Maya watches as Dana led the impromptu exercise session and joins in. She commiserates with the other girls and how they are feeling under the scrutiny of the boys near, but does not share their feelings. She is used to being naked in front of people from her times with various primitive tribes, and she is conscious of the fact that if the boys are looking at her, it is for her scars, not her sexuality. As a result, Maya is not the slightest bit self conscious as she joins Dana's group. She outlasts all but Dana herself, finally admitting that she is not in as good physical condition as the Elf. When she drops out, she walks about to make sure that the boys and girls are settling down and encourages them to get as much rest as possible. She is almost ready to turn in when she sees Dana finish and waves at her, finally getting her attention. "Come sleep with me, Dana. We can keep each other warm, or at least do a better job than either of us by ourselves." She looks over to where Raf is sort of standing alone and motions to him as well. "Raferty, why not join us over here. We can stay warm together."

Rafferty thought fast. "Thank you, but I shouldn't violate the designated girls' space. Wouldn't be respectful to the others."

And with that he turned, and by shouting, rearranged the night watches he coordinated earlier, this time using only the uncontaminated kids on the other side of the main fire. It occurred to him that they were all the ones that had been too timid to jump onto Rick. Oh well. He asked Sim to look after the watches, promising that the irradiated kids would do what they could to make up shifts if they ever recovered. Then, feeling increasingly nauseous, he crowded into the boys' space. At first, cold though they were, most of the boys were much more hesitant to cluster physically together than the girls. But soon sleep overtook them, and in their slumbers their bodies found each others' warmth.

Dana is a bit surprised when Maya invites Raff to sleep with them, it makes her blush, there is no way she can picture the young boy sleeping when cuddled by the two of them. She is relieved when Rafferty declines the invitation. Dana takes some warm sand from next to the fireplace and places it like a mattress next to one of the walls. She lays there and invites Maya to join her, "The sand feels kind of nice, warm even come quickly before the heat is gone." she said.

Maya laughs. "It is obvious that you have not spent too much time naked on a beach. Sand has a peculiar habit of getting into every crack and crevice, and I mean EVERY crack and crevice. I think it is better to stick to mud." In any case, she settles down next to Dana and falls asleep quickly.

[Nim - 4th day - Main Camp] #14

Once I realize what everyone is trying to do I perk up.
I say as I dash off into the darkness.

Dana said "I did grow up next to a beach, but that is beside the point as it might as well be very far as I was too classified to ever visit it... I'll take you to shower with me first thing in the morning." She said and spooned Maya embracing her closely, it felt nice and warm.

Maya is concerned when the new girls shouts out then dashes off, but there is little that she can do. Looking at Dana, she shrugs and decides that the shower in the morning might make the sand easier to handle and snuggles up close to her friend. She sighs in contentment as Dana puts an arm around her and shares her warmth.

Dana sleeps pleasantly and strokes Maya's hair until she fell asleep. Night was cold, but Maya provided her warmth.

[Nim - 4th day - Main Camp] #15

I reach my impromptu campsite and grab the blanket and rope bundling the hides of the creatures i had trapped over the past few days. Only an hour had passed before I return and present the blanket and half a dozen rabbit and squirrel pelts.

At Nim's return, Maya stirs from where she is cuddled with Dana and speaks in Sperethiel as she points to the other girls. "Thank you so much, Why don't you curl up with them and share the blanket. We can try to do something with the pelts in the morning."

Half a sleep Dana whispered "Huh..?" and is looking confused at Maya that speaks a language she does not understand. Still entangled with sleep she attempts to stay close to Maya and hope that she does not feel as getting up.

Maya pats the hand that Dana has around her waist and says, "It is alright. The new girl, Nim I think, brought a blanket over to share and I sent her to the others. I am going to sleep and maybe this will all be a dream when I wake up. Probably not, but maybe........................."

Dana held Maya's hand and said "If it is a dream it is not all bad, I have never seen the outdoors before." She said as the two tried to find their position again.

Maya almost laughs at the thought of never seeing the outdoors and feels a bit sorry for her new friend. Relaxing, she allows herself to fall asleep.

Dana is woken up at sunrise as her spirit departs, she finds herself much closer to Maya due to the cold. She gently strokes Maya's hair and then whispers in her ear "Maya... Maya... are you up? Come to bathe with me."

Maya is already awake and trying to plan her day when Dana stirs behind her. She smiles and replies, "I am awake and you are warm, but this sand is cold. I am in need of a latrine and a shower, in that order. Can you dig us a slit trench?"

Dana said "sure... how do you feel? I do not feel any different" she created the trench Maya wanted at the edge of camp and decided... that they'll run what they can to the lake.

Maya uses the rough facilities and shrugs. "I do not feel much different right now, but I do not know if I am supposed to. Pierre said it might be a couple of days before we see any effect and Cailin said it might take a couple of days for her to learn the healing spell. Maybe we will get the cure before we really get sick."

Dana said maybe and then said "Let's run to our old camp, the pond there is will be wonderful for us." She said

Maya shakes her head at Dana's suggestion. "No, my friend. I am afraid that I am needed here right now. I may not be able to hold all of these people together now that Rick is gone, but I am convinced that they need someone to look to for leadership and right now, no one else is stepping up to fill that position. I have to stay here for now. If you need to go there, please be careful, but I would ask you to stay with me in case you, too, are needed here."

Dana said "I plan to run to our old place, and be there before sun is up. I'll bathe and see if there are animals drinking there. Then I am going to approach Addie and understand why she is all alone in the wilderness. I located her yesterday and there is more than meet the eye about her story." She said

Maya nods. "Then you should go find her and try to get her to come back. We need her, and please be sure to tell her that."

Dana said "Find her I already have, I had a spirit discreetly looking up for her the entire night and I'll have another spirit looking up for her during the day. In fact, this is why I did not bring my body glove with me - there was nobody to carry it for me when my spirit is with Addie. She is not at any urgent need of rescue - possibly need the talk more than any physical aid, not my field but perhaps I figure something out. "

Maya nods. "Tell her that I would like very much for her to come back so we can at least talk."

Day 5 morning until noon.
I will said Dana and bid Maya farewell. She summoned a minor spirit to keep an eye over Addie, and then started running practicing her stamina. She run as fast as she could to the cliff and then climbed down the cliff, gaining valuable experience. Her reward was to bathe at the beautiful pool. That was once a monster layer, after Dana cleaned herself well she changed her shape to that of an owl and flew directly toward Addie. It was midday when she arrived and changed back to a naked elf about 20 meters from Addie

Saying
"Hi Addie, are you lost?"

Addie, day five, mid-morning, along Bridal-Veil Creek



As she waited for a response, Addies was more tense than she really should have been. She knew that everyone would still be at the camp, or maybe Maya would have split off again, but people don't just disapear. But after looking at that gorgeous canyon, and seeing nothing and detecting no matrix activity, then climbing up out of the valley into this endless seeming scrubby forest, she couldn't help but feel alone in the world.

