thearena | Turn to something new....

Who| The Ψiioniic

biiowiired & Gary Epps

a_minute_younger
What| Gary's promises of cave shelter turn into an angry cave bear attack
Where| Ice Age: Caves
When| Jan 31
Warnings/Notes| Bear stabbing probably

Psii had never experienced snow. He'd kept to warmer wilds, deserts, and the occasional settlement after he escaped slavery in the city. He was a bundled up bag of lanky sticks, but he could at least avoid freezing in his new winter gear. Courtesy of sponsors, he now had a parka firmly zipped against the elements and a rolled blanket tied to his back with rope he'd twisted from reeds. His ugly ugg boots were still in a sorry state, and he kept to more rocky ground to avoid soaking them through. He'd have to kill something fast and use its pelt for added insulation if he wanted to keep his toes.

Psii hadn't braved examining any of the caves yet, even if trolls (especially jadebloods) were known to inhabit them. Caves usually had things in them, and so far Psii had settled for hunkering down in a thick copse or up in a tree. He wanted to avoid confrontation if possible, but that meant he had to keep moving. If he stayed in one place, someone—or something—was going to find him. Psii, being nocturnal, did not fear the coming night, but the mist closing in on the arena would impair visibility even for trolls. He was relieved he had the foresight to explore as much as he did already.

Psii was passing the general vicinity of the caves when a sound made him suddenly jerk to a stop. Damn, he should have noticed someone near earlier, but he was no Disciple. He didn't have her fine-tuned hearing from hunting and tracking. He remained still, bloodpusher racing and foggy breath puffing double-time, hoping a tall troll with four orange horns would simply be overlooked.... haha, yeah right. His two-color eyes were wide, but he had no optic blasts to save him now.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

That noise, that something is coming from within the caves alright. It's a bit odd--like footsteps, but uneven and...definitely squelching. Someone has water in their shoes. When the footsteps stop and there's the sound of a soft curse, it should be apparent that the someone is not happy about having water in their shoes. There's a pause, a single clatter of a boot hitting the ground, another pause and the second boot follows. Psii probably doesn't have sensitive enough ears to hear Gary wringing out his socks. His sight, however, is probably more than sufficient to peek inside the dim cave and see the rather disheveled teenager leaned against a wall and pouting to himself while he twists out the cuffs of his waterlogged pants. Gary really didn't think through crossing the river and the consequences of being soaked to the knees in ice-cold water. He's already starting to shiver quite badly. His backpack sits by his feet, out of the way of the puddle he's making.

Gary does not have good enough eyes to see Psii, and has no idea that there's anyone nearby.

Shitshitshit. This human was being a dumbass. He'd squelched over and made noise at the entrance of a cave without first scoping it out. Who knew what lurked deeper inside it. Psii knew he had to drag him away quickly, but he was painfully aware that if he tried to move him by force, the human would think he was trying to kill him and make a racket.

Worst of all, this human was the same slap-fighting dork he'd met at night in the tower. Joy.

"Hey—" he whispered, on his toes ready to run. "Dumbath. How do you know thith cave ithn't already taken, pothibly by thomething large and vithiouth?"

Gary visibly jumps. "Shit!" he whispers back, sharply, and is already two steps further into the cave before he recognizes that lisp. A bit of squinting allows him to pick out the pinpricks of blue and red through the dark mist at the mouth of the cave. The realization hits, and Gary slumps in relief.

"...We really need to stop meeting like this," he says, quietly in reflex to Psii's persistent whisper, while stooping down to pick up the boots he'd tripped over in his backpedaling. The clatter had been quite loud, and still echoes faintly in the cave's depths. "Don't worry about it. I've been here a while!" A few minutes is 'a while,' right? "There's nothing else here, I promise."

Psii and his eyes and his telltale horns pushed slowly through the mist. He had to be careful now, get this guy out. Psii was still flinching at all the noise ricocheting off the walls.

"Oh yeah? How long ith 'a while,' exthactly?" he retorted, taloned fingers brandishing finger quotes. "At any rate, you should probably thcout for thignth of habitation, like trackth or hair...."

He squinted at the ground, but he didn't get a chance to check properly. A great, angry roar ripped through the cave, echoing off the walls.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!"

He wasn't going to wait around to see what it was. He grabbed Gary's sleeve.

"Long enough," Gary delivers a blistering counter and sticks out his tongue while he wrings out the last dregs of water from his socks. "You think I wouldn't notice something like big clumps of mammoth hair or whatever? Don't be ridiculous. It's fine!"

That's about the point that the cave bear roars. The color drains from Gary's face.

"Oh," he murmurs. His expression is blank from shock. This...this is dangerous, isn't it? They're in danger now? "Oh, fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck!"

The panic comes in stages, meaning that Gary's instinct to run is painfully delayed. He resists Psii's tugging for several seconds, then his bare feet start unconsciously taking him forward--only to remember that all of his shit is on the ground. Gary pulls back and makes a desperate grab for his boots and backpack.

Fuck this human. He wouldn't be able to use his stuff if he was dead, right? Psii growled and impatiently slung the backpack on his own shoulder. Gary was on his own for grabbing his boots in time, before Psii tightened his grip on him.

A chorus of fucks (and a huge cave bear) followed them as they scrambled out of the cave.

"UP THE TREE!!"

Psii assumed the human could not run and climb as was needed, so he kept a firm grip on him until they reached a sturdy specimen of arboreal shelter. He couldn't very well carry Gary up the tree, but he sure could shimmy up the nearest side, drawing his long stone knife and setting it between his fangs. He prepared to leap down on the bear if it got too close to his human comrade. (They were comrades now, Mother Grub help him.)

There's more incredibly inconvenient delays as Gary notices Psii take his backpack--his backpack--and he does some whining and pawing at to try and stop this, only to realize that they're both still latched and reasonably going in the same direction. Gary instead snatched up his boots, stuffs them under his arm and bolts.

This, and getting up the tree, would be a lot easier if he'd had time to actually put the boots back on. Instead he trails just behind and noticeably hesitates after the first few leaps and scrabbles up the trunk of their soon-to-be shelter. Gary hadn't really considered what it would feel like to drag the soles of his feet on tree bark. He thinks he could have gone without ever feeling that firsthand. Groaning through the very unpleasant-tasting boot lips crammed in his mouth, Gary stubbornly continues clambering up, following close behind. It's all incredibly uncomfortable and he knows he'll regret this in a few minutes, but he decides that it's better than feeling the bear's breath puffing against his legs as it claws away the bark beneath him.

First branch they come to that looks like it'll hold his weight, Gary is going to claim and collapse on it.

Psii ignored the human's futile and stupid attempts at stopping him. Unless Gary looked like he was going to rip Psii's arm off, he was coming with him up the tree. He would rather be slightly scraped than mauled by a bear, and he hoped Gary felt the same way.

Psii paused his ascent once the human had found a safe branch. He looked down past Gary and masses of leaves at the bear, which was rearing against the tree and clawing it in frustration. Luckily, it was an old, thick tower of arboreal might. Psii perched on another branch and brandished his knife.

"Fuck off!"

The bear had no intention of doing so. With a sigh, Psii hooked his legs around his branch and leaned against the trunk. Gary's backpack was slung on another smaller branch.

"....At leatht it'th not a cholerbear. How long do earth bearth uthually keep thith up for?" Then again, the usual wildlife rules might not apply to genetically-modified arena creatures....

Turn to something new....

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