Sand-dunes and Sandstorms - A Neopets RP

[livvy]

((Mine is... um... GMT-5? I think? I'll try to post early, but I'm really left at the whim of rehearsals and homework. I do enjoy your posts though. :D))

 

Lili relaxed visibly when Fiwawou released her shoulders. His look of confusion confirmed her assumption that he was expecting a fan-girl. No sooner had he released her than he dismissed her completely and turned his attention to the Gelert behind him (or rather, Lili thought, towards himself with the expectation that the Gelert would do the same.) Fiwawou left, leaving in his place a rather pretty Orange Wocky who introduced herself as Gwen. Lili feigned interest as the Wocky spoke, but was still occupied with analyzing the star's behaviour. She made a mental note never to meet her favorite game show host. If all stars were as self-important as Fiwawou, she would just as soon avoid the Lenny Conundrum Lenny.

 

Lili's pondering was interrupted by a sudden lurching sensation in her stomach. She was fairly certain she'd gotten over her airsickness... As her backside collided with the sand, she found that the sensation was quite easily explained - she HAD, in fact, lurched backwards. She felt in the sand for her glasses, as she was quite near-sighted without them. Several brightly colored blurs ran by. When Lili finally found her glasses and slipped them on, she found her Mauket sitting less than a metre away from her. The Mauket mewed happily at her then took off after the other petpets. Lili stood, confused and more than a little unsteady on her feet.

 

Shortly after the stampede of petpets, a Striped Uni and Desert Aisha joined the group. The Uni stopped to let its rider dismount and then continued after the petpets. The rider, Lili guessed from her conversation with Marik, was Alesha. Alesha rattled something off about petpets and Peopatra, and was rather rudely confronted by Fiwawou's Orange Wocky. Lili had just about decided that all people associated with celebrities were people to be avoided, but she noticed honest concern in the Wocky's features when she mentioned her colleagues. Whatever apathy Fiwawou held towards his people, it hadn't spread to Gwen.

 

"Professor?" Lili said quietly. Both Eyries turned to look at her. "Professor, I know we ought to follow after the petpets, but... well, mightn't I stay and help Ms. Gwen?" She looked nervously at the Wocky and at Alesha standing beside her.

Alrik smiled. "If they will have you along," He indicated Gwen and the Eyrie. "then you may certainly go with them."

Lili looked at the two hopefully. She was curious to learn more about what was going on, and... frankly, she didn't feel quite up to flying again.

[antiaircraft]

((Heh, I seem to be waaay ahead at UTC +8. :P Oh, and just for the record, Sapper acknowledged Chuukou's departure with a nod. Since they're acquaintances now and all, right? xD))

 

"Very well." Sapper acknowledged, seemingly oblivious to the tension that the petpet stampede had brought along with it. He hadn't missed it of course (in fact, he had spotted a rather familiar Albat in the group) but he had a priority objective, and considering the team that was already in pursuit off the petpets, the situation was probably well in hand.

 

"Lili, Gwen, I recommend you pack light. Only a water supply and portable shelters if possible, but I presume there are a other necessities you'll want to bring. The crash site is just under 98 klicks ((61 miles)) out from here, bearing 143 degrees from north. Meet me by my vehicle when you're ready."

 

The Eyrie strode rapidly back towards his buggy and, following his own advice, began packing light. He slung a bag under his right wing, loading it with a large bottle of water, a portable tent, and two strips of highly nutritious preserved Maraquan seaweed rations. Under his other wing, he slung a long wooden staff. It wasn't the most impressive of weapons, but it had far more practical use in the desert than guns or knives. Everything else was stowed in the buggy. While there wasn't much preventing it from being stolen, it was unlikely that even the most desperate thieves would consider the stash worth their time. The buggy was an old model so common that many sunny cities hired them out for free, and even the stun rifles were so ancient that they were almost worthless, black market or not.

 

Satisfied with his loadout, Sapper turned his gaze southwards, scanning the horizon and planning possible routes as he waited for the others.

 

((The buggy can only reach about 40 km/h (25 mph), even on smooth terrain. Sapper can maintain a distance run at more than 70 km/h (more than 40 mph). I doubt Gwen and Lili realise this yet, but it's time for a very unusual Eyrie ride! b) ))

[Parry]

((My time is exactly GMT, and I'm usually on at about 4:30-7:30, although I'm on around 3ish if it's the weekend.))

 

Alesha, who did not tolerate strangers with the sense of kindness she shewed those she knew better, held herself even more upright, and spoke in a very cold tone, "I wouldn't be so brash in your language. Well, whoever is joining me, hurry up now, else we'll loose Beta - she is a very fast runner, whether she has an injury or not." She sweapt past the Wocky without giving her so much as a second glance, and for no particular reason, she unsheathed her spear. Perhaps it was to defend herself, although from what, it was unclear. Indeed, Alesha was so cool, so stoic in her movements she didn't even wait for anybody, and she followed the trail of footsteps that Beta left behind.

[Raichi]

Standing there by herself in the desert Gwen crossed her arms "Do I look like I have anything to pack?" the vehicle to pick up Fiwawou and Chuukou had already disappeared from sight. She then followed Sapper to his vehicle, realizing she needed to calm down "Sorry, I'm a little tense" she apologized to Sapper. The desert Aisha from before had already taken off.

 

Gwen entered the passengers seat, feeling a little uncomfortable in such a rough vehicle as the buggy. She rested her hands on her upper legs and sighed. The things I have to go through with this job.. She realized it would of been better if she had asked for more help, after all, how were she, a little girl and an Eyrie going to dig out a crashed jet? Not to mention her doubts about the capacity of people Sapper's buggy could take.

[jumpingbeans]

((Sorry I haven't been around much. Also, I'm a bit lost, so if someone could give me a really short summary, I'd be really grateful))

 

JB looked around, in his pyramid. He didn't see anything. Literally. Someone had closed the door to the pyramid behind him!

Feeling slightly taken aback, he proceeded in to the rest of the pyramid, looking for the thing that had made the noise: a small Geb, that couldn't of been more cute. This Geb was blue, and looked just like the pyramid he was contained in. he quickly saw JB, and rushed over to him, cuddling his legs, as high as he could reach.

"What a cute thing" JB thought to himself. But then he realized he was trapped in a pyramid. Reality came to came. So he said, aloud "I wonder how to get out of here". He was just talking to himself, but the Geb started jumping up excitedly.

"Hold it, little fella" he told the Geb, but the blue Geb just ran deeper into the pyramid. JB followed him. Pretty soon, he saw the Geb stop. He had come to the burial chamber of the mummy, full of Desert treasure!

 

frank4t was staring up at Coltzan. "You're a figment of my imagination!" he told himself over and over, hoping to make himself realize it was just a mirage, or something. Afterall, he didn't believe in this hocus-pocus. He believed in solid, provable facts. Not some random joke someone else made to scare people.

"I am not, you Neopet. But I sense you are troubled. I can help you, if you wish. Of course, you'd have to believe in me for me to help you"

frank4t thought about it. He did need help finding his brother, afterall.

"Okay, Coltzan. Do you know where I could find me brother?" he asked.

[antiaircraft]

((JB, most of us are currently chasing after a herd of stampeding petpets running out into the desert.))

 

"No worries, that's understandable." Sapper replied to Gwen, turning back towards the buggy. "Are you aware of the time at which the jet went down? If it crashed towards the beginning of the recent sandstorm, before 0820, it's unlikely that there'll be any remaining access points on the surface. If that's the case, we'll need to grab a few shovels."

[Raichi]

(( 9th and 10th October - Eyrie Day

Wow! Eyries can now be painted Desert and Camouflage at the Rainbow Pool!!!

