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rhodos_meme2022-08-10 10:12 am
rhodosmods) wrote in rhodos_meme2022-08-10 10:12 am
Entry tags:
TDM #1
TDM #1: AUGUST
Jump to: Arrival · Sound and Light · Into the Fog · Waking Up to a Nightmare · The Bonfire
Summary · Questions
Summary · Questions
The buildings of the plaza are all medieval stone construction, but they all have modern awnings and glass fronts. Tables out front display tourist wares: little plastic statuettes, postcards, t-shirts. Among these, it's easy to identify Greek lettering, Greek gods, photos of Athens and Crete. Predominant among the souvenirs are items marked with the name Rhodos.
But there are no vendors selling their wares. Even if characters wander into the shops, they are all empty as if their owners just stepped away for a moment. Lights are on, and some of the larger and nicer shops even have the whirr of air conditioning. Food stands waft the aroma of freshly grilled kebabs, and a gelato cart is cold to the touch and the ice cream inside is frosty and delicious.
The plaza where you arrive is set on a slope, and the direction of the sea breeze and the faint sound of waves against a shore indicates pretty strongly that down-slope is the direction of the sea. But looking down the slope from the main plaza, you can see an open archway in a tall stone wall, and beyond it is nothing but mist. Despite the clear sunny day in the plaza, the mist is a dense fog with barely three feet of visibility. If you enter it, you can see your own arms in front of you, but nothing beyond that. The breeze has gone still and the waves no longer sound so much like waves--the sound is warped through the mist so that it almost sounds like sobbing. After about five minutes of determined walking across what feels like flat ground with no other landmarks, you find yourself back at the archway.
Housing can easily be scavenged. Doors are unlocked and the interiors are clean and welcoming, beds freshly made, as if it is a hotel that's been prepared for you rather than anyone's personal residence. And yet, once you've settled upon a place to live, you start to find little signs that you have lived here all along. The photographs on the wall (which weren't there when you first arrived) depict you and your family and friends, even if you came from a world without photography. Upon arrival, you have only the clothing you are wearing, but within a day the closet begins to fill with familiar outfits from home, and within the first week you may find up to five of your own possessions around your new residence.
Note: Wardrobe is limited to what you can reasonably fit inside a non-walk-in apartment closet, what your character would reasonably wear and possess in canon, or what can be scavenged around town. There are two very small clothing boutiques where you can find most basics and a few cute outfits. For starting possessions two may be weapons or magical items, but you may have an additional three mundane items. All other personal items can only be obtained through regains or events.
The first few days in your new home are relatively uneventful. The days are hot and sunny and the nights are warm beneath a dazzling starry sky.
After not quite a week, the noises of a spectacle will lead characters to a small gate in one of the outer walls with steps leading down into the outer moat. The fog surrounding the city walls has drawn back for just this one little area, revealing an open air theater butting up against the castle wall. A path leads away from the theater on either side, but if you walk into the mist on either side you will promptly find yourself walking out of the mist on the opposite side, as if you'd circumnavigated the entire moat in just a few steps. Behind the theater is another high stone wall. Centuries of weathering has added rough footholds and handholds, but it would be a dangerous climb without equipment. Trees grow from the top of the wall, sticking limbs out of the wall of mist and clawing roots into the stones at the top, loosening them so that they're ready to slip at a touch.
The play that is projected onto the wall features shadow puppets, colored lights, and canned soundtrack special effects like the clop of horses hooves or the burst of trumpets. There is no dialogue or narration, so the story can only be roughly pieced together: there is a king and a queen, then a betrayal that leads to the king's murder. Later, the king and the queen appear again, participating in a ritual which seems to involve human sacrifice, a war and a triumphal procession, and then another betrayal and the king is murdered again.
The story repeats three times every night before shutting itself off. The first performance starts at twilight, and each repetition lasts about twenty minutes. Characters who watch it repeatedly will get the sense that it's slightly different each time, but the whole thing is complicated and confusing without any narration or dialogue to provide context, so characters will struggle to pin down how it's different. A slide projector is set up at the top of the amphitheater, with a pair of old speakers on either side of it. If slides are removed from the projector, they show only blank, uncolored plastic. If something is placed in front of the projector light, the scene is projected onto that object. The projector can be turned off, unplugged, or smashed. No matter what is done to it, as soon as no one is actively watching it, it is restored to an undamaged status and resumes playing.
