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Aberrant: Wild Card - Act I:Scene IV - Forest


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she stepped into the shower, still clothed. Her thoughts clouded by an intoxicated haze, she hadn't been aware of hearing the shower running, nor that the stall had been already occupied...

Jadzia woke up with a start, soaked through with sweat and what could only have been a leak in the tent. A familiar arm wrapped around her.

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Jadzia's head felt filled with cotton as she stared at the long-fingered hand cupping her breast. She remembered this, but it wasn't a dream. It had not of the surreal qualities or incongruent touches one associated with a dream. And it wasn't a true memory either - despite everything being as the same, she didn't remember the rain. The rain came from somewhere else, somewhere that just slipped the edge of her thoughts.

She slid her hand along the slender arm tossed her over, inhaling her scent and the scent of their coupling, before giving her gentle jostle to wake to her. Then she got to her knees, looking for her nightshirt and the flashlight in the dark.

"Maddy? Maddy, hon, where's the duct tape? Seems we're wet with more than sweat. Looks like we've sprung a leak."

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Mumbling incoherently and never opening her eyes as she sat up, she reached out for a bag and handed it over to Jadzia. As it moved across the sleeping bags, it let out a steady stream of water, much like the old dolls that 'wet' themselves.

The sound of fast dripping moisture was enough to bring Maddy awake and with a startled, 'Fuck!' she was quickly up and out of her side, already scrambling to her possessions to check on them. Finding them all sitting in about an inch of water, which led to even more vulgar mumbles of frustration.

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Jadzia spewed her own stream of Polish profanity as she threw her nightshirt on and felt the damp flannel stick to her skin. She clicked on the flashlight, the bright circle of light dancing across the glistening walls of the dome tent and cursed again as she saw the full extent of the damage. Resting on top of the air mattress, she hadn't been aware of how much water had already leaked in.

She turned to to Maddy, and paused with a shocked intake of breath as the flashlight fell across her nude torso and shimmering red hair, wet from sweat and rain. My God, she's gorgeous! Jadzia shook her head at the thought, streaked locks slapping against her shoulders.

"Babe, take what you can and run for the car. I'll tape up the leak real quick and be right behind ya. We'll see how bad it is in the morning."

Jadzia pulled her keys out of her soaked jeans, pressed them in Maddy's hand, then reached into the sopping bag with a grimace and pulled out the duct tape. Her grey eyes widened at its swollen state and she threw it against the nylon wall.

"Fuck it! We'll deal with it tomorrow." Jadzia gathered up what bags she could and the mildly damp blanket and dashed after Maddy to the car, flashlight bobbling and bare feet sliding on the wet earth, wondering exactly how the night had come to this.

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Settled into the car, shivering and wet, Maddy started the car and cranked the heater. "Just til it warms up, last thing we need ta do is run outta gas."

She stared at her feet for awhile, but then turned back to Jadzia with a small smile, "This has been fun, though, despite...all this." she said with a small hand gesture.

"Oh shit! Your laptop!"

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Even shivering and wet, Maddy was gorgeous, and Jadzia's mouth spread into a wide grin of her own as she brushed a soaked tress of red from her face. She had never expected that she'd have a girlfriend, but was glad that a drunken into the shower had ended up in this. Even if everything fell apart (will fall about?), she would always treasure this time in Okanagan with Maddy.

Then Maddy mentioned her lack of a laptop. Jadzia glanced down in alarm at the bags she had grabbed, sure she had taken her computer bag... But no luck. Of course.

"Fuck! I'll be right back. It's still good, it's still good." Jadzia gave her fiery girlfriend a quick kiss, then jumped back out of the car, grabbing the flashlight on the way and flicking it on.

The batteries were low on power, the cone of light a ruddy topaz. Jadzia ran back to the tent, bare feet freezing in the rain. She peeked in the tent and quickly found the hard, round-cornered rectangle of her computer. Sitting in inches of water. With a small squeal, she grabbed it and ran back for the car.

Maddy was ready for her, and wrapped the blanket they kept over the backseat around her. Hands shaking a little with the chill, Jadzia cranked up the heat and opened her dripping bag, the black surface of her laptop gleaming with damp condensation, several stickers beginning to peel.

