A Hasty Trip

A Hasty Trip
Date of Scene:	06 November 2012
Location:	Bodhum, Bramble Orchard
Synopsis:	Skoll gives Avira a scare, believing that Kaze - having fought her - now has her scent and will hunt her down. He drags her away for a rather abrupt sequence of events.
Cast of Characters:	Skoll Ulfang, Avira

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Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll is silent, yet constantly moving on the platform of Bodhum. He circles around, pacing constantly, checking the big clock now and again to see how much time has passed. His wolfish tail looks uncomfortable and close to his legs while his ears are partially down. It's very clear that he's not very comfortable. Yet, he's waiting to see what has happened to Avira. He's blaming himself of course. Because he'd mentioned Kaze, that girl had gotten herself almost killed.

Was it the same for the others? Should he not mention the man who destroyed his world to anyone else anymore? But what about Zia, what about the Shard Seekers? They'd been told. Had he cursed them with his words already? He should tell them not to chase Kaze. His pacing continues, amidst the not-very-busy tracks of Bodhum. Close to the time the girl arrives, a trolley just arrives, offloading some people from New Orleans into this city, who are curious enough to want to find out what this other world is... looking for answers.

Avira has posed:
Bodhum-it'd actually taken a moment for Avira to recognize the name. It was her self-made Traverse Town map that had saved her on this one, reminding her that this location was in the very town she remained. Convenient, that.

She still had her doubts about this whole business though. If the red-haired man really wanted to kill her, he would have done it there. He wouldn't have turned her back on her and walked away. He wouldn't have stopped when she begged him to. But Skoll had experience with this man so surely he knew what he was talking about. More importantly, she trusted the werewolf.

Skoll will find her approaching from the city. On the surface, Avira seems normal enough, if a bit shaken by the words they just had over the phone. The worst of her wounds was not even visible right now.

Though on top of that, she was worried Skoll would get mad at her. In retrospect, she recognizes what a stupid thing she had done, jumping on the man and attacking him. Even though she knew he potentially had the power to destroy a world. "Skoll!" she calls out, rushing over to him. Seems she couldn't meet him any faster, clearly worried about her trail being picked up.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll stops, then turns abruptly, seeing the girl thanks to his tallness; towering a bit above the crowd from New Orleans. He doesn't move to her, instead letting her get to him. It's only when she actually stands before him, that the werewolf smirks. He tries to express gladness, but his eyes just show worry. "Are you alright Avira?" He asks her. "I should never have told you about that man. It's not for people like you to fight him... you would never be able to kill him." He explains.

He then extends a hand out to her. "I will take you somewhere else for now. there's a place I must take you to... take my hand."

Avira has posed:
Conversely, Skoll being so tall makes him very easy to spot, even with this crowd. "Hi." she tries to smile, she really does, but she's a bit stressed out now due to Skoll's previous words. "My back still hurts." she says bluntly, "His gun left a mark. I...yeah, I know that now."

'never be able to kill him' Avira looks downright dejected, "Maybe not as I am now but..." One of her gloved hands clenches into a fist, "...I'll be stronger one day.."

Looking up at him, Avira searches his eyes for any hint of anger and seems relieved when all she can find is worry. "Alright." she agrees and takes his hand.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll shakes his head. "No, you would not be able to kill him. Even if you were stronger." He pauses for a moment, thinking of how to explain the whole mess that is being Unlimited... but he decides not to. Instead, he just discards the topic, "Never mind, you would not understand." Of course, in this world, there are others who can kill the unlimited - but this is a lesson that Skoll has yet to learn.

Then suddenly, as the crowd has mostly receded, a large black portal suddenly opens behind Skoll, and the man walks back and suddenly /throws/ Avira through to the other side... landing her right in front of the gates of a huge castle. The skies are dark. Lightning flares through the air, hitting one of the castle's tops. It's raining. And in the distance, there's the howl of wolves. And the portal? The portal closes, without Skoll being in sight.