Then Aria's answering AROs came in <<Addie, there you are!>> <<Except where are you?>>

Addie was going to compose a carefully worded message, but she found herself babbling away in ARO after ARO, shockingly relieved to have made human contact.
<<Aria, so good to hear from you.>>
<<I'm, well I'm not totally sure where I am to be honest.>>
<<I, I kind of ran away from home yesterday. It is really embarrassing but I had a melt-down like I was a four year old not getting her way, and just took off, without really paying a lot of attention.>>
<<I know I headed west, because the setting sun was in my eyes. I was going to try heading back east, hoping to get close enough to camp to see landmarks or smell the fire or something, but with this cloud and rain figuring out directions is going to be a bit harder than I'd hoped.>>
<<But I wanted to check, Rick hasn't moved the camp already, has he?>>

The pause before Aria replied was enough to make Addie antsy, and the response when it comes doesn't make it any better.
<<You know we left them, right?>>
<<There is so much news to catch you up on>>

Addie starts answering out loud "Who is we?" before she catches herself and composes the matrix messages instead
<<Who is we? Who is they?>>
<<What happened, why did you leave? When did you leave?>>

Again the wait felt like it stretched for ages, and Addie pictured Aria's serious expression as she figured out how to say everything. When the messages starting coming in, she could imagine why the younger girl would have been careful.
<<After the orcs started rampaging, Lindsey got the girls together, well most of us, and we took one of the tents and left, heading off towards some man-made feature she thinks could be important.>>
<<She has her spirit protecting us, and she says that somebody has to get moving on figuring out how to get out of here.>>

Addie had to admit that she'd never really warmed up to Lindsey, she wasn't quite sure why, but she had to admire how Lindsey stayed focused on what was important. But before diving into that more:
<<The orcs rampaged?>>
She had a hard time imagining taciturn Jamal or happy-go-lucky Jugalo rampaging, or even the others.


This time the answer was quick.
<<Mohamed got them all fired up, they starting grabbing food and getting ready to leave, one of them threw a burning branch on one of the tents and made a hole, and stuff. Then Maya was trying to talk sense into them, but they ended up just taking off.>>
<<Then we got out of there, Lindsey says we need to take care of ourselves, so we headed south toward that thing she wants to look at.>>

There was a lot to think about there. So much, in fact, that it would have to wait.
<<OK, we've got a lot to talk about, but I need you to pay attention to something, and tell Lindsey, and Nora or whoever else you can reach.>>

<<But wait, there is still more news!>>

<<Just wait a minute, this is important.>>
<<I found the most beautiful, spectacular, spot. This incredible waterfall into a huge valley. It was one of the most amazing places I've ever seen. And there was nobody there. No road, no helipad, no observation deck, no matrix activity from cameras broadcasting it. Nothing. Think about that.>>
<<If there was anything around here, there would have been something there. I don't think we are in North America, nowhere in the right climate belt is this isolated, unless it is like a corporate testing ground or something>>
<<The planning has to be more than surviving a few more days or travelling a little way and expect to find an exit. The plan has to be for more of a long haul, that is really important.>>

Addie was still sending that last part of her message when the incoming message from Aria lit up her link, but it took her a moment to absorb the meaning, so intent was she on getting her message out.
<<The rest of the news is important too. Rick is dead, and the main camp is radioactive now.>>

Addie paused in mid-step, then absently sank down onto a dead log, heedless of what might be living in it.
<<What? How?>>

<<I don't totally understand, Nora was really upset and not making total sense. Some sort of spirit possessed Rick, making him evil and radioactive, or something like that. They forced the spirit out, but they think some of them have radiation too, but they aren't evil, so they had to cut off their hair? That part didn't make sense to me but Nora was very clear about the chopping off the hair. But Rick had it really bad, so he chopped himself up somehow, and he's dead.>>








<<Addie? You still there?>>

Addie realized she'd been mentally silent for some time. She reassured Aria
<<I'm here. Sorry. That is a lot of absorb. I need some time to think>>
<<Please tell others what I said. It is even more important now, I think Rick kind of had that idea, but I don't know if others do or not. Without him>> Addie cut off the message, not sure what she was trying to say, then finished the communication with
<<Just, tell them. We can't expect a rescue anytime soon. I'll talk to you in a while, I need some time to think.>>

Addie sat for a moment longer after cutting off contact, then stood up, got to one end of the dead tree she'd been sitting on, grabbed it, then used her full strength and all her training to swing it up into the air, spinning in part of a circle until she released it to fly into a rocky outcropping where the rotten wood broke apart.

She stared at the rocks for several long seconds before yelling out "FRAG! I always knew he was better than me, at least he was brave enough to end it cleanly."

She converted her anger into motion and started carrying on up the creek bed for a couple of minutes, before she stopped, looked at the hill beside the creak, and abruptly turned to start climbing it. She re-activated her link and fired off to Aria
<<I'm trying to get to some high ground, see if I can make out any sort of landmark to keep myself from getting more lost. Is there anything else I should know?>>

When Dana takes back off into the darkness, the remaining girls start to chatter. Mainly about the bombshell that Aria just dropped but some also about all the magic that's been on display both here and back at the main camp. Lindsey, for once, is silent as she uses her special sight to watch Dana as she marks her clothing and transforms in order to fly back to the main camp. "That would certainly be nice," she thinks. "I could just take off and fly back home. Assuming we can figure out where home is from here..."

With the distraction of Dana gone, Lindsey turns her attention back to her little group and starts to work on shaping the situation to her advantage. "Well it sounds like it's a good thing we left when we did, otherwise we might have gotten hit with the radiation too. Or worse..." The thought of what 'worse' could have been quiets the girls as they start to reconsider their current situation. Aria then chimes in, "It sounds like things are really bad back at the old camp. They're making the kids get naked and cut off all their hair to try and prevent the radiation sickness." Gasp of dismay from most of the girls meet this news while Lindsey smiles on the inside at thought of Maya and the others having to strip down and cut all their hair off. "A really good thing..." she mutters before addressing the group again. "Everyone calm down. We're safe here. We're far enough away that nothing that happens to them should effect us. We know what to watch out for now and my spirit will keep us safe as long as we stick together. I won't let anything get close to us tonight, and hopefully tomorrow we'll be on our way out of here!"

Lindsey's reassurances as well as the prospect of tomorrow seems to calm most of the girls, although none look happy. They continue to talk in twos and threes for a bit longer till Lindsey suggests they all go into the tent for the night. Once everyone is in, she asks her friend to guard the tent and to prevent any people or spirits from getting within 100 feet of the tent. The darkness in the tent is absolute, even if the quiet isn't. Natural noises from outside mingle with occasional sniffles and shifting of bodies. Eventually, the man made noises subside as everyone succumbs to sleep for the night.