She held the high-end laptop close to the vents, letting the warm air dry it, hoping that the circuits weren't fried. She had most of her stuff backed-up, but there were new photos from the trip and some art that she didn't want to lose.

When she deemed it dry enough, she gave Maddy a tremulous, anxious grin. "Here goes nothing. Please work."

Jadzia hit the power button.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Jadzia's hand flew to her chest, the other giving Maddie's a squeeze, her first thought being, Phew! It's still working. That was immediately followed by her face scrunching up in confusion as the start up was nothing like her normal on. WTF is this?

She held her breath as she watched the video play, one phrase repeating itself in her head, over and over. Hack the world... She snorted a giggle, she had dreamed of doing that more than once. Curious, she tried to find out where the video had come from, delving into code.

"'Zia, you okay? Where'd that clip come from?" Maddie asked with concern, watching Jadzia's intent grey eyes.

"I have no idea." That seemed to be the answer to both of her girlfriend's questions.

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Once the video ended, it went to a black screen with a watermarked 'play' symbol in the center. None of the keyboard seemed responsive, and to make matters worse, the telltale smell of burnt circuitry was wafting through the cab of the vehicle.

"Try and hit play." Maddie suggested helpfully.

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Jadzia sighed, and cracked the window against the smell of the dying Alienware laptop, resisting the urge to throw it out into the raining dark. She couldn't get anything else to come up, keyboard already falling into the electronic graveyard.

Maddie's suggestion earned her a blank look, then a faint smile. "Why not?" With no real expectation, Jadzia tried the touchpad, shocked to find it still responsive.

She manipulated the cursor onto the 'play' symbol with a deft touch and tapped the pad, wondering what would come up this time.

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The screen lit up with a jarring pure white, which forced the girls to squint and blink a few times as their pupils adjusted to the sudden glare. The screen stayed like that a moment and just as their eyes had relaxed and it didn't hurt to look at the screen, a man walked on from offscreen and sat in a chair that they previously hadn't noticed. It also being a pure white.

mulligan.jpg

"Hello, Jadzia." The gravelly-voice emanated from the laptop speaker with surprising clarity. He was attired in a closed orange-tinted fur coat and gold-rimmed glasses. Black dress shoes poked out from beneath the full length coat when he sat.

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Jadzia and Maddie leaned back in their seats at the sight of the eccentric man in the Matrix setting - for some inexplicable reason he reminded Jadzia of another eccentric old man - then looked nonplussed at the tendril of dirty grey smoke drifting from the back of her laptop and out the window. Jadzia tilted to the side, glancing at the light of her ethernet card, but it was unlit.

"Hello, Jadzia."

Both girls jumped at hearing the man refer to the Polish girl by name, then shared an unfathomable look before turning back to the monitor, staring at him with almost hysterical curiosity. They held hands tightly, as if trying to keep hold of reality.

"Hello," both of them replied, though Jadzia continued alone. "Are you, like, The Bizarro Architect?"

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The man guffawed, which led to a rather spastic coughing fit. He calmed himself down quickly enough and took a moment to recompose himself before he answered, "Yeah, you could say that, I suppose."

"Though, that guy was a hack, no skillz I tell ya...Would you care to join me?"

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"So, this is Blue Pill - Red Pill time?" Jadzia asked, oddly comforted by BizArchitect's good humour. Her vision flickered for a second, like a monitor grainy with static, then snapped back into super-high definition. Being here with Maddie felt wrong, but so right, and she wanted the trip down the rabbit hole to last as long as possible.

Jadzia and Maddie shared an arcane feminine look, a whole conservation in a glance, then turned back to the monitor.

"Okay, Mad Hatter, we'll take a trip to Wonderland."

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"Never said 'we'..." the gravel-voiced man replied.

But before Jadzia could say anything, she was suddenly sitting within the white room in an identical white chair facing the fur-clad gentleman.

"Welcome to 'Wonderland'." he air-quoted, "Would you care for anything?" He looked over his glasses at her, gesturing with his hand in a small sweep around them, where nothing but white extended as far as the eye could see in every direction. The only way to tell that there was even a floor was the fact that their feet were impacting something at the same level as the chair's legs.