After watching an entire repetition of the performance, some characters may be overcome by a fit of weeping. Tears roll down your cheeks and you can't seem to catch your breath. Despair clutches at your heart, colored by your own personal sorrows, and the weeping can only be stopped by receiving an embrace.
Others may find that the performance inspires them to reminisce. No matter how secretive you might normally be, you find yourself turning to whoever is sitting near you and telling them a story from your past, something that makes you nostalgic or regretful.
After not quite a week, the noises of a spectacle will lead characters to a small gate in one of the outer walls with steps leading down into the outer moat. The fog surrounding the city walls has drawn back for just this one little area, revealing an open air theater butting up against the castle wall. A path leads away from the theater on either side, but if you walk into the mist on either side you will promptly find yourself walking out of the mist on the opposite side, as if you'd circumnavigated the entire moat in just a few steps. Behind the theater is another high stone wall. Centuries of weathering has added rough footholds and handholds, but it would be a dangerous climb without equipment. Trees grow from the top of the wall, sticking limbs out of the wall of mist and clawing roots into the stones at the top, loosening them so that they're ready to slip at a touch.
The story repeats three times every night before shutting itself off. The first performance starts at twilight, and each repetition lasts about twenty minutes. Characters who watch it repeatedly will get the sense that it's slightly different each time, but the whole thing is complicated and confusing without any narration or dialogue to provide context, so characters will struggle to pin down how it's different. A slide projector is set up at the top of the amphitheater, with a pair of old speakers on either side of it. If slides are removed from the projector, they show only blank, uncolored plastic. If something is placed in front of the projector light, the scene is projected onto that object. The projector can be turned off, unplugged, or smashed. No matter what is done to it, as soon as no one is actively watching it, it is restored to an undamaged status and resumes playing.
After watching an entire repetition of the performance, some characters may be overcome by a fit of weeping. Tears roll down your cheeks and you can't seem to catch your breath. Despair clutches at your heart, colored by your own personal sorrows, and the weeping can only be stopped by receiving an embrace.
Others may find that the performance inspires them to reminisce. No matter how secretive you might normally be, you find yourself turning to whoever is sitting near you and telling them a story from your past, something that makes you nostalgic or regretful.
CONTENT WARNING: Cruelty and violence against (monster) dogs
After the characters have been in Rhodos for about three weeks, a heavy fog rolls into town. Unlike the mist that surrounds the city, the fog smells of smoke. Visibility is reduced to a mere ten or fifteen feet.
The electricity goes out, and shops are no longer replenished. Food may still be scavenged, but the food in shops and restaurants will slowly rot and may run out. Battery operated items will continue to work as long as the batteries still have a charge. Running water inside the houses continues to work, but it is sluggish and smells stale, leaving an unpleasant film on the skin.
While out on the streets of the town, characters will begin to encounter the monster dogs of Rhodos. The sound of a dragging chain precedes them, and then the hazy outline of a dog comes into view. It's walking oddly, however, with a sort of staggering limp, and the sound of the chain is underlaid by a low, feral growl. Furless gray skin peels away in patches to reveal bloody muscle. The heavy iron collar around the neck is studded with long black screws, the ends of which pierce the skin of the neck. Hazy eyes are clouded with decomposition, and yet that doesn't seem to prevent the dog from making its way straight toward you.
The dogs are not very fast, nor very smart. They can be outpaced at a brisk walk, and they will lose track of any character who gets more than twenty feet away or behind a closed door. But they are vicious. If you get within a few feet, they will lunge at you and attempt to bite. If two or three of them manage to corner you in a blind alley, you could be in real trouble.
In addition to the dogs, characters will begin to catch glimpses of Manifestations, both their own or those of others. At first you might just catch a glimpse of them through a break in the fog, but after a day or two they can be spotted standing outside of apartment windows and staring in. In either case, they will not approach or attack characters unless you're foolish enough to get within six feet of them. Then, they will attack, and they will pursue at a fast walk until they lose track of you in the fog.
