Changeling-Earth 2: Freehold Earth - The Hedge

[Dawn OOC]

"Can do!" Tim cried, plucking the grenade out her hand. As Fingers drifted back into the shadows, Tim yanked the pin, wound up and threw it.

It was a good throw, and the grenade impacted the house. Immediately, it started to burn, and now the house screamed.

[ooc: Grenade throw:

1d20=5, 1d20=7, 1d20=10, 1d20=10

Rerolling tens:

1d20=6, 1d20=8 = 3 sux total

[Khalid Al-jamari]

It was a living thing Khalid told himself, and like a beast it had charged something in the wild that had startled it. In contrast, him and his companions were frail things and couldn't be taking chances with the lives they had in their hands.

"We should get around it and get out of here," he told Billy. "That things noise may draw things here - things we don't have the strength to fight off."

Khalid had pity for the poor creature, but he knew this was all part of the dream world of the Gentry and it molified him somewhat. He had people that relied on him and he had to carry on.

Khalid kept his stick, but pulled Saffron along with him as they edged around the thing. He looked to Orderly and tried to transmit an air of everything being okay. He certainly hoped it would.

[Dawn OOC]

The house swerved and stumbled away from them, making terrible noises. A form jumped out of the house, landing in the long grass and moving away from the burning building. It was a tall, thin form, and it was coming toward them.

[Rorx]

Billy waves the others on around the clearing, nodding to acknowledge Khalid's intent, while taking up the rear position and aiming at the figure that emerges from the house.

"Hold it there, we don't want any trouble but your structure was attacking us. If you come closer we will have to assume that you are hostile as well and we will defend ourselves."

[Dawn OOC]

"Hostile!? Hostile! Bet your ass I'm hostile!" a belligerant voice rang out over the grass. "You burned my mount! Do you have any idea how long it took me to train him?"

The form was brightly colored; his pants and hat were a mint green, while his shirt was a hot pink that defied name. His face as painted like a clown's, with green lips and pink eyeshadow. He strode toward them, a sheathed fencer's blade in his hand.

[SalmonMax]

"We thought it was attacking us!" Rochelle piped, feeling suddenly very guilty.

Truth be told...they hadn't really waited to see if it was actually dangerous before attacking with vicious force.

[Evan_Bishop]

"Well, you did charge us," Evan said, raising his voice slightly. "That's not really the sort of thing one does to engender happy feelings. So I'd say it's your own damn fault."

[Adrian Moss]

Khalid steps forward a step.

"Sir, I'm a healer. Maybe if you control your mount I could tend to it's wounds."

It wasn't much, but he had to make some sort of effort to end the bloodshed.

[Rorx]

Billy kept the shotgun aimed at the figure throughout the exchange, but commented to the colourful man,

"I'd suggest you take him up on the offer. Hell, if it helps I've got a couple of Goblin fruit that might help heal the thing up if it will help us on our way faster."

[Dawn OOC]

"I assume you, Master Tree, that my intent was to circle you. It would be dishonorable to have my mount strike you directly.

And masked healer and Sir Dogman, thank you for the gracious offers, and yes, I have full control of Rumitalitalen," the figure said. He suddenly bowed, sweeping his hat off his head. "I am Percy, formerly of the Dragon Queen's Court, now bound to none. Once we have seen to my mount, we shall decide whom will duel."

Without waiting for an answer, he spun on his heel and walked back toward the living house, calling to it softly. It crept back to his side and stood shivering and moaning. He petted a leg and spoke soothingly to it.

"Did he say... duel?" Mia asked suddenly, her eyes wide.

[Rorx]

Billy lowers the gun as he walks away and looks around at the others.

"This does not sound good to me. Anyone know how to use a sword? I'm pretty basic when it comes to knife fighting, and never used anything much bigger"

He focuses then on Khalid and his associates, "How about your friend who was going into the arena?"

[SalmonMax]

"Don't look at me," Rochelle snaps, watching the man tend to his house with bizarre guilt welling up from inside her. The guilt only made her feel irritable though, because it made no sense. It was a HOUSE. Why did she feel like she'd just kicked a puppy?

[Evan_Bishop]

Evan stared at the man's retreating form and shrugged. "It's not going to be me, I'll tell you that much right now. I'm not interested in a fair fight." And if it turns out to be a duel to the death, he thought, all the better for us to play dirty.

[Khalid Al-jamari]

"Sorry, but my game was soccer at Uni. I'm hopeless with steel in my hand. Maybe I can talk him out of dueling to the death while I'm patching up his beasty."

Pulling out his roll of tools, Khalid steps toward the retreating man. He turns and gives Saffron's hand a squeeze.

"You stay here with Orderly. Orderly, you can put the case down. We are going to be hear for a while."

With that, he followed the Errant Knight toward his steed.

[Dawn OOC]

Percy was patting Rumitalitalen on one of his flat walls; the house shuddered and moaned. Orderly, who had followed Khalid, eyed the house and "knight" distrustfully. Saffron stood next to him, looking up at it. "Can you help the... house?" she asked. "I didn't think you were a house doctor."

