Rogue: Rise Up (DCStuck Trolls)

[ParamountKeymaster]

For a while, Lagola just kept staring at the clouds, straining to catch more glimpses of past and future events. It seemed only fitting, seeing as how she was now a fully realized Rogue of Time. ...Okay, maybe not fully realized, but once she got the hang of her powers, maybe she could...

She could what? She was still too terrified of this place to really do anything!

Having seen enough clouds to know that she was going to meet an alien on Prospit, Cortem had indeed merged his sprite with his dream self, Orcana was going to suffer a horrible injury, and yes, Sirion had killed her (apparently Skaia wanted to hammer in a cruel dose of reality), Lagola retreated back into the bush, hoping that none of the soldiers had spotted her. She was surprised no one had already. These infernal horns could be seen a mile away.

As she continued to wait, she started to genuinely consider what she was now capable of. What exactly could a Rogue of Time do? Obviously, time travel was a given, but what abilities came with her class? Despite all the research she had done on the nature of the game, she knew very little about classes, aspects and god tiers beyond the obvious; if she HAD known more about them, she wouldn't have been in this mess!

Still... this was happening to her whether she liked it or not. She'd just have to accept it, along with the good and bad that came with it.

Lagola tried to think of something she could do while she waited for Kamulo. Might as well test her powers to pass the time.

Wait... pass the time...

She closed her eyes and raised her hands slightly, concentrating on both her inner self and the world around her. Perhaps she could fast-forward everything to a point where Kamulo had found her.

Surprisingly, as she focused her energy, Lagola could feel something flowing into her. It was gentle, but prominent, like gas slowly being sucked into a vacuum. When she opened her eyes, she let out a startled squeak as she found herself surrounded by a bizarre red mist, swirling around her in strange patterns like the gears of a clock, the teeth depositing the gas into her body. It looked like she was pulling this mist out of thin air...

And when she took a good, hard look around, it became clear that the more of this mist she absorbed, the faster everything around her became.

"W-Whoa...!"

[jessie]

Kamulo wandered waywardly, peeking around corners carefully, hoping to not run into any Dersite soldiers. Well, at least she hoped that Derse was her only threat, she hoped that Prospitians wouldn't hurt her. As she floated along, a bit slower than she'd like but a necessary speed for a search, she pondered. Where would she be if she was Lagola? Hiding, obviously, but there were so many places to be on this forsaken Battlefield! C'mon, Entine, think.

"LAGOLA!" Yeah, best bet. She's exhausted real strategy for now. She swooped over the landscape, hands cupping her mouth. Were her fangs getting in the way? She better yell louder.

"LAGOLA!!" She went higher, having absolutely no idea if height increased her sound, but may as well try. She swirled around a tree, looking for her lapin-minded friend. Where, oh, where could she be?

"LAGOLAAAA!!!" In the distance, she saw soldiers. From here, she couldn't tell which kingdom they belonged to. She slowed, hesitating, then went towards them. If they were Prospitian, maybe they'd help her out! If they were Dersite... she could always turn around.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Having semi-unwittingly stolen time from the Battlefield, from Lagola's perspective, it was only a matter of seconds before she heard a distant squeak that seemed at odds with the general white noise around her. With the world moving as quickly as it seemed to be, it was hard to make out what exactly this noise was. Thus, going out on a limb, Lagola pushed outward and revered the flow of time, slowly returning it to the Battlefield.

Sure enough, when she heard that squeaky voice at a slower tempo and lower pitch, she could undeniably make out her own name.

"K-Kamulo...?"

Hastily, she expelled the rest of the raw energy she had absorbed, restoring the flow of time to normal. She then poked her head ever so slightly out of the bush, once again looking around for her rescuer.

The horns slightly poking out of the top of the bush were one thing. The red mask over her yellow eyes was another.

[jessie]

Despite being in audible range, it still took Kamulo a few moments to spot Lagola. She was still a bit away when Lagola returned to regular time, and casting her gaze a bit higher than where Lagola crouched.

