it looks like we can either wait for one to open up around here, or go out and hope that we come across one."

 

She swallowed a comment about how they'd left the only people who might've been able offer some advice about that back in Cambridgeshire, but she was pretty sure she looked like she'd been thinking about it.

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Wisperlee nodded while Erin talked. "I think trying to find a soft spot is a good first step. It makes sense that Stepping is easier there - like trying to dive in sweet water, rather than super dense salt water. Since we've never done it before, easier is better - and who knows, maybe we'll suffer less Stepping Sickness if we use a soft spot. Right now Mak is the only one who can "see" soft spots, so maybe just have him walk around and see if he finds anything? Animals also have better senses than humans, so we could look for strange patterns in birds or something. Or let the dogs go at it? Labs and Retrievers are originally hunting breeds, so Nougat might sniff something out. I bet it's even possible to find soft spots with scientific equipment in theory - though in reality, figuring out what to scan for and then developing a scanner could take decades."

 

She paused there, deliberately giving Erin a chance to speak her mind. It was clear the woman was biting back words - and Wisperlee could guess what they were. Still, she appreciated Erin trying to walk the fine line between candor and tact - both necessary in a group of strangers forced together - so she wasn't gonna force the issue.

 

Her laptop had run empty since the new move, as had her phone and tablet. She hadn't set them up on the generator - she figured they could use the power for more useful things than her gadgets. Last time she'd try to go online, vast blocks of the internet had already collapsed and she had probably gotten all she could from that resource. She felt a bit useless without them though, and was keen to pick up new skills - Stepping would be a good place to start.

 

With her laptop, phone and tablet stuffed in a drawer, she'd made room in her duffel bag for survival items like a first aid kit, flashlight and string. She still carried around a scifi paperback and her chain ring of flash drives with hacking programs - who knew, the latter might come in handy if they ever found a computer that still worked. Lastly, the crowbar was now a fixed staple to her gear - sticking out from the bag. She still hadn't asked Mak for fighting lessons, but she felt she couldn't go wrong with a crowbar - just aim and swing.

 

((Who wants their char to share a room with Wisperlee? She's kinda a private person - lone hacker and all - but she knows separate rooms are a luxury of the past. So with that in mind she's okay-ish to share with anyone (no preference for m/f either), as long as they don't mind having a huge dog in the room.))

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Mak nodded slowly as Wisperlee and Erin put forward their suggestions; perhaps the animals could indeed track something down, and he couldn't help but chuckle for a moment as he imagined crawling around on all fours quite literally trying to sniff out the disturbances. And depending on what precisely these soft spots were made of then perhaps they could rig up something very basic indeed; instinctively Mak was thinking of some sort of electromagnetic sensor rig, which didn't have to be that high-tech a design if all it meant was giving him a rough direction to point in and let whatever his natural sensory ability it was to work.

 

"I'm happy to try and find something, but I can't promise. And if anyone else has had any weird feelings of late...maybe it's the same thing? Or similar?" Mak shrugged. "But if not I'm...willing to start looking now."

 

((OOC: Mak would be willing to share with Wisper if no-one else wishes to.))

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"Alright then," Erin figured there was no way to dissuade Mak since he'd made up his mind, "I'm willing to tag along as an extra knife hand."

 

((Erin's also willing to crash with Wisperlee if Mak changes his mind.))

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"I don't mind bunking with you. I really don't mind who I'm bunking with, so long as it's not Bible Boy." Ez shrugged, responding to Wisperlee before the stepping conversation started. Ez looked at Arwen, who was standing close to Erin and gripping the hem of her own shirt for dear life. It made her think a bit. The good thing about everyone being gone is that they wouldn't have to worry about finding dead bodies all over the place. The bad part would be the monsters and the overwhelming loss of family and friends, but they had to take the small victories to remain sane. Thinking a bit more, she decided not to say it aloud, as the lack of dead things was probable not the best thing to mention as a pick-me-up. James might get it as he seemed the melancholy type, like her, but the little girl might cry and it may damage the other's hopes. She checked the inside of a cupboard near James. It held plates and bowls.

"Is this the farm you and Emily went to and worked at?" She asked him calmly, creating a conversation that differed from the lunacy of wanting to check out a monster-filled dimensional rift.

Edited by Quhanta

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((Bump... - ish.