After the characters have been in Rhodos for about three weeks, a heavy fog rolls into town. Unlike the mist that surrounds the city, the fog smells of smoke. Visibility is reduced to a mere ten or fifteen feet.
The electricity goes out, and shops are no longer replenished. Food may still be scavenged, but the food in shops and restaurants will slowly rot and may run out. Battery operated items will continue to work as long as the batteries still have a charge. Running water inside the houses continues to work, but it is sluggish and smells stale, leaving an unpleasant film on the skin.
The dogs are not very fast, nor very smart. They can be outpaced at a brisk walk, and they will lose track of any character who gets more than twenty feet away or behind a closed door. But they are vicious. If you get within a few feet, they will lunge at you and attempt to bite. If two or three of them manage to corner you in a blind alley, you could be in real trouble.
In addition to the dogs, characters will begin to catch glimpses of Manifestations, both their own or those of others. At first you might just catch a glimpse of them through a break in the fog, but after a day or two they can be spotted standing outside of apartment windows and staring in. In either case, they will not approach or attack characters unless you're foolish enough to get within six feet of them. Then, they will attack, and they will pursue at a fast walk until they lose track of you in the fog.
CONTENT WARNING: Blood imagery
On the 28th, characters are awakened by the sound of their front doors being smashed in. It's your own smashing door that awakens you, but you can hear more distant sounds of destruction from the other apartments nearby.
As you scramble out of your bed, you find that the homey, quilted bedding has been soaked through with blood, and it's sagging in the middle with the outline of a human body. But before you have a chance to properly react to that horror, your Manifestation is coming through your bedroom door — more than one of them, if you were sharing that bed with anyone.
You will have to fight or dodge in order to get out of the room. Your Manifestation is out for your blood. You can do damage to it, creating deep wounds and heavy bruises, causing it to stagger and slow for a moment, but no matter how much damage you do it keeps coming for you. Sooner or later, you will need to run.
When you make it out into the streets, you'll find that the entire world has changed. Heavy darkness fills the city, and no stars are visible in the sky. A few lights glow despite the lack of electricity, but they only provide a sickly, red-tinted light. Streets are slick with something that looks like blood, and the stone walls in many places have been transformed into metal or grate. Through the grate, you can catch glimpses of black metal hooks and gory, dripping meat that looks human in origin.
There is no palatable food or water. Anything you have saved has rotted or changed unnaturally into what looks like rotting flesh or lumps of bile. Liquid has turned into blood or black water. The only mercy is that symptoms of hunger, thirst and fatigue stabilize after 24 hours and don't get any worse. Don't worry, it won't be the dehydration that kills you here.
Your Manifestation pursues you tirelessly, and the monster dogs are faster, smarter, and moving in packs. Your home is no longer safe, and staying on the streets is deadly.
On the 28th, characters are awakened by the sound of their front doors being smashed in. It's your own smashing door that awakens you, but you can hear more distant sounds of destruction from the other apartments nearby.
As you scramble out of your bed, you find that the homey, quilted bedding has been soaked through with blood, and it's sagging in the middle with the outline of a human body. But before you have a chance to properly react to that horror, your Manifestation is coming through your bedroom door — more than one of them, if you were sharing that bed with anyone.
You will have to fight or dodge in order to get out of the room. Your Manifestation is out for your blood. You can do damage to it, creating deep wounds and heavy bruises, causing it to stagger and slow for a moment, but no matter how much damage you do it keeps coming for you. Sooner or later, you will need to run.
There is no palatable food or water. Anything you have saved has rotted or changed unnaturally into what looks like rotting flesh or lumps of bile. Liquid has turned into blood or black water. The only mercy is that symptoms of hunger, thirst and fatigue stabilize after 24 hours and don't get any worse. Don't worry, it won't be the dehydration that kills you here.
Your Manifestation pursues you tirelessly, and the monster dogs are faster, smarter, and moving in packs. Your home is no longer safe, and staying on the streets is deadly.