 

and that new white eyrie outfit! O.o;; that just makes me want to adopt an eyrie haha))

[antiaircraft]

((Yeah, the Desert Eyrie is especially awesome I think. :yes:

 

How's Gwen going to answer by the way? I presume they could find the jet with a small part of its tail section still exposed, dig until they hit the fuselage, then crack in from there. If it's completely buried though, Sapper's going to have to radio for some heavy equipment.))

[jumpingbeans]

(( I'm still wondering how I'm going to meet up with all of you, when I'm with Coltzan and in a Pyramid. Oh, and don't mind the spoiler

))

[antiaircraft]

((Would the petpet stampede have enough energy to break into a random chamber in one of the pyramids? If so, a) great, b) talk about needing to regulate tourists...))

[jumpingbeans]

((I like that idea. Let's see if we can get it to work))

[antiaircraft]

((I think Nom Nom Nom's controlling the petpet herd. :yes: You probably just need to find a chamber with a convenient breakable wall for now.))

[Raichi]

((well I figured Livvy has to post first, or else her aisha would be standing in the desert for too long timewise))

[antiaircraft]

((Lili! When Sapper said 'other necessities', he wasn't referring to a whole rucksack full of notebooks! :P ))

[Parry]

((I thought we were past the Pyramids? Anyway...))

 

One side of the wall in which JB found himself trapped suddenly shook, and three seemingly stray Anubises and a Mauket suddenly crashed through the wall; without waiting for any reaction, they only stopped temporarily before turning around and running out again.

[livvy]

((Blah! Calculus and SAT. I'm back now. Sorry 'bout the delay.))

 

Lili frowned at her satchel. Her packing modus operandi had always been to prepare for absolutely anything; packing light wouldn't be easy for her. She dumped everything out of the sack, picking up each object one by one and deciding whether or not she needed to keep it.

A small container of water and a parcel of food. Yes, those she would definitely need. She placed them carefully inside the bag.

A collapsible wind shelter. It would have to do; she hadn't brought any more sturdy shelter along. Re-tying the bindings so they wouldn't come undone, she lay the shelter beside her bag.

Her notebook of hieroglyphics and their meanings. She was venturing into the desert. One never knew what one might have to translate. Into the satchel it went.

An atlas of various regions of the desert. Wouldn't want to get lost. Into the satchel.

A small, bound journal containing logs of days' work and personal entries. Lili was deeply attached to the information recorded in the journal and couldn't bear to leave it in the sand. She tucked it in the front pocket of the bag.

A battery-powered flashlight ((or torch, for you non-Americans, which I think is... all of you. xD)) Should they be traveling at night, light would definitely come in handy.

Photographs of her family and dear Delfin. Well, she supposed she didn't actually need them, but they hardly weighed anything. Those went with the journal.

 

Lili heard the Wocky and Eyrie talking, and looked up to see them waiting by the buggy. She looked down and what she had packed and noticed with dismay that nothing was left on the sand. With a sigh of frustration she dumped everything out of the pack again, threw in the food, water, shelter, and flashlight, and ran to join the people with whom she would now be traveling.

 

-~-

Alrik watched his student run off with a sad smile. He would miss her company. "Goodbye, Lili!" he called after her.

She turned and waved. "Goodbye, Professor Alrik! And good luck with those petpets!"

 

When Lili had reached the Wocky and Eyrie, Alrik set off on his own mission. Riding the updrafts, he spotted Alesha chasing after Beta chasing after a dust cloud that had to be the petpets.

 

-~-

"Sorry for taking so long, Ms. Gwen and Mr.-" Lili paused. "I don't believe Professor Alrik told me your name," she said with slight embarrassment. "Mine's Lilianaver- er, just Lili. If he hasn't already told you."

[Raichi]

"Unless there were more sandstorms today there's no mistaking that they crashed around that time" Gwen answered.

 

Finally Lili arrived, apologized for taking her time and introduced herself. "Lili.." Gwen looked up pondering over the name "Cute name" she concluded. She then looked at Sapper, curious to his introduction. She was expecting a tough name, like Duncan or Chad. She would definitely feel Sapper didn't fit his appearance. Either way it was taking too long.