"Lagolaaaa?" She whimpered, tired of yelling. From her perspective, she'd been searching for another half an hour. Of course the Battlefield was big, but it was still disheartening. If she could've at least found a corpse, that would be better than silence. Maybe Lagola was back in the direction of those soldiers - they'd been Dersite, so she'd swerved. Even if they might kill her, she was willing. Just a little farther, then she'd turn back.

She swooped, going slightly faster, and scanned. "LagolaAAAIE!" She shrieked in surprise, peripherals barely catching red in a bush. Usually bright red means a horrible monster, especially around eye level. But oh, she looks directly at it, and those are horns. Big ol' conical things, evocative of a herbagebeast's sonar catchers. Kamulo was unclear on if she had ever seen Lagola 'for real' before, but who else could it be?

"Lagola!" This time the tone was not in panic, or despair, but relief. She'd found her! There was an urge to make some referential joke about a game wigglers played, further deepening the reference into any number of films with varying influence on troll culture, but Kamulo decided to keep her talk blaster decidedly shut on the majority of that. She flew over to where Lagola was, coming to a stop and hovering in front of the bush.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"KAMULO!" Lagola immediately pushed the branches of the bush aside and stood up to her full height, tiny as it might have been. She instinctively froze up and studied this newcomer, though she was quickly, completely certain that it was Kamulo. Why else would a Prospit dreamer be down here specifically looking for her?

All of a sudden, the fact that Kamulo could see her dressed in god tier robes was the least of Lagola's concerns. All she could think to do was leap out of the bush, run up to Kamulo, bury her face in the dream self's pajamas and unleash the sobs she had been holding in for quite some time.

Never in her life had Lagola been more relieved to see another troll.

[jessie]

To be frank, having tears soak through your clothes is kinda gross, not to mention any snot, and the pigmentation of troll tears. Kamulo hoped it wouldn't leave brown stains right in the middle of her pajama shirt, not even somewhere she could maybe hide it. Hey Kam, why you got grub sauce on your shirt? Well, it's not grub sauce, bucko, it's tears, cause Kamulo's the best pal around! Also, it probably washed out. Magic pajamas, and all.

Kamulo floated down until she was on Lagola's level, or at least, as close as she could be. She was standing on the Battlefield ground now, and Lagola was still ludicrously shorter than her. Like, a foot shorter. This was just an illegal amount of shortness. Now closer, Kamulo was in a position to comfort the poor soul better, hugging her back and petting her hair.

"Shhh, shh shhh, Lagola, it's okay now, it's over..." This might be overstepping some bounds right now, she had no idea if she was or not, but damn if she didn't care about that at all. Lagola was hurting right now, and she could always apologize later. She may have had a little fledgling pale crush on Lagola for a wee while now, so just let her have these 5 seconds, before she had to worry about if she was in the wrong. Troll manners and proceedings sure are complicated!

[ParamountKeymaster]

It took a good long while for Lagola to calm down even the slightest. She just stood there bawling, releasing the emotions she had restrained for her own safety. She needed this. She needed to cry. She needed release. She was scared and confused and dejected and even angry, and this was the only way she knew how to express it all.

At least Kamulo seemed to understand...

Of course, that didn't make Lagola any less terrified of how Sirion would react to her complete and utter lack of emotional change.

As much as she wanted to escape this warzone... that was probably what Lagola was most afraid of.

"I... SNRRRRK... I trusted hiiiiiim...!"

[jessie]

"I know, I know, we all did. Hey, it's gonna be alright, okay, he did a terrible thing. But now it's done, and you're right here." Kamulo wanted to kill Sirion. With every passing second, her desire to repay him grew. She was above actually doing that, of course. It would just bring her down to his level, and there was a possibility he'd just off her instead. It would prove his point. She'd be loathe to do that, especially with her stance of 'teamkilling is bad'. But she also had a detailed fantasy running right now about using his indigo blood to paint a picture of the sky, the perfect shade of blue she needed.

She continued to pat Lagola's head and brush talons through her hair, shushing comfortingly, as she contemplated these thoughts further. It was in her nature to be murderous, she supposed. As she had learned from her new friends, trolls were naturally bloodthirsty cutthroats. So it was natural she would have these killing urges eventually. Was it because she'd been secluded her whole life? Or was it them that had changed her? Was she actually supposed to be this way?