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Suddenly alone in a world of white, Jadzia felt an old wave of grief roll over her anew, with the weight of an ocean. It was too good to be true... Now, what about this? She looked around, the bright oblivion disconcerting in the extreme, hands clenching the seat of her chair.

"A bit of scenery would be nice. Then maybe telling me where I was, where I am, and where we go from here." Stay calm, this is just your subconscious going wild. A video game finally caused an epileptic fit, concussion from slipping in the mud and cracking your head against the car, tumbling down a ship's ladder, something!

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"What is it with forests?" he mumbled. A heartbeat later, they were back at the campsite, sitting in folding chairs around where Jadzia & Maddie's fire had once been going before the rain started. The ground was still saturated, though, gratefully, the showers had abated.

The car was still where it had been, and so was the tent, though Maddie herself was no where to be seen.

"You know where you were/am. Where we go from here is up to you." He calmly reached behind his chair and pulled out a kerosene lantern that was already hissing with light and set it down in the ashes of the fire pit. It lit up the otherwise dark site and cast devious shadows across the fur-clad man's face.

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"I live in front of monitors, playing in simulated worlds or designing simulated reality. It was nice to go out into the real thing with someone I..." Jadzia trailed off, taking in the sight of the camping grounds. Everything seemed real, the chill of the evening, the wet ground, the smell of the smothered fire.

"It didn't rain the first time," Jadzia muttered before glancing back at her... benefactor? She strained to make out the colour of his eyes in the dark, reflecting points of orange light from the lantern. "So, you asked us - me to join you. Where to... you? I assume it isn't just some camp site in the Okaganan region. And what do I call you anyway? Architect is just clumsy."

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He shrugged away most of her questions with an off-hand gesture of dismissal, "You can call me Mulligan...Yes, we are at the campsite, if it matters to you...The rain is a side effect."

He leaned forward in the chair, his face lit up by the lantern in a way that reminded her of some oddball camp counselor lighting up his face with a flashlight while trying to spook kids with some lame ghost story.

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"Mulligan, eh?" Jadzia quirked a brow over a grey eye, then leaned forward, the lantern throwing a spray of light and shadow over her features in imitation of Mulligan. She pulled up knees to her chest, hands pulled up into the sleeves of her shirt against the cool night. Real or digitized, lets get in the game and start learning the controls.

"I took the first step here - forward or backward, whatever. Now, where do the next steps lead so I can get walking. Maybe I'll lose my freshman fifteen - maybe twenty - along the way."

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"Your...path, is not something that I can choose for you. The trail out of here will only make itself apparent when you are ready." Mulligan said, cryptically.

He found a stick that had been used to tend the now-extinguished campfire, and began to prod the ashes around the lantern. After a couple pokes, the stick he was holding started to disintegrate into ash. With a look of surpressed irritation, he tossed the end into the pit before it too fell apart. Before he could even finish brushing his hands off, a small spruce sapling sprouted in the fire pit and knocked over their source of light. The top managed to fall against one of the stones marking the fire's prison, which caused the shield to pop off, casting a beam of light deep into the forest.

Just at the edge of the light, a 4x4 post Jadzia didn't recall being there before was illuminated briefly. Its top cut like that of a trailhead marker. It had something carved into the face of it, but she couldn't make it out.

"That was quick." Mulligan mumbled.

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Jadzia's eyes followed the beam of light to the indistinct marker, then gave the eccentric Mulligan a narrowed eyed, suspicious look, grey eyes glinting in the light. "The cryptic junk is great for leading people on quests in movies and video games, but in real life, it's incredibly aggravating. If you're leading me in the completely opposite direction from the castle like that bloody worm at the beginning of Labyrinth, I'm going to be so pissed."

Jadzia got up from the lawn chair and padded over to the tent. She knocked off what mud she could from her feet, then slipped on a pair of only slightly damp jeans and her hiking boots. She tramped back to the firepit, studied where the trailmarker was, then picked up the lantern and popped the shield back on. She gave Mulligan one more intense stare, shaking a warning finger at him, then took a single step forward before stopping when another thing bubbled to the surface of her thoughts.

