Children of the Gods: Arc 2 [Game/Closed]

[Lunar Templar]

"Can the answer wait till I don't hurt all over and not super tired" Aria said with a yawn and a wince, her eyes barely staying open to say even that "Sides ... I really over did it ..." Aria mumbled something incoherent as fatigue from over exertion set in, but before it claimed her she did manage to get out 'it's dead' as she passed out.

 

[IFS]

Nicole wasn't sure why it took her so long to find some good firewood in the forest, but by the time she finished collecting it and gotten back to camp a lot had happened. Aria had apparently been set upon by some sort of monster and blown up half her arm fighting it, I hope she's ok.

Andrew had set about healing her and then collapsed, he's still an asshole, but at least he's still helping, she thought though the insult felt a bit hollow. Andrew just didn't seem worth being spiteful towards, though maybe that was just a result of her feeling the exhaustion of the day's events, just forget about it we need to stay as a team here. It felt a bit odd to be thinking so, she had never been much of a team player before, but then this adventure had probably changed a lot of things.

"I found this black feather that is making my brand hurt. Either of you have any idea what it might be?"

Steven yelled out from behind her, and she dropped off her firewood at the camp before heading over to see what was wrong. The brand you got from the lady covered in raven feathers? Well I dunno maybe its a RAVEN feather? her thoughts seemed more bitter than she was though, it had been a long day after all. I need to get some sleep, I'm starting to get grouchy...

She tried not to yawn or sigh as she approached and looked at the feather "Probably a raven feather, if it makes your brand hurt then leave it alone," she said, Etna might know more about the thing, or Prometheus for that matter but she didn't have much else to offer.

She turned back to the camp and started to walk over to Andrew and Aria, bending down next to Andrew to see if he was ok. She had seen fellow athletes collapse from things before, it usually wasn't a good sign. He didn't seem to have fallen too hard though, it looked to just be exhaustion for the most part. She rolled him over to check for injuries and finding nothing serious stood back up.

 

[Terratina.]

Tired - that word summed up the mood of the moment.

Etna had just been on autopilot while collecting firewood. Firewood meant a fire, and fire meant warmth which also meant food - something the group and her probably needed, having been on a trek to the underworld and back. She was snapped out of her daze when the question of the feather came up. She absent-mindedly replied to Steven's question, and began with the obvious answer, "A feather; obviously." But, a sudden thought came to mind and the answer grew to being a more helpful one, thought it was loaded with blind guessing. She continued on, snark dripping from every word, "We're near that place where we met Badb, yeah? Maybe she's left a trail for us." Still, it did sound like one of the silly things the war goddess would do. Etna added, "Or just you've gained an allergy to feathers along with that brand?" Then she shut herself up, and continued on to the camp, firewood in hand.

'Christ, Steven. Just what have you gotten yourself into?'

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

"Probably a raven feather, if it makes your brand hurt then leave it alone."

Steven really had to force himself not to face palm.

"I could tell what bird it was from," Steven said, "I meant did you know if it was a warning, a direction we should go, a clue, or... something like that. I thought one of you might of known something from mythology to tell why the god may be contacting us in such a vague manner."

"We're near that place where we met Badb, yeah? Maybe she's left a trail for us. Or just you've gained an allergy to feathers along with that brand?"

"Haha," Steven deadpanned, "That is more on what I was thinking. I doubt I have been cursed to be adverse to feathers, or the harpies we fought in Hell should had of effected me."

 

[Terratina.]

A snirk appeared on Etna's face, "Vague? That's her, alright." There was the reason Etna decided to fly the nest so soon rather than waiting until she had a permanent job of sorts. She didn't want to live with a person - never mind a god - that spouted vague statements all the time. And then the whole storm thing happened and she had been dragged into the world of the supernatural. Just when she had thought she had put that stuff behind her. And now Etna had to deal with that all over again. It was all such much bother. She had simply ignored that her part of life, until all this happened.

 

[Green Shoes]

Steven and co. returned to the group, laden with both firewood and questions. Andrew and Aria were out for the count; Remus was off brooding. Vera and Able sat in the dark, quiet.

Prometheus was hunched over the deer, having just finished skinning it; Remus sword next to him. He turned and greeted the the group, his hands rather bloody.

