Finding Lochlan

Luna is on the couch typing away. Hinata is next to her laying her head on her thighs. Why? Who knows.

Luna sighs. "Man I'm still trying to get used to the new nonferal earth but fucking hell I can't. The ending of the last timeline still stings. And I don't mean in my poor neck. Fucking Jovian, piece of fucking shit," she growls.

Cole slowly pushes himself up from the ground with a groan, "I'd love it if that didn't happen while i was walking" Cole stands up as he dusts his jacket and shirt off

"Good morning. Did you enjoy your uh..." Luna checks her calendar, "13 day nap?"

Cole looks over at Luna as he responds, "My wuh....oh my god what the fuck" Cole groans in annoyance as he pinches the bridge of his nose

"You uh might want to go get Lock-- erm. Lochlan back. Fucking hell I will never get used to the extra Lan in her name." Hinata groans and facepalms. (edited)

Cole nods at Hinata as he remarks, "Right, i should probably get on that" Cole snaps a gas mask into his hand and equips it, "I'll be back soon enough"

"Okay, good luck Cole." Luna sighs, still wanting to return to Nonferal Earth someday.

Cole waves as gloves briefly appear on his hands then disappears

Cole appears in the lighthouse wearing his gas mask as he heads up the stairs

On heading up his is hit with icy cold air. Thick layers of snow cover the tree tops for miles. The horizon almost seems like a distant layer of static with the harsh contrast of clean snow with the dark pine tree's needles. A few icicles hang from the edges of the overhang above him. Its currently only faintly snowing with a gentle breeze.

Cole's eyes turn a deep blue as he smiles, "Chilly, suppose it is winter time" Cole vaults the railing and walks over to where Icarus is living and knocks on the door politely

As he walks his feet fall through the 5 inches of snow and hit an icy layer at the bottom. Its rather slippery unless you are paying careful attention to your steps.

After knocking he hears some shuffling before the door cracks open. Theres a warm draft of air from inside as icarus keeps the door barely cracked. all Cole can really see is a sliver of the now cluttered livingroom, and Icarus's tired and groggy red eye squinting up at him. He sounds exhausted, "What do you want?"

Cole doesn't seem bothered by the cold at all as he asks, "Do you know where Lochlan went?"

Icarus blinks some, "Uhm. I don't know but I've been meaning to tell you about these guys that showed up awhile ago. They asked me about who owned the property before leaving."

Cole sighs as he asks again, "What did they look like?"

"Uhmmm. Like they had these robes with hoods? Looked expensive. Probably loons, they had some decorative masks on."

Cole shakes his head as he sighs, "Right, yeah that's the cult....you don't happen to know where they are?"

"No? Cult??? What do you mean cult?"

Cole shakes his head and waves his hand dismissivly, "Go back to basking in the heat, don't worry about it"

"They won't try to kill me or anything right?"

Cole stares into Icarus's eyes as he responds with a dry tone, "They won't"

"Aight. Night." Icarus begins to close the door

Cole starts slowly walking away

To his side he can see the snow covered beat up car with the front of teh car facing him. The door closes and locks

Cole slowly turns around as he crouches and starts sneaking over to the car while being as quiet as possible

His loud feet are crunching in the snow

Cole slows how he's moving to reduce the crunching as much as possible

He reaches the car fairly quietly. The windows aren't tinted and he can see yhe inside has a light brown interior. A few random personal items are scattered in the floