[semi-closed] every devil I meet becomes a friend of mine.

[mollymocked]

Who: Mollymauk Tealeaf (mollymocked) and anyone who wants to quest, etc.
What: A catch-all for quests and other things.
When: End of September, through October. Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey.
Where: Anywhere you want it, that's the way you need it.
Warning(s): Friendly reminder that Molly's blood hunter abilities do involve self-harm and any thread involving combat may have them come up.



[A catch-all for any quest logs I've made plans with. If I made plans with you during the CR meme for quests when they go up (or if you just want a thread), and I don't have you on plurk, PLEASE do not hesitate to PM me to do a starter for you. I would absolutely love to.]

Comments

[errantdetective]

Uh huh. [Toby isn't paying attention. She's paying more attention to her nose and what she can smell. She's managed to describe magical scents really precisely before. She's not sure if she can work backwards from a description of a scent, but it's worth trying. Magic is about intent. She intends to find the flower.]

This way, I think.

[mollymocked]

[Molly picks over a root and keeps going, not bothered by the fact that she's mostly ignoring him and also taking the lead. And it certainly doesn't stop him from talking, either.]Are we ever going to talk about the fact that you do an awful lot of literal sniffing around? I thought maybe you had allergies, at first, but I'm starting to think you might actually be a dog... or a werewolf. Or something.

[errantdetective]

I'm not a dog. [Is this how Tybalt feels when she makes him do bloodhound duty. She shoots Molly a cross look.] This is just something I can do. It comes in handy.

[mollymocked]

[He's just gonna take the fact that she didn't outright deny werewolf as a sign.]

That's fair. If it gets us out of this jungle- [he hears a twig snap somewhere to his left and spins around. after the attacks from the first time he came here and that brief encounter with Lucien back when he first arrived, it doesn't take much to put him immediately on edge and get his hands on his swords] - faster. Did you hear that?

[errantdetective]

[She glances in the direction he's looking, then back at Molly.]

Hey, calm down, if it is something, panicking isn't going to help. Just keep moving.

[Easy enough to say, but she still touches her knife to be sure it's there.]

We don't want to pick fights if we don't have to,

[mollymocked]

I'm not panicking. [He gives her a bit of a pout that doesn't sell his point at all. He has his reasons for being apprehensive, but being called on it is rude and unfair.] I'm being cautious. The last time I was here, a tree tried to eat Nott, and before that, my group didn't necessarily have a good track record with diplomatically engaging things. Fights tend to pick us.

[errantdetective]

[Oh, Toby definitely knows how that is. But still. She shakes her head.]

If a fight starts, we'll deal with it. As someone currently just armed with a single knife? I'd rather avoid if I can.

[She says like she ever has more than that knife. Sometimes she has a sword! Sometimes.]

[mollymocked]

[He may have made a mistake.]

Do you want this? [He pulls out one of the overly gaudy scimitars he carries, because he has three... Well, two, and the magic one.] It's not much, but it's got a little more reach, just in case. I'll just need it back later. Can't break up the set.

[errantdetective]

[She eyes the weapon, which isn't iron or steel at least, but she still shakes her head.] No thanks. I'd still rather stick with plan: don't fight anything. It's usually better than swinging around something I only barely know how to use.

[mollymocked]

You are so optimistic. [But he slides the blade back into its spot, and resumes walking. Maybe if they run into something, he can blind it or mock it and that'll be the end of it. He'd rather not have to bleed to activate his swords if he doesn't have to, himself, but he's been in this position too often to trust it.

Something white and furry that looks like a rabbit crossed with a dog sprints across their path at breakneck speed- likely the source of the sound they had heard, though this time Molly doesn't go for the blade, merely goes still and waits.

And nothing happens, aside from the sound of the creature tearing its way through the underbrush on the other side.]

Well, that was anticlimactic.

[The hairs on the back of Molly's neck prickle as he feels the presence of something behind him. He freezes.] October... Toby. [Every word comes out through clenched teeth as he tries to move as little as possible.] Do me a favor, dear, and tell me on a scale of one to ten, just so how awful what is behind me is?

[What "it" is is snake-like and large, coiled around one of the jungle trees and almost blending in seamlessly with it. Had it not dropped a good four feet of its nine-foot length down off the branch to hang just behind Molly, it would likely still be essentially invisible. A series of spines extend from its python-like head all the way down the length of its body and each little spine begins to straighten one by one as it settles in to go for the kill.]

[errantdetective]

Um, that depends.

[Pretty awful, but she tries not to judge too much on appearance.]

You... might want to start moving. [She tugs out her silver knife, ready to lunge and slice at the creature if it actually makes a move to attack before Molly can get clear.] Fast.

[mollymocked]

[Molly pivots on his heels. The snake makes an attempt to lunge at the opportunity and he scrapes a sharp fingernail against his neck, drawing blood. The snakes eyes turn black and bleed crimson at the corners and it bites futilely at the air, allowing Molly to bounce back to Toby's side and draw his swords.]

That won't last, just so you know. [He scrapes one sword across the back of his hand and the blade ices over. The second he scrapes across the back of his neck and a similar frost blooms forth. There's blood in the air now and it's enraging the creature even further. So much for not bleeding. That does not look like a beast you can talk to, however.]

[errantdetective]

[The smell of blood floods her senses, enough so that it actually causes her to hesitate, then frown, staring at Molly and the frost that seems to have come from his blood.

She's no stranger to weird blood tricks, but this is a new one.

Still, she doesn't have enough time to wonder about that now. Questions can wait until they've both survived.]

Why do heroes always have to stand and fight? What's wrong with running away and letting us and them live in peace?

[Contrary to popular belief, Toby does not like getting drenched in blood. Her own or others. She also doesn't like pain or getting injured.

But she heals, and she's used to it. She charges forward and grabs the thing, heedless of the way the spines slice her hands. The snake rears up and bites her. Shockingly. She hopes it's not venomous. She'll live if it is, and probably heal up almost as fast, but it won't be fun.

It might be biting her, but she's got it pretty immobilized. She glares over her shoulder at Molly.]

Maybe kill it now?

[mollymocked]

Darling, I am in no way a hero. I just don't particularly like to be chased by things that could swallow me whole.

[Which is what Toby just seems to be letting happen right now. Molly pauses in his attempt to strike to gawk at her boldness and the way she seems to just be allowing it to basically make her bleed in many places at once. That isn't tactically sound. That's basically suicide.] What the fuck was wrong with you? Did no one teach you how to dodge? Oh for the love of-

[And he lunges, quickly, driving one blade into a gap behind its head that makes it release Toby with a hissing cry of pain. Molly barely ducks out of the way of it struggling to break Toby's grip around its neck, but he has that look of smugness of someone saying "SEE? THIS IS HOW YOU DON'T GET HIT." He drives his second blade down, cutting through thick masses of scale and it writhes in pain, slicing Toby's arms and hands with those spines and adding more blood to the mix.] Do you want to bleed out? That's how you bleed out! Let go of the damn thing.