As the yellow glow of sunlight starts to filter into the tent in the morning, the girls start to stir. They are packed together tightly enough that as soon as a couple start moving around, the rest can't help but wake as well. When Aria sits up, the others all turn to look at her and silence descends upon the group. Seeing what's expected of her, Aria checks her 'link and suddenly tears fill her eyes, "Rick's dead. He killed himself and left Maya in charge..." She sobs as Niyaf leans over to try and comfort her. Looking around, Lindsey quickly realizes now is not the time to gloat, and instead puts on the same facade of dismay being worn by the other girls. "That's terrible! I was hoping they'd be able to pull things together... Maybe Maya will have better luck now?" something of her real feelings must have come through as a few of the girls looked at her a bit funny, but then they turned back to Aria as she continued. "Most of the kids back in camp are cold and wet and sick, but Cailin is supposed to be able to do something about that soon, but not yet. I don't really understand it, but that's what Summer is saying." She shrugs and seems to shrink back into herself as Niyaf resumes stroking her back.

After a minute or so of silence while everything thinks about the news, Lindsay stands up, "Well... there's not much we can do about their situation now. I know I can't help with that, can anyone else?" Seeing mostly shrugs and blank looks, she continues, "What we *can* do is continue with our plan and see if we can't figure out what's going on here. If we can figure that out, we can let the others know and maybe get everyone out of here!" The thought of saving the others as well as themselves seems to perk people up and the mood starts to lighten a bit as they start taking down the tent and packing up the rest of their supplies. Everything assembled, Lindsey calls upon a new friend to visibly lead the way, giving the other girls heart. "It's amazing how quickly they can go from being scared of magic to accepting it once it's the only thing keeping them safe," she thinks. "Although I'm still not sure how much of this is actual magic... I certainly can't do the things Dana can do..."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #160

When she wakes up in the morning, it takes Cailin a few minutes to remember what happened. She winces, but doesn't crumble, having overcome her shock in the night. She stays lying on her back for a moment, thinking about what she should do now. With a sigh she gets up and, using her makeover spell, cleans herself and does her hair. Then, she summons an earth spirit, to at least warn her if the Toxic Shaman tries something again.

Walking a bit in the camp to take a bite to eat from the leftover of the evening, and some water to drink, she decides she has to do something, even before learning her spell. She walks to the trees nearby to collect some wood. Once satisfied, she walks near the place where Rick died, and starts to work on the wood. Plaiting some vine, engraving a branch. When she's done, she asks her spirit to help her, and sticks what resembles a celtic memorial cross - but is not exactly one - into the earth, on top of where Rick lies.

With a sigh, she taps on it with her fingers for a second, pensive, then turns towards the camp. To her surprise, there are a bunch of kids looking in her direction, at what she has done. She seems to hesitate for a moment, then inhales deeply and, spotting Dot and Klarissa not too far, asks them to gather everyone. Those who want to anyway.

It doesn't take long for most of the kids in camp to gather around. With Rick dead, Addie and Lindsey absent, Maya...somewhere? Muhamad still too groggy to do much, there are no directions. Only lost kids, ignoring what to do. So when Cailin asks them to gather around, they do so. Some just because at least it's something, some just curious.

Cailin looks at the small crowd for a moment, a bit shy and uncomfortable. At some point however, she gathers her courage, and with a big inhalation, starts to talk in a clear and level voice.

"I am not a priest. But I might be the nearest thing to one we have here and I thought we had to do something for Rick." She pauses, looking at the other kids, then continues "I won't pretend I knew Rick well. In fact, most of you here knew him better than I did. But what we can all agree to, is that he cared. He wanted us to survive, to get out of here, together. He was the one who organised this camp, who got us moving, and at least a bit organised. We might not all have agreed about the how, maybe the who. But no one here can argue he did anything else than what he thought was best for all of us. No matter what we thought about how he intended to do it, this is something we have to recognise, to honour, and to remember."

She pauses head lowered for a minute. After that, sensing some of the kids starting to move, she starts to speak again.

"I...do not know if anyone explained to you exactly what happened?" Noticing some kids shaking her head - or unsure about what they should say - she nods "We recently learned that there is a Toxic Shaman nearby. I won't try to pretend he is nothing else than bad news. Whatever you thought about Mages in general, Toxic Shamans are worse. They kill, they degrade, they pollute. They have no moral whatsoever. Dana, Sim or myself are able to summon spirits of Nature: earth, fire, water and so on. A Toxic Shaman summons spirits of Pollution, Disease, Doom, etc. Last night, this shaman sent a spirit to possess Rick, to take control of him. We managed to repel this spirit but... The spirit he sent was a Nuclear spirit, able to irradiate anything it comes in contact with. It didn't do anything to most of us. Some of you" she turns towards the irradiated people "Got a small enough dose of radiations to not be in immediate danger, but still high enough to be dangerous in the long term. I will be able to do something about that tomorrow at the latest, I promise you that. But for Rick..." She sighs "Rick probably wouldn't have survived the night even if he hadn't chosen to..." Her voice breaks a bit here. She coughs, then starts again "If he hadn't chosen to go like he did."

After a new pause, spent looking at the clouds in the sky, she turns back towards the kids "So now, you have decisions to make. I won't pretend to know what the Toxic Shaman wants, but it seems clear he doesn't want to leave us alone. Which means, as unpleasant as that may sound for some of us, that we have to stick together. Dana, Sim and I are the only people who have any reasonable chance to fight against him, or spirits he would send here. And I won't lie to you. Even with the three of us, we cannot promise all of you will be safe. But without us, I promise you, none of you will be. Which means our best hope is to stay together."

She grimaces "I realise this is probably the last thing you want to hear. And believe me, I'm not too fond of saying it either. Like some of you yesterday, I didn't want to stay in this camp. Too much mistrust, too much greed, aggressivity... In fact, without Rick's death, I probably wouldn't have been here in the morning. But now..."

She spends a moment looking at each kid in the eye "Well, things have changed, and I don't really see how I'd be able to leave now. But you have to decide what you want for yourselves. If you feel I'm just telling lies, or that you'd be safer alone or in a smaller group..." She shrugs "No one will force you to stay, it's just not possible. Whatever you're doing, you have to do it because you want to. Not because someone is threatening to hit you if you don't."

"If you decide to stay however, you have to decide on some kind of organisation. You cannot proceed without one, not in this kind of environment. It's something you have to agree to, not something you let others decide for you. While you have to know what is decided, while you have to make sure your opinion is known, the people you choose to lead you will decide for you. So whoever you choose to talk for you, you have to make sure you trust them: for all intents and purposes, your life will be in their hands. You have to trust them enough - as a group - to do as they say, even if you do not agree. But it can only be in that direction. You cannot let someone decide he will lead you. You have to decide who will lead. Not because he speaks the louder, or as the biggest muscles. Not because she has a nice smile or a pleasant voice. But because you trust them to keep your interest in mind. Because you trust them that whatever decision they take, is for the good of all of us, and that it's a decision they thought about, and asked opinions to people who knew better than they did. Orks, dwarves, trolls, humans or elves, boys or girls, SINner or SINless, mage or not, it doesn't matter. We are in this together, and it's only together that we will survive."

She looks in the direction of the sun for a moment, then concludes "Now, it's not a decision you have to take right now. It's best if you speak about it among yourselves, and maybe start to decide this evening? In the meantime" she looks at the irradiated people "I'll start to learn what I need to help you, and" looking at the others, she asks "Maybe some of you can go find some food while others clean the camp and make some sort of inventory of what we have? Given what happened, I suppose some people to keep watch near the camp would be a good idea..." she smiles wryly "I'm sorry, I don't know much about all of that..."

Artisan (wood work): 14d6t5 7 (limit is 7)
Leadership (Inspire): 15d6t5 5
Leadership (Inspire, edge reroll): 10d6t5 5
10 successes in total for a limit of 11.

Maya watches Dana leave and goes back to the other kids in the walled shelters and starts getting them up and moving. She points out the location of the slit trench they are to use for their latrine and starts looking about for food for them. She watches as Cailin builds her cross for Rick and silently applauds. No one of the people here should be forgotten. Every death is a huge disaster and reduces the chances of survival for all the rest..

When Cailin starts talking, Maya listens, hearing her own words, or at least her own ideas, expressed better than she could said them. She waits silently for her friend to finish then steps forward. "If I could add something, please. Cailin has said quite everything I have wanted to say and a bit more eloquently than I can say it. It may not mean much to the rest of you, but I support her ideas. We do need a form of government to help us survive. I have some ideas on that, but will wait until this evening to make any proposals. For now, please take Cailin's words to heart and think about how you can help here. If you decide to stay in this group, you will need to contribute in some fashion so all of us can get back home."

After she is finished, Maya walks closer to Cailin, but keeps a distance so as to reduce the chance to pass the radiation on. "Thank you for your words and for deciding to stay. The camp needs you and your strength, probably far more than it needs mine. Do you want to discuss ideas about leadership and government? I would say that you have far more experience than you have let on. However, I think that the first act should be getting some food and water up here for us to drink. Can you organize that for us, please?"

Addie managed to find a dead branch she could break off that made for a bit of a walking stick, to help with the clamber up the hill to the left of the creek. It was convenient that communicating with Aria over her link didn't require voice, so she could keep up a civilized conversation no matter how hard she was breathing.

And the conversation helped. Hearing more about Lindsey's plans to get to this man-made object to better investigate it, about what Nora had relayed about Cailin setting a cross up for Rick and rallying the kids, details of the girls' hike the previous day and the start of today's travels.

When that began to run down, Addie sent
<<I've made a lot of notes in my link about the kids. Where they are from, what they can do, what they like and don't. I don't have as much info as I'd like, but it could still be useful. I'd like to send you the files. It might help Lindsey with your group, and it would be good to have a back-up copy.>>

Aria's reply was enough to give Addie pause
<<My link doesn't really work that way, it doesn't store files the same way. You can send it, I can read it, but I don't really have the capacity for storing a lot of stuff. Maybe you could give me permission to read the file on your link?>>

What sort of link couldn't store files? That seemed really odd, but then again how much did she really know about links? The answer was 'not much.'

As for the file, t had been drilled in to her that she should never lower the security on her link. On the other hand, out here they weren't exactly going to run into hackers, were they? She was still reluctant, but if something happened to her she didn't want this information to be lost, so ...
<<I'm sending the file so you can read it, and forward to Nora--maybe she can save it. It isn't a lot of info yet, but it is a start, and for sure some stuff that Lindsey might want to know.>>
<<And I think I can lower the protection on this file so that you can read it. Mom would roast me for not keeping up security, but I really don't think we need to worry so much about hackers and technomancers stealing our data out here, you know?>>
<<Kids-notes-file.txt>>

Addie realized that when she had paused for thought, she had literally paused. Lack of breath didn't stop link communication, but apparently lack of attention stopped her from hiking.

She gave her surroundings a quick scan to make sure she hadn't missed any dangers. Dangers seemed fortunately absent, but opportunity was present. She had paused right in front of a rotted log, and she saw a big beetle crawling into a hole in the log even as she watched. After most of a day without food, running, hiking, climbing, a cold night -- all without more than a few greens she'd grazed along the side of the creek -- she didn't even hesitate before using her walking stick to break apart the log to expose breakfast.

It wasn't a lot of food, but once she'd managed to down a dozen beetles she hoped it would be enough to keep her sufficiently fueled just that much longer. Unless they were also toxic, and she'd drop dead that much sooner, but there wasn't much point in worrying about that, all things considered.

She couldn't stomach more of them just now, but she was wondering whether she should try to catch some more to take with her, and how she would carry them if she did, when motion caught her eye. She went still and tried to locate the whatever it was with just her eyes -- but then a barely noticeable motion was suddenly replace by a naked woman.

"Hi Addie, are you lost?"

It sure looked like Dana, and even sounded[//i] like Dana, but how could Dana suddenly be here, in the middle of the wilderness? Dana was some sort of mage, apparently, but there was also an evil spirit that had taken control of Rick somehow -- had a naked woman seduced him, then taken control of him, like in old stories, and could it be coming for her now?

Addie slowly turned to face the figure, stick in hand. If it came to a fight the stick was certainly not her weapon of choice, but no point in giving that away. She took a moment to pick her words carefully.

Doing her best to keep her tone light, she quipped "I might ask the same of you, since you are out here as well. Hey, since we have a minute to talk, and nobody to bother us, can you tell me about our encounter on the first day, from your point of view?"

There, that should do it. If it [i]was Dana she'd know what Addie was talking about. If it was an impostor then it wouldn't -- unless it knew everything that Dana knew, in which case what chance did Addie have anyway?

Amused Dana took some time to look at the scenery... "From my point of view, alright. So my only friend in the world finally convinced me to go dancing, and the last thing I can remember is a drink with an umbrella.

Then I woke up, in flats in the middle of the wilderness. No apartment, no fixer and no nothing just a bunch of confused kids. The first thing I looked for was somebody to train with, because home is where your fighting buddy is. I saw the way you captured that snake, it seemed like Judo, I think. I was always too chaotic to study a rigid technique - I am the kind of fighter that makes it up as it goes along.

Anyhow, I surprised you and clinched you to the ground, and invited you to train with me. I figured that if I proved my worth and that I am skilled enough, you would like to train with me. It was foolish... I should not have just jumped you up like that, infront of all these people. I am not so good with people, and did not think about the social consequences, I just wanted to find some training buddy so that I can feel at home.

