TDM #1

[thequietmods]

The ice isn't the only thing cracking right now. Spring storms can be violent, and the thunder is strong enough to reverberate in your chest. Outside of the chilly cave, a torrential downpour makes it nearly impossible to leave the cave and get your bearings. However, through the weather, and past the giant things that seem to be moving in the weather, something large looms in the distance.

The rain and the moving things make it hard to be sure, and you can't even see the horizon line, so it's either a very large body of water, some sort of man-made structure off in the distance, or both. Until the storm clears, no one can be sure which it is.

1. Someone, though, their voice just barely echoing off the walls, seems to be coming up with theories. Is it you? Do you think this is a waste of time?

2. Are you trying to go out into the hostile weather, risks be damned? Is it because you don't care? Do you think you can survive it?

3. Being trapped in a cave full of people stuck in pillars of ice is weird, isn't it? Isn't it even weirder that you used to be in one and now you're not? Are you going to help the others trapped in the ice? It should be warned that trying to break someone out when they're not awake to help will shatter the pillar, and the person inside.

4. As the storm clears up, night has fallen. Thunder booms in the distance and the sound of insects and wild animals picks up. Wolves howl in the darkness. Is now the time to make a move, or are you going to stay in this uncomfortable, but untouched, shelter?

Comments

[71lines]

"Trapping people in ice seems like a handy technique to have, at least to me," Tenten comments, dropping her hand. "Other worldly travel, though? That sounds..." Fake. "Different." She'd say it sounded like science fiction, if she had any clue what that was.

[mad_larkin]

"Whereas I have no idea how people could be trapped like this in ice." It seems like some kind of lost technology. When you're from the 41st century, there's a lot of that. "Perhaps if everyone works together, we can figure things out."

His tone indicates that he doesn't find that likely.

[71lines]

"I guess it'd make more sense if you knew what a ninja was, but there's a few of us who can do similar things pretty easily." She's never run across them, except that brief tussle with Kisame where he nearly drowned her, but she knows that they're out there. "I think we'd have to find some kind of common ground first, though."

Right now, she's finding that just as unlikely as he does.

[mad_larkin]

"Common ground?" He can't think of much. "Well, we can understand each other talking. There's that. Your stew smell good."

[71lines]

"It should be ready..." She pauses their conversation long enough to pull out yet another scroll. A puff of smoke later and she's ladeling some of the cabbage stew into a bowl and offering it to him.

Her arm's midway there when she pauses and frowns. Then says something in a totally different language. One likely far extinct in the future that Larkin hails from. "...That's weird. We're speaking a totally different language than I do at home. I didn't even notice, it just... came naturally."

Weird.

[mad_larkin]

He takes the bowl and is about to eat when she speaks. "Huh. I wonder..." He concentrates and says, "Ego Gothicam alta loquor."

"Very strange." He tries the cabbage stew and lifts the bowl a little towards her. "And very good."

[71lines]

She's going to just. Sit there for a bit, not even acknowledging the compliment other than a weary nod. What kind of jutsu could do that? Plant another language in your head and make it seem right? A genjutsu of some kind? But to have such a detailed and long-lasting genjutsu, who could do that?

She growls and scruffs her hair with both hands, finally just leaning back against the ground with a groan of defeat. "I just don't know what's going on! I feel like this is insane!"

[mad_larkin]

He shrugs, eating. "It is, most likely. But look on the bright side, we're alive!"

And there's food. He's learned to appreciate the little things.

[71lines]

"I guess that's an upside," she admits. After all, this didn't feel like any of the hells she's heard about. Tenten reaches down and pinches her arm, wincing. Nope, not a dream, definitely still alive. Just chilled.

At least the fire was fixing that.

"I'll probably go out exploring after the rain's done, see if I can recognize anything."

[mad_larkin]

"I'll go with you, if you don't mind," he says, "It's probably better if we travel with company."