shatterverse | (no subject)

Rachel doesn't say anything in response, but she's mentally relieved. At least he isn't going to fight her about it anymore.

Rachel moves a little closer - and just as quickly backs up again, turning her face away. "Oh god-"

Because after a few days in the sun, human flesh does not exactly rot gracefully.

Tobias' reaction is different, but he works pretty hard to make sure Rachel doesn't notice it. Because the hawk is sort of hungry.

<Are you okay?> he asks, moving closer to her as a way to distract himself. And hopefully offer some comfort.

"Yeah," between coughing, lifting her arm up to cover her nose. "God, that's vile."

And also means a morph is necessary. She knows just the one.

It's daylight, but the owl still has good vision. Even better: no sense of smell.

He bobs his head at her.

<Do you see anything that gives us any clues about those things?>

<I see skin. And more skin. And also skin.>

Dryly factual, but also irritated. Rachel was hoping for more than just a collapsed building, too.

<Your eyes would be better than mine in this light. I want to see if I can get to the center of it, where that heart thing was.>

He bobs his head again. <This way, I think.>

Her wings tilt to the side, tiny feathers making miniscule adjustments, and turning after him to follow in perfect formation.

It's not an ideal job, but at least it includes flying.

There's definitely a... thickening of bodies on the ground as they fly. And it doesn't take too long before the place where they're thickest becomes obvious.

<This is... evil.>

There's no reply she can make to that. Mostly because Rachel agrees with him.

At the thick of it, Rachel circles a bit. The ruined building (human flesh) covers anything that might be evidence, but the owl is too small to be any good about moving things. She could morph bald eagle, but the eagle can smell, and still isn't much bigger. Lucy might be the best, but she's not certain she could overpower the dragon's hunger around all of this when there's nothing else to distract her.

<Any bright ideas?> she asks Tobias irritably.

<We need to get under there somehow,> Tobias points out the obvious. <Maybe from underneath?> Easier to dig through the dirt than the bodies.

Rachel circles again before sighing and zooming off for a clear patch of grass and dirt. <What? Mole?>

<That might work,> Tobias agrees as he stoops in for a landing.

<...it would?>

Apparently, the suggestion had been sarcastic. Rachel starts to demorph and is glad the wind is blowing the other way. "It took us days to get down to the Yeerk Pool the last time we used this," she points out, frowning at the ground and poking at it with a toe. "Can moles even dig straight across?"

<You got a suggestion you like better?> he asks, a hint of Marco's sarcasm in his mental tone. <We didn't come out here to not get answers, and I don't think I'm going to be any good to you here human.>

Rachel glances at him with a glare, more chastising than angry. And when she looks to the ground again, she's thoughtful.

And sighs.

"Man, I hate mole," she grumbles, even as she closes her eyes to start the morph.

<Is there anyone who doesn't?> Tobias asks as he morphs himself. The mole, at least wasn't really hungry for stacks of human flesh, so that was a plus.

<Cassie, probably.>

It comes out naturally, straight from her brain to-- well, in this case her brain. But all the same, Rachel's painfully aware that it's the first time she's said that name aloud since arriving.

And she'd rather not dwell on it.

<Maybe you should stay up until I've started,> she suggests, starting to dig into the earth with little shovel paws, rat nose twitching while the mole screams for the security of darkness and earth. <We can't dig together anyway.>

Edited 2009-03-02 00:44 (UTC)

<Call if you need me.> That's agreement. She's better at leading the way anyway. It's what she does best, in fact.

He morphs back to hawk and settles in to wait.

She doesn't bother responding - of course she'll call.

If she needs him. That's important.

The hole expands pretty quickly and soon enough, the mole is calm with its entire body covered and surrounded by earth. But mole mind aside, Rachel hates the claustrophobia or digging and can already feel it settling in her mind. But if she just keeps digging, keeps moving, it'll be fine. They have a job to do.

Do the job. Just do the job.

And for god's sake, don't crap out after twenty minutes like the first time.

Tobias doesn't say anything else, but he knows what it's like for her, at least a bit. He allows his mind to press slightly against hers. Not words, but a sort of comforting murmur. Just to remind her that he's there if she needs him.

Even if it's not for fighting.

As if she'd admit to claustrophobia in the first place.

Once settled, she tries to dig straight across, but her bottom-heavy mole body works as a leveler in her mind - she can tell she's not quite straight.

<I'm still going slightly downhill. The tunnel's going to come out looking v-shaped if we do the whole thing.>

<I don't think that'll be a problem. As long as we don't take too long on the digging.> If he had lips he'd smile. No one soldiers on as well as Rachel does.

Even while complaining about it. Though she does fall silent shortly after, counting down minutes (seconds). She's determined to get through at least one hour of this before making Tobias continue.

All the same, twenty minutes in, she has to check.

<I feel like I've gone... three, maybe four feet. Where am I?>

<Farther than that,> Tobias says with a sort of easy confidence in his voice. It's Rachel, she'll do fine.

<I'm just estimating, but I think about twice that much longer and you'll be inside where the walls used to be.>

<Great.>

If she sounds less than enthusiastic...

All the same, she makes it through the next hour with little trouble. She doesn't want to be just inside the walls, she wants to be inside, somewhere near where the heart had been. And as she nears it, she start thinking.

Mostly because thinking helps her ignore how many tasty worms and beetles are crawling along there with her, interested in the rotting flesh above.

<...so I have a question for the class.>