 

"Are we going to do an age round as well, or are we going to get this show up and running?" If anyone in the jet ended up dead it wouldn't be possible to keep it from the media anymore.

[antiaircraft]

((Random note: Sapper is very large for an Eyrie.))

 

"Unless there were more sandstorms today there's no mistaking that they crashed around that time" Gwen answered.

 

"Acknowledged." Sapper replied, swiftly adding four collapsible shovels and a radio beacon to his loadout as Lili introduced herself.

 

"It's time to roll." he announced in response to Gwen's concerned nag, folding his rear legs and bringing his back closer to the ground. "For the sake of speed, you'll need to ride me. Gwen should probably sit further forward, just behind my wings. If needed, she can use my mane for support."

[Parry]

((Judging by the current subplot you've got, it may take a while to wrap up, yes? In that case, when you're done, let me know and I'll send another hoarde of petpets to take you to the sand-dunes))

 

Alesha was aware that someone was following her, although she had a feeling they were distracted by something. Hoping that they would soon join them (if another bunch of petpets did indeed follow the ones they were), she continued onwards, way past any other living Neopians around, and when only the tips of the Sakhmet palace were poking over the horizon, Alesha found Beta standing still, and looking down at the magnificant valley of sand-dunes.

 

"What's the matter?" asked Alesha as she waited for Alrik to descend. "Where are the petpets?"

 

"They went in there." With a nod of her head, Beta indicated at a particular sand-dune. The grains on top were a darker colour of sand, making it even easier to distinguish. Alesha remained speechless for a moment, and then checked again that she wasn't hearing Beta wrong.

 

"How can they go in a sand-dune?"

[livvy]

((*pokes Theo angrily* You still haven't told us Sapper's name! And Nom, could you possibly fill us in on what you have in mind for the main plot? I'm rather enjoying this little "side plot" and think it's entirely possible that a] the petpets could pass by the wreckage on their own (that was where they were headed anyway) or b] it could remain completely separate from the primary plot.))

 

From his vantage point in the sky, Alrik saw something very strange occur. He had been following the dust cloud from the petpets, but the cloud had stopped moving and was rapidly clearing, revealing a curious looking dune. It was the only dune in the area, and as far as Alrik could see it had no business being there. For dunes to form alone, with no other dunes around them, was a rare thing... unless something was buried beneath it. The jet plane? he wondered. But no, the coordinates don't match the ones that Eyrie gave me...

 

He glanced behind him to see how Alesha and Beta were faring. They had caught up with each other and stopped. Alrik tucked his wings in and dropped rapidly - much easier than fighting the updrafts. As he neared the ground, he spread his wings again and landed softly on the unstable sand. He strode quickly towards the pair, who appeared to be discussing the strange event he had just witnessed.

 

"They've disappeared."

 

-~-

A hint of red rose to Lili's blue cheeks. It wasn't often that she was called cute. Nerdy, dorky, or brilliant she had heard before; cute was quite a new descriptor. She rather liked Gwen. Or at least, was willing to give her a chance. After meeting Fiwawou, Lili understood a little rudeness from his employees. After working with him all day, she reasoned, she probably wouldn't be terribly nice either.

 

Yes, she was definitely avoiding the Lenny Conundrum Lenny.

 

The brown Eyrie's voice broke Lili's chain of thought. «For the sake of speed, you'll need to ride me.» The suggestion startled Lili. Looking at the buggy, she had to admit that riding the Eyrie would probably be much quicker, but she wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea. She didn't even know the Eyrie's name yet!

 

Lili's strong sense of introversion struggled with her equally strong sense of reason. Alrik was usually a pretty good judge of character; he wouldn't have let her go with this Eyrie if he didn't trust him. And if Professor Alrik trusted him, then she could too. But the old professor had no idea how much it terrified her to meet new people. Perhaps he hadn't taken that into account. Still, the Eyrie didn't look too frightful, if you didn't look at his wing...