CONTENT WARNING: Body horror, immolation
Sooner or later, you find your way to the bonfire in the middle of the fountain square. There is no longer water in the fountain. Instead, the whole thing towers with flame, fueled by a viscous black substance in the basin.
A tall man stands by the fountain, gazing into the flames as if he is supervising. His suit is true black, fathomless black, while his skin is a dark red-black like the newly formed crust upon a lava flow. His eyes are black pools reflecting the flames. He takes no interest in any approaching characters, and will not respond to any questions. The only thing that will draw his attention to you is an attempted attack. If you try it, your blow lands, but he doesn't seem to take any damage. His head turns toward you and he considers you for a moment, as if he finds it intriguing that you would attempt such a thing. Then he returns his attention to the fire.
The dogs and the Manifestations will not pursue you into the circle of light cast by the bonfire. You can find a sort of respite here.
Time passes. It feels like days, though there is no way to mark the passage of time. The Dark Figure continues to supervise the bonfire.
At last, your attention is drawn to a sort of commotion approaching down one of the main streets that feeds into the plaza. You hear a rattling of metal, and a sort of gibbering moan. The bonfire illuminates first upon a pale, faceless figure which seems to writhe as it approaches, hovering above the paving stones. As it grows closer, you see that the figure is lashed to a square metal frame and bound with strips of barbed wire. Veiled figures on either side bear it forward, and the Dark Figure turns to watch it approach.
The figure upon the frame has no face and no mouth with which to make its agonized moans, but it continues nonetheless. It has limbs but no hands or feet, each limb ending in smooth stumps.
If no one interferes, the Handmaidens carry the frame forward and place it upon the fire.
The Handmaidens can be attacked, and hurt. They cry out indignantly at any attack, and recoil. They will not fight back, but they also will not be discouraged from their task by anything less than persistent violence.
If the pale figure on the frame is rescued by the player characters, it flails and gibbers helplessly, continuing to moan. If the pale figure is consigned to the flames, it begins to scream, and continues screaming for several minutes until the flame finally overcomes it.
In either situation, you begin to cough. Blood spills from your mouth, dribbling down your chin and spattering upon your clothing. But then the droplets begin to slither into letters, forming words that spell out your deepest guilt, in the words you yourself would use to describe it. No attempt to wipe the words away or cover them will prevent their legibility. The blood shines through whatever covers it, catching the firelight so that those around you can clearly read the words.
The Dark Figure and his Handmaidens made their exit while you were coughing. You are left alone with the other Tourists around you, your guilt, and whatever remains of the pale figure upon the frame.
Sooner or later, you find your way to the bonfire in the middle of the fountain square. There is no longer water in the fountain. Instead, the whole thing towers with flame, fueled by a viscous black substance in the basin.
A tall man stands by the fountain, gazing into the flames as if he is supervising. His suit is true black, fathomless black, while his skin is a dark red-black like the newly formed crust upon a lava flow. His eyes are black pools reflecting the flames. He takes no interest in any approaching characters, and will not respond to any questions. The only thing that will draw his attention to you is an attempted attack. If you try it, your blow lands, but he doesn't seem to take any damage. His head turns toward you and he considers you for a moment, as if he finds it intriguing that you would attempt such a thing. Then he returns his attention to the fire.
The dogs and the Manifestations will not pursue you into the circle of light cast by the bonfire. You can find a sort of respite here.
At last, your attention is drawn to a sort of commotion approaching down one of the main streets that feeds into the plaza. You hear a rattling of metal, and a sort of gibbering moan. The bonfire illuminates first upon a pale, faceless figure which seems to writhe as it approaches, hovering above the paving stones. As it grows closer, you see that the figure is lashed to a square metal frame and bound with strips of barbed wire. Veiled figures on either side bear it forward, and the Dark Figure turns to watch it approach.
The figure upon the frame has no face and no mouth with which to make its agonized moans, but it continues nonetheless. It has limbs but no hands or feet, each limb ending in smooth stumps.
If no one interferes, the Handmaidens carry the frame forward and place it upon the fire.
The Handmaidens can be attacked, and hurt. They cry out indignantly at any attack, and recoil. They will not fight back, but they also will not be discouraged from their task by anything less than persistent violence.