This experience teaches me a whole lot about human interactions as I am around people all day long and cannot just escape to my art. I feel that you resent me since that moment - and I agree that you have a reason to. Besides, you have been way too busy trying to get people to play nice together and had no time to train with me...

I am still looking for someone to train with by the way, it is hard for me to improve alone, and warriors seems in high demand in here.
"

Dana seemed embarrassed by the honest description, and her hair changed its color to a deeper shade of red as if to notify her discomfort. She kept her distance from Addie and expanded her hands away, showing that she has nothing but bare skin.

"Does that convince you that I am who I claim to be?

"Oh thank goodness it is you! Come over here for a hug!" Addie paused, suddenly realizing how awkward that could seem, given Dana's state of dress, then shrugged it off. You didn't get through years of gymnastics or even a few years of judo sparring if you were too concerned about body modesty. And she really needed a hug.

Addie started taking off the 'shirt' of her flats as Dana approached, and gushed "I can offer you the top part of my flats, while you are here, if you want. Unfortunatley I left the bottom part back at the camp -- I'd been using it as a carry bag. Last I saw of it, it was in the lean-to, don't know what would have come of it now, from what all Aria has been telling me has gone on. It won't keep the rain off, but you can sling it around you as a skirt, or wear it as a shirt, whatever you want. I'm afraid my current hospitality is otherwise limited to finding you some edible beetles. At least, I'm assuming they are edible -- most bugs are, they say -- but it's only been a few minutes so no guarantees yet, and at that my stomach is pretty tough so edible to me may not be edible to others."

And then Dana was close, having crossed the rough ground as gracefully as a cat. Addie stopped babbling, adopted a mock serious look, and said "No sparring while we hug, OK? I could really use the human contact for a minute, and you probably can too, no matter how tough you are."

Without waiting for an answer she threw her arms around Dana and hugged her close, murmuring into her ear "Thank you for finding me, thank you for protecting me, thank you for protecting all of us. I thought I wanted to die after I screwed everything up, but I wasn't brave enough for that, and ... I think I want to live, even if I shouldn't, so thank you for helping me have that chance."

Dana watched Addie as she took her flat shirt off, her heart was racing, after the night she had with Maya she desired intimacy and Addie was right there and wanted to hug her. Sure she was radiated from touching Rick and it may pass a bit to Addie, but how bad could it be - she is not half as bad as Rick was, so suffering some minor radiation seemed like a very minor threat considering the circumstances.
She wore the shirt to not make it anymore awkward and then embraced Addie close and tight, and Addie could feel how muscular Dana really was being so close to her. Dana gently stroked Addie's back and Addie's words tickled her long ears and sent pleasant shivers down Dana's spine, causing Dana to slightly arc her body. It is evident that Dana was not used to any form of intimacy, yet she seemed to desire it.

Addie's embrace felt GOOD and Dana just wanted more of it. After the night with Maya, some craving opened and Dana felt like she wanted to be loved. She whispered softly " I am very happy that you are still alive, suicide is the way of cowards. The difficult thing is to keep going, day after day and do not sink into despair, fatalism or madness."

Stroking Addie's hair she added "You did not mess up, things turned out as they did despite of your actions, not because of them. There are some things that are beyond your control, things that you are powerless to stop and you need to accept it.

Look at me, I escorted Rick to confront Muhammad to protect Rick, but then I was powerless to prevent him from taking his own life. I was somewhere else. I was powerless to save Grok, as I was sleeping when he was eaten. When I woke up he was probably already dead. I was also powerless to save Vincent, I sent him to find the nearest city and he was enslaved by a toxic mage.
Then even when he got back to us he was confused and did not make much sense, I think he went to confront the toxic mage alone, I am not sure if I can save him now.

What I am trying to say Addie is that I am probably the most powerful person in our camp. I can kill lions with my bare hands, throw lighting bolts or electrocute anyone that touches me, I can change into an animal and even shape the earth to my will and dig holes and create shelters. Yet, I am constantly reminded that despite all the wonderful things that I can do, I need to eat, I need to sleep and I can only be at one place at a time. Even if I am at the right place, my attention is limited. Bad things happen around me all the time, this is a difficult situation.

What I am trying to say is that I accepted the limits of my power and the limits of my responsibility. I could not have saved you had you decided to take your own life, but I sent a spirit to look out for you during the night and try and get predators away from you.

We need you Addie, Maya needs you and even I will be safer if you are around. Knowing that no beast will sneak on me in my sleep.

My point is... oh nevermind - just hold me some more... It feels sooo good. I never actually embraced anyone like that. I was not raised with much love."

She said and warmly embraced Addie for a long moment, Dana could feel her eyes getting wet after her last confession, but she hoped to contain it.

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #161

Cailin shakes her head "I can't no. Not if you want to get rid of those pesky radiations anytime soon. Anyone can take care of food and rations, but not so for decontamination. And I'd better get to it..."

Addie is content to hold Dana for a long time, stroking the muscles of her back, feeling her heat, and murmuring reassurances back and forth.

Eventually she does feel that she needs to pass along some real information, although she regrets ending the period of odd intimacy. Not that she lets the other woman go, she just doesn't hold on to her quite so tightly, to signal that Dana can break away now if she wants.

"I don't know how hard it is for you to change into a bird, or to fly around, but if you were to follow this creek downstream for, well I don't really know how far, there was so much climbing that I don't know how fast I was going as the crow or whatever flies. Anyway, you come to a spectacular waterfall -- the plume gets ripped to pieces by the wind, most of it making a misty veil and only some making it straight down to the rocks below. Just gorgeous from the top, and I'm sure it would be even more so from below."

"And there was nothing there. No road for tourists. No landing pad. No shack for hikers. No towers for matrix connectivity. I couldn't pick up any matrix activity at all, even though I was at the top of a cliff overlooking a valley so had great sight lines. How many places would somewhere that pretty not have anything at all at it?"

"And by the way, limit that selection of places to the Northern Hemisphere, based on the sun, and between the Tropic of Cancer and about the fortieth parallel, based on the aridness and temperatures this high up in the mountains. Maybe somewhere in Central Asia? I think parts of it are kind of remote, and poor enough that people might not care about the scenery so much? Or else we are all in, I don't know, a matrix simulation, or one of those astral places like where the elf queens live or an alternate earth or the future or ... I don't know what. None of that makes sense, but the clouds are wrong, the plants are wrong, the tiger you killed had SIX legs ... This place is very strange, and I don't think that help or safety is anywhere near at hand."

Raf had awakened chilled, hungry, and still vaguely nauseous. He had slept wrapped around his weapons, and when his eyes opened there was another boy he barely knew wrapped around him. He wanted to pee, but caught himself hesitating to leave the boys' enclosure in his naked state. Instinctively he glanced around for his clothes. But there was nothing. Nothing at all to cover up with. He extracted himself from the pile of bald young men and, knowing there was simply no choice in the matter, made his way outside to take care of his personal needs.