 

What happened to everybody?))

 

Erin looked over at Arwen while she waited for Mak to make up his mind. Poor kid looked like she was ready to tear her dress in half.

 

"Arwen," she tried to distract her, "you wanna share a room with me?"

 

She smirked. "It's starting to look like I'm gonna have to fight you for Dingo's love, might be easier if he's closer by."

 

She nodded back toward the rooms. "Pick which one you like, I'll meet you there later."

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(( http://quhanta.deviantart.com/art/Ground-F...%253A1480646859 This is the farm house that we're in, so long as Kestra approves it.))

"Yes please." Arwen smiled up at Erin when asked about her sleeping arrangements. The young girl hugged onto Erin's hips.

Ez looked at her surroundings. There were nick-knacks everywhere, so this had to have been the home of an older couple. The farm seemed pretty good on the way in though, so they had to be a tough old couple.

 

((Sorry for taking forever and then this sad post.))

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((*pokes Kestra with a stick, whispers* Are you still alive?))

 

Erin smiled back at Arwen and rubbed the top of her head. "Don't worry, kiddo," she assured her, "we'll find some way to get you back to your parents."

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((I am still here, I was just hoping on a few others to post and then life got very much in the way last month.

 

I am also still up for keeping this RP going if everyone is still up for it. As you can pick up from my previous posts the aim is to move towards some of the more fantastical elements of the plot, which is a little longer coming than originally planned but I still would like to move forward with.

 

My hope is the other players - Wisper, Fort, Spirit - are also willing to carry on. Perhaps this short hiatus will have done some good to allow people to regroup and carry on as I appreciate this has now been going for over two years.

 

Quhanta, I am happy with the floor plan.))

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May 7th, 0800hrs

 

For nearly a week now Mak had been restless, often the last one to bed and the first one to rise, meaning that breakfast was already laid out for the rest of the group by the time they rose from slumber. Such scant amounts of sleep combined with the exceptional stresses of their situation meant that Mak had been starting to feel the strain, and just one look in a mirror the previous night had confirmed that he was showing clear signs of exhaustion. His skin had that waxy, washed-out look that often came with sickness rather than sleep deprivation, his eyes were sunken with dark rings forming around them and heavy eyelids, and his posture and tone screamed exhaustion.

 

Despite the magnitude of what they had decided to undertake, Mak had in fact slept solid through the night rather than tossing and turning in wave after wave of nightmare scenario. He had slumped off to bed not long after the decision was made that they would try their first attempt at Stepping in the morning, and while he had initially lay under the sheets fretting about what Hannah had told them and imagined himself trying to Step only to literally rip himself in half between two worlds, sleep had pounced on him and tackled him into the mattress. Submission was total and instant, and even the first fingers of sunlight forcing their way through the curtains wasn't enough to revive him.

 

When he finally awoke his room-mate had already been and gone with almost clue as to who had shared the room that evening, and he surprised himself by hoping that he had been close to at least one member of the group that night. Such thoughts had been fleeting over the week since he first met her, and yet that morning was a fully-fledged hope that teased a smile from his lips. Clearly the sleep had done him some good to bring such a normal, everyday thought such as a crush on a girl to the forefront of his mind rather than the continuous stream of worry he'd been mentally subjecting himself to since the first morning of this Rapture.

 

Getting up out of bed he allowed himself the luxury of an extensive stretch before slipping through the house to the bathroom, where one of their five-litre bottles of water sat ready for use. After finishing his morning ablutions he managed to find a half-used pot of gel in one of the small cupboards and took the time to style his deep brown hair into a stylised mess rather than the actual unkempt appearance of the last seven days, and allowed himself the luxury of a clean shave to finish.

 

When Mak finally emerged to join the rest of the group in the large kitchen for breakfast it was clear that the night had revitalised him, which given the prospect of what the day held he could hardly be blamed for. Despite having cleaned himself up his outfit made it clear that he was prepared for what may come ahead. A simple beige t-shirt covered a dark green long-sleeved rash vest, a pair of earthy-brown sturdy walking trousers and his well-worn Scarpa hiking boots made it clear he was expecting a difficult day's work, his ever-present blue jumper worn around his waist. His backpack was laden with supplies with the carving knife now properly sheathed at the belt-clip, and despite his previous embarrassment at carrying it he was now openly wearing his quiver and bow. Given what Hannah had said about the local wildlife Mak was grateful for any advantage.

