[CHB] IC 1: The New Arrivals

[GrandDM]

Army Base

Lan frowns and pulls out a card from his pocket. He looks at it a moment before replacing it.
"Must have been a typo. Anyway, sure, where did you last leave off at?"

"Trigonometry."

[Haleyintraining]

Army Base

Anika has to work a bit harder to keep her forced smile holding as her father spoke. Her history lessons might be dry, but at least they were based on things new and exciting to her, adventures and quests and danger. But trigonometry... it was just so boring. The concepts were simple, yet the chapters in the textbooks dragged on and on. Mr. Ling never had let her skip ahead or speed up the pace. Just the thought of those math lessons made her want to shudder, but she retained her composure, nodding her agreement to her father's words.

[Deathkeeper]

Army Base

Lan's face brightens. "Oh, math, that works fine. No, just a pad and pencil will probably suffice. Have you set up a space for us, Captain?"

[GrandDM]

Army Base

Lan's face brightens. "Oh, math, that works fine. No, just a pad and pencil will probably suffice. Have you set up a space for us, Captain?"

"Certainly. Right this way."

He leads the pair to a small building on the outskirts of the base. The monster scent is noticeably stronger here.

"Here's the schoolroom."

((Who's on escort detail for Lan?))

[Haleyintraining]

Army Base

Anika pulls out a notebook and a pencil from the drawstring bag she carries with her, and flips to a page full of diagrams of triangles. The margins are full of doodles, swirls and symbols that tell a story for her and no one else. She flips the pages a few more times, past earlier lessons on trigonometry and circle trigonometry and sine waves and radians until she reaches a fresh sheet.

She looks attentively to her father and Lan now, waiting for further direction from either.

[Deathkeeper]

Army base

((If you mean who's keeping an eye on him, probably just some mooks. If you mean who's his backup, probably Fel or Rick since they're old enough to pose as drivers.))

"That will be all, Captain. I'll let you know if we need anything. And thank you." he says with a polite smile.

[GrandDM]

Army base

((If you mean who's keeping an eye on him, probably just some mooks. If you mean who's his backup, probably Fel or Rick since they're old enough to pose as drivers.))

"That will be all, Captain. I'll let you know if we need anything. And thank you." he says with a polite smile.

((Let's go with Rick, unless anyone objects - it will keep the scene moving.))

The captain closes the door.

"Not quite all, I'm afraid. You see, this building is right on the edge of the base. The walls are thick enough to block out a lot of sound... which means I've got you right where I want you."

He turns, and raises a hand to his face, pulling it away to reveal the sickening grin of a dracaena. The rest of the skin and uniform drops to the ground, and it lunges, claws outstretched!

Rick, who was following at a distance, is waiting outside and doesn't hear a thing.

[Haleyintraining]

Anika's eyes go wide with shock, and the cogs turn wildly in her head, trying to make sense of the scene she sees before her, but to no avail. She's frozen to the spot, terrified.

Is she asleep? This doesn't feel like any dream she's ever known, but do you know you're dreaming before you wake? The logic seemed to fit with a dream... things that didn't make sense that she hadn't questioned at the time. Suddenly she had a new tutor out of nowhere, a tutor her father had never mentioned before he arrived. Her father had acted quite hostile towards her; he was a serious person, but he loved Anika and wouldn't say such things about her hobbies lightly. It was he who had sat with Anika on warm nights in Italy, pointing out the tail of Draco arching across the sky.

So she must be dreaming. After that was decided in her brain, a matter that took no more than a few seconds, her body kicked back into action and she dived behind the school house desk.

[Deathkeeper]

Army Base

Lan pivots and steps, letting the monster fly past him, smiling.
"Fastest rescue op ever!"
Normally it takes weeks for him to get close to a half-blood, proceed to be alone with them, and inevitably get attacked by monsters. Now he doesn't have to give that math lesson!
...okay, he definitely would have diverted the subject to Greek history or biology anyway.
His expression darkens a bit as he kicks off his false feet, twirling his staff into a defensive stance.
"I should ask what you did with her real father, though."
Now that s-'s gotten real Anika might start to notice his hooves and how his legs bend in a much more natural way than she saw before, just not a human way, and his ears, which until I'm corrected by specific lore I'm going to assume are shaped like a goat's like many interpretations.

[5a Violista]

Camp - Near the Lake

Roxanne laughs. "No, I meant someone else playing along."

The relaxing song has a tempo shift, and the melody shifts to be some popular song that everybody knows, and whoever doesn't know it is probably missing out on everything in life. "Come on, I'm sure you know this song." It looks like she's about to sing as well as play.


Camp - Training Area

Melissa nods at Fel, and stands there, waiting for the two minutes to go by.

When Rick and Colin arrive, Melissa responds. "Well, yes," she says, only looking at them briefly. (I figure that's par for her - in the whole year that Melissa has been here, she has only rarely and briefly looked people in the eyes. Except during combat training.)

"You see, I've been cursed by a hideous monster to be made of stone for the rest of my life, until my Prince Charming comes along and saves me," she says with an absolutely straight face, keeping track of the amount of time left before she goes and searches for Fel. Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven...