She trotted over to the car, her nightshirt flapping about her knees. She wasn't sure if there was any point, but she stuffed her laptop back into its bag and slung it over her shoulder. It had still shown something after she had thought it was already dead. Looking through the other pockets, she found her iPhone, a number of pens and pencils, a swollen edged sketchbook, and a trail map of the Okanagan region - which was probably completely worthless. Another pocket had a pair of slightly smooshed chocolate bars and a half empty bag of trail mix, a Swiss army knife, along with several bits of string and a broken shoelace. With a small mew, she saw a thumb ring of curved, polished steel at the bottom of the bag, a ring that Maddie had given her, and she slipped it on.

claresRing5_large.jpg

After a moment's thought, she grabbed the flashlight sitting on the passenger seat where Maddie had been, and her tangled mass of a key-chain, that had among the keys and variety of weird fobs, a small flashlight, a laser pointer, a ball compass, a measuring tape, a tiny pocket knife. Looking in the glove department, she found a bottle of water and managed to cram that in her bag too.

With such supplies, as little as they were, she started on her way down the path, so see where it would lead.

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Long after Jadzia had disappeared into the woods...

"You think she would have tried to check the marker."

"Shut up you hairy Mexican." Mulligan growled, kicking a rock from the pit at Deuce.

"Ow! You chipped my tooth!" Deuce whined, feigning injury.

"Don't you have somewhen to be...?" Mulligan stated. Reality shifted, as though Nature was refocusing and he was gone.

Deuce's smile was wide as he walked over to Jadzia's car and got in. He started it up as he wrapped an arm around a very happy looking Maddie and put it into gear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The path was clear enough, and aside from the occasional Devil's Club catching her clothing or bag, she had no problems traversing it. It stayed more or less level, though seemed to have a gradual downward descent, and even came to a set of switchbacks to come down a steep embankment.

Well past what had to be the middle of the night, as the Moon had long since set, Jadzia began to hear the telltale sounds of a small creek along with the sounds of waking birds. The path seemed to follow it, so then, so did she.

After an hour or so of following the creek, she could hear the sounds of a larger river and its rapids. Light had begun to make its way through the canopy of firs, spruces, and cedars and the closer she got to the river, the more light there was as the trees were replaced with smaller birches and alders.

The path was headed straight for the fast running water, where she could see a large tree had fallen about three feet above a rather deep channel of fast-moving white water, and the path headed straight across it.

She was standing at what used to be the base of the tree, examining the two foot, narrow path when she heard the scream. And then she saw them. Two people came around a bend in the river, evidently caught in the rapids.

She squinted at them...he looked familiar...and then his face went through a beam of light and she recognized him. It was Matt, without any doubt...and he seemed to be pulling on the other person's hair as hard as he could.

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Matty nearly howled with frustration when he and the woman were hauled back into the rapids. Was she tangled in a tow line? There were no fish big enough in this creek to drag two humans though the water like that. He saved his breath for fighting and swimming.

She slowly slipped away from him. They were borne around a bend, and all Matty really had a hold of at that point was her hair. He was going to lose her, and in the cold and the exhaustion, she looked like Cyn. He was going to fail her again.

Matty wasn't sure he could handle watching her literally drown this time.

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"Maaaatt!" Jadzia cried, breathing sharply as she looked from him to the fallen tree and back, the distance closing rapidly. "Hang on, I'm coming! Hang on!"

She immediately unclipped the doubled-strap from her computer bag, adjusting it to the longest possible, then slipped one end of the flattened loop over a wrist, gripping the dangling length tightly. She eyed the tree once more, swallowing hard, then glanced at Matt again. He was coming so fast. C'mon you silly bitch! It's two feet wide, that's lots.

Jadzia took a deep breath, held it, and ran up the tree, hiking boots ripping at the dew moistened bark. She made it all of two yards before she felt herself slipping and she instinctively spread her legs and arms to catch herself. She hit the tree bridge with a breathless, "Ooomph," face pressed against the rough bark, arms and legs wrapped around its girth.

After a stunned second, she shook her head, and then began swiftly heaving her way across the fallen tree on her hands, lifting her ass and swinging forward, again and again. As she stretched out her arm, the leather strap swayed wildly just above the surface of the churning water.

"Wait Matt! I'm coming! Wait! Reach for the strap!"

Click to reveal.. (I got ya!)

Strenght + Might Roll, using HW#2 bonus (+2 Dice), and Spending WP for an Extra Success (WP 4/5)

Str + Might: 4d10.hits(7) = 2 successes +1 from WP = 3 successes

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Matty heard someone calling his name. Surprised, he looked up, just to see someone running to a tree. Hoping it was more stable than the tree he'd used yesterday - or was it later? - he watched the somewhat familiar person scramble out on it, only to fall. She caught herself and lowered a line over the water. He could hear her shouting, but not what she was saying. It didn't matter; her intent was clear.

Hope lent him a touch more strength. He had to time this just right. Grimly, he judged the distance, then lashed out with his hand. With her weight and him stopping his fight against the current, he went under for a moment. He came back up after a short dunk, when the line went taunt and he was able to get his head above water. His fingers clamped around the line in a death grip - or what felt like one to him. He was so tired. "Hang on, Cyn," he muttered. "Almost there."

Click to reveal..
Matty's Dex+Athletics: 2 sux

6,8,10

10's:

2

Matty's Str+Might: 1 sux

3,3,6,4,7

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Alexa burst through the brush and nearly fell into the river but managed to catch her balance by taking out her inertia onto the log. She had entered from opposite side of Jadzia, who was now in the middle, dangling a bag in an effort to rescue people from the river who were passing under.

Jadzia's deathgripe on the bag and the log assured that nothing short of a Herculean effort would get her off, however Matt was in a different situation.

Worn out from hiking the previous day, being consistently cold, sleeping on the ground for too few hours and now swimming while fighting an unseen force...It was just too much. The force pulling on the woman was too much for him. He was going to have to make a choice; let the woman go, or let the strap go, he didn't have the strength left in him to do both.

Click to reveal..
Alexa can act if she so chooses before the next 'actions' are taken by Jad & Matt. What she does will likely need rolls, to maintain balance on the log if nothing, but go ahead and post for her and I'll let you know what rolls you need.
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Alexa took in the tableau in front of her, her eyes caught on the strain of Jadzia's bagstrap and the exhaustion etched on Matty's face. They're not going to make, not both of them.

Trained response took over and she made a shallow dive off the log and into the water ahead of where Matty and the stranger were struggling in the current. She broke the surface and strong, sure strokes brought her swiftly to the side of the struggling pair. She got an arm under the woman's shoulder and around her back, pulling her into a lifeguard's rescue position.

She yelled at Matty over the roar of the water. "I've got her! Let go! Climb up! I'll get to us to shore!" The current thundered around the three of them, pulling on the waning strength of both Matty and the bagstrap.

Click to reveal..
Perception roll to see Matty's delima:

Perception (Observant) + Awareness:

1d10=2, 1d10=10, 1d10=3, 1d10=3, 1d10=2, 1d10=9

Popping for Observan Quality:

1d10=7

3 suxx

Dexterity (Fast) + Athletics to get into the water and untangle Matty so he can get free:

1d10=1, 1d10=9, 1d10=10, 1d10=2, 1d10=7

Popping for Fast Quality:

1d10=9

Wow...4 suxx.

Might + Str roll: Using HW#2 bene and spending willpower:

1d10=9, 1d10=7, 1d10=9, 1d10=4

4 suxx *crosses fingers, 'cause she can't probably do that again*

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Matty fingers were cramping, and he didn't even see or hear Alexa until she was next to him. "Y-y-yeah," he stammered through chattering teeth. "C-c-c-careful... drag-g-g... under... s-s-s-s-s-omethin's pulling 'er under..."

Reluctantly, he let Alexa take Cyn. The relief that filled him was immense; to just let his burden go was a delight to his sore, worn, frozen muscles. He clung to Jad's lifeline; then, with shaking muscles, began to pull himself out of the water.

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Straining to keep her grip on the bag-strap as it partially supported the weight of Matt and the woman, Jadzia thought she was seeing things, or another trick from Mulligan, as she saw the tall, slender form of her room-mate dive into the river and eel up to Matt's side.

