[CLOSED] her cold voice sings a melody

[telewarped]

Who: Shoka Sakurane, Eleanor Lamb
What: Bounty: Frightening Freeze
When: Mid-February
Where: Icefall Lake
Warnings: Hallucinations, mention of terrain hazards (avalanches, cave-ins, etc.)



While Shoka certainly isn't expecting to receive a warm welcome from Icefall Lake, the weather is even harsher than it was the last time she was here. That time, she had remarked that she'd never seen so much snow before in her life (or afterlife), but now gives her a new record. Though she's still able to glide over the surface of the snow the same way she did then, the biting chill of the wind feels almost deliberate in its malice—like it's trying very hard to sweep at least her disguise away, if not her entire self.

Despite all of that, they're making good progress. Carving a path through the snow is almost too easy, actually. Before long, they're at the base of the mountain.

"Hey—El!" she calls out. "You still with me?"

Her Brionne partner is still with her; she knows because when her shadow-tendril reaches out into the flurry, it easily finds contact with Eleanor's flipper.

(The brief brush prompts a flash of memory—a child walking hand-in-hand with her through a sunken city—along with an eerie feeling of déjà vu, but she says nothing to acknowledge it.)

"We need to go through there!" Shoka points a claw at the mouth of a cave looming ahead, half-blocked by a pile of snow. "Think you can burn us a path?"

Comments

[notyourbloodymessiah]

Eleanor's been squinting through the snow since they started tracking. She's not unused to it, but this severity is getting to her a little. It's easy enough for her to trudge through, melting as she goes into a sludge with her Flamethrower. She turns her head feeling something touch her flipper - the cold doesn't make her blink. She's still here, she thinks. It's not like she can go anywhere.

She follows Shoka's point and nods. "It'll take me a minute, but it shouldn't be a problem." She glances back at her. Her antenna-like ears flutter in the battering wind, to say nothing of her frills being ruffled.

[telewarped]

"Thanks. And hang in there, okay? It'll be easier to get around once we're inside." At least then they won't have to deal with the weather, but... "Just watch for anything weird, obvi. And remember to check in with me if you hear something you don't think you should."

With that ominous warning, an echo of things she mentioned to Eleanor before they started out, she stands back to let the conveniently fire-breathing Brionne do her work.

[notyourbloodymessiah]

What's that supposed to mean? She supposes she shouldn't question it; Shoka knows what she's talking about, after all. And in a serious situation like this it's not as though her friend would want to mess with her. Still.

Eleanor pushes forward through the snow and rears herself back on her tail to blow Flamethrower at the mound, melting it from the top-centre. Starting from the bottom seems like a surefire way to drown them both. She stops a moment, to catch her breath. "What do you mean, hear things I shouldn't?" She asks. "Like what?"

[telewarped]

Shoka thinks for a moment before deciding that there really is no way to explain that isn't extremely creepy.

"Like... voices of people who shouldn't be there. The way things echo in the caves can be sort of disorienting... and the last time I was here, I thought I heard Mightyena's voice. But she wasn't actually there."

Come to think of it, she never did figure out what that was all about...

"Just saying you can't always trust your senses out here. So we have to help each other out—make sure we both keep our heads screwed on right."

[notyourbloodymessiah]

"Ah, delightful." She raises her hackles to continue melting the mound with Flamethrower. It melts fast - faster than she anticipated. The cave behind it finally begins to come into view. Eleanor stops momentarily for another breath, before finally melting down the last of it into a puddle that's already begun to freeze itself over. "That shouldn't be a problem. I had to look out for my sisters - I can cover you so long as you can cover me."

Granted, it's far from the same. Eleanor had a much easier way of exerting control over a given situation, back home. Here it's more volatile, less malleable to her desired outcome. "Have you heard any other voices?"

[telewarped]

"Duh," Shoka is quick to reply to that first point. They're a team; of course she'll be covering Eleanor.

With that, she starts shuffling along the pathway Eleanor's burned for them, making a beeline for the cavern.

"Ice work," she quips with a snicker.

She slows enough to make sure Eleanor's keeping pace with her before making her way through the entrance. The inside is dark and still bitingly cold, but at least there's shelter from the wind and snow. Eleanor's question makes Shoka pause and swivel to face her.

"What's that matter? Point is you should be keeping an ear out for anything off."

[notyourbloodymessiah]

Eleanor rolls her eyes at that, but she can't help but laugh all the same. Perhaps in another life she'd have a more visceral reaction to dad jokes than she does now. Duh. She supposes it should be obvious, but she's not fully used to the whole teamwork thing yet. Even if her and Shoka have become pretty fast friends. Pull yourself together El.