[Haleyintraining]

Army Base

From behind the desk, Anika surveyed the action unfolding before her.

Was her new tutor... were his legs... was he a goat? What were they called, those mythological half-goat things... centaurs? No, that's for horses...

She really had to stop stargazing before she slept. Mythology was meddling with her brain.

[GrandDM]

Army Base

Lan pivots and steps, letting the monster fly past him, smiling.
"Fastest rescue op ever!"
Normally it takes weeks for him to get close to a half-blood, proceed to be alone with them, and inevitably get attacked by monsters. Now he doesn't have to give that math lesson!
...okay, he definitely would have diverted the subject to Greek history or biology anyway.
His expression darkens a bit as he kicks off his false feet, twirling his staff into a defensive stance.
"I should ask what you did with her real father, though."
Now that s-'s gotten real Anika might start to notice his hooves and how his legs bend in a much more natural way than she saw before, just not a human way, and his ears, which until I'm corrected by specific lore I'm going to assume are shaped like a goat's like many interpretations.

"Oh, her father's fine... but if you want to see him again, girl, you'd better come with me!"

The door slams open, and Rick backs in, twin swords out and flying, hacking through several more dracaenae that are chasing him. The one in his right hand gleams red, and the one in his left is wreathed in wisps of black mist.

"Hey, Lan, things just got - OHHHKAY!"

He narrowly avoids having his throat taken out by the draecana posing as Anika's father, limbo-ing backwards to avoid the flying claw, then neatly lopping his head off while impaling another one with his other hand. They both crumble to dust.

"Kid, get over here. Lan, take the rear. I can open a hole, but it won't last long."

There are a whole load of spears and tridents jabbing at him, but Rick parries most and avoids those that he can't.

Camp - Training Area

Melissa nods at Fel, and stands there, waiting for the two minutes to go by.

When Rick and Colin arrive, Melissa responds. "Well, yes," she says, only looking at them briefly. (I figure that's par for her - in the whole year that Melissa has been here, she has only rarely and briefly looked people in the eyes. Except during combat training.)

"You see, I've been cursed by a hideous monster to be made of stone for the rest of my life, until my Prince Charming comes along and saves me," she says with an absolutely straight face, keeping track of the amount of time left before she goes and searches for Fel. Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven...

Rick spreads his arms wide, his customary grin spread across his face.

"Well, wait no longer! I'm right here!"

[Deathkeeper]

Army Base

Lan goes over to one of the discarded shoes and pulls out a bowstring he had secreted in the foam before placing them both in his pockets. No need to leave behind evidence. He starts stringing the bow.
"Darn it, Rick! If you weren't so delicious it might have been a whole five minutes before they blew your cover! You might have had a new personal record!"
He then rolls up his pants well exposing his goat legs...along with the stash of arrows he got past the metal detectors as his "leg braces."
"Let's rock."

Near the lake

"Aww but then I'd have to get uupp." he whines sarcastically. He'll sing duet with her, though.

[Haleyintraining]

Army Base

Anika cautiously comes out from behind the desk. Well, if she was going to have such an insanely exciting dream, might as well just go with it instead of wasting her slumber hiding behind a desk. It's not like such lucid dreams really came around that often, and who knew when she was going to wake up.

"I don't believe we've met..?"

Normally she would be more passive amongst strangers, but she was emboldened by the fact she thought none of what she was experiencing was truly real.

[GrandDM]

"Just because you aren't as good-looking as me, Lan... I'm Rick, by the way. Excuse me one moment."

He ducks, allowing a trident strike to go past his head, then grabs it and pulls, slamming the draecena on the other end into her fellows, causing them all to stumble. Standing up, he kicks one of them, sending all of them sprawling. He sheaths his left-hand sword into one of the twin scabbards crossed on his back, grabs Anika's arm and drags her out of the door, pulling her towards the fence that runs around the perimeter.

"Come on, Lan!"

The draecenae scrabble to their feet as fast as they can, taking off in pursuit of the three.

[Deathkeeper]

Army Base

"Like Tarturus I'm not! You have any idea how many times I've convinced rescuees of my good intentions with my face alone? More than you, I'd imagine, and I have goat ears! Even if they don't fully notice them it takes some serious hotness to compensate."
He says all of this of course while trotting backwards and picking off the few beasties dumb enough to leave their heads and vital organs exposed for more than two seconds.
Also of note is that Lan rarely used bawdy humor like that, it's just that Rick makes it really hard not to.

[Haleyintraining]

Army Base

Anika is vaguely perturbed; is that what her subconscious thinks about? Boys (and goat-boys) debating their own hotness?

She allows herself to be pulled along, having no idea where they were going herself. She was just along for the ride, she supposed.

[GrandDM]

Army Base

Anika is vaguely perturbed; is that what her subconscious thinks about? Boys (and goat-boys) debating their own hotness?

She allows herself to be pulled along, having no idea where they were going herself. She was just along for the ride, she supposed.