"'Lexa?! You're here too? What. The fuck! Is going on?!" Jadzia grunted, voice low with the effort of maintaining her grip. As Matt slowly began to pull himself out of the water, Jadzia gritted her teeth as she tried to keep the strap steady, her hands and shoulders beginning to burn.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Matt was already shivering uncontrollably by the time he made it to the log, hypothermia beating him like a red-headed stepchild. All color was gone from his face, except his blue lips and sunken dark eyes. It was all he could do to cling to the log with his numb limbs for the moment.

Alexa had managed to quell her bodies instinct to get out of the water, superseding it with the desire to save whoever this unconscious woman was. Alexa's adrenaline was pumping full force as she pulled on her charge, which was good, because the resistance was nearly more than she could handle.

For awhile, it was a locked tug-o-war. Neither force was making any headway and the current was pulling them farther down the river. They passed through shadow and light. The warmth of the sun a small blessing before plunging back in the darkness and the struggle to survive.

The locked, trio? drifted out of the wider part of the river and into the faster rapids, the white froth like a rabid animal, eager to satiate its hunger. Knowing it was now or nothing, Alexa summoned all that she could muster, grabbing the woman with both hands and jerking back towards herself as she kicked. As luck would have it, her feet found purchase. Her instinct to protect acted faster than her brain could process and she pushed off as she pulled, driving the strength of her legs into her attempt.

This seemed more than her opponent could handle, and just like in a tug-o-war, when one side prevails, all the potential force releases onto the victor. Alexa found herself making a reflexive gasp of air before she plunged backwards into the river with the woman in a hug above her. As she struggled to right herself, they drifted through the border of a lighted area and the assailant was revealed, or not revealed, as the case was.

The shape was humanoid, much like a silhouette. But it was all black, as though someone's shadow had picked itself up off the ground. The Shadow was moving to correct its position, and was now poised to move.

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After a long moment, Matty lifted his head and tried to talk. What came out were incoherant noises, and the man groaned and pressed his head back into the log. After a moment, he tried again, his need to help rescue Cyn overwhelming his body's demands to rest. "Need... move... help... Cyn..." he gasped to Jadzia. In truth, he looked more like he needed help than being capable of providing it.

Stubbornly, he began to inch his way off the log.

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"We'll... help her... Matt," Jadzia panted, "and 'Lexa too." She followed Matt, humping along behind him - after carefully turning herself around - one arm trembling from the strain it took holding the bag-strap and supporting Matt's weight.

Getting a shoulder under his arm, Jadzia offered Matt what support she could as she led him back to her computer bag, lying abandoned on the ground. She clipped the strap back on, slung her bag over a shoulder, then rooted around in a pocket. "Here, eat this, it'll give you some energy - some sugar and caffeine, anyway," Jadzia said, thrusting a partially deformed chocolate bar. "And let's get moving. We can still catch up to 'Lexa and moving will warm you up."

As the two of them began to shuffle along the bank of the river, Jadzia peered up at Matt. He had been there, to talk to, after her relationship with Maddy fell to pieces, the first cracks appearing after their camping trip in the Okanagan region. Did that trip even end, now? Are the cracks not there? Her eyes narrowed to slivers of silver. "Matt, how are you and 'Lexa even here?"

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Attempting to eat the bar was an exercise in irritation; his hands shook so much that even gripping it with both wasn't much help. He persevered and managed to gobble at the bar.

"Dunno," Matty gasped, his teeth clicking together like a metronome. "Fell... offa log."

Food was forgotten as he looked downstream and saw Alexa's plight. "What the hell is that?" he said, adrenaline lending him momentary stability - enough to stand on his own and talk. Without waiting for a reply, he pushed off of Jadzia and scanned his options. They were 'not good' and 'worse'.

He glanced back at the young woman. She saw his desperation and fear, all mixed together in his eyes - and the hard edge of determination as well. She saw his thoughts: two women facing some shadow thing, and one unconscious or worse. "Get around as fast as you can," he told her, even as she started to argue with him. Turning, he leapt off the bank he'd been standing on, plunging into the cold water - again.

Time to find out what happened when you died in a dream...

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Shit! Crap! Shit! Crap! Fuck!