 

Scooping up a plate he piled on a healthy breakfast before looking to the group. "We leave in half an hour," he said simply, before turning and stepping outside to enjoy his breakfast in the fresh air.

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"Yes, sir" Erin saluted Mak quickly between bites of toast. As soon as she'd said it, though, her stomach began to churn unpleasantly; what if she was wrong about being able to Step successfully by only thinking of a person instead of an actual place? What if she ended up stranded in some nightmare world? Or worse, that frozen hell where the Lopers lived?

 

She made herself not look over at Arwen; how were they going to get her back to her parents if none of their ideas worked?

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Ez woke up on the floor of the smallest bedroom. Sprawled out, her hair was all over the place, the carpet made it incredibly staticky. She had gone to bed last, insisting on looking over the entire house for possible monster entry points. There was a small, broken window that looked to be the point of entry for the firewood every year, and now the exit for a few house animals. There was fur stuck in the glass of different colours and textures, so there were definitely dogs and cats going through the window. She blocked it off with wood sticks and logs, knocking out the remaining glass and sealing the frame tightly. That earned her a bit more safety and a small cut on the cheek from the glass. She wiped away the blood and finished the examination of the basement.

 

Ez rolled over and sat up, scratching at the scab on her cheek. Unsure of who the lump under the covers on the bed was, she grabbed her backpack and went downstairs to the bathroom. After most of her morning routine, she realized that she'd actually gotten a fairly good night of rest. The farm reminded her of home, and despite her eternal anger toward the people, she both enjoyed and missed the place. Shaking her head a bit, Ez finished brushing her teeth and got dressed before vacating the bathroom. Ez wore her grey tank top, black button up shirt opened, and her dark grey camo pants. She seemed to be the first one up, so she made up breakfast for everyone. Grabbing a plate of her own, she sat and ate at the kitchen table as she also started the burdensome task of brushing her mountain of hair. It had been a few days.

 

Once finished, the hair fell around her face, softening her features. She sat, slowly eating her food as the others joined her. Mak was uncharacteristically last, but quickly announced that we would be leaving in a half hour. She didn't know where they were going, but she grabbed her backpack and coat, put on her combat boots, ponytailed her hair, and sat on the shorter counter to wait for everyone else and further instruction.

 

Arwen was downstairs with everyone, eating, when Mak announced that they were going somewhere. She held onto a small shoulder bag that she'd packed with some granola bars, several handfuls of klinex, old mittens, and a teddy bear. All of which she'd collected around the house. Arwen looked to Erin to know how to feel about this excursion, but her back was turned. She'd sounded happy enough before, so Arwen didn't think much of it. She reached out to hold Erin's hand.

 

"Today's going to be a good day, right?" She asked with a hopeful smile. Hoping for a quiet day. Hoping for her family back. Hoping for the safety of the group and herself.

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((Still here and interested in continuing. We just bought a new house and everything not related to getting the place liveable has kinda fallen by the side. But I'll endeavour to post this weekend. If I forget, please prod me via pm. Apologies for the delay!))

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Erin smiled down at Arwen and squeezed her hand. "It will be if I got anything to say about it" she agreed.

 

Curious to see what he'd do, she offered Dingo a small piece of her toast. Watching him snap it up made her giggle.

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Finishing his breakfast Mak simply enjoyed the next twenty minutes, watching the warm play of sunshine over the British countryside. The silence that had been so oppressive the last week actually felt right in this moment, looking out over the fields and scattered copses of trees that made up part of the Cambridgeshire landscape. Without the low drone of traffic underscoring the scene it simply felt like they were on a holiday retreat and not the near-apocalyptic scenario they had found themselves in. He took the time to simply stare out and let his mind wander, his thoughts mundane and and meandering, leaving no real lasting impression the moment they were gone.

 

The 'beep-beep' of his watch ended the mindless moment, and with a sigh he silenced it and stood up. Taking his plate back inside her quickly washed it in the cold, soapy water someone had thoughtfully left in the bowl and placed it on the rack to dry, before moving back to the small spread of food and packing some of it into what the others could see was a well-stocked bag.