If the pale figure on the frame is rescued by the player characters, it flails and gibbers helplessly, continuing to moan. If the pale figure is consigned to the flames, it begins to scream, and continues screaming for several minutes until the flame finally overcomes it.
In either situation, you begin to cough. Blood spills from your mouth, dribbling down your chin and spattering upon your clothing. But then the droplets begin to slither into letters, forming words that spell out your deepest guilt, in the words you yourself would use to describe it. No attempt to wipe the words away or cover them will prevent their legibility. The blood shines through whatever covers it, catching the firelight so that those around you can clearly read the words.
The Dark Figure and his Handmaidens made their exit while you were coughing. You are left alone with the other Tourists around you, your guilt, and whatever remains of the pale figure upon the frame.
Arrival: August 1
Sound and Light: August 5-20
Into the Fog: August 21-27
Waking Up to a Nightmare: August 28-30
The Bonfire: August 31
Welcome to Rhodos! Going forward, events will take place in two parts. The Normal World part of the event posted on the 5th of each month, and it will be a lighter event both in terms of length and thematic content. TDMs will be bi-monthly and will feature an event element or elements for the Normal World which in-game characters may also play with on their own log posts. The sections on Fog and Nightmare worlds for the TDM will generally be the same every month, allowing players to test drive those elements if they'd like, but not including spoilers for the second part of that month's event. The second part of the event will be posted on the 20th of each month, covering events occurring through both the Fog and Nightmare cycles.
Test drive memes are considered game canon.
This won't always be the case, but for the nerds among you who are enjoying this sometimes-accurate tour of Rhodes, all location images in this TDM and housing are accurate to Rhodes.
Lastly, we are in need of mods! We're most in need of help for processing apps and activity. If we aren't able to get some additional mods, we will have to place a cap on applications, and we're hoping we won't have to do that. If you're interested, please send us a message over on the mod contact page. We've gotten the mod volunteers we needed so we should be all clear to proceed without an applications cap. Thank you to everyone who showed interest!
Sound and Light: August 5-20
Into the Fog: August 21-27
Waking Up to a Nightmare: August 28-30
The Bonfire: August 31
Welcome to Rhodos! Going forward, events will take place in two parts. The Normal World part of the event posted on the 5th of each month, and it will be a lighter event both in terms of length and thematic content. TDMs will be bi-monthly and will feature an event element or elements for the Normal World which in-game characters may also play with on their own log posts. The sections on Fog and Nightmare worlds for the TDM will generally be the same every month, allowing players to test drive those elements if they'd like, but not including spoilers for the second part of that month's event. The second part of the event will be posted on the 20th of each month, covering events occurring through both the Fog and Nightmare cycles.
Test drive memes are considered game canon.
This won't always be the case, but for the nerds among you who are enjoying this sometimes-accurate tour of Rhodes, all location images in this TDM and housing are accurate to Rhodes.
raylan givens — justified
Raylan will be the first to admit that he hasn't seen everything — what he's experienced during almost twenty years as a US Marshal is probably peanuts to what's actually possible — but this is still new. Waking up on his back in a Greek town square like the best man at the world's most batshit bachelor party was one thing, but once he'd stood himself up on solid ground, he'd promptly realised that his holster was empty. It's an unsettling feeling to be in an unfamiliar place without his gun, which he assumes he lost in the water. There's no way he's getting it back now.
He makes for an odd figure in the middle of the square: aggressively American, cowboy hat and all, hands on his hips with a finger hooked in his belt loop, squinting around the place as if he can suss it out just by glaring hard enough, and then he sets off in one direction at random, heading over to a nearby tourist stand which already seems to have a potential customer perusing its wares.
He picks up a clay fridge magnet molded to look like an old-timey coin, turning it from one angle to another, and then, with an airy nonchalance: ] You ain't seen a bar around here, have you?
★ 002. INTO THE FOG
He pokes his head out of the apartment he'd claimed for himself, setting his hat firmly on his head and squinting out into the fog. He can't see shit, but he's out of liquor. Needs must, so with a sigh he steps out into the street, shuts the door behind him, and sets off walking.