She would recognize this castle. He'd shown it once to her...

Avira has posed:
Avira makes a face, "But..." No, she probably wouldn't understand. She'd yet to run into the various destiny-based limitations that existed in certain places. "Aww, come on Skoll." she sighs.

Something inside her seems to instinctively recoil at that portal. She's not really sure why, but all she can remember from last time she went through one with him was the faint feeling of being touched by something...unpleasant. She thinks she's just going to follow Skoll through...only to have him THROW her in. "AHHH!"

Avira lands on her knees, sinking into the muddy ground, anger flashing in her eyes as she looks over her shoulder, "Skoll, what the hell is the big idea-" The portal closes. Skoll does not come through. "Skoll?!"

Squirming, she pushes herself up to her feet and looks around frantically, "SKOLL?!" Several things run through her mind now. Betrayal! No...he must have secretly been mad at her for fighting Kaze and this was her punishment. No, he'd never do something like that!

Turning, she recognizes the castle, briefly lit by lightning. She'd been here before...back when Skoll was training her that one time, "...no way, don't tell me he just..." Avira clearly recalled when they met in Fluorgis that he said she wasn't ready for /that/ test yet. Maybe he had changed his mind?

Shivering, Avira looks from the forest, to the gate and, given the weather, decides to risk getting over the gate.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
The gates of the castle are tall, extremely tall, and wrought in strong iron. It does not open before her. It seems she has not triggered a certain flag in the game to access that place yet. This means that she is forced to be within the forest... alone. The rain continues to clatter down over her, quickly removing her scent from the world, and replacing it with the scent of... well... being wet.

In the distance, wolves howl once more. They seem distinctly closer. With the castle not an option, she has to find a way to elude the wolves... just like Skoll wanted her to elude Kaze. Perhaps it was less about being ready... and more about /needing/ to be ready. The howling gets closer.

Avira has posed:
Trying to climb the gates doesn't seem to be working out. That and, given the constant flashes of lightning, Avira quickly decides that crawling around on a tall thing made of metal is not the place to be during a storm. Shuddering, she darts into the forest, which does not provide enough cover from the rain as she had hoped. Her path was clear, though, she'd have to navigate her way through the woods to get out of this place.

As she heads down the path, she hears those wolves howling again-closer now. Avira narrows her eyes and reaches behind her, about to pull the Spine free. She's actually fought wolves before as they were pretty common in the desert around Rabanastre. She was familiar with those conditions though-this is a different place, with different wolves.

Instead, she steps off the path and carefully worms her way into the brambles, incurring several cuts from the thorns in the process. Getting down to the ground, she arranges herself so the path is in full view and she has a bit of an advantage by knowing her immediate surroundings. Furthermore, if the wolves wanted to get at her, they'd have to go through the thorns to do it. Only now does Avira slowly slide her weapon free.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
There's growls and howls, they are surrounding her. This is a whole pack hunting her! The way she's put the brambles between herself and the wolves was tactically a good idea, and she can see them now - on the edge of it all, flitting through the bushes. Now and again looking at her. Some of then bare their teeth at her. The rain starts coming down harder, lightning shining harder for a moment, before a set of dark clouds form before the moon and cut off all light for a moment.

Things go dark, very dark. Like that darkness before a world is absorbed into nothingness. A memory that might still be fresh on her mind. A darkness, like that within the portal that she'd gone through. There's the quick prancing feet of wolves behind her now! And besides her. They continue to surround her and are moving in. She can't even see her hands for a moment. There's a sudden lightningflash! And in that moment, she'll be able to tell. They're near. Very near. Darkness sets again.

She's surrounded by wolves. She can hear them breathe, she can hear them move now and again. She can hear them growl.

But she can't see them coming.

Avira has posed:
In retrospect, a tree would have been a better idea. Wolves can't climb. There's a sickening feeling in her stomach now as she realizes just how many wolves were out there tonight. They obviously had her scent and they seemed very serious about eating her.