As they reach the fence, Rick slashes at it with his sword, parting the reinforced metal links like paper. He pushes Anika through, then comes after her. He waits for Lan to get through the hole, then wrenches the links together and pulls a portable welding torch from his backpack, running it quickly up and down the links to seal them. As the draecenae reach the fence, he shuts off the torch and steps back, returning it to his pack and drawing his second sword again. The monsters hiss and claw at the fence, but can't break through it. Some break off and start looking for another way out.

"Come on. I arranged emergency transport before we left."

Assuming nothing else unexpected happens, he'll lead the group across a couple of fields and into a small copse, where two pegasi are grazing. He leaps up onto one and pulls Anika up behind him, then grins at Lan.

"Mount up, fuzzy."

[Deathkeeper]

Army Base

Admittedly, hot members of their preferred gender kicking bad dude butt is a common dream among teenagers. Although maybe in an actual dream they would have been shirtless and human.
"Are you kidding me? All natural seats! Way better than that stupid truck. Which smelled terrible, by the way. Take us up, buddy!" he says patting his steed, who he's probably grazed with a few times.

Once in the air he'll take a moment to adjust his pants so his tail can stick out and not be wrapped uncomfortably around his waist.

[Haleyintraining]

Army Base

"I don't suppose I should tell my Father that I'm leaving..?"

Anika's voice is still filled with the nonchalance of not believing her current situation to be true. When she realizes that it is, her calm is likely to shatter, but for now she's completely at ease with her imaginary buttkicking boys aboard a pegasus. Pegasi weren't something that would be completely out-there to feature in her dreams - after all, she was quite familiar with a different pegasus, swooping down to allow Perseus to rescue Andromeda from the cliff of her mother's folly.

[GrandDM]

Well, all pegasi are descended from that Pegasus, who's immortal.

They take off, soaring through the night sky.

"Anika... your father is dead."

[Deathkeeper]

Skies

"Well, we- wait, what? Are you sure, Rick? Infiltrators don't often kill important people. Draws too much attention and loses them bargaining chips."

[Haleyintraining]

Skies

"WHAT?!"

Anika's quirky, bizarre, but altogether fun dream had just popped into a nightmare. She'd had just about enough of this. She squeezed her eyes tight, hoping to wake up, hoping to be able to open her eyes in her own bed and go out to the common room to see her Father, prim and proper in his uniform. But no luck. All that existed beneath her eyelids was the image of that creature tearing off his skin.

[GrandDM]

"Well, Lan, where do you think the disguise came from? Draecanae don't have the power to shapeshift or veil themselves... and if it was a veil, it would have dissipated. If it was a shapeshift, it would be gone. The disguise dropped. Crumpled. There's only one explanation for that.

Besides, things have been hotting up on the monster front recently. You must have noticed - how many attacks have we had in the past couple of months? Do you really think that amount of monsters is normal for a retrieval? There's something up at the moment."

[Deathkeeper]

Skies

"Draekes are also crazy reptiles with inhuman features, so for it to look convincing there was doctoring or magic involved anyway, which could have a hundred methods. More importantly give hundred feet up is not the place for this conversation!"

[Haleyintraining]

"Mr. Baker, we've got to go back!"

Anika's tone is pleading and insistent, although attempting to keep her emotion restrained under her propriety. An icy feeling was building in the back of her spine, a tingle that licked up her back and into her mind: what if you're not dreaming?

It was impossible. This was impossible. But now that the doubt was in her head, she had no way to shake it. It chiseled its way into her mind, burrowing deeper and deeper, until her vision swam and the world blurred so far away beneath her.

[GrandDM]

"Go back? We'd die. The monsters would probably get us - you can be sure they've called in reinforcements by now - and even if we didn't, Lan and I would be arrested for kidnapping you. Even if that all went well, more and more monsters would show up. They can smell demigods, and if you don't come to camp, you'll just get attacked over and over until they kill you - which, given that they're invulnerable to mortal weapons, won't take very long."

[Deathkeeper]

Skies

Lan makes a motion to Rick to make it apparent his passenger may need watching to avoid falling off.
"We're a rescue team, not an assault force. I have two arrows left and they have a whole base they've overrun. We're just lucky they're too dumb to figure out firearms. If he's alive on this earth we can find him Anika, but we can't commit suicide now looking."

[Haleyintraining]

Skies

"Wait, what? I don't understand."

Anika's head feels even fuzzier now, and she blinks repeatedly, trying to clear her mind. It's becoming more obvious that she isn't dreaming, but... she must be dreaming. She tries to think rationally about her situation, but it's difficult for her to comprehend.

"Can you just..." She fumbles for words. "Explain?"

Then, as an afterthought, "Please?"

[Beans]

[Hermes Cabin]
Neiz comes out of the Hermes Cabin, her (frankly ludicrous) hair swishing in the wind as she stretches, rose-pink eyes bright (at least, the one not hidden by her hair is). She heard there were going to be newbies soon, and newbies are always so interesting! New bonds to make, new motivations and fears to learn. She glances down, adjusting her neckline down juuuust a bit---after all, enticement is just one of many ways to get people off guard, and that's when you find out what makes them tick.

Pulling out her folding fan, she gently wafts herself, doing a practice eyelash-flutter---gotta keep in practice.