She's probably zoning out more than a little at this point, eyes glazed, head in the clouds. Both metaphorically and literally, there was a Skaian cloud drifting close to the ground, about to go through them both.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Lagola continued to snivel and weep, still a long way to go on the road to regaining her composure. She didn't know what to do anymore. Sure, she was never entirely certain what to do about this game, but before, she at least felt like she had some grip on her position and was figuring out a working plan. Now... Now she felt completely helpless. The person who had convinced her to join this team, the one responsible for her being in this madhive at all, had made it very clear that he saw Lagola as nothing but a tool. An instrument in this game, his to play with and dispose of if needed.

She didn't know who to trust anymore. Who to trust to use or abuse her. Because if one thing was clear now, it was that Lagola had no control over her fate.

"I j- I don't know what to do...!" Lagola shakily pressed her arms against her chest and nestled up against Kamulo, just like she used to do with Bunnymom. "S-Sirion, he... he said he was trying to h-help me, but... I-I don't understand...! He just...! He's gonna...! And I...! SNFF...! I don't wanna do this anymoooore! WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

[jessie]

"Hey, it's gonna be alright. You don't have to know what to do. Goodness knows I don't, half the time. You're not alone. I'm gonna help you, okay? There, there. Shhh, shhh..." Lagola had gone back to crying, so Kamulo went back to shooshing. She kept saying encouraging things, but really didn't think anything was getting through in this state. She scanned the horizon quickly, getting a bit antsy in this environment. It was called the Battlefield after all, and they were already lucky to not have gotten caught up in anything already. This was really pushing luck.

Not to mention she was recalling that she had another body on LOCAK, a sleeping one, a defenseless one whose respiteblock was surrounded by imps. Obviously she was still fine as of yet, but for how much longer? They could be standing over her right now, about to strike the killing blow. Any second. Right... now! Okay, right, riiight... NOW! Okay, this was stupid.

"Lagola, would it make you feel better if we got out of here?" She says it carefully, words it softly, but is Lagola even registering her words at this point? The poor girl does seem to be quite deep in hysterics.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"YES!" Lagola held tighter to Kamulo, still sobbing uncontrollably. Regardless of what awaited her back on her planet, she still very much wanted to get off the battlefield. Granted, they'd have to fly, but that wouldn't have been the most horrific thing to happen to her that day.

Where she would go from here, though... Only time would tell.

[jessie]

"Okay."

And that was all. It was time to go. Kamulo got a good hold on Lagola, looping her arms under Lagola's armpits and clasping her hands at Lagola's spine. She scanned the Skaian horizon one last time, but she already knew there was nowhere to go here. They had to go back to Prospit. It was the only way. Kamulo knew. She just knew.

She lifted into the air, carefully at first, to make sure she did have a good grip on Lagola and she wouldn't just slide out as soon as they got going. Nope, she seemed to be secure. Maybe she'd wanna help a little, pull her own weight with those fancy new godtier powers of hers. But whatever, she'd been through a lot, Kamulo wouldn't press it verbally. She looked upwards, searching for the orbiting golden Prospit.

She'd heard whispers of maps, directions to the Lands. She had no idea who would have them, but they'd worry about that bridge when they crossed it. For now, they just needed to get up to

Z

Suddenly, Kamulo's dream self fell asleep. 60 feet in the air, she stopped flying. She and Lagola started dropping back down to the Battlefield, in for a particularly nasty fall.

Kamulo awoke with a start in her respiteblock, vision obscured by green sopor. Muffled, but loud, sounds were happening all around her. She poked her head out of the goop to see imps galavanting about as if they owned the place. Angry, she clambered out. "That's it, I have had enough of this nonsense! Everyone, OUT!" She pointed to the entryboard and tapped her ambulatory appendage, utterly steaming. The imps filed out in shame.

Once they were gone, she continued panicking. What a horrible time to wake up! Now she wasn't tired at all, how could she possibly fall back asleep?! "I'll eat the sopor if it gets me back." She sideeyed said slime. No. She... no, that was a joke. Yeah. She'd never...

