RJ hopes into the van as well sitting near the back and listening intently, he lolls out his tongue at the sound of bacon-wrapped steak.
What's 'bacon wrapped steak'? Know what steak is. Would prefer live animals not plant. A nice juicy rabbit...
Pig? Like, boar? Boar would be good, young one, sweet and tasty, not too dangerous. Full grown boar be hard for both of us to take down.
Seems a waste of a fighter... boars are powerful...
RJ begins to salivate.
The trip passes uneventful, the panel van never slowing except for turns, of which there are many. There are no Windows back here, but the interior is lit both beneath the seats and in the roof. Small talk passes by as Pierce and the agent speak, and after an indeterminate amount of time has passed, the vehicle pulls to a stop. Whistler doesn't move, but instead waits.
Finally, the rear doors open, and the group (as well as Roy and Fao) are able to see outside. Wherever they are is white, the edges of the floor curving into the walls, the walls into the ceilings and other walls. There aren't any true 'corners' as a direct result. "Welcome to my home away from home," announced Whistler as he hopped out. "Just follow me, and I'll get everyone organized. I've classified all of you but Pierce here as class b. Writing cat, bulletproof wolf, talking cat person, plastic girl, bear... thing. Mostly ordinary agent is a class a. Everyone else either has obviously exceptional anastomosis, or things that they claim we shouldn't touch. You'll each get mandatory showers, your things will be checked, and then we'll get some blood samples and check for allergies. None of you are allergic to water, I presume? If there are no objections... everyone but Pierce through door number two. From the left. Pierce through door number one."
None of the doors are large enough to fit a van. In fact, this particular room is empty, save for white lights everywhere.
Scath stays under the bench, and growls ominously.
No water, no take my things. Lots of blood.
"Is something wrong, Scath?" Hecate asked, looking down at the cat. ...Given how intelligent he was and his feline nature, it probably had something to do with the word "shower", but she wasn't going to make an assumption about that if there was a bigger problem to deal with.
RJs muzzle opens in a wolf laugh at the cat.
He hopped out of the van and sauntered over to the group, the 'bulletproof wolf' comment obviously puffing up his ego.
Once Hecate is out of the van (and once Pierce is, as well), they're able to see the very small lines that mark the entrance for what it is. It's nearly imperceptible due to the way the room is desiged, but the exit is there.
There is a soldier to either side of the van's rear door, these being dressed in stark white, but still with the goggles (also white, other than the lenses).
Scath can still smell -some- blood, though it's very rare, and mostly only of humanoid(human).
"Do we need to go get the cat something to write in, or can one of you figure it out?"
Everyone, at this point, is now aware of the wolf's shadow... save for Whistler and his troops. It's safe to assume that he will, soon. As the wolf hops out of the vehicle, his shadow is too long for his height, what begins as a trick of light rapidly grows to form a full human, with the face all wrong, with too many too-long angles. The form is stooped, but splayed as well, obviously basking in pride, along with the wolf.
No trust. No give up helpless ally. Never happen. Die first.
Scath makes an unhappy noise when Hecate talks about shower, but it isn't the full throated growl that he let out before.
Scath stays in the van, but moves so he can watch anyone trying to get in or attack him. His back to the front wall of the cargo container.
"so knowing magic doesn't up my threat level, which means you already are familiar with that sort of thing, and probably have magic of your own, good to know
"Not at all." he said, preoccupied with watching the cat, "You said it was incredibly minor, and as such, it's being treated as though it were. I'll take you at face value. I get to be the good cop. Good faith and all that. Threats escalate you." he nods towards the cat and wolf, "Not having a place to put you does the same." he inclines his head towards the other van. "and finally, noncooperation." He says tilting his head towards Hecate, and returning his focus to the cat, speaking in his gruff voice. "I haven't doubted anything you've said, you've been absolutely forthcoming, and to be honest, it's been a right pleasure. That means lower surveillance, access to more things, and if you like, a quick step through the place. It also helps that you aren't obviously anachronistic."
"You should be glad I'm not cooperating." the soldier girl pointed out. "Just imagine what would happen if I started deliberately trying to spread ideas your society isn't ready to handle. I'm trying to minimize my impact on you while still leaving you a blueprint for safe development. Otherwise, y'know, you could end up turning your whole country into a crater or something. Now, what is it, kitty? Is there something you want?" she asked Scath.
"ah, makes sense then, I haven't had the proper training in magic, nor was I simply blessed with massive power, just the capicity to use it and a few lessons, shooting people is just easier and I'm a darn sight good at it.
The wolf hops back up into the van and sighs. He crouches down to look at the cat and snorts.
