TheGreatProcrastinator: What
(ADMIN) BethOnIt: Have you ever seriously contemplated suicide? Would you consider yourself at risk for that sort of thing?
TheGreatProcrastinator: Not particularly, no. Are you worried?
(ADMIN) BethOnIt: Well, I certainly don't want you to do it, but it's a risk factor for one of the other ships.
TheGreatProcrastinator: Risk factor?
HORNED ONE
Probably a Japanese ship, but does seem to speak English like most of the others. Her most distinct feature is a single horn rising from her forehead, of similar color to her skin. The exact material is unknown. Also has a tail, controllable but seemingly not prehensile. She is extremely avoidant, only recorded words are "Stay away" or similar.
Her range is extremely well-defined: a cave near the island's center, a little past the source of Blood Creek. The Society has managed to convince local authorities that the cave is filled with lethal gases, so there are few trespassers.
While other ships have been noted to have effects on the emotions, hers is the strongest so far. During the approach, there is a feeling of general incompetence- lack of faith in navigation skills, survival skills, etc.- which turns into a drastically reduced sense of self-worth when near the ship herself.
When paired with preexisting suicidality, the Horned One can prove fatal.
That was only slightly menacing. After Elisabeth made sure he wouldn't react badly to the Horned One, she suggested that he could check on the cave and its surroundings. The ships apparently didn't get intermingle that much; which might explain why the Fox left him alone after getting a whiff of him. Bottomfeeder…
It was mean, but he supposed it might work to describe Spee. She was aquatic, after all, although he couldn't say much about her diet. (Well, outside of the time she spent eating at his place.)
Why they didn't like each other seemed to be another mystery. There was a bit of speculation they'd start fighting- and even a half-baked plan to point two of them at each other to see what they might do- but the idea of two of them in one place was enough to make Justin sweat.
He was broken out of his train of thought by the ringing of a bell. Heading for his door, he peeked through the window to spot a familiar head of silver hair.
(The bell was hung from a stand, low enough to kick. Spee could hit things with the flats of her claws, but shredding was far more likely.)
"Evening, Spee." She smiled and carefully walked inside. They were working on something like a frame to let the claws rest on, but it proved difficult when slight pressure made them cut through everything.
He usually got in close to feed her, and she didn't mind it much; however, this time, she frowned, and his blood ran cold. Massive claws, right there…
"You smell of fox."
"Yeah. I helped handle the fox one. Down the coast that way?"
"Akagi." She hissed.
"Akagi?" He asked.
"Yes. Japanese, carrier." He figured the name would have meant a lot more to him if he was a history person; he resolved to send it to the forum. Really, though, that could wait until he was done talking with Spee.
"Do you know her?"
"We've met…" The way she trailed off, he couldn't help but feel that they hadn't parted on the friendliest of terms.
He liked to think he had something of an advantage in the society, in that he had a lot of free time to devote to investigating the mysteries of the island. Sure, well-developed habit kept him writing for part of the day, but otherwise, he was quite free.
(The whole situation was rather inspiring, even if it provided little help with the bad case of writer's block his main project had been mired in.)
An expedition into nature, to see something (or someone) strange… there was a definite appeal to the idea, even if the specifics of the article made him worry a bit. He rather liked the idea of being in control of his own head.
Another priority, nearly as dear to him as the proper functioning of his mind, was the proper functioning of his body. It wasn't too crazy to want control of his location, was it? Getting lost was a violation of that, definitely.
Sure, he probably wasn't going through the forest at that great of a pace, but he was fairly confident he had overshot his destination. He should be most of the way through the island now, but the creek still babbled alongside him.
That… that seemed like a bad sign. The map seemed to indicate that it was a straight shot to the source, but he hadn't gotten there. Unless his watch was malfunctioning, there was something wrong here.
Well, the simplest thing to do would be to turn right around and backtrack. The prospect of selling a "space stopped working properly" story to Elisabeth seemed daunting, but it would probably be better than spending however long out here. Looking behind revealed the brook, no surprise.
Figuring that the least he could do was mark the spot, he set up a sort of cairn. Well, that was probably a strong word for a rough pile of rocks barely up to his knee, just barely recognizable as unnatural.
