driftfleet | Whose Idea For A Practical Joke Was This. Thanks, Universe.

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Whose Idea For A Practical Joke Was This. Thanks, Universe.

Who: Katie McCoy and you.
Broadcast: Most definitely.
Action: ...the planet Lyuku, if you come looking, I guess?
When: Sept 7

[The problem with the investigations Katie's been doing over the past week is they've delivered her answers that she's reasonably sure nobody else will have. Which dilemma she probably should have expected if worst came to worst, but she's never been particularly good at planning ahead. Probably why she'll never get promoted, back home. (You know, apart from her general lack of reliability, but...)

The other problem is rock formations and trees and landmasses in general have no human sense of time, so the terrified message this world gives her could happen next year. Or it could happen in half an hour. She can't get enough coherency for specifics.

The other other problem is that every time she's tried to impart information to the Fleet it's been largely missed amidst the chaff she has to surround it with. Mikleo picked up one point last time. Edna and Sam also know, but that is too small a pool of people, and two of them have issues being noticed by most everyone else. This time, she can't afford anyone to not understand how very important this is.

In short, this is going to suck.]

URGENTSinging planet sent the dreams. [One.]

Planet is terrified [Two.]

What we saw is coming to ths planet in the near fture [...three. Usually a limit.]

marsva sent us here ergo it will happenw hile wer'e here ratings evactuate peope back la

[We're sorry. The pooka you're trying to talk to has passed out. Leave a message? She's... kind of in the middle of nowhere if anyone has a way to track her down, sprawled under some pretty huge and old trees. A geas to lie sucks.]

((Seriously, she won't be back to respond for at least a day. So feel free to threadjack others in this post and make her warning not be in vain.))

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[Nope... not hearing the voices in Sorey's head.]

Why would someone attack her? Do you think she found something?

[That was concerning.]

Edna and Mikleo are saying it's because she told the truth. [Sorey knew that she was a magical type of being (a 'pooka' in her memories) and that her name was Katie, but he'd kept calling her Dorothy out of respect for the lack of correction. It was the name she'd given him, so it's the name he'll use.] Apparently it hurts her; she could be in really bad shape.

[Keith frowned.]

Telling the truth hurts her?

[Well, that was a damn sucky thing to have to deal with. Holy crow. And he had no reason at this point not to believe something weird like that, his mind actually figuring it was probably some sort of curse with everything he'd been exposed to since arriving in the Fleet.]

Alright... hang on.

[It wasn't much further. He dove down into the basin, skimming the landscape at the minimum altitude he needed to keep the shuttle in the air.]

You have coordinates on that map? Is there a spot for us to land nearby or are we going to have to trek in to get her?

It looks like we'll have to land and walk a little, [Sorey mumbles, fiddling with the map and zooming out.] She's in that forested area over there. You can land in that clearing over to the left of it, right? [It's pretty small, bro]

[Keith checked the readout on the map, considered what he knew about the size of the shuttle and how well it handled in a pinch, and then nodded.]

That'll work.

[Zoom! He headed in that direction. It wasn't much further, really, and soon he was skimming the treetops and closing in on it. He kicked in the reverse thrusters to bring them to a hover over the spot (sorry for the rough stop!) and then brought the shuttle down into the clearing with a smooth landing on the ground... mere inches to spare and only a few scraped branches.]

[It's an incredible feat, and Sorey thumps Keith on the arm before yanking off the seat restraint and throwing open the door to jump out, using the comm to guide him over to where Katie must've collapsed.] She has to be around here somewhere...gah, there's so many bushes and trees, it's hard to see.

[As soon as they're on the ground, Edna orbs out of Sorey and looks around, trying to sense where Katie is. It's not the true earth of her home, so it's hard for her to discern.]

This way, I think.

[She doesn't need GPS. She's following the feel of the rocks around her friend and they say south-southwest.]

[Keith was used to pulling off crazy maneuvers, but Sorey had already seen that in the calibrations dream. He shrugged a little in response to the arm thump, and then climbed out after him, glancing over his shoulder at the GPS in his hand.

From what he could tell, Edna was right. She didn't have to 'think', because the GPS was pointing that way.]

Alright. Let's go.