It's not long before he sees one of the dogs, prowling around at the opposite end of the street with its head bent. He hasn't seen a single animal here since he arrived, which is weird in and of itself, but right now it's a good thing this is the first one he's seen, because he's immediately suspicious. He doesn't think it's seen him, not yet at least, and if he spots someone walking near he'll whistle softly through his teeth to catch their attention and then jerk his head towards the dog, to make sure they can see it. And then, voice low, he asks, ] What in the hell is that?
★ 003. WAKING UP TO A NIGHTMARE
Shit! [ Eloquent as ever. Raylan tries to push himself up to stand, but before he takes off again he holds out a hand for the person he knocked into, grim but determined to drag them along with him. ] We gotta move. Now.
★ 004. WILDCARD
Arrival
Why are you looking for a bar?
no subject
Well, to get a drink.
no subject
I've been exploring.
no subject
Let's just say I'm thirsty and leave it at that. What'd you find?
no subject
[Another step forward, and she offers her hand.] I'm Dani.
no subject
[ Something stopped him at the last second from doing the whole Deputy US Marshal thing, and what's more, it's right at this instant that he realises there's nobody around here who knows him first and foremost by his surname and the notoriety that came with it back in Kentucky. Weird feeling. Strangely, a little unpleasant.
He lets go of her hand, and seems to register for the first time that she's holding a bright collection of flowers in her other. ]
You, uh, come from a party?
no subject
Sort of. A celebration, really. For Midsommar.
no subject
That's that German thing, right? With the maypole?
no subject
[Her smile is sad. Far off.] I won. I was the May Queen.
(no subject)
(no subject)
001
[ she tries hard to keep her expression neutral. to reserve judgment. but the muscles of her face have a traitorous elastic quality and they screw up into a bewildered, critical expression all the same.
who beelines for the bar in a place like this? ]
Uh. That way. [ she points behind her. ] I don't think anyone's tending it, though.
no subject
He even tips his hat to her in thanks, hooking his index finger over the brim and tugging it down a little. At least it's partially a thank-you, but also he doesn't particularly want to endure that judgemental face he's getting targeted with. ]
Yeah. Looks like nobody's tendin' anythin' around here. You think they're all out on a field trip?
no subject
[ she squints at the surroundings, frowning somewhat. she's never heard of an entire town just ... vanishing before. evacuating? what did they know that juna and raylan don't? ]
It looks like they were planning to come back. Maybe we'll find out.
no subject
Dunno about you, but I hope we won't be stickin' around long enough to unearth whatever mysteries this place has to offer. [ A beat, and then he seems to remember himself and his manners. ] Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens.
no subject
[ she offers out her hand and a smile. no titles. they weren't the kind of soldiers who got titles, the sinners. ]
It's not so bad, is it? I mean, a little empty, but there are worse places to be.
WAKING UP TO A NIGHTMARE - let me know if I need to edit anything for this!
The sword, as it is, does fall from the other arm, causing the relative giant of a man to nearly curse (for all that Jonathan ever does)- that thing behind him does not truly react to such injury, but even so it was the only thing that managed to buy him time. And if there is one thing that keeps pounding upon his thoughts it is that he needs to stay away.
An embarrassment, certainly. A point of what should be shame. Where was the man who fought the undead knights to the death, who fought Jack the Ripper himself in the tunnels beneath the bridge? He cannot even say it is because he lacks hamon. There is simply something too alien about that thing he witnessed, and that is all that is on his mind as something-
Someone-
Crashes into him.]
hRE-RFP!
O-uh!
[Both man and beast give a shout as they stumble- and while Jonathan doesn't release his hold on the dog, the unbalancing is enough to indeed knock him off his feet. Still startled and caught off guard, his free hand reaches for the other on autopilot before he tenses.]
Wait- my sword, I've dropped it-
this is perf!!!
His heart is pounding in his ears, and every cell in his body is screaming at him to look behind him to see if the thing that's been chasing him is gaining on him. Its snarl had almost, for a moment, sounded familiar. Something jolts sharply through him, the long-buried feeling of wanting his Aunt Helen, and then an utterly hopeless pang following shortly thereafter. He grits his teeth and ignores it. Tries to.