Scath growls irritably at RJ, and gives Hecate a look, as if blaming her for not speaking a reasonable language.
Two lives in balance, can't trust two-legs. May not give back, Scath responsibility. Elodons helpless. Scath no leave allies helpless. Die first. Two-Legs may break globes, experiment on. Already threaten peel two-legs out of suit against will.
"I'm gonna have to get some catnip while I'm here... I wonder if they'd give me a bottle?" Hecate sighed out as the cat... well... acted like a cat. Maybe it she could build some kind of voice synthesizer for him that would let him talk... he was obviously intelligent, so there was at least that, but...
After a bit of mumbled conversation, probably more yowling, a little screeching, and the possibility of just closing the van up and leaving the cat to its own devices... a soldier comes through from a larger door in the center of the room, which becomes significantly more obvious as the wall panel slides out of the way, revealing a metal door, made from composites that are highly damage resistant (but no doubt would fall in only a few seconds to a +4 Laser Torch Can Opener from Hecate's world :p), which then opens horizontally, then vertically, then horizontally once more, closing in much the same way. He comes forward with a large sack full of something, and pulls out a knife after setting the sack in front of Scath and RJ... but not entering the van, just staying at the edge. He cuts open the bag, and dumps out a white powdery substance... that smells of grasslands and fields.
"We're fairly certain a pen and pad wouldn't be good enough, and they're unwilling to provide a touch screen to test. Especially not given the current mood." explained Whistler.
"Well, as long as it doesn't explode..." These people did know basic chemistry, right? At this point in their development, they probably did, so as long as nobody started doing weird things with magic, they'd probably be fine...
There's a clinking sound as Roy goes through the bottom part of his quiver that never actually holds arrows as he's nestled into Bear's lap.
"Three hundred n sixteen. Remember that Bear."
Bear nods.
They arrive and Roy climbs out and stretches as Bear kinda just rolls out of the thing and lies next to him.
"It wouldn't kill ya ta stand up once in a while..."
He listens to the conversation.
"Magic isn't hard. You just need the right teachers."
Scath waits for everyone to back away from the stuff, and then he carefully moves forward and sniffs it carefully...
...and then promptly sneezes a huge puff of flour over RJ, turning the dog white. The cat's ear twitches, and he looks insufferable.
Oh, terribly sorry!
A rumbling purr sounds from the cat as it begins to scratch in the flour.
N O T A K E
F R I E N D
F R O M
S C A T H
N O T R U S T
N O T H U R T
E L O D O N S
H E L P L E S S
S C A T H D I E
B E F O R E
G I V E U P
H E L P L E S S
F R I E N D S
Whistler tilts his head to the side to make it easier to read.
"Right. What's an Elodon? And what's a Scath?" He looks at the creature. "I'm guessing one is you, but I have no idea what the other is.
"What's he talking about?"
He turns to anyone that looks like they know what's going on.
"The first of those is a term the construct people from the last world use for themselves, as to scath.... Hmm from context clues I'd guess it's him? Wait, he brought an eldilon? Or possibly more than one considering plural, though that could simply mean that he's speaking more generally"
Hecate blinked at Whistler. "Scath is his name." she paused for a moment. "...Your civilization does use names, doesn't it?" This seemed to be a serious question. One never knew how an individual world might differ in unexpected ways, and an abundance of ethnocentrism was probably going to get them into trouble if they kept bouncing between worlds.
"Scath, what do you need us to bring you?"
"Yes, Barbie, we do use names. Some of us exchanged them, if you recall." he responded dryly. "So, the cat brought offworlders with him that aren't accounted for yet? Are they the plant beings you spoke of that threatened to consume everything..?" there was an obvious edge to his voice.
Blinks as he is now covered in flour then sneezes himself. He leans over to read what Scath writes. He sighs and turns to walk over to whistler then shakes himself sending the powder covering him everywhere. He gives the man an expectant look that screams 'shower now?'
Whistler seems more focused on other things! But if things get cleared up, shower soon!
no the plant was another off worlder, the eldilons were the natives, a race of intelligent constructs... Uh robots, but gears instead of circuits and wires...no idea how they actually work, I just move on and think of it as more magic, which it probably is
"Why do you believe I'm going to take your friends away? Didn't I already put the cat and... bear thing together as a means of keeping the two of them not separated by request?" he frowned. "Now that we know that they're not just magical dolls or some such, you've nothing to worry about us taking them. We -will- have to investigate them, but you can stay with them the entire time." Whistler explained. "And then it will be your decision whether to go to a more secure location with them, should we deem that necessary. Same as with cat and bear."
Scath eyes the man, then puffs out the scratches and scratches again.