Reason triumphant, Lili snapped her pack shut, tightened it on her shoulder so as not to lose it on the ride, and stepped toward the crouching Eyrie, waiting for Gwen to get on.

[Raichi]

((Gwen's already in the seat Livvy :P))

 

Gwen did as Sapper told her. This vehicle was very uncomfortable to what she was used to, but then again, she often found herself in less then average circumstances when cleaning up Fiwa's mess. The only positive news about Fiwawou's big ego was that he barely socialized. If he did the media could take advantage out of it. News was news, bad and good juice both making good stories. And Gwen was the one who had to make sure bad news wouldn't reach the media.

 

OOC: RIG, can you please describe how they're sitting in the vehicle? Because when I googled buggy i noticed most of them had a passenger seat next to the drivers seat. But apparantly yours is behind the drivers seat which is okay with me, but the part of Lili having to ride Sapper I didn't quite grasp. Did he mean sitting on his lap?? I'm a bit confused ^^;

 

Also, thusfar I imagined everyone's char as anthro, except the uni mentioned.

[livvy]

((But we're riding Sapper, not the buggy.

And I've been imagining them fairly Neopet shaped, but... standing. Eh. My mental images could use clarification. :P ))

[jumpingbeans]

JB was dazed for a second. The pyramid wall just broke. And he thought he was deep inside the pyramid

"Strange..." he murmured to himself, jumping out of the pyramid in time to see the petpets running away. He decided to chase them, not knowing where he was going.

 

Frank4t was concentrating on believing in King Coltzan's ghost. It was really hard, because Coltzan was hovering up and down. Eventually, he said 'I'm Ready'

'Good' said the King. "Now Just wait here for a second while I find your brother. And don't move!" Coltzan continued, before vanishing into thin air, leaving frank4t in a predicament much like his brother had.

[antiaircraft]

((Livvy, I'm waiting for the right moment. ;)

 

The buggy is far too slow to reach the jet in time, so both Gwen and Lili will both need to ride on Sapper's back while he does a high-speed marathon run. :yes: ))

[Parry]

((Well, the main intention was that everybody followed the first hoarde - you'll see where this is going in this post - but it seems that I may have to slow down the main plot first. The substory will DEFINATELY have to stay seperate from the main plot. And JB, I'll let you take charge of your hoarde, although you should pretty much follow what Alesha and Beta do here. Like I say, once your subplot is finished, provided it's not too long, then I'll send another mass of petpets your way; if it is gonna stretch, is it possible to find some sort of temporary stopping point, so you guys rejoin the main plot and then return to it later?))

 

"You're saying we have to go in," was all Alesha could bring herself to say. The reality of where the Petpets went was still sinking in - surely that sand-dune was just a sand-dune, right? Without warning, Beta suddenly forced Alesha onto her back and she kicked off into the air. Her wings snapped open, and she elegently descended down to the foot of their particular sand-dune.

 

"There's no turning back now," said Beta firmly. "Are we going in?" Alesha paused; she wondered if there was any return ... they had no idea what they were getting themselves into ...

 

"Let's go." With firm resolution, Beta galloped at the sand-dune. The two Neopians expected to hit a wall of sand, but they passed through like they were going through a waterfall. Everything was dark and hollow; suddenly, there was no more ground and the two Neopians fell quite some distance before they crashed down the bottom. Alesha was the first to get to her feet, and she looked upwards; from where they were, everything was even more pitch-black.

 

A sudden movement caught her attention, and she impulsively drew her spear; she knew that movement couldn't be Beta, she could tell if it was. No, it was something else ... a tiny flame was alight in the distance, and it was growing closer and closer ... Alesha steadied herself, ready to enter combat...

 

Suddenly the room lit up due to the flame, and now that visibility was regained, Alesha mumbled "oh" as she realised that a Baby Fireball was standing before them.

 

"Welcome," the petpet smiled. Judging by the voice, it sounded like a she; but more surprisingly, it could easily communicate to them in perfect English. "We have been expecting you."