[He had grabbed the laser sword that he had gotten at the last system, the handle of which was currently tucked into one of the pouches on his belt, just in case. However, as they made their way along, he did pull it out as a just-in-case measure. Between the heavy underbrush and the unknown area, Keith didn't want to be caught off guard.

If it got heavy enough, he would actually pull it out and activate the blade to cut through any heavy foliage that blocked their path.]

[Yeah Sorey's shoving that comm into his pocket, trusting Edna's instincts over this stuff any day. Her footsteps are surer than his, seeming to move around the foliage and undergrowth as if she'd made it herself until-]

Dorothy, [Sorey gasps, and breaks into a run to Katie's side.] Dorothy-!

[Katie is white and unresponsive, curled around her communicator with one hand still loosely covering it. If it helps, she doesn't seem to be bleeding any more, but her nose certainly bled heavily. Her ears less so, but there's still blood sluggishly pooled in one and trickling into her neckline. It's a fun thing when your own system attacks itself.

She'll be okay. Once she sleeps for a couple days.]

[That's Mikleo's cue to pop out as well, staff already in hand, calling up a healing arte.]

Let's take care of her injuries before we try moving her. Edna, give me a hand.

[Hopefully whatever happened to her when she told the truth is something that can be healed.]

[Keith hung back for now. He knew basic first aid, but this magic stuff they were doing was definitely not something he could do. However, if she didn't wake up, he would definitely offer to carry her back to the shuttle.]

[Almost before Mikleo began speaking, Edna was casting an arte to heal Katie. She's not sure if it'll help, but not doing anything isn't something she can really live with either.

She's here. She's going to help.]

Check her to make sure she's breathing. Now.

[He doesn't have a lot by way of handkerchiefs, so Sorey uses the hem of his shirt to wipe away as much blood from Katie's nose as he can, leaning down to listen to the breath leave her.] ...she's breathing okay. It's steady; I think we can move her. [Don't worry about helping Keith, you gotta fly; Sorey's the pack mule for a reason, and he's going to try and draw her up into his arms once Edna and Mikleo are done casting.]

Alright... let's go.

[Keith would make sure Sorey had a good grip on her. If he looked like he needed help, then Keith would offer. Otherwise, he'd run ahead to get the shuttle ready to move again.]

[Edna isn't worried about Sorey dropping Katie. He was pretty good with Rose that one time and he's always taken better care of others than himself.

But there is one thing she needs to correct.]

Sorey, her name is Katie, not Dorothy.

I know, [Sorey says simply as Keith jogs off ahead; the shuttle thankfully isn't far, but it'll still be a squeeze just to get the three of them in comfortably.]

When she's well again, we can find a way to confirm what she'd prefer.

[It's not as if asking her straight up would work, and she never appeared to mind Dorothy, but who knows if it's forced or not.]

[Keith climbed in, and started getting the shuttle started up and ready to go. It was definitely a tight squeeze now that they had three more people to load in. He frowned a bit.]

Can't you guys do that... light... merging... thing again?

[Edna cuts her eyes at Keith so that he can see that she's annoyed by the dumb human.]

My first priority was to make sure that Katie is fine. Your comfort ranks lower.

[But, now that she knows that Katie is going to be okay, Edna does orb back into Sorey. She doesn't want to be cramped into the shuttle any more than the humans.]

I think she's stable for now. If you notice any changes, say the word and we can try healing her again.

[Until then, yeah, doin the light merge. Have fun guys.]

[Even with the two of them inside of their vessel, it still takes some doing to get the three physical beings back into the shuttle without crushing anybody's limbs.] Don't mind Edna, [Sorey says as an aside, rearranging Katie so she's sprawled as comfortably as possible across their laps,] she's just worried.

[Keith gave Sorey a weak nod as he made sure they were securely settled in the shuttle.]

It's fine. I wasn't really thinking of anyone's comfort... more that it was just going to be easier to fit another person in here if there were less actual bodies.

[He shrugged a little, not even put out by it. If anything, Keith understood. He almost got annoyed in response because he had a similar way of dealing with stress, but he wasn't going to yell at Sorey to get to Edna. That was just dumb.

Of course, that didn't stop his tone from being somewhat grumbly and defensive about it as he kicked the little craft into gear and raced them back to Katie's ship.]

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Whose Idea For A Practical Joke Was This. Thanks, Universe.

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