"Just wondering, that's all." She shrugs, looking around at their surroundings. She can't really see, but it's not dark enough that she should be reliant on Shoka just yet. And she'd rather not risk blasting a Flamethrower on the off-chance it causes something bad. Yet. "I've not really spoken to Mightyena, so."

[telewarped]

Before Eleanor has a chance to comment on the darkness of the cave, Shoka snakes an arm out from under her disguise and, after a moment of concentration, produces a flickering blue Will-O-Wisp flame from her hand. It floats in the air between her and Eleanor, too small to produce much heat but bright enough to illuminate their immediate surroundings.

The cavern walls it reveals are craggy and covered with sheets of ice that hang like dozens of misshapen mirrors. Their reflections—Shoka's black cat shroud, the blues of Eleanor's pelt, the flame itself—waver strangely in the dim, ghostly light.

"Could be just about any voice you can think of," Shoka admits. Though she doesn't say it outright, she seems to be speaking from experience when she adds, "Even voices from where you're from. Like your sisters."

After taking a quick look at their surroundings, she starts to move, gesturing for Eleanor to follow.

[notyourbloodymessiah]

Scary...

Eleanor casts a quick glance around, catching a few misshapen reflectiins in the mirrors. It's almost like a funhouse, she thinks. They have mirrors that distort its subject in those, right? It's a fleeting memory of another, of a time long lost in the back of her mind - but enough for her to put a name to it. She moves to follow her partner, as crucnhy snow gives way to untouched stone the deeper they go.

How would they even know that? Her sisters' voices? Not that she isn't unfamiliar with the time-bending nature of this place. She'd like to be more familiar if the whole concept didn't make her head hurt. It's a load of science fiction hogwash she would have disregarded immediately had she lived any other life before. No point winding herself up about it, in any case.

"So what do we do when we find what we're looking for?" Eleanor would rather avoid killing if it's at all possible.

[telewarped]

The way Shoka moves is soundless, a gentle gliding of shadows over earth, but the sound of rocks falling somewhere deeper in the cavern breaks the silence before she can answer Eleanor's question. She pauses to listen (to the echoing tumble of the rocks, then to the distant, thready whisper that only she can hear, calling to her right on cue), waiting until all is quiet again to respond.

"Be ready to fight. And after that..."

Something pale moves in the dark. Startled, Shoka swivels around—but there's nothing there, save for a twisted, flickering reflection of her Will-O-Wisp. Despite herself, she shivers.

"After that... I guess it depends." She snickers, trying to mask her nerves. "You really didn't think this through much at all, did you? Why'd you decide to come again?"

Because Eleanor's typing and Flamethrower move (and generally chill vibe, by Shoka's standards) made her a good fit for the quest, most likely, and she just happened to be there at the Questboard at the same time Shoka was. Shoka has either forgotten—or is choosing to pretend to have forgotten—that she asked Eleanor to team up with her.

[notyourbloodymessiah]

In Eleanor's defense, she's never done anything like this before. Sure, she's gone out and collected things with Delta (why does she have the feeling Shoka already knows that?), but hunting down a target? She's seventeen, not an assassin. She can move with the skill of a highly-trained killer but that's less to do with practice. It doesn't prevent her from pulling a face in Shoka's direction at the question.

"Um, you asked me?" A bit of almost uncharacteristic sass oozes through her words, as she tilts her head to the side. Her brow knits in worry despite that. She'd only wanted to double check, give her a break. Is there a procedure? Or are they going with the flow? She isn't one to know. And besides, Shoka's been showing her a lot of the ropes since she arrived... "If you'd wanted someone with more experience you could have asked someone else." Their friendship notwithstanding.

If Eleanor's seeing something out of the corner of her eye, she doesn't comment on it. There's something there, but her focus is more on Shoka suddenly switching up on her. It's not good either way, but at least it's preventing her from being distracted.

[telewarped]

"And you said yes anyway, no questions asked," Shoka fires playfully back. Apparently, she was only pretending to have forgotten after all. "Thought you'd at least have some idea of what you'd wanna do once we catch our target! Or were you really just that desperate to impress li'l ol' me—?"

She's only just barely finished that sentence when a voice emanates from somewhere. It's soft and alluring, almost dreamlike.

"Shoka..." it calls. "Shoka, where have you gone?" Its tone is almost plaintive at first, then coaxing, beckoning. "Darling... Won't you come back to me?"

Though Shoka pretends not to hear it, she can't quite repress the shiver that skitters down her back.