"Hey, I've got dinner if you can whip up a fire."

Turning back to the beast, he began filleting it; removing organs, and burying them under small mounds of dirt. The forest was quiet, and the moon was bright, high in the sky.

"So did we settle on where we were going next?"
He spoke over the sound of the blade, stripping flesh from bone.

 

[Deu Sex]

Shortly after taking off to brood, Remus returned to the grounds. Although his expression was flustered still and his face a bit on the red side, he looked more resolute than he had before. Taking a moment to think and breathe had helped him a little, as much as a little could help. He had considered crying but decided not to do so. The others might have heard him in the trees, and returning to camp with swollen red eyes would make him look soft.

Prometheus had just begun stripping a deer of its flesh when he arrived. It was a nostalgic sight. Remus used to remember his uncle doing the same when they went hunting.

"So did we settle on where we were going next?"

"I think we should get going now." he said, walking over to the titan. "Aria was attacked, almost killed, by a monster in these woods. There could be more. It's not safe here."

 

[hiei82]

With no one asking her any more questions, Vera continued back to Aria. there, she placed some wet bandages over the burns to keep them cool. She was going to give her some pain medication as well, but sleep seemed to have overtaken her. "Good" she thought to herself; signing in relief.

There after, she got some covers for Andrew - who she now owed at least 2 favors - and moved him to a better resting position than "flat-on-his-face" where he passed out. That was when Prometheus began to speak. "Hey, I've got dinner if you can whip up a fire."

Vera didn't have any particular ability to start fires, but she needed something to do between the three hour shifts of bandage changing and pain relieving. Making and tending a flame seemed just the task to keep her awake, so she stood up and made her way to the proto-god to help build the flame. "I'm kinda surprised-" she muttered to Prometheus "-I thought fires were... you know... kinda your thing." There she went again, not knowing her myths. As far as she knew, Prometheus was know for giving fire to people... and something about a vulture. Whatever it was, she quickly sat down and started making kindling and looking for some matches.

Remus spoke up a few seconds later, responding to something Prometheus said which she had missed. "I think we should get going now. Aria was attacked, almost killed, by a monster in these woods. There could be more. It's not safe here." he said, giving them his opinion. Vera shook her head. "I don't think that's possible. Aria's in no state to be moved until Andrew's recovered and that's gonna take all night. Meanwhile, I don't even have the strength to light my sword up right now; much less carry either of them out of here." she said. "You make a good point, but I don't know if we can do anything about it." she finished as she finished cutting the tinder-wood.

A moment later she realized she was being a bit dismissive and rash in her judgement so she made an addendum. "I'm open to suggestions though."

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Steven put the firewood down.

"Prometheus, I found this raven feather that was setting my brand off," Steven said, holding up the stick with feather stuck to the end, "I assume it was sent by she who owns my soul, but I have no idea what it could be. You know?"

 

[Green Shoes]

Prometheus turned to Remus, dragging the corpse behind him towards Stevens firewood.

"I agree with Vera. I feel we're far safer in a defensible area where some of us can rest. We need food as well..."

Dropping the corpse, he moved the firewood Steven dropped to Vera's kindling. With a flick of a finger, a small flame leaped from the Titan into the wood, sparking the tinder. A small but warm fire began to blaze into life.

Looking back at Remus, he spoke again.

"If we move now, we have to carry Aria and Andrew; we're too weak to fend off foes on the move, especially thinned out in the forest."

As he was speaking, he tore flesh from the deer and started throwing it onto the fire. It wasn't going to be particularly tasty, but it would suffice for now. He cleaned the blade before handing it back to Remus.

"We'll take shifts, no? I'll take first watch; you look like you need rest."

He didn't know what sort of support to show the damaged Son of Mars, so he simply clasped him by the shoulders and nodded.
Walking back over to Steven, he inspected the feather.

"Hmm. I saw others like it across the bank, so I'm not sure. If it's hurting your brand then I guess it's still pretty...charged, if that makes sense. I'm sure we'll find answers in the morning."

The firelight threw shadows among the group, highlighting their weary figures and cracked faces. He spoke to them, encouraging rest.