He walked away, the cairn behind him, the brook alongside… and he walked for about three minutes before he ran into the cairn again. Which was a bad thing. If it was one way, there wouldn't have been nearly as big of a problem, but if it restricted his movement in multiple directions…
Either he had fallen into the supernatural equivalent of a sinkhole, or there was an intelligence behind it that wanted him going somewhere in particular. The second was slightly better because it seemed open to negotiation, but it still wasn't great.
What followed was something like guess and check navigation. He would set up a little cairn or a stick in the ground and would walk away until he didn't come back to it. It was slow, it was annoying, but it seemed to point at a very deliberate intelligence behind the phenomena. What couldn't be said was if the intelligence meant him well or wanted to have him for dinner.
But really, he couldn't see any other way out. If he was genuinely dealing with some sort of space manipulation ability- because if it could teleport him why didn't it just grab him straight away- then he couldn't force his way out. Well, maybe there was a cap or a limit, but he didn't want to spend a night in the cold trying to push it.
Eventually, he crested a hill and looked down into a broad, shallow crater. There was a pond, some surprisingly orderly foliage, and a girl who seemed to be waiting for him, sitting in the middle of something like a campsite.
Blonde hair with the occasional streak of pink, a short skirt, and a midriff-baring shirt… she was pretty cute. That didn't mean she couldn't be dangerous, but there wasn't a subtle wrongness around her.
"Hello!" She waved at him.
"Hello?"
"Come over here! I won't bite, promise!"
Hesitantly, he stepped over the precipice of the crater, and he didn't die instantly. The girl made no threatening moves, although she frowned when he took a step back to make sure he could get out.
(Although if he was trapped in a space with a hostile ship it was already over.)
"I'm Richmond, nice to meetcha!"
"Justin. It's a pleasure." He replied.
Getting down wouldn't normally be that much of a trick– the sides weren't that steep– but he couldn't keep his eyes off of Richmond. Not for cuteness or for beauty, but because he still wasn't sure what she would get up to.
Was he playing directly into her hands, walking closer? Well, he had been playing into her hands for the last few hours, hadn't he?
"Sorry, I know you're probably super busy, but I just couldn't resist. Not many visitors here, if you'd believe it!" She had an infectious smile. She also had… something like animal ears above her head. Not alive and fluffy like Akagi did. They were cold and inorganic, like metal or something, more in line with Spee's whole deal.
"That makes sense." He said. "Do the others visit you?"
"The rest of your little club, yeah." A frown crossed her face, and he could feel a wave of annoyance hit him. He tamped the feeling down.
"Is something wrong?"
"All your friends are total killjoys, that's the problem!"
"What?"
"Oh Richmond, we can't run a power cord up here, it'd be too expensive!" She put on an impressively bad impression, so bad he couldn't tell who she was trying to copy.
"You're bored?"
"Yeah! I saw the whole world, and now I'm here, stuck in a hole in podunk nowhere!"
He looked at the slope and gave her a questioning look.
"Oh, it's not that!" She sighed, standing up and walking to the edge of the crater. Looking around, he could see the occasional piece of furniture: bedding here, a shelf of well-read books there. Some of the paperbacks were so worn they split down the middle. Phew.
"Watch this." She walked up to the edge of her crater and attempted to reach over the rim. Fingers, hand, arm up to the elbow- all disappeared.
"What the f-"
She planted herself firmly on the ground and pushed herself back, tumbling backward… sans arm.
"Shit!"
Richmond burst into laughter.
"Hey, you're-" not bleeding. Richmond wasn't bleeding, despite the disquieting look at the inside of her arm. Blood even seemed to flow through veins, but it didn't spray or even dribble out.
"Sorry, sorry. The reactions are just too good!"
"But your arm-"
"Yeah, it's over there." She gestured towards the far end of the crater. "I'll grab it later."
"You don't have time!"
"I do." She laughed. "I've done it before!"
"You have?"
"Yeah. I've tried most things I can think of. Body parts pop out on the exact opposite side of a big sphere." She made a sweeping gesture with her remaining arm, hinting at a great curve above them.
"Most things?" He asked.
"I really don't want to try climbing out straight up." She tapped her neck and pointed down. He cringed, imagining being just a head, buried down there. It would be horrifyingly lonely if it didn't kill through starvation.
"Does anyone else visit you?" He asked. "Outside of… us."
"A few. Spee means well, but her idea of being a good neighbor is throwing me gutted fish." Richmond groused, "and I don't even try with Akagi. A fire, here? I'd be finished."
