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Post by The Rising Dragon on Jul 31, 2010 22:27:10 GMT -5
"Nah, we're taking the transport with us, might prove useful somewhere," Jerome said, interweaving his hands together behind his head. "I'm more concerned with the tracks you and your keepers left, and the mess left behind by us dismantling the engine and what's left of that transponder."
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Post by Steinerman on Jul 31, 2010 23:01:08 GMT -5
Alexis smiled, "As you wish." She turned and made her way to the transport. There, she clambered in the back of the vehicle, suppressing a shudder of distaste and bad memories as she did so. Quickly, she found what she was looking for and retrieved the item, a bucket, from the vehicle.
From there, she stopped at the side of the road and began picking up rocks and stones from the ground and placing them in the bucket. As soon as the bucket was deemed sufficiently full, she placed it on the ground and closed her eyes in concentration. What little energy she had left went into the spell. She sagged and dropped the ground, catching herself on her hands and knees, and scraping both in the process.
With a grunt of effort, she stood and hefted the bucket, barely light enough for her to carry. She then began placing stones around the area where they were. Four stones at the corners of an imaginary square surrounding the entire area. She then set the bucket down and went to gather the machine pieces into a pile by the side of the road. A quick trip back to the bucket for four more stones, again placed in a square around the pile of machine parts.
As soon as the stones were placed, she snapped her fingers and the area where once had been pieces of the Stamarian transponder and other signs of their presence, changed into what could marginally be called a normal road. Dirty and dusty, with grass growing up through the hard-packed ground. And no sign of anything out of the ordinary.
With a grunt of satisfaction, she nodded and then slowly, gently made her way back to the others, carrying her bucket of rocks with her.
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Post by The Rising Dragon on Aug 1, 2010 16:37:58 GMT -5
The only people who watched Alexis go about her preparations for the illusion were Jerome, who divided his attention half between her and the other three working on the prison transport's engine, and Roas, who was stepping out of the other transport, having closed up his modified Constructor. Stepping down from the ramp, the Korin operative leaned against the side of the transport, with arms crossed over his chest and an impassive look on his face.
It wasn't too much longer before Ker, Devon, and Llane had pieced the engine block back together, and they quickly wiped themselves off with rags as they packed up.
"So, Vister," Jerome started, approaching the woman. "Your illusions work on yourself, right?"
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Post by Steinerman on Aug 1, 2010 18:00:46 GMT -5
Still breathing heavily, Alexis glanced up at Jerome, curiosity...and a fairly large helping of suspicion in her expression. She nodded once, "Do they work on me? Yes, I can bring the illusions around me if I need too. Generally only when I need to escape though, being invisible to your enemies is a handy ability."
She paused, eying Jerome carefully. In her experience, others only asked her about her abilities when they were preparing to fight her, and she didn't have much left for a fight, should this supposed ally want to start one.
"Why do you ask?"
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Post by The Rising Dragon on Aug 1, 2010 22:53:47 GMT -5
"Great!" Jerome exclaimed. "When we get back to the city, it'd be best if they didn't think there were Verivians driving their transports. Llane there, the pale-looking guy? Closest we've got to anyone who looks like a Stamarian. Which is great because with you here, we have two people who look like they can get away with looking like Stamarian truck drivers. There's just, uh, one little problem."
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Post by Steinerman on Aug 1, 2010 23:04:36 GMT -5
Alexis' eyes deadened, the man was building up to something, but she wasn't sure quite what. "And that problem would be...? She responded quietly.
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Post by The Rising Dragon on Aug 2, 2010 0:24:49 GMT -5
"Your clothes," Roas spoke up in a reasonable tone. "They're not exactly something a trucker would wear. He wants you to use your magic on your clothes so you have a disguise."
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Post by Steinerman on Aug 2, 2010 0:47:02 GMT -5
Alexis nodded tiredly, her entire body relaxing from its suspicious posture. "An excellent point." She replied. With a glance around at the gathered men, she quickly spotted the pale man who was to pass for the other driver.
"Hold still, Llane. I wouldn't want to melt your brain by accident." She said with a sweet smile, concentrating once more and waving her hand in his general direction. It took longer than before, she had to work out extra details on the uniform, and she was terribly weary, wanting to drop at any moment from exhaustion didn't help her think clearly.
But sure enough, a little over a minute later, the man Llane appeared to be wearing a Stamarian military uniform, complete with badge and unit ID.
She then waved a hand over her own body, and watched with satisfaction as the clothing seemed to transform before her eyes. A moment later, she was dressed in a similar fashion.
She giggled slightly, this was more work in a short time than she'd ever performed before. It felt like she hadn't slept in a month, her entire body screamed in agony. But...something about it was soothing. Here, she was at least marginally safer than she had been with the Stamarians.
With a smile she turned back to Jerome, and doffed an illusionary cap she'd created for herself. "Good enough?" She asked tiredly, letting the illusion cap hang in the air as she tied her hair into something closely resembling a pony-tail.