 

"Those of you who are going to be Stepping with me, grab your gear and meet me outside in five minutes," he said as he zipped the back up. "If any of you plan to stay behind - and I wouldn't hold it against you if you would rather stay here - I would still appreciate your presence so that we all know what the plan is." With a cocked half-smile Make turned and left once more to enjoy the last of the peace.

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"Whelp, I guess that's my cue" Erin decided. She trotted back to her's and Arwen's room and gathered up her kit, sliding her knife through her belt loop.

 

"Dingo," she ordered on her way out, "take care of Arwen. Arwen, you do the same for him."

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Wisperlee woke up late - the bed opposite hers, where Mak had slept, was already empty and cold. By the time she joined the others downstairs, Mak just finished explaining the last of the plan. Well, maybe "plan" was a generous description - but at least it was something.

 

Making a bunch of sandwiches and stuffing them in her bag, along with some fruit and a bottle of water, she stepped outside to join Mak. She wasn't sure if she could sidestep, but she'd seen the other world in her dreams, so maybe? It was worth a shot at least. Cujo sat down beside her, his posture nervous and vigilant. She definitely wasn't sure if the dog could sidestep, or follow in her wake, but again: might as well try. If not, she was sure he'd get his kibble when the other animals were fed.

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Mak had no real idea how to Step, other than the second-hand instructions that Hannah had passed on. He wasn't sure whether it was even possible for them; after all, they hadn't been snatched away in the main wave a week ago, so perhaps they couldn't actually Step themselves? Something was physically stopping them, some genetic anomaly perhaps? But then he considered those who had been with them already and then disappeared in a heartbeat, most specifically Juan who he'd seen Slip with his own two eyes. They were the lucky, random few who had not been swept away in the initial Rapture and would potentially be able to do it at their leisure. He had to believe it was possible.

 

As the group gathered outside he motioned for them to join hands with one another. "If we're going to go through one of those...soft spots I think we need to keep hold of one another, just in case," he explained. They were so outside their spheres of knowledge and experience that he had nothing to go on but wild guesses and wishful thinking, but at least that made some sort of sense. If they all held on to one another and one person disappeared, perhaps the others would follow suit? He didn't want to think of any other alternative outcomes of that scenario. Eventually Mak stood at the front of a chain of would-be Steppers.

 

"The time by my watch is now nine a.m; the aim is to be back here by six tonight," he said as he checked his watch - a clockwork pocket-piece that he had scrounged up the previous day conscious of Hannah's advice on how electrics had failed. "So if anything happens to us if and when we appear...wherever, then try to Step back here in nine hours time. It also means those who remain here know roughly when to expect us." He decided not to mention that it would also warn those who stayed behind that if they didn't come back that evening they could presume the group were lost or worse, unable to Step back, and could plan their own fate accordingly.

 

Once everyone was ready Mak turned away from the group and closed his eyes. He had felt that odd disturbance with Juan, and just now and again over the last few days that was that odd sensation like a cool wind whistling across his senses even in the absence of any breeze. It was the same feeling he'd got when Juan had disappeared, the same when Eugene had appeared in their midst in his broken and bloodied state. He relied on that feeling now to be the way for them to move.

 

It was a tense, quiet time for the group, and for a whole minute Mak simply stood before them, eyes closed, head cocked slightly to one side, breathing in a slow, regular pattern as he tried to use senses he wasn't sure he possessed to locate something he didn't fully understand. And yet, be it through luck or fate or God, he picked up on something just at the edge of feeling, a suggestion of an oddity that he couldn't fully describe.

 

Not daring to open his eyes, Mak took a step forward towards the empty patch of air that to his senses was more than that. As he did he recalled Hannah's words; "...like trying to take a step sidewise through a shadow while spinning the opposite direction without ever moving." As his foot hit the grass in front of him Mak tried to do exactly that; sending his body the signal to try and turn and spin on his foot without actually moving, like a wind-up doll but without actually ever releasing the tension.

 

* * * * * *

 

It felt like his foot never actually touched the grass.