[SalmonMax]

"He makes house calls sometimes," Roach calls, and emits a burst of shrill, almost hysterical laughter, then jams a hand over her mouth for a second.

"Sorry! Sorry! I don't know why I said that."

[Khalid Al-jamari]

He was about to make the 'House Call's' comment when he heard the shrill little voice of Roach over his shoulder. He felt relieved by the levity of the statement and hoped the positive energy would somehow energize him in repairing this mobile home.

To Saffron he replied,

"It's a living thing - contraption. I'll treat it like one and find a way to heal it. I'm not sure about it totally repairable, but I owe it the benefit of my experience."

As he spoke, his voice gained more confidence. All he did was bring his mind around to comprehending how it was a living being and the pathway to fixing it would be opened. Simple, right?

[Dawn OOC]

It's "flesh" was burned, and that was easy to treat. Apply cooling, healing medicine, and move on. The "flesh" just missing would have to be replaced, but surely some boards could serve for now. The burnt roof - would that be like nail or hair? Again, it would need to be covered and allowed to heal.

[SalmonMax]

Rochelle creeps carefully closer, curious despite her fear to see what was happening with the house/mount.

[Dawn OOC]

It takes several hours of work, but the damage is repaired, or at least covered. The house-mount can lay down, and when it does, they can work on it. But by the time they finish, the Hedge is alive with the sounds of darkness coming, the soft noises of dusk. "Now!" Percy said, clapping his hands together. "Come in my house, we'll treat you to dinner and a place to rest, and on the morrow, we shall duel!"

Without waiting to see if they follow, he turned and walked into the house.

[Khalid Al-jamari]

Well, Khalid didn't know about a duel, but a night not spent under the stars sounded good to him. The hedge gave him this uncomfortable feeling that it was alive and sentient in a malevolent way.

Unrolling his sleeves, Khalid reached for Saffron's hand. Looking up to Orderly,

"Care to have a roof overhead tonight?" he grins.

Together, the tree ex-House Slaves go into the House Mount.

[Rorx]

Billy shrugs to Tim and any others still outside, "He seems the type to follow his code of honour so I think we'll be safe in her until morning, which is more than can definitely be said for camping out here."

That said he puts the safety on the shotgun and enters the 'house'.

[Dawn OOC]

Inside, the area is well-decorated and plushy appointed. It is very easy to forget you're in a living house until you touch something and feel that slight vibration of life, and feel the warmth of its "skin."

While the visitors tried to get comfortable, Percy was bustling around his house, finding cups and a teapot, and putting hot water on to brew. Suddenly, the house lurched and rose in the air. Percy merely grabbed a stack of books that threatened to fall.

"Now," he said after a moment. "What brings you here?"

[Rorx]

Billy gingerly sat in one of the chairs, nose twitching as he replied to the strange Sir Percy.

"We were just following a path to our destination when we entered this clearing as part of the route and thought that we were being attacked by your mount."

[SalmonMax]

"We're on our way home," Rochelle says simply. Perched in another chair, she made the seat look absurdedly huge in comparison to herself.

[Dawn OOC]

Percy nodded at Billy's words, but his second statment drew a frown from him. "Oh, no, Rumitalitalen doesn't attack anyone. I do." He grinned broadly, as if that were somehow funny.

Pouring some tea for everyone, he asked, "Are you bound for outside the Hedge?"

[SalmonMax]

"I...guess," Roach agreed uncertainly. "We're going to our ship, or what's left of it. The Manifest Destiny."

Abruptly she remembered something, and leaned forward, taking new interest in their host.

"Wait, you must know about it, right? I mean, there were two ships. The people from those ships should be the only human beings on this planet. Some of us were taken by these aliens and...changed...but we were taken from the ships. Have you tried to return?"

[Khalid Al-jamari]

"Well, we don't want to stay here. Most of us are unaccustomed to the Hedge and it's wilderness environment ... and we don't have our own portable house to act as pantry and shelter," Khalid adds good naturedly.

"So, do you really need to fight one of us, and does it have to be with blades? I'd really rather not spend more time patching something up from a wound that could have been avoided."

To Khalid, this was a colossal waste of time. Percy wanted to fight somebody then let him find somebody who wanted to fight him.

"So Percy, certainly you have enemies right? Why don't we point you in their direction instead? You get to thrash someone who deserves it and we get to be on our way."

There weren't good odds that they knew were his enemies were, but it was a tact that was worth a shot.

[Evan_Bishop]

Evan was rather dubious of this whole thing, and personally thought they'd be a lot better off knocking Percy out, robbing him, and legging it till they found the camp. After all, a guy who was clearly a bit out of his mind and set on dueling someone was not the type of guy Evan wanted to spend much time around. "So, uh...about this duel. To the death, is it? Or first blood?"