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Post by The Rising Dragon on Aug 2, 2010 1:05:40 GMT -5
"Works for me," Jerome said, nodding. "You'll take the Constructor's transport since we can't risk you if something happens."
"I feel dirty," Llane commented, looking at the rather convincing illusion that was masking his regular outfit.
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Post by Steinerman on Aug 2, 2010 14:16:40 GMT -5
Alexis nodded and started for the truck currently holding the constructor. She wanted to turn and make some sarcastic comeback to Llane's words, but decided against it.
She slowly clambered up into the driver's seat of the vehicle and familiarized herself with the control scheme before sitting back and resting her eyes for a moment, waiting for the next order.
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Post by The Rising Dragon on Aug 21, 2010 2:09:38 GMT -5
Jerome followed Alexis into the cab and took his place at the back seat. Soon enough, the others had gotten into the transports they were assigned to, and Jerome spoke up. "Alright, Llane, you know where to go. Just make sure you use the secret route."
"Got it," came the reply over the CB.
"Alright, ma'am, we're located right... here," Jerome said to Alexis as he brought out a map. He pointed first at where they were at, and then elsewhere. "And this is where we want to go. Gotta be careful though because we might run into patrols once we're in the city limits, and if that happens we gotta send Roas out to deal with them.
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Post by Steinerman on Aug 21, 2010 13:25:59 GMT -5
Alexis gave the map a long look, forcing her tired mind to memorize it. A moment later, she nodded and put the vehicle into gear, then started the drive towards their destination.
A lengthy yawn escaped her lips, and she shook her head to clear it, to keep awake. The adrenaline rush that had been keeping her moving for the past several days was wearing off, and the crash from it was going to be rough.
To keep herself awake, she tried to think of some sort of conversation to carry on with the leader. Jerome, the others had called him. A moment later, it came to her. Her lips formed a half-grin.
"'Ma'am'?" She questioned with amusement. "I didn't think I rated high enough in your book to be referred to as 'ma'am'. That Roas fellow seriously doesn't like me, which I don't mind too much, as I'm not a huge fan of him either. But It sure felt like you others weren't far behind him in the hating-me department. And now you call me 'ma'am'."
She cocked her head behind her for a brief moment, glancing at Jerome. "Slip of the tongue?"
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Post by The Rising Dragon on Aug 21, 2010 14:17:16 GMT -5
"Hey, I haven't got a problem with you," Jerome said, placing his hands behind his head He nodded to an energy drink held in the dash's cup holders for the woman to use. "I've had to work with a few of Stamaria's traitors since the Harbinger started this war. The others probably don't have as much of a problem with you as they let on. Roas, though? He was the lucky one among us to get put in one of the prison camps when Stamaria conquered Verivia. He hasn't been too happy about it since and no one can really blame him. He's too valuable to send away, at any rate. Not very many can use a Constructor as a weapon and keep a level head about it."
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Post by Steinerman on Aug 21, 2010 23:17:26 GMT -5
Alexis spotted the drink Jerome had nodded at, a full smile crossed her lips as she speedily reached out and grabbed hold of the item. Keeping one hand on the wheel, she placed the drink between her legs to secure it, and then used the other hand to spring the tab for it.
With a half-manic giggle, she raised the drink to her lips and took a long swig. Coughing as the energy drink burned her throat slightly. A moment later and she was laughing again. "Oh..." She said excitedly, "You wouldn't believe how good this tastes...wow." Again she half-giggled, half-laughed and took another sip, enjoying the fruity flavor of the drink.
"Ah well, I suppose Roas is understandable. Just wasn't quite the emotions I was expecting from other Korin. Bit of a surprise."
She took another sip of the drink, and shook her head to clear it."How far is the city? I don't know how long I can keep this up for, I haven't slept in a while, and keeping up several illusions at once isn't something I normally do. Oh, and what's the...."
She trailed off for a moment, her eyes clouding over and body going rigid. "A dragon? Thomas you fool, why'd you have to go and do that..." She murmured quietly, as though for a moment forgetting someone else was in the vehicle with her.
An instant later and her eyes were back to their normal selves. She shuddered slightly, as though shaking off a dream. "Sorry," She muttered, "I was going to ask...what's the plan if we do run into patrols? Letting Roas and his bot out to kill them is how you usually deal with things like that? Doesn't that just draw more attention?"
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Post by The Rising Dragon on Aug 21, 2010 23:51:48 GMT -5
"... yeah, it usually does, which means we rolocate when it happens," Jerome said after a moment, giving the woman a side-long glance from her abrupt pause. "It buys us time to flee and allows him to weed out their men just a tiny bit. We didn't come prepared for a guerrilla attack; retrieving you was strictly a hit-and-run operation."
"We should be able to reach the city by tonight, if we're lucky," he continued. "If you need to rest, hit the cruise control and I'll take over until we get there. There's a couple wide seats in back with the Constructor."
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