 

What came next was a rush of bewildering and dizzying sensations that he could barely keep up with. It was like tumbling down a water slide out of control, turning on all three axes, a heavy weight on his chest forcing the air out of him while at the same time having his head out a car window and forcing air back in. His whole body felt like jelly but somehow he was still (he surmised) standing on two legs, and he felt cold penetrate right to his core and spread throughout his body. His ears felt muffled and his sight left him, and yet at the same time there was a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes rushing through his mind and overpowering his external senses. While part of him was conscious of the fact that this all passed inside of a second, it felt like that one second was being stretched across eternity.

 

* * * * * *

 

Mak hit the ground with a thump, and only just enough time to roll onto his side before he managed to vomit up a token sample of his breakfast. He felt so cold and clammy all over, his hearing still muted and his tunnel-vision only just allowing him to make out the rest of the group had made the Step with him. His limbs felt so weak, and his did his best to get his arms up underneath him and try to raise his head from the ground as he coughed and brought up another mouthful of vomit.

 

Gasping for air, Mak tried his best not to move too much. The muted hearing and clouded vision slowly abated and he felt some strength returning to his body as he concentrated on his breathing - and as he finally found the strength to look up he couldn't help contain a small, weak chuckle. The house they had been staying in was gone, replaced instead by a heavy, unfamiliar woodland.

 

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," he muttered weakly.

 

((GM Note: Please check your character sheets on page one to note how your character would react to the Step, or the moment before it. If it doesn't explicitly state that your character is immune to Step-sickness then your character would also have ended up, like Mak, feeling very unwell straight after Stepping - they have literally slipped into shock for a few moments, but will recover gradually with no immediate long-lasting effects.

 

I have also openly posted your character's skill, which has been hinted at across the course of the RP. I have put a small guide to what skills are on the first post, but if you have any questions please PM me and I will clarify further as required. -KM))

Edited by Kestra15

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It had been your usual morning on this godforsaken planet until that moment.

 

Diana awoke in her rudimentary shelter, under a large leaf in the crook of a tree's branch. It wasn't the light that woke her - the sun had already risen an hour ago, and she'd dozed back into a lazy slumber. Alright, she might be in the middle of some terrible nightmare, but that didn't mean that she didn't sleep a little more when especially exhausted. But what was most important was that her nap had been interrupted, and the immediate question that came to her was - why?

 

She sat bolt upright, body tense and lips glued together as she tried not to breathe too loudly. There had been wild things after her before, as well as... others. Her hand instinctively wrapped around her rudimentary spear, the stone not sharp but effective enough for survival. She peered carefully over the bough of the tree, hoping against all hope that it wasn't something with sharp teeth or long claws. Alas - thankfully - it was not so.

 

People?

 

Diana's eyes widened, her breath hitched in her throat. It didn't even occur to her that they might be enemies; it just mattered that they were human. Like her. A silly grin graced her face as she called out.

 

"H-Hey!" Her voice felt rusty and unused as she used it for the first time in days, other than for screaming. She haphazardly clambered/slid down the tree, landing lightly a few metres away from the group. Bunny pajamas tattered and stained and hair a mess, she was a sight - but these people, who had suddenly appeared, sure were a sight for sore eyes. Suddenly feeling shy, realising her appearance in comparison to theirs, her grip tightened slightly on her weapon. "Hello," she greeted them again, unsurely looking from one to another. But there was no sign of her mother's face, nor of her fathers. This was a different group, and something seemed wrong anyway. Like they didn't belong here. Maybe they had just been dropped here, as she had?

Edited by Chicogal

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Wisperlee gripped Mak's hand firmly as she mimicked his movements - step, half-turn, and then the world hurled away from her. Except it didn't move at all: it was stationary and so was she, yet everything spun and turned and -

 

A new landscaped filled her mind - alien yet intimately familiar, she'd seen it before in her mind. Landmarks overwhelmed her: trees, patches of water, barren stone. The experience blocked her senses and she was barely aware of falling forward, hand slipping from Mak's, and heaving up her breakfast.

 

She struggled to rise when she finally came to, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Worst. Ride. Ever." she muttered under her breath.

 

Looking around, she found the landscape - strangely as she expected it to be. Or knew it to be. Before she could comment though, she was alerted by a haggard-looking girl in pyjamas clutching a spear.

 

Well.

 

At least life was interesting.

 

"Hello," she returned the greeting. Wisperlee raised her hand in the Vulcan salute - she knew it was silly, but it seemed appropriate in this instance.