"The deer will be ready soon; I suggest you lot rest up, you need it. I'll wake one of you up if I need a break."

With that, he left to circle the clearing, keeping his eyes peeled for movement.

 

[IFS]

"The deer will be ready soon; I suggest you lot rest up, you need it. I'll wake one of you up if I need a break.

Nicole nodded and found someplace to lie down decently comfortably, ending up sitting leaning back against a tree. She yawned and then closed her eyes to try and sleep, it seemed like it should be easy to sleep with how tired she was but her mind kept going back to everything that had happened today. Did we really go into the underworld? We did, even if it seems unlikely, we went into the afterlife and killed a god, geez where could we possibly go next from here?

She kept her eyes closed and forced the images from her mind, and soon began to drift into a light sleep, though somehow she doubted she would have much in the way of good dreams.

 

[Deu Sex]

Remus could only frown as Prometheus and Vera voiced their disapproval of his idea. It was true what they were saying. Moving out when two of them were passed out from exhaustion wasn't exactly smart, especially if there were more monsters roaming about. Staying would be safer.

"We'll take shifts, no? I'll take first watch; you look like you need rest."

His gazed turned to Prometheus as the titan patted him on the shoulder. Remus sighed and shook his head. "I'll take both. I'm not going to be getting any sleep tonight anyway."

Remus picked the blade back up, sheathing it as his side as he looked around. He couldn't see much with the little firelight they had. He sat down on the ground, legs crossed as he lay near the fire scanning the surrounding darkness.

 

[Green Shoes]

Day broke over the group; most had collapsed around the fire; Remus hadn't slept, his face marked by fatigue and stress.
Prometheus groaned, and stretched, waking everyone up in a similar fashion to their first night in the bar.

That feels like so long ago...

The last of the deer had been eaten last night; everyone was tired and hungry. The Titan hoped that they could stock up in town, before setting of to god knows where.

"Everyone up. Lets go, lets go; don't want to spend too much time out here."

Rubbing his head, he checked on Andrew and Aria.

"You two alright? Good to walk?"

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

"You two alright? Good to walk?"

Steven looked around at a nearby tree, "If you can't, I could make usable walking sticks for you two."

 

[Lunar Templar]

"You two alright? Good to walk?" Prometheus asked followed by Steven offering to make her a crutch of some kind.

Aria replied by mumbling 'five more minutes' before rolling away from them, on to her chard arm then yelped in pain rather loudly as she very suddenly rolled the other way clutching her still very much hurt arm, followed shortly there after by the rest of her injury's making there displeasure known about her sudden movement.

Aria pushed her self into a sitting position, keeping her burnt right arm close to her and still as possible "Anybody else feel like a baked potato?" Aira said, trying to make a joke as she pushed her self to her feet, which given the burn coverage on her body, hurt like hell. But she stood and faced the Titan "I'll be fine." She was of course, not fine, and though she was trying to hide it she was clearly in a lot of pain from just standing up.

 

[DarkRawen]

Andrew woke up disoriented. He had slept well, better than for a long while, it felt like. However, he was rather confused and unsure. The surgeon to-be wasn't aware of it yet, but his mind was desperately trying to make sense of what had happened after he had healed Aria. There was a hole there, due to him passing out so suddenly. For now, Andrew just felt out of his element.  

It wasn't the first time it had happened, if he fell asleep while studying, or when listening to music, basically any time he had not intended to, Andrew would feel like this. And he loathed it. He felt like his own mind was working against him, he felt unintelligent and vunerable. In this state of unsureness, he walked over to a person who might be able to answer, Andrew not even noticing or realizing that Prometheus was speaking to him.  

"Etna," he said, making sure she was awake. Any other person might hesitate to ask what he was about to ask, but Andrew didn't. He just wanted to make sense of it all. "Did we have sex yesterday?" His tone wasn't sarcastic or rude, just... Confused. Honestly puzzled. Why her? Was it even her? Or just someone with dark hair? While he was waiting for an answer, he glanced around. It was a forest. They were still in the forest? Oh. So that hadn't happened. Was it a dream then? It had to have been someone else, similar to her.

"Nevermind." However, he didn't leave just yet. "What happened after I healed Aria?" He was still a bit confused, but not in a bad mood.  