Okay, video game tactics time, Jadzia thought. Matt was going for the direct approach, which resulted in constant damage (i.e. the cold), and he wasn't starting with at full health. We need some HoTs. She'd try the more roundabout route, back and over the log, and down from the other side. Longer, but hopefully give her a better position.

Jadzia turned and hustled back to the log and, not even pausing to consider what she was doing, ran over the length, hiking boots digging at the bark...

Click to reveal.. (Balancing Act)

Dexterity + Athletics: 3d10.hits(7)= 3 successes!

... struggling against gravity and the weight of her computer bag tugging her to the side, Jadzia managed to let her forward momentum carry her to the other side before tumbling to the ground, dirt staining her knees and outstretched palms.

Jadzia scampered to her feet and scurried down the other bank towards Alexa and her shadowy assailant, while a hand dug around in her bag for something useful to stop a shadow-guy. OkayOkayOkay! Shadow creatures... they usually take more damage from 'light' or 'holy' attacks, right? Got no holy water with me... but I got a flashlight and a laser pointer - This is so stupid! The sun is already coming up! Maybe it's still too weak? Ah, fuck it! I got nothing. The flashlight is big and heavy, I can club the fucker with it if I have to.

Coming up level with Alexa and the Shadow, bright, halogen flashlight in one had, key-chain jing-a-linging as she held her laser pointer in the other, Jadzia flicked them both on and aimed the beams at the shadow with a sharp, guttural cry, "Yaaaargh!"

Oh! My! God! Why the fuck did I yell? Idiot, idiot, idiot!

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She barely had the presence of mind to register what she was seeing; the water and cold were pulling at her. They needed to make it to shore, and fast; she took advantage of the...thing's...loss of grip and swam as hard as she could for the closest shore.

No rabbit hole, no little girl in a blue dress, how did I end up in Wonderland anyways? I half hope this whole thing is just some bizzare dream and all I really need is a couple months of therapy. At least it would be warmer. And drier.

Click to reveal..
Dex+Athletics roll:

5d10.hitsopen(7,10)=3

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If Chaos himself had descended from the planes of non-existence and touched down in this very spot, it still would not have been as bad as it seemed to be now.

douDA0111.jpg

The Shadow had surfaced and was in pursuit of Alexa and her charge until Jadzia let out her battlecry, causing it to pause. Its head seemed to shake as though it was laughing, although there was no sound as the lights danced over its head. As Jadzia considered the implications of her attack, David came out of the brush right beside her.

Alexa reached the opposite shore of Jadzia and some shallow shoals at the same time Lizzie burst from the foliage, nearly falling on the rocks at the river's edge and onto Alexa. Matt was re-energized by the icy waters, at least temporarily and swam hard with the current, plowing into the Shadow as it laughed which forced it against a rock, pinning it.

The touch of the Shadow was not something he could attribute to anything he had felt before. The texture was somewhere between slug slime and a cornstarch/water mixture, and seemingly impossible, it was far colder still than even the river. Matt's hands went numb quickly, but at least he could no longer feel the Shadow.

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"Gid away from her!" Matty choked through chattering teeth and a throat half-clogged with water. He planted his numb hands in the monster and focused on holding it to the rock. Adrenaline was letting him react with strength and power, but he wasn't sure how long it would last. It only had to last a short while.

Something was rising in him - rage, like a hot furnace of power and anger. Primal man was unleashed as Matty's emptied reserves found a deeper recess to draw on. He'd pay the price later.

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Lizzie gasped with surprise at the chaos laid out before her, but as she righted herself from almost tripping over Alexa, instinct took over and she helped pull both Alexa and the stranger out of the freezing cold water.

Alexa seemed to be moving on her own, but the other woman seemed to be in significantly worse shape. She turned the woman over onto her back and searched for a pulse in her neck.

"She's got a pulse, but she's not breathing. You know CPR?"

Alexa nodded slightly, and Lizzie tilted the woman's head back to open her airway, taking over the CPR "breathing station" position and leaving the chest compressions to Alexa. She pinched the stranger's nostrils, and then leaned over and delivered two deep breaths to the unconscious woman.

Click to reveal..
Lizzie's Roll, Wits+Medicine: 4d10 → [5,3,4,4] = 0 suxx
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