[Dawn OOC]

Percy had been frowning as Khalid had talked, clearly not understanding the good doctor's point. But Evan's questions brought his smile back. "Oh, we determine that. Sometimes people have wanted to try to kill me, so it's to the death. I do prefer third blood myself - enough time to really have a good bit of fun, but all healable."

He glanced around. "Is everyone comfortable? Would anyone care for more tea, or perhaps a light spot of dinner?"

[SalmonMax]

Rochelle relaxed in places she didn't even know she was tense in when their odd host said the duel wouldn't be to the death.

"I'm fine for now, thanks. If you don't mind me asking...when were you taken from the ship? Have you been back recently?"

[Dawn OOC]

Percy eyed her as if she were mad. Perhaps, to him, she was. "Ship? I've never been on the water in my life," he said simply. "I have seen the ocean - frightful place, all water and blue. Too much blue. Quite bad for your digestion to see too much blue all together." His house had mild accents of blue, so he seemed to take this to heart.

"Do you need to return to the ocean?" he asked suddenly, peering at her closely. "I didn't see any gills earlier..."

[Khalid Al-jamari]

Khalid grinned behind his mask at Percy's discomforture.

"No, Sir Percy, our ship, our home, flew through the air until something went terribly wrong and it fell to the ground ... on land ... somewhere ahead of us beyond this Hedge."

"We hope to get back there before they complete their repairs and leave once more. They are our ... House after all."

Then a trick occured to him.

"You could come along with us. I'm sure you could find someone worthy of your dueling skill at the ship. There are some fierce martial types amongst us."

That could save them the difficulty of jumping him and leaving him beaten here to be found by whatever else wandered about here. Mind you, he might still get himself shot by security, but that was a problem of dueling etiquette for another day.

[Dawn OOC]

Percy looked startled; then he began to laugh. "Oh, you almost had me, my crafty guest," he laughed, shaking his finger at Khalid. "Flying ships! Good one!"

He stood up and moved to the fireplace, pouring some more water for tea, still chuckling. "Flying ships... Indeed!"

[SalmonMax]

Rochelle sat up straighter. "We're sitting in a house that walks on legs," she points out. "How much harder to believe is a flying ship? Besides, he doesn't mean a seafaring ship; a boat. It's a spaceship, a colony ship. It looks like..." she tries to indicate the physical shape of the Manifest Destiny with her hand in the air.

"Sort of. If you have a pencil and paper I can draw it."

[Dawn OOC]

Percy produced a piece of thick paper and a quill; those familiar with alternate writing mediums will recognize that the "paper" is actually parchment. "Here," he said, before retriving the tea.

"I appreciate what you're saying," he said, frowing, "but a walking house is a natural beast, and a 'spaceship' is ludicrious. A sea ship crosses the sea; what does a spaceship cross? Space? Any ship crosses space!" He picked up a wooden boat off a shelf and slid it across the table. "There! A space ship!"

He looked very pleased with himself.

[Khalid Al-jamari]

"Ah, Sir Percy, you have hit upon the meaning of the name, but missed its context. A Space-ship travels through the SPACE between Stars. I imagine that a more accurate name would be Star ship, though they don't actually fly into stars. That would be ... unfortunate."

"But, as you can see there are spaces between the stars in the Firmament, you can imagine somebody would want to travel between them, no? Thus our people created Space-, no Star-ships to do just that. In our case, there was absolutely no room left for Walking Houses, Hedges, or even ... Dragons. So, we left, traveled from our star and came to your star."

"I hope this explaination salves your worries. It is the truth."

[Dawn OOC]

Percy looked bemused. "Oh, you are fun! But everyone knows that stars are the lights on the heavenly dome. Still, tell me more of you home - it is a good story!"

He was either dumb or stubborn. Or perhaps a special blend of both.

[SalmonMax]

"We come from Earth," Rochelle says as she sketches an outline of the Manifest Destiny as best she can. "It's a different planet. It looks similar to this, superficially. In fact, the similarities are why we came."

She looks at Percy again. "Are you sure that you've always been here? These aliens...they may have the ability to modify memories. Maybe you just -believe- you've been here, and have forgotten about the ships and Earth and everything else."

(Roll Int + Crafts: 1 success)

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1948830/

(Popping 10)

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1948833/

(Just 1 success)

She finally holds up the sketch.

"Ring any bells?"

[Khalid Al-jamari]

"Umm... Roach, Saffron, Orderly, and Slasher are from this World. This is the only home they have ever known. If we start doubting their memories we might as well start doubting our own. This place may feel maddening to us, but it is the normal for them. People have been on this planet for a long, long time. We need to get used to that and move beyond this."

He rubs his masked chin.

"Maybe they had contact with our home in the past. Maybe the power they use to twist time and alter reality were used to bridge the gulf between here and there. In my travels, as limited as they were, I would swear I've seen more people ... or people like people than we lost from the vessels."

Khalid looks at the sketch,

"At least we share the same vision of or destination. Nice sketch."