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((I got best Skill tongue.gif))

 

Okay, watching Mak and then Wisperlee shift and then vanish like that was terrifying.

 

And then doing it herself spat her out into what felt like the unholy hellspawn of a tornado and a hurricane.

 

The next thing she knew, she was slamming into the ground mid-scream. As much as her head hurt from the one-two of her brain being knocked into the front of her skull from the rest of her hitting the dirt, she managed to flip herself onto her side and barf her breakfast into the grass instead of all over her shirt.

 

Ech... She felt even worse than that time she'd ridden the tilt-a-whirl right after binging on funnel cake.

 

"Uggggh" she moaned, "I am so sorry to everything I've ever thrown in the dryer."

 

She lifted herself onto her hands and looked around unhappily; wherever world they'd been spat out into, her family wasn't here. She just knew it.

 

And then somebody spoke.

 

She hopped up the rest of the way and tilted her head at the stranger, a girl who looked like she'd been at a slumber party pre-Rapture. And yet somehow she was still alive.

 

"Eh... Hi?" she returned her greeting, a little confused.

 

And wary of that spear, slapdash or no.

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((Nuuuuh, I do! Insta-map!))

 

Good, Erin was here too. Between Mak's martial skill and the reporter's general vigilance and aggression, Wisperlee knew she had nothing to fear from pyjama girl. Taking her attention off the new girl, she instead cast her eyes to the sky. She took a moment to study any celestial bodies she could see, then raised her arms above her head and did a couple of jumping jacks. Next, she ran behind her group in slow, bounding circles. Finally she knelt, digging up patches of earth and grass to sniff and deposit in ziplock bags that she'd taken from the kitchen this morning. She did the same with the other fauna nearby, examining and collecting leaves and pieces of bark.

 

((Kestra, what does she see in the sky? What's gravity like? The fauna? This planet must have evolved similarly to Earth, or they wouldn't be able to breathe / get crushed by gravity. Can Wisperlee find anything to confirm/deny that it's an evolutionary cousin, rather than Earth - albeit in a different time - itself?))

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Mak took a moment longer than Erin or Wisperlee to find his feet, and even as he did get up it was a touch unsteady. Colour slowly drained back into his cheeks and he had stopped with the cold sweat now, but his stomach still felt tumultuous at best. Hannah had said people adjusted to Stepping and Sliding differently, and he hoped he wasn't going to fall into the category of people who were practically incapacitated each time. It was...suboptimal to say the least.

 

Their first encounter in this new world looked more like a realistic Wendy Darling than anyone else, and there was no doubt she was suffering with what had now been a week since access to what could be called basic human amenities. Fortunately she was not covered in the tell-tale sign of frostbite and had the strength to stand - climb even - but he wouldn't be surprised if she was feeling somewhat under par.

 

"We're friendly," Mak said, voice unexpectedly shaky, holding his open hands up in a peaceful gesture. Under normal circumstances he would probably have fancied his chances in a fight with a tired, hungry woman in her pyjamas with a rudimentary spear, but given the world was still not quite level under his feet he was hoping for a more peaceful solution. "We just got here - from Earth," he added, voice stronger but the words feeling like cheap sci-fi to him.

 

As he and Erin spoke to the girl he watched as Wisperlee carried out what looked like a quick bit of calisthenics and amateur botany, and he couldn't blame her for exploring their new environment. It certainly all looked very Earth-like, with clear analogues of trees, grass and basic plants; the air was fresh as if they were deep in a forest, an almost alien taste to it thanks to the lack of pollutants; the sky showed it was probably around the same time here as it was back on Earth as well, blue with fluffy white clouds and brilliant sunshine.

 

* * * * * *

 

It was only if one was to look closer that they could clarify that it was definitely not Earth that they were on. The sunlight was just a bit too harsh, with a slightly blue tinge if one was to concentrate hard enough. Plants didn't look exactly like any terran equivalent but close enough, just different enough shapes to leaves and flowers and berries. A skilled ornithologist wouldn't have been able to identify the pair of birds that flew by, but their resemblance to pigeons would have fooled a casual onlooker.

 

Wherever this was, it definitely wasn't Earth - past, present or future. This was an entirely new world.