T H R E A T E N
P E E L H C A T
O U T O F A R M O R
S A Y T A K E
E Q U I P M E N T
A L L I E S
E Q U I P M E N T
T O T W O L E G S
N O W A Y T O
T E L L T H E Y
N O T E Q U I P
I F N O E Q U I P
T H E N S C A T H
G O P E A C E L Y
"Name's Roy. Sorry."
He nods as he realizes he hasn't introduced himself yet, but somehow he already knew Bear's name.
"If we're getting free food and a bath here, why would we need to leave anyways?"
He watches the smaller cat scratch at the floor, not really having an idea what he's talking about.
"I can call in someone who could translate if she's really needed, but Bear's such a big worrier he doesn't like me calling her because he'd need to be gone. What do y'all think?"
Bear actually does sit up and look at Roy when he realizes what he's talking about. Roy pats him on the head to placate him.
Threaten peal hecate (he has no idea how to spell that name) out of armor, say take equipment, allies equipment to two legs (he's not sure how to say 'allies look like machines/equipment to stupid two legs'). No way for Scath to tell man they not equipment. If man no treat them as equipment and take them away, then Scath be peaceful.
After working at a bit of translation and making efforts to understand what exactly the cat meant, Whistler eventually nodded. "Alright. We won't take them from you, but we -must- examine them. You can stay with them for all of the tests we need to run to make sure they aren't radioactive, or toxic, won't start spewing plague, or spread their seed ad infinitum. Most of it won't have any negative impact on you at all. It will simply be scannings and such, but some of it may, as I don't know your physiology. Do we have a deal..?"
The feline tilts his head, and nods. Then scratches in the flour.
W I L L
T R Y
N O T
C L A W
T O O
H A R D
I F
H U R T
M E
The cat finishes, and looks up at Whistler with a tilted head, one ear twitching.
Probably joking... mostly...
"Good enough, I'll try not to let anyone shoot you." He says with his usual dry humor, then nods and heads towards the doors in the rear of the room. "Cleanup in aisle three." he says to no one in particular. Then, once he's between the first and second doors from the left, he turns to Pierce. "if you'd like, I can escalate you to Grade B, so your friends don't think they're more dangerous than you... And so you can stick with them. I figure keeping families together is going to be a big deal in the future."
As the group moves into the rear door They're met by a pair of guards to either side, again, completely dehumanized by their uniforms, goggles, and masks. There is a single overhead black orb in the middle of the hallway, that reminds you of an eye for some reason. .
Whistler motions up to it, "These are the eyes and ears within the building. If you need something, simply ask it. That will be significantly harder for those of you who don't speak English. But the entire place is linked in to an artificial intelligence. We named her Skylar, and she's incredibly helpful. I suppose we'll get the cat a sand box to write in, and place it where Skylar has a clear view."
Similar to the previous room, the ceiling and floor have white lights as a steady constant, and opposite the group is a single door like the one they just left.
Whistler leads the group through this door, the door hissing closed behind you with the distinct sound of an airlock. The room is a long hallway with doors on each side, approximately 10 to a side.
"Once they clear putt, that room will be contaminated. Pick a side and stick to it, if you want an easier time of sticking together. Unless you want to shower together, best to go one to a room. I'll go in whichever you want me to go into, as I need to follow the same procedures as you lot."
Scath keeps Whistler within claws reach, and will go into whatever room the two-legs goes into, figuring that if this is a trap, he can at least see what the two-legs tastes like before he finds whoever is behind it and tastes them.
If it's not a trap, then he get's to learn more about this Whistler. All in all, a win win situation for the cat.
Roy will wait to see what other people do. He'd be fine with whatever. Living with Fey isn't exactly great for learning modesty. He and Bear weren't getting split up regardless.
Hecate scratched behind Scath's ears for a bit before heading into the decontamination facility, figuring she could at least use this out-of-date technology to get moderately clean. Modesty wasn't a huge issue for her - you learned to get rid of that in the military, and nudity wasn't really a taboo on her homeworld anyway - but others might have worried a bit, so she went to one of the rooms alone instead. She... seemed a bit bored by the procedures, actually, but maybe that was because she was used to these sorts of bureaucratic assembly-line processes.
Whistler sighed as the cat opted to follow him into the selected room. "Just know that if you attack me because of the water, my vengeance will likely be post-mortum." He said as he headed inside, cat in tow.
"what would await me if I was to go to the level designated for me? And would I be able to communicate with my party here, perhaps with a walkey talkey, and would it be possible to change rooms afterwards
Are you injured by water? The cat eyes the box distrustfully, but decides to trust that his armor will handle hot steaming water, given it's magical nature. And if the box damages it, he can always rip the two-legs's tendons out as punishment.