"Could I grab you an extinguisher or something?"
She laughed. "I suppose if you bring some books along as well."
"Books?" He asked.
"Yeah. I've read everything they've brought me straight through."
"I can do that," He said, "In fact, I write. I could–"
"You're not gonna press gang me into being your editor, are you? I have rights, you know!"
"But at this point, you'd read practically anything someone put in front of you, right?"
"For every manuscript, I'm gonna need two… no. Three other books."
They talked a bit more. Richmond was endlessly curious about the outside world and how it changed. She dreamt of a day when the Internet could reach her, in her lonely little nook.
After a while, she said: "I think you can handle it."
"Handle it?" He asked.
"You know. Horn's whole thing?"
Right. He had nearly forgotten the initial purpose of this operation.
"You were testing me?"
"Something like that. Horn is a good girl. She doesn't deserve assholes, and she definitely doesn't deserve someone who will make her feel even worse by killing themselves."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"You're welcome! Now get me her actual name, why don't you? Damn tired of calling her Horn."
"I'll try."
"Okay. Once you're over the edge of the crater, I'll give you a little boost."
He waved goodbye and stepped outside. Starting on his walk to the cave, he simply ate up the distance. Richmond at work, he figured.
Honestly, the hardest part was finding the mouth of the cavern. He started to feel a bit of that incompetence the article described– or it could have been the genuine article, who knew– until he reached a little outcropping of rock.
He wouldn't have to double over and crawl to get inside or anything, but he still felt his throat clench when he looked into that only dark. No.
This was what he had to do. Like a deadline, practically– but would Elisabeth really know if he delayed just a little? Richmond had eaten up a fair part of the daylight, and he wasn't sure his little flashlight was enough for spelunking…
Sitting down on a rock, he took a few deep breaths. Where did that come from? Her emotional… aura, or whatever, was strong and yet subtle. Even knowing it was there, he wasn't sure if he was actually capable of picking out which doubts were his own and which were alien.
Well, it was either this or he went back to work on that half-assed draft of his– damn it! How did she keep doing that?
It was actually an interesting phenomenon, something that you could integrate into a story in an intriguing way. Inserting all the subtle cues would be a bit tricky…
Navel gazing, damn it. He took a few more deep breaths and made his way to the mouth of the cave. Slow and steady, staying low, trying to keep two points of contact with the ground at all times. He had never been any sort of climber.
Objectively, it wasn't too bad, but he couldn't help but think that any step might result in him slipping and cracking his skull open. It was slow going, working up the courage to keep on every few steps.
Groping around in a cave with a cheap little flashlight he had to awkwardly hold between his teeth was tricky, but he figured even he couldn't miss a person in the shrinking tunnels. Stepping over a little thread of flowing water, his flashlight landed on a tail, flesh-toned instead of the gray or brown of the cavern.
"Go away." The girl grumbled. He almost moved his flashlight to get a better look at her, but quickly realized that wasn't the most polite thing to do. Not like he had the best record in that front, invading her home and choosing to stick around after being asked to leave.
Flicking off the flashlight in hopes of honing his vision in the dark, he quickly realized there was no light down here. No pale moon glow, no stars, none creeping under the door. Stupid. The eye could work with a little light, but it couldn't work with none.
He didn't turn the light back on though, instead deciding to stay near her. The pleasure of his company probably wasn't much, but it was company. Touching her wasn't proper, though, he was certain of that.
At the very least, he couldn't be distracted. He got some brainstorming done: the character motives were middling, the plot beats trite, but it was something to avoid when he got back home. Well, assuming this whole draft of his wasn't a wash, because the lead's motive seemed so flat and poorly defined now, enough to weaken the whole damned piece-
Something tapped him, and he froze. It was warm.
That was all he got from her. When he toggled the flashlight on she had disappeared into the dark. Reaching into his pockets, he cursed his ill-preparedness. He didn't even bring a granola bar or something to give her? Damn. (Maybe it made sense why she beat it so quickly.)
No progress on the name, but he has confirmed she was well enough to move and speak. Now he just had to get out of this freaky cave.
Chapter Title refers to Richmond, aka 'Hard Road'. The Society would probably just refer to her as Richmond, though. The name itself comes from the Confederate song Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel. It's a surprisingly clever song. "A Longstreet indeed"? Boys were spittin'