[ParamountKeymaster]

Lagola's cries died down into mere timid whimpers as she tightly clung to Kamulo, closing her eyes as she felt the Prospit dreamer lift her into the air. Anxious as she was to escape the battlefield, and as grateful as she was for Kamulo's help, flying was still a terrifying ordeal. She just hoped it would be over quickly and they would be on Prospit soon.

Wait... where they falling?

Against her better judgment, Lagola opened her eyes, only to close them again and outright scream at the top of her lungs when she saw the chessboard ground fast approaching.

Heart pounding, fearing for her life, still screaming in the worst possible terror, she held Kamulo's sleeping dream self tighter, bracing herself for impact. As she retreated inward, though she was oblivious to it at that moment, time started to flow around and through her again. Somehow, in her efforts to lessen the impact, she was subconsciously absorbing the surrounding time into herself and Kamulo's dream self, drastically slowing them down. Lagola didn't realize this until she opened her eyes again, fearful of what she would find but confused as to why they hadn't hit the ground yet. She twitched slightly, then stared in fascination as the two of them gently floated downward.

It was... strange. She hadn't even done it consciously, but there she was, having stolen time to slow their descent. And that wasn't even the strangest part. Every little movement she made, from opening her eyes to turning her head, took an oddly long time to carry out, despite her mind continuing to operate at a normal speed.

Finally, Lagola landed as softly as a feather, the sleeping dream self flopping on top of her. Once she was absolutely certain they were safe and unharmed, Lagola expelled her excess time, allowing herself to move freely again.

She quickly sat up, panting and clutching her chest. She was already spooked enough as it was, but having nearly brushed death a second time within the same hour, Lagola was well past the point of conniptions, her pants quickly giving way for more distressed wails and tears. In her best efforts to work past her state of panic, she scrambled to her feet and started haphazardly dragging Kamulo's dream self back into the bushes, shaking her all the while in the hopes of knocking out her waking self's body.

"K-Kamulo?! KAMULOOOO! Please! Wake up! PLEASE! HELP ME!!!"

[jessie]

Kamulo paced her respiteblock, trying to think up a way to get back to Lagola without giving herself a concussion, or something equally as extreme. She knocked over a couple paint cups in her wake, causing her to curse as the blood-dyed mess got all over her floor. That's it. She's just gonna stick her face in the sopor and hope it knocks her out, or at least suffocates her for her transgressions.

And then she heard the road of a megaimp somewhere inside her hive. Nothing quite sends the fear of Gog into you like that sound, some giant horrible monster inside your hive, hungry, searching for you, and as she is thinking this she is realizing she's describing a lusus wow life is now in perspective.

In panicked haste, Kamulo scooped up a handful of sopor(which captchalogued, and she actually wanted that to happen for once), and just about launched herself across her respiteblock to her glimpsing aperture, which she wrenched open and escaped out of like some meowbeast burglar. She's not staying in there if one of those is in her hive, no way. She'll come back later when she's not as horribly busy.

She checked her CommuniCuff, almost on reflex, and checked to see who was on. No one? Really? No one was on?! That was hard to believe, but it was possible, she supposed. Or her connection was being exceptionally shit, which would also be unlikely, but possible. Ridiculous. She shot Lagola a quick offline message.

CE: I'M S9RRY L9G9L9
CE: IM FIGURING IT 9UT
CE: ST9Y S9FE

Okay, now to just find somewhere safe on this awful forsaken planet and just. Plop the sopor over her face. What else was she supposed to do? Options were running out.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Once again tucked away in the safety of her bush, unsure what else to do, Lagola sat there and once again sped up time around her, anxiously and desperately waiting for Kamulo's dream self to wake up again. She was still sniffling and sobbing all the while, not that this would register as sounds of distress to any nearby soldiers; compared to them, she was slowed down so much that even if someone could hear her, they would only hear a deep, droning noise coming from the bush.

Really, what else was she to do? Lagola was tired of this insanity! She just wanted to go home!