Combined, it's all enough of a distraction that he really does just stand there for a moment and stare, and then visibly collects himself, attempting a hard yank to pull the guy to his feet. ]
Jesus Christ, I'm tellin' you we gotta go right this second and you're worried about a damn sword?
[ Yes, it's a weapon. But Raylan would prefer ranged attacks to melee ones, so to speak. ]
no subject
Still- panicked as he is- as they both are, really- Jonathan manages to not seem too frustrated about Raylan's incredulity.] Between one's fists and otherwise sir, it is better than the former! There- [he adds once on his feet- and kudos to Raylan if he successfully forced the man up, as Jonathan is about 230 pounds of muscle- before stooping to try and grab for the fallen blade's handle.]
A gun relies upon its limited ammo, but a blade has naught but itself- it is better to take what we can!
['You have it until it breaks at least,' he finds himself thinking, but he pushes the thought aside. He would have hardly brought it along for his final encounter on the ship after all, so thinking of if he'd had it then is most certainly useless.
(The thought is there all the same, lingering regardless.)]
no subject
Alright, Zorro, you can go ahead and swing your sword around as much as you want, just don't hit me with it, huh? Now let's go.
[ Now he does look back over his shoulder, and he can see it. It's ambling very slowly up the street Raylan's just come from, a dark and dusty grey figure, though it's visible primarily because of the old gas lantern it's holding out ahead of itself. The lantern casts a sickly yellow glow which congeals unpleasantly with the red tint to the light everywhere else. A knot tightens in Raylan's gut. ]
no subject
[Alas- a full thirty years after his time, that one, but at least Jonathan's got his sword (and dog) in time to join the other.] Of course not. We can't go back from whence I came out however, [he warns seriously.] I was being pursued-
[He cuts short, following Raylan's gaze to see the thing that he was fleeing from. While it doesn't send quite the same shock of peril that the headless being from his own apartment did, the lantern bearer certainly brings no peace of mind. He finds himself reminded of old tales of vicious fae- of things intent on leading their victims astray over cliffsides, or pitfalls.
Jonathan swallows, and calls for the other's attention.]
...As you said- let's go!
Arrival
However, there's something familiar about the gun belt on the stranger's waist. Even without a gun there, she can tell that he's used to having one. She continues to watch him as he looks around at all the empty shop stalls. (Which is something she finds a bit offensive. It's the middle of the day. Where are the shopkeepers to earn their gold??)
When he picks up what appears to be a coin, she finally steps out and he speaks.]
Yes, there's a tavern nearby, I think. Although, I didn't see any barkeep tending to it.
no subject
[ Raylan sets the magnet back down, nose wrinkled a little, and turns a level gaze on the woman. She looks old-timey too, at least to him, with her bow and arrows. Not to mention the clothes. The weaponry has him a little on edge, especially since he's unarmed and she's likely also picked that up, so he makes sure to keep both hands visible, his gait open and easy. ]
Where'd you get all that gear? [ He nods in her direction, hoping that it's clear he's asking about the bow and arrows. ] If you don't mind my askin'.
no subject
[Vex'ahlia watches him very carefully. She appreciates that he's keeping his hands where she can see it and it's obvious that he's trying to be at ease.]
This is all mine. I woke up with it on me. [She nods in the direction of his empty hands and gunbelt with a raised eyebrow.] It appears that you weren't so lucky.
no subject
Ain't like I need it right at this moment, but you know how it is. [ He can tell, just by looking, that she's familiar with a weapon. Once you're familiar with a weapon, enough to carry it on your person with regularity, you always feel safer when it's around. ] You know, I don't think I've ever seen someone carry a bow and arrows in real life. What kinda damage do those things do?
no subject
And I do understand. I went through a lot to get this bow and I don't like the thought of having it taken from me for any reason. [At his question, she gives him a smile that would cool the blood of her enemies.] Well, that depends on who's using it, would it? I've been training since I was a child. And it's a very special weapon. Plus, I have more than one trick to add to any arrow I use.