As the light fades, her thoughts snap back to a month ago, as the world was crumbling and darkness enveloped her. Heartless were reaching out, their yellow eyes the only thing she could see before those too abruptly vanished. "N..no.." she murmurs, moving an arm to cover her head.

'Keep it together, concentrate.' she tells herself, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Avira seems paralyzed. She doesn't move but her eyes remain open, staring into the darkness.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Then suddenly, there are two yellow eyes, staring right at her. They aren't so much aglow, as they are close to her; and visible thanks to the shred of moonlight that dares cast through the clouds. They disappear, and are soon followed up by the sound of wolves whining, and the sound of... metal on metal? A lot of metal on metal. Like chains slamming against one another, as well as the wolves. The sound of the wolves quickly running away...

And then silence. Darkness... silence... and being absolutely alone. No wolves. Not even sounds of the forest for a moment. No, just silence. Yet something had surely made the wolves leave through the use of violence. But even that person seems to have left again, who-ever they were... a heartless? They had yellow eyes after all.

Avira has posed:
Avira quickly clamps a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. In this state, yellow eyes were easily associated to the Heartless. At that moment, she really doesn't know what to do-a large part of her screaming to fight while the rest of her tells her to stay or risk being torn apart by wolves. Her grip on her weapon tightens and that primal part of her flips on-if that Heartless came for her, she would fight. Wolves be damned. She would go down fighting.

No Heartless attack follows but some kind of violence does. Metal...rattling chains?

Avira is not stupid. She does realize what just happened. Just like that moment in the alley in Fluorgis, it had to be Skoll. Avira doesn't move for a long moment until she can confirm she's really alone.

Once she has, she silently snakes her way out of the underbrush, moving slowly to minimize her noise. Her weapon is re-sheathed. Once back out on the path again, her slow movement continues, even though her heart is beating rapidly. Her eyes and ears are open, both on the lookout for Skoll or anything out of place in this forest.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
The rain continues to pour heavily for hours, and the brambles make it very hard to navigate the forest. She finds the main path now and again and follows it, but something seems to make it hard to truly find the way out of the forest. It's almost as if the plants themselves are alive... as if they are closing and opening paths around her, making her hopelessly lost. Is this also Skoll's doing? Or is there something different at play?

There's the distant sound of wolves howling again, but this time, they are not having any luck finding her. All the rain and doling has made her hard to find. Very hard to find. Darkness continues. Night continues. And walking through the forest surely must be tiring. If she were to sleep, where would she sleep? There are the trees of course, or maybe a small hole in the ground earlier.

Avira has posed:
No sign of Skoll for hours-which is a problem, really, because she was under the impression that this 'test' would be about hunting him down. Unless there was some other kind of objective here. Maybe he just wanted her to survive? It sure is making for quite a miserable experience, between being hopelessly lost and thoroughly soaked.

Along the way, she wound up smearing mud on herself, hoping it'd mask her scent somehow if she smelled like the earth instead of some human. Every time she hears the wolves howl, she freezes and tries to assess their distance based on the sound. Fortunately, they don't get as close as before.

But as time wears on, even her strong willpower is starting to waver and her body was clearly beginning to tire.

She opts for a tree with branches high enough off the ground that wolves cannot leap up to. Ascending one, she nestles herself along the length of a branch with her back against the tree. The leather belts typically around her waist are unbuckled and repurposed to wrap around her waist and upper legs to secure her to the branch. The belt supporting the sheath of the Spine is slung over her head and shoulder.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
The night continues, and it is not long before the poor exhausted girl feels her awareness drain, and she sinks into a dream. Whatever dream that may be. It is the waking that is important in this moment. For when she awakens, she is still alone within the forest. Most of the rain is gone, and the darkness has disappeared in favor of a bit of sun. She's far up in the branches, so she is not stopped from seeing said sun by the many trees in this forest.