I'm hungry, though.

 

[hiei82]

"Everyone up. Lets go, lets go; don't want to spend too much time out here." Prometheus said, getting them up. Vera groggily got up and started moving. She'd spent much of the evening following Andrew's instructions - keeping the bandages wet and providing pills as needed. Between that, she'd been able to get a few hours of sleep; enough to keep her going but little else.

Turning to look at the group, she noted Aria was also awake and joking - a good sign - but, despite her best efforts, was clearly still in pain - a not so good sign. Taking the blessing, she got up and headed over to Aria where she gave her the rest of the pills and a full water bottle. "Just in case" she said quietly, pretending to fall for her ploy.

Once that was done, she turned to Prometheus as asked "So, what's the plan?" Normally she wouldn't have talked to the proto-god if her life depended on it, but between the last two days she just didn't have the energy to care.

 

[Terratina.]

The first thing Etna woke up to was a strange question, followed by some others. She snorted and shook her him, "No. Christ, is that all you care about?" And got up. She stretched and thought about the little situation she found herself in; she could have fun with this, but it probably wasn't the best one idea to mess with a head that seemed to be already messed up. 'Wait, I'm not sleep-manipulating am I? ' Etna lowered her arms and smirked at that thought, 'Like that would ever happen.' With that, she turned to Andrew, "Ask the others." At least Etna had stopped herself from adding 'sicko' to that sentence...

 

[DarkRawen]

"No. Christ, is that all you care about?"

"A simple no would suffice," he replied, remembering that he wasn't going to be rude to her. It was hard not to do. Her reaction amused him though, perhaps it was the snorting, but he had to smirk.

How very charming.

He had to admit that it was almost cute. Of course, it was Etna, which negated anything that could be ever cute. She was like a bee, stinging you the second you came to close to her.

"And, to answer your question, no. I just felt like asking. I have vivid dreams." Would she like hearing that? Of course not, but it was the explanation, and it wasn't really rude. "It wasn't actually you, though. Just someone who shared a few traits. So don't worry, or whatever." At least, he doubted it was her. By now, he was getting less confused. From experience, he realized that he had probably been too tired to do anything after healing Aria. That would explain the confusion, as well as the place he had woken up.

"Ask the others."

"No need, I managed to piece it together myself." He started walking away, but turned back to her. "Sorry to have bothered you." Now she had no reason to get upset. Andrew frowned. He didn't like saying sorry, even if it was just to avoid confrontation. He tended to avoid doing so even if he was pretending to be nice. The son of Apollo sighed, and went over to Aria.

"I'll finish healing you now," he muttered, and did so, not waiting for a reply. He held the most burned hand, and healed the rest of the wounds without letting go of it, channeling the healing through her body and to the damaged places. It took a short while, but with as much sleep as he had gotten, he felt like it was a lot easier than it had been the day before. His powers seemed to have increased, slightly, probably because of how much he had ended up using them. When he was done, he let go of her.

"There. Skin will be sensitive, use sun-screen. The pain should be gone soon." Now, what to do? Right, Vera. He had told her to take care of Vera, and from the looks of it, she had. He turned to her. What to say, though?

"Not bad." That was all the people who he had to talk to, right? Probably. It seemed like they were going to leave now, so he made sure he had all his stuff, and walked up to Prometheus. "Where are we headed?"

 

[Dogmatic99]

Able woke up easily enough. Super easily in fact. Sleeping in an unfamiliar place always did that to him, that combined with a hatred of camping made last night a very restless one. Staying up to help on watch at least gave him an excuse to stay up and keep moving for a while. Everything they'd gone through the past day had put him on edge and catching up on what had happened to Aria and Vera hadn't helped his mood. For the time he'd helped keep watch he'd mostly paced around the camp site, throwing looks back at the prone members of their party like an over anxious guard dog.

At least morning was here now. Everything looked less dire in clear light of day. Now they just had to get moving.

"Where are we headed?"

Abe moved to the centre of the group and scratched a line in the dirt with the spear shaft. An arrow pointing upwards with a big capital "N" at the top. Dis said that they had to go North to find the Norse gods and Abe was determined to find some of them.