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Arwen smiled at the dog when Erin told her to take good care of him. Following everyone out to watch the spectacle, a flash entered her mind: What if they found her parents, but could never get back? What would she do if she never saw them again? Or worse, what if they came back and died like the lady and the man at the other house? No, she was going.

"Ez," she chimed, "Can we go watch them go, please?" She put on her cutest face.

 

When people were in line, holding hands, Ez was uncomfortable. She was present with her backpack in case the transport range was bigger than direct connection, but Arwen wanted to watch them go. As Erin seemed to be the one surrogate parenting her, she had given in. The amount of excitement on the little girl's face was extreme. She thought the child would explode. When Mak had zoned out, Ez got this odd feeling in her chest and stomach. Then he was gone. The feeling hit her again as Whisper was 30 seconds from stepping away. Ez turned her head to see how Arwen was taking this all in, but she wasn't there. The girl was running full speed toward Erin. With the feeling hitting again, and presumably only 30 seconds, she bolted after the child.

 

"No, stop!" She shouted, he plea going unheeded.

 

Arwen grabbed onto the hem of Erin's shirt just before she stepped away. Ez tackled Arwen in hopes of pulling her away at the last second, but it was too late. She got the feeling again, but it warped into pain. She felt like she was in the human centrifuge from air training. A mix between throwing up and passing out came over her as she felt stretched and pulled in every direction, yet like she was not moving at all, all at the same time. She hit the ground like a ton of bricks. Having jumped into a 'step portal' she kept falling on her way out.

 

Arwen screamed when she started stepping, but not out of fear, pain, or sickness. She felt like she was going on the Tilt-O-Whirl at a carnival, but in multiple directions at once. Giggling the whole way through, she landed in the new place, wrapped up in Ez's arms.

 

Ez released the child and turned away, vomiting all over the ground several times.

 

Arwen stood up to see where everyone else was. They had landed several feet away from everyone, but as she approached, it seems like they'd already made a friend. Unsure of how everyone would react, she came up slowly. With her head down, she spoke.

"Hello." She said meekly from just behind Erin.

 

Ez dry heaved a few more times before composing herself enough to stand and walk after Arwen. She stood, holding her stomach, and scowled at the child.

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((OOC: I hope it's okay that I rejoin now. I honestly thought that this RP had died, so I stopped paying close attention to it, so I only noticed that it started back up now. I should be able to participate if nobody has any problems, though.))

 

Micah thought long and hard about Stepping during the week they were camped out at the abandoned farm. For what seemed like a long time he was against it, but slowly, as he listened to the others in the group talk about finding loved ones that they'd lost, he slowly began to open up to it. True, even if they managed to make it to the place that Hannah had been talking about safely, most of his family was still an ocean away - and even if the geography was different, they were too far away too realistically get to - but Edith, the sister he'd originally traveled here with, should still be nearby - if she was still alive after all this time. He prayed she was. True, she had the other men in the traveling group to look after her, but when it came right down to it Micah didn't trust them. This far away from home, she would need a family member to keep her safe.

 

After that, Micah's mind was pretty much made up, and he began to make preparations to at least try to Step. He was able to find a holster for Alistair's gun, though unfortunately no extra bullets, and put a small pack together with one of the dresses Edith had brought so she could change out of her nightgown if they found her.

 

When the time finally came, though, he couldn't help but feel a pit in his stomach as he saw the others ripple out of existence and disappear out of the corner of his eye. He thought he had been prepared for this after seeing the old man appear out of nowhere, but the primal fear he felt inside of him was like nothing he'd ever felt before. When the warm grip of the hand Micah had been holding vanished into thin air, Micah vainly tried to follow, only to feel . . . nothing. After a long moment, he began to panic at the thought of being the only one left all alone, and in the midst of doing so, felt the very edges of his mind brush against something . . . he could hardly even describe it. And then he blacked out.

 

When Micah woke up, he was laying prone on the ground, headfirst in the dirt. As soon as he raised his head up he vomited up everything he'd eaten that morning. He tried to sit up, only to flop back down into a prone position again, with just enough strength to angle himself away from all the vomit. Micah honestly wasn't sure if his attempt to Step had worked, because he was too dizzy and disoriented to see more than a few feet away from himself at the moment. About all he could see right now were a bunch of dead leaves spread out on the ground. "Guys?" he called out softly, his voice low and hoarse. "Did anyone else make it?"

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