Then, nausea or not, he was hungry. He saw other kids eating. They woke up and helped themselves to the dwindling supplies. He watched awhile. There was some sense of restraint, but nothing like what he knew would be needed to make what they had last more than another day...if that. There were too many of them, and no incoming foodstuffs to speak of. People would start to get very hungry very soon.

Just as someone else started thinking what he was, and took issue with another kid for supposedly consuming more than their fair share (by an inevitably subjective standard), the impending scuffle was averted by an impromptu speech from Cailin. And then Maya.

They both did quite well. Cailin in particular was obviously a gifted orator, adding to Raf's already considerable admiration of her. And he basically agreed with everything she'd said. It was a timely message. But he felt he had heard nothing but various versions of the same speech from the group's leading lights since they'd all awakened here.

So although he heartily concurred that they needed to set some sort of order up (if they were indeed resigned to staying together in a large group), there were already more than enough chief candidates. At this point, he was better off being an Indian. He smiled at the irony of the metaphor as he sat down at the base of a tree and, ignoring both nausea and hunger pangs, continued work on Maya's bow.

As Cailin goes off to study, Maya looks around, trying to get a handle on what is happening and how she can make a difference. She has ideas that she just cannot seem to articulate well and despairs of being able to hold even a small group together, not to say anything of the thirty or so people remaining in the area. She notes that some of the people seem to be digging into the meager stock of rations remaining in the camp and realizes that should get some quick attention. Maya motions for three of the smaller kids that have settled down not too far from her and says, "Good morning. Would you please go ask some of the people in the area to come listen to me? I would like one of you to go find Pierre over at the lean to, another to go to Klarisa, who is probably with the Orcs, and the last to go find Sim. Thank you very much."

Klarisa is the first to arrive and Maya stops her from getting too close. "You do not want to come much closer than that for now, I am thinking. Are you able to speak for the Orks for now?"

The other girl nods and grins. "For now, yes. Until someone stronger comes along."

"Good. Do you think that you can take charge of the food rations? We cannot just let people go there and eat as they desire. The rations need to be sorted and counted and a system used to pass them out. I know that some of the rations were taken as Mohamed and the others left the camp, so can you also see to adding those back into the group stockpile?"

"You want to give me control over the food? I might take advantage of that and starve you all out of here."

"Yes, you could, but that gets you nothing in the long term. It just means that we leave you to go find a way to survive and you are no better off than you would have been if you had stayed away. No, what I expect is that you will help secure the food to help all of us survive. Perhaps a hunting team or two can go out and bring something back for us." Maya turns her eyes on Klarisa and smiles.

The Orc looks back at her as if undecided then grins back. "Alright. For now, we will do this. You have treated us fairly..........so far, and I will give you the benefit of the doubt. You and that mage." The other girl nods and walks off, calling out to her people and getting things organized at the food storage sight. Sim arrives and Maya takes care to thank him for what he has done so far.

"There is no rest for us this day, I am afraid. Do you think that you can work with Pierre to get a good count of what is available in the way of tools and supplies? Whatever is decided tonight and whoever is in charge here after the meeting will need this information to help the group survive. It is important data." The boy moves off to meet Pierre.

Dana still tearing a bit said "Six legged tiger means that we are in a radiation environment, something very bad happened here I think, think the meltdown of Chernobyl bad or the 5 minute war bad. At least this is my theory, we could as well be in some alternate metaplane that represents the fear of humanity of a nuclear war, I heared we have some of those, and they should look like Earth only barren and lonely and radiated. It is possible that some cooperation attempts to colonize one of these places, I mean it is not impossible to do and if they pull it off they have a complete planet to harvest its resources without competition.

Though I am reluctant to assume something so radical as I have no way to verify that theory, I am nothing but a beginner in magic and my education is far from complete. Do not despair Addie, there are humans here. The crates that were delivered to us, a man made structure we discovered previously and the evil toxic mage is also a person. We are not alone in here, wherever here is.

She looked Addie in the eyes and said "Shape changing for me is like speaking for you. Would you like to eat something more satisfying than beetles ? Caillin found a very nice method of fishing and if there is a waterfall not far from here I am sure we can find fish - or something that is similar to fish not far from here.

We can even fly there if you like to try."

She is still holding Addie but it is far from embrace, in a way it is like Dana has allowed her into a very close personal space. "Besides, if SOMEONE is not going to hunt soon, people will go hungry. With all the intrigue and betrayals a lot of the food is gone. I think it is better if you come back with food, you were not gone for that long and it is a reasonable story. Things are bad as they are and people need hope rather than despair. Let's come back with fish a full stomach and optimism, what do you say?"

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #162

Cailin walks around the camp for a moment, trying to find the place where she will feel best to learn her spell. After half an hour, she settles on a place, not too far and in good view of the camp, where she sits down. In her pouch, she grabs a stick of wood she plants in the ground. After a minute, she seems to relax, for the first time enjoying the flow of the astral in the area.

In the next couple of hours, she stays eyes closed and immobile, barely twitching from time to time. Then, still sitting and eyes closed, she starts to move her hands in front of her, while some weird lights flicker around her.

Addie, day five midday, deep in the woods

Addie smiles, although Dana is probably too close to see her face. It was good that some people were still so positive about the possibilities. “If you can fly there, so it is not so hard, you should go and see the waterfall -- because it is beautiful. But it will not be a fishing spot. It is just the creak down there, but, going over a huge cliff -- maybe as high as a twenty story building? The creek drops into a pretty deep gorge before it goes over the cliff, so coming back up I was beside the water when I wasn’t wading through it, and I didn’t see a lot of life. There is a good flow today with the rain, but in a climate as dry as this must be, judging by the look of it, the creak is probably sometimes very small. So I wouldn’t expect fish of any real size. Down in the big valley, below the cliff, maybe there is rivers or lakes? With the rain and the mist from the falls I couldn’t really make out details of the valley bottom.”

With a bit of a sigh she finally steps away from Dana, and pokes the rotting log with her toe. “Fish is good, meat is good, but usually foraging for plants -- and insects -- produces food more reliably and efficiently. At least, that is what they told us when teaching survival skills in Girl Guides and Pathfinders – they also said that if we were with boys they’d probably want to be mighty hunters rather than patient pickers. Anyway, for hunting I’d suggest trying to gather up Jamal and Maya as they have the most real hunting experience in the group, from what I can tell, and Raf had that bow which should be helpful for a group that doesn’t have you to kill things with magic. Simon had done some sport fishing, but the info Aria relayed from Nora says he’s gone. Dewie, the Vietnamese boy who speaks such thick city-speak, he’d helped his grandfather with netting fish illegally, but we’d need to make a net for that. I was wondering if we cut hair from those with long hair, and could figure out how to make it into twine if we could make a net big enough to be useful? But that would be a longer term project.”