There's a howl in the distance, but this howl sounds different. If she'd squint, she might see it is Skoll, standing atop a tree, howling to the moon - which dares to be faintly in the skies.

Avira has posed:
Her sleep is restless for she's never had to sleep in such a position before. Her prevention with the belts turns out to be a good idea as her fitful sleep would have sent her tumbling out of the branch multiple times that night. This was mostly due to her 'dreams', though they would more appropriately be called nightmares at this point.

What that nightmare is...well, it's clearly pretty bad.

...Avira awakens with a start, eyes quickly adjusting to the sunlight. Squinting, she rubs her eyes and looks upwards, glad to feel the warmth of the sun on her skin.

Her moment of relaxation ends abruptly at the howl. But as it persists, she notices the difference and follows the noise, spotting the werewolf responsible for putting her here. Abruptly, she begins to undo the belts keeping her in the tree, looping them over her shoulders.

She doesn't drop back into the woods, choosing to remain in the trees to make her way to her supposed quarry.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll remains standing atop his branch, waiting for the girl to get closer; hands in his pockets. His hair is a mess, his clothing wet... it's obvious that he'd spent the night here... and when she gets closer; she can tell that while she slept, he was awake. There's obvious blue beneath his eyes. Yet, he tries to show her a smile when she arrives. "Welcome to the end of day one. Just four more to go." He tells her. Then that smile falters.

"I'm sorry I dragged you here like this, without proper warning. But it served both to get Kaze off of your track, and teaching you how to get other beasts off of your track. The rain helped you this night, but there won't be rain for the rest of the next day - I don't think."

Avira has posed:
Avira routinely practices parkour so clawing through the trees actually works out for her kind of well. It quickly becomes clear as she catches up that Skoll has been expecting her. He must've found her while she was sleeping and, from the look of it, watched over her. That's...sweet of him, at least.

"End of day one?" Avira frowns, landing on a branch, crouched. She looks him in the eye, an unreadable expression on her face.

Slowly, she folds her arms over her chest. "Sorry? You don't need to...I mean..." Avira smirks a little, "...this is pretty hardcore. I just hope I can pass the other tests." She figures she failed that one last night since Skoll had to intervene. "I think I'll enjoy not being rained on, though."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll nods his head. "Another day of eluding the wolves. This time, you'll have the daylight and your scent against yourself. Make use of little rivers where possible to throw them off, make it impossible to follow your tracks and your scent." He tells her. "Tonight, I cannot watch you. Tonight, you are on your own." He moves a hand over his right arm. His clothing is ripped, and there's red marks there that seem like... he's been bleeding. Seems the fight against the wolves had not been without a cost.

"Good luck." He then whispers, before a black portal opens behind him, granting Avira a glimpse into the dreaded feeling that it always brings with it. "I believe in you. I suggest you look around for food. Don't kill the wolves... imagine the wolves are 'that man'... imagine that you cannot beat them. Of course - not at the cost of your own life, this is just a test after all." He then steps through the portal, and stands within its event horizon for a moment.

"I will be back for you, Avira."

And then the portal closes.

Avira has posed:
"Another day..." she nods, setting her jaw, determined. It's hard...but this is going to help her, she knows this, and it is for this reason that she cannot find it in herself to complain about any of these hardships. Looking him over, she notices the ripped clothing.

"...you're hurt." she makes a face, "You got hurt because of me...ugh...I'm sorry, Skoll."

He whispers good luck to her and she shivers. "Thanks." Oh dear-rules. She can't kill the wolves? She almost pouts over this, but his mention of food reminds her that she definitely needs to find some. What is there to eat in this forest that isn't poisonous though?

"Alright. I promise...unless it gets life-threatening." She watches him until he disappears, focing herself to stare into the darkness if only because he is there. Once gone, she looks away.

Leaping to another tree, she goes to forage.