driftfleet | [muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

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[muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

Who: You! Me! Everybody!
Broadcast: idk but we've sure got a pretty broad cast of folks eh, eh
Action: HECK YEAH PLANET MINGLE
When: 10/7 until plot update or recaptcha

It's a deep, deep forest filled to the brim with fungi, mysterious life forms, and pitch black darkness. Explore if you dare and discover all these things and more! Just don't get lost...

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[mikleo do not say such scary things] I didn't hunt those dinosaurs! If anything, they were hunting me.

[how else is he supposed to deter you]

Oh, is that why you were handing out hundreds of pounds of jerky to everyone you knew? Because you were being hunted?

[uh-huh.]

That jerky was all mammalian! I don't like reptile jerky, it smokes weird.

Look, I won't hunt the mice, okay? Even if it is perfectly safe.

Good.

[The attitude leaves him unruffled. He would rather have a huffy Sorey
than a diseased one, thank you very much.]

Isn't there something else you can hunt that isn't unreasonably sized? I'd have thought rodent meat would be kind of gamey.

[Even if he was capable of eating these days he'd find the idea unappealing.]

If there're any rabbits here, I guess. They'd probably be the size of a prickleboar though.

Maybe closer to the edge of the forest? I think I saw some normal animals there, but it's hard to hunt so close to the edge. They're always ready to bolt.

Maybe you could ask around, see if there's anyone who might have a bow you could borrow. The ability to attack long-range would help.

[Technically they'd have a bow if they armatized, but yeah.

...Yeah.]

[Yeah...]

Mm, I have a bow, it's arrows I'm worried about. I did a lot of hunting before and I couldn't recover that many, so I'm running low. I don't think I'm gonna be able to offer anybody jerky this time around. [Seriously depressed about that, too.]

Can you make more? I know it would be time-consuming, but maybe if you found a tree with small enough branches...

[It's probably a long shot, considering how huge the trees are, but he's not sure what else to do.]

I should at least gather materials while I'm here, at the very least. It can't hurt to have more arrows.

But to get the fletching I'll need to bring down a few birds...arrowheads might be an issue, unless that rock in the cliffs is less porous than it looks...

I can talk to Dezel about that. He probably knows how to get up to where the nests are, and he wouldn't object if we gather molted feathers.

[Provided they don't tell him the feathers are for hunting other animals, presumably.]

I would feel really bad, getting Dezel to find feathers for me when I'm just gonna use them for arrows to kill all his little woodland friends.

[you're so inconveniently honest, good grief.]

Careful you don't run out of arrows trying to take down the birds.

[They're harder to catch than prickleboars, even if they're giants.]

An alternative: I hunt down these mice, right here, and risk a very mild case of dysentery. [it probably won't even happen]

[sOREY]

Forget it. Just because I'm no longer sick doesn't mean you have to go looking for an excuse to catch a disease.

You are making this so much harder than it needs to be...

All right, all right. I'm gonna come back, then. My bow's in my quarters. [Enjoy this closeup of treebark as Sorey shoves his comm into his breast pocket to shimmy back down the tree he's currently in.]

[When Sorey reaches the ship, he won't have to go all the way to his quarters, or Mikleo's; instead he'll find Mikleo seated cross-legged on the ramp leading up to the Huntress cargo bay, the bow across his lap, quietly fine-tuning the string while he waits. There's a quiver with the last of Sorey's arrow supply beside him.]

[Sorey's face changes when he sees Mikleo on the ramp, picking up his pace to jog over a little faster.] I didn't expect to see you out here! Are you feeling better?

Edited 2016-10-26 06:54 (UTC)

Much better, actually.

[And he's not all talk, either; during Sorey's absence out in the wild, the change in Mikleo is both significant and measurable. Thanks to passing the two-week mark since his return and the fresh air of the planet itself, the colour's returned to his skin, his eyes are brighter and more alert than they've been since the month before, and he looks more stable, sitting up straight without anything to support himself.]

It might just be the cabin fever talking, but I was thinking of finally getting out there to explore, myself.

[Sorey's approaching trot slows and he takes in the glow of Mikleo's face, the shine of life and intellectual focus in his eyes. He's as breathtaking as he ever was before.]

...well then. [Sorey takes the offered bow and pats his chest. It's been a while, and the last time Mikleo entered his body was-

Well. They'll have to face it some time. And now, with his heart swelling with affection and his spirit braver than it's been in months, Sorey thinks it's safe to try.] Coming?

[A flicker of hesitation crosses Mikleo's expression for a moment, but he shrugs it off stubbornly and allows his body to dissolve into light, drawn to Sorey's body as effortlessly as ever. He gives himself a moment to feel it out, to take in the sensation of being tucked away into his corner of the Shepherd's soul, warm and safe. It feels the same, just like it should. Familiar, and...

...well, it makes sense. His hesitation hadn't had anything to do with Sorey, anyway. And he knows he needs to be up front about that, too.]

For a while. I thought I'd find some natural water, maybe try to realign myself a bit. Anyway, you haven't needed my help with this sort of thing for years.

[The message is subtle, accompanied by the return of his initial discomfort- he's already having difficulty with food. A proper hunt would be so much worse, so he can't stay.

That okay?]

That's true. [Sorey didn't miss that moment of fear from Mikleo, but rather than discouraging him (as it had with Zaveid), he feels bolstered. They're both afraid of the same thing. Even if that thing has to do with the state of Sorey's soul, he feels a little bit better for it. Mikleo has that effect on him, maybe.

As Mikleo settles comfortably back inside of him as if he'd never left, Sorey presses a hand to his sternum, steady and sure. It doesn't mean anything; Mikleo's not literally inside of his physical body, but it's as close as he can get with this sort of thing.] First stop, that little stream I found while exploring. It must lead to a larger body of water, maybe a nice lake.

[More than anything, keeping Mikleo inside of him is...good. He'd already experienced with Lailah, but what he'd told Stefan in the clinic those few tumultuous days after everything, his crushing shame over not being able to support and shield his friends the way he was supposed to, that had been perhaps the most devastating thing. He's still afraid, still checks in with Lailah, with Mikleo, with anyone who'll answer on the state of his soul, but as long as it's clean and pure, he wants it to remain open for them.

They don't need it, really. The malevolence on the fleet is irritating, but with the exception of Mikleo, they've all lived in it for years and years.

That doesn't mean they should have to.

Sorey presses his hand against his chest again before shouldering his quiver and jumping down back onto the path leading into the woods.]

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[muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

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