Addie freezes in place, finally cutting off her stream of words, then in a flatter voice concludes “But that will be for the new leaders to decide.”

Then she re-animates and her face lights up, as she changes topic “But I think we should do something else than hunt or fish right now. I think we should go find Lindsey’s group. Aria says they are on the move again, still trying to get to that man-made object that Lindsey’s spirit friend found. They are mostly there, can’t get back to the main camp quickly now, so why not support them, help them get it done right, done safely, and done quickly? Then help them get back with everyone else.”

With a mischievous grin, she adds grabs Dana’s hand “Besides, you might want to go and get your body suit. Not that you don’t pull off naked magnificently, but you’re going to get cold if you ever stop moving. I know you probably can’t stay with Lindsey’s group the whole time, but you can travel back and forth quickly, and I can at least help keep watch there and carry stuff and maybe help forage along the way or whatever. I’m not strong like you, but I’m stronger than most of the girls, and I can’t fight like you but I can fight better than most of the girls, and I can’t throw lightning like you, but at least I can do this – ”

With that she releases an electric jolt from the heel of her hand into Dana’s hand, enough that Dana should certainly feel the jolt, probably enough to make her arm muscles jerk some, but it shouldn’t be enough to really hurt. She hopes.

Dana listens to Addie's reasoning and says "I can accompany you to Lindsey if you like. We can even shape change and fly there if you are open to that. I am curious to find out what is in that man made building myself. Lindsey's group needs me more right now as they are the smaller and weaker group now.



Dana blushes and remains silent, listening to Addie and grinning suddenly feeling ridiculous, her hand spasms with the electricity but her smile remain. A woman like Dana would not let some level of pain discourage her, pain is part of life and Dana experience it daily as she brings her body to its limits. Dana does not let go of Addie's hand and just grinned as the electricity passed through and made all her body hair erect. She then looked into Addie's eyes and asked "Do you think that I am pretty?" Dana felt that her mind went blank after that comment.

Addie makes a face and mock shoves Dana’s shoulder with her free hand – although she doesn’t let go with her other hand. “Tough girl! Couldn’t even flinch to make me feel better.” But she’s laughing as she says it, to make it clear she is amused, not mad.

Quickly she adds “Look, I don’t want everyone to know, because it is best used by surprise, should I ever need it -- but I can jolt someone with up to a taser strength zap. But only a few jolts at that strength. On the other hand, I can re-charge a lot of electronics before I run dry. I wanted you to know, because you are our warrior and need to know what others can do. And when we get to somewhere with less rocks, I’ll happily spar with you so you can see where I’m at there. The thing is that easy way for someone to avoid me zapping them, or just arm-locking them, is to just hit me over the head with a rock when I’m not expecting it, so I really prefer that most people don’t know all of how I can protect myself.”

She links their other hands again, looks Dana in the eye, and says in an atrocious fake French accent “And now for ze important stuff: Are you pretty?” She follows up with an exaggerated wink, then turns more serious. “Maybe this is easy for me to say, because of how my looks have ended up, but ‘pretty’ always reminds me of ‘petty.’ It makes me think of ribbons and bows and little china figurines and things like that, that half the point of them is that they are delicate and easy to break or mess up. So when someone says ‘Oh, you are so pretty’ it always feels to me like they are saying ‘I want to lock you in a display cabinet so you can be nice to look at without the bother of you doing things and getting dirty.’” Addie smirks a bit and adds “You may not have been around to have noticed, but I’m always getting dirty from doing stuff.”

“I don’t want to put you in a display cabinet, I want to watch you in action! You only have like the most perfect, beautiful, body like ever. You are fragging gorgeous, but to me ‘pretty’ seems like way too small of a word for what you are. Look, here is a promise: if we get out of here, I’m going to find you, dress you up, and take you out dancing -- and make sure you wake up the next morning somewhere safe. And I’m going to enjoy the heck out of watching most of the guys and some of the girls being totally amazed by you.” Mentally Addie adds “and possibly too intimidated to do anything about it, but we’ll deal with that if we ever get the chance” She squeezes Dana’s hands and adds “And after that I let you take me to a gym with good mats and sparring pads and you really teach me how to fight.”

Dana listened to Addie's words, excited and uncharacteristically smiling like a teenager (that she was) as Addie described her with such beautiful words. Words like 'gorgeous' that were never used to describe her before. Then Addie even mentioned common experiences after they get out of HERE, but Dana was not even certain if she was going to survive the next couple of days. She was overwhelmed with all the death and violence, the toxic mage and renegade orcs, the mutated lions that ate Grok... and Vincent that lost his mind because of her. Dana knew that she may die before anyone else calls her gorgeous. She had to follow that opportunity and see where it led, even if she was rejected or mocked. Dana wanted to love before she died! She wanted to kiss someone for real for once in her life. So that was exactly what Dana did, with a quick movement she leaned toward Addie and kissed her.

Day 5, mid-day, middle of the wilderness


Dana was so fast that the kiss was happening before Addie had fully processed what was happening. Then adrenalin – natural and the effects of her boosted reflexes flooded her system and fragments of thoughts, ideas, and memories started racing through her mind almost faster than she could recognize them

- This wasn’t what I meant to happen, I screwed things up again!
- Karen would be so jealous
- Don’t aggravate an aggressor, play along until you have a plan
- Dana doesn’t really know what she is doing
- I need to cooperate more with this, buy time to think

And so she did. Addie tilted her head a little to give their noses a bit more room, and loosened her lips and her back, even letting out a slight sigh.

- I wonder what Eric would think?
- I’m in the middle of nowhere with a warrior magician and nobody else knows where we are. I’m pretty much in her power.
- Neither of us have brushed our teeth in days
- Oh frag, do I taste of beetles?
- I never guessed that she was gay or bi
- Kissing a girl really isn’t so bad
- She’s already naked, was this always her plan?
- “Earlier sexual activity correlates with poorer life outcomes”
- I’m already a screw-up
- This would totally get us into a club
- Her back is so muscular
- Flaming Drek, I’m stroking her back
- Full strength shock followed by a sacrifice throw to try and land on her might have a chance to work, but if it failed I’d be screwed.
- If she kisses my neck I might explode
- Fragging biological urges, making me want to bimbo it
- I wonder what her skin tastes like
- Why not bimbo it? I suck at Addison-ing it!
- If she sucks on me, I will melt into a puddle of goo
- Are we safe here? Ah, Dana is fast enough to deal with whatever, I’m safe with her
- Do I want to be her girl-toy? Her girl-friend? Her fling? Her anything?
- This skin suit is so in the way all of a sudden
- I think I like her, but I don’t really know. Not sure I care about thinking right now though.
- I just want to fragging live for the moment for once. Maybe I’d be a good bimbo?

Addie broke away from the lip-lock for a moment, but only to kiss her way down the side of Dana’s neck, while she dipped her body to let her hands slide over the muscular flare of Dana’s backside.

- I could do so much more than kiss, I even want to do so much more. Brain doesn’t think I’m ready, body thinks different
- Listening to my brain brought me to eating beetles for breakfast
- This would bind me to Dana, but her to me, too. Bimbo survival strategy might not be the dumbest way forward
- I don’t know what this will do to my feelings, my motivations.
- I doubt Dana knows what it will do to hers, that might be more dangerous. How jealous is she?

Addie gave a gentle nibble to Dana’s collarbone, and was finally rewarded with a small gasp from the other woman.

- She’s not completely in control of herself, despite all that training.

That thought was enough to get Addie to straighten up and pull back just a little, letting her look at Dana.

- She looks a little dazed, her eyes are so dilated
- I probably look the same
- I’m the social one, I need to guide this, somehow.

Addie let out a noise, somewhere between a laugh and a gasp of air. “Flaming Drek! This is NOT how where I thought my day was going to go.” She gave a shaky smile, and continued “Like, I probably still taste of beetles -- I hope that wasn’t too gross.” She licked her lips self-consciously.

- She can change shapes, that means we could --
- -- NOT go there. Where do ideas like that come from?

“I guess what I’m saying, is –“

<<Hi Addie. I was just talking to Nora, and she says Maya says that Dana left a while ago to come and find you!>>

“Yes Aria, she -- I mean” Addie focused her thoughts enough to use her link <<Yes Aria, she found me, we’re talking right now. I’ll get back to you in a bit, OK?>>

<<Sure, sorry to interrupt. Later!>>

Hopefully little Aria didn’t have any idea just what she was interrupting.

“Sorry, ‘link contact from Aria, telling me you were coming to look for me. Ah, I forgot what I was going to say. So, umm …” Addie suddenly found herself blushing.

[Nim - 5th day - Main Camp] #16

I wake up with the rest of the girls. As everyone starts getting ready for the day I retrieve my blanket and wrap it around myself like a robe and bind up the rest as a kind of pouch, using the rope to secure everything and take up my spear. Once ready I head out into the forest to check my snares and hunt for game as well as edible plants, nuts and fruit.

Dana's memories- written when she got back to civilization - if she actually survived.

That particular moment




Dana said “It was perfect Addie, I can still feel you on my lips.” and she smirked, genuinely happy. Then Addie dozed off and seemed distanced and it felt terrible like she was suddenly uninterested, but it was just a comm call.

Watching Addie blushing, Dana hesitantly said: ”I have never... I mean... - she could not continue.
Instead, Dana took Addie's hand and placed it on her chest, right next to her heart. The touch felt nice and allowed Addie to feel Dana's elevated pulse that normally took a serious measure of torment to reach these heights. Dana said softly, “That was my first kiss, Addie.” and then she kissed her again, bringing another slice of 'happy' into her heart.

Some time later
The sun was already high in the sky and gave whatever warmth it had. The view was spectacular, and the two girls looked excited and perhaps overwhelmed they were holding hands and heavily breathing.
Dana said "We should really head back... You need to eat and drink and regain your strength.

How would you like to travel to Lindsey's? We can walk there in a few hours or just fly there"
Dana felt exposed and vulnerable but it did not feel bad, she was happy and content. She looked at Addie that may or may not have been naked at the time. Treasuring the moment and hoping that somehow it will never end.

After everything else today -- the recognition of how isolated they had to be, realizing that she wanted to live despite being a total screw-up, what had just happened with Dana -- somehow this was what totally flustered Addie.

"Fly? Fly! Wait, you mean as birds, right?" She rolled over to face Dana "Wow. Is it hard? Or do you just know? The flying part, I mean. Wait, what about my comm-link, will it fall out? I mean, I don't think it fits in a bird's head. And geneware, when I switch back, I won't lose that will I? It would be bad, out here, to go back to having a stomach that is like super-sensitive to everything. And we keep our minds somehow, right? Like, I won't decide it is time to migrate and just take off or something? But wait, why haven't you left, you could fly far and fast, eventually find something else ..."

Once Dana has re-assured her on the safety, and shown her the spirit that would carry her body-glove, Addie looked around and then, admitted "I guess there is no reason to delay. Nothing else to bring, and I'm getting cold without my body glove. Probably better to get moving, even if the moving is flying. So, let's do it."

She took a deep breath, stood straight, and said "OK, I'm ready." Dana seemed to look at her for the longest time, with an odd expression, and Addie began to worry that the magic wouldn't work -- then suddenly the whole world shifted and whirled melted and roared and changed. Addie felt like she wanted to throw up from the disorientation, but suddenly she wasn't quite sure how to do so. She realized her eyes were almost at the ground -- she must have buckled over in preparation for heaving, but since that wasn't happening she pushed herself to her feet ...

Only to flip herself briefly into the air. She was a fragging bird!

She went to thank Dana, but she let out a piercing keening noise instead.

Dana sighed "Yes I mean flying, do not try to rationalize it as it contradicts like 10 science rules like preservation of mass. Your augmentations will disappear in animal form, but will appear back when you are back in your gorgeous shape. " She She gave Addie a devious look and then said
"You will remain yourself, and would probably struggle to make sense of the experience and analyze it, the difficult thing will be not being able to talk. So you will have to hint me somehow if it is not working for you and you want to get back, and you will have to trust me..."

With some hebrew words Dana summoned a spirit that was difficult to negotiate with. It looked like a small elf, not bigger than a garden gnome. It was floating around happily, and almost ecstatic. Addie could swear that he was staring at her.

Dana apologized "His name is Larry and he is deeply influenced form my own experiences, so I think he likes you. Larry will carry your clothes and then mine as well when we are playing with birds of feathers."


Dana then sighed and took a deep breath "You are asking a serious question and there is not a day that passes without me thinking of just leaving everything behind me and finding some human settlement to start over there. Getting out of this drek alive while I still can. I mean literally every morning when do my morning train. The temptation is always there... That is not my way, I cannot leave the rest of you here to die and I cannot take many of you with me, I am limited in how many spells I can sustain. I tried to get Vincent to safety - he was just a child and it backfired horribly. I am still suffering because of that decision.

I hope you do not think that I am pathetic for choosing to stay in this place, I mean most people HAVE to be here... and I am just here because I straif to be a better person than I am, a warrior. Or maybe because I know that there is nothing waiting for me out there, that I am going to be a lonely outcast at the fringe of society. A criminal, just like I was before. That I would do things that I am ashamed of to survive. That even if I do survive, the people that designed me may hunt me down and bring me back to the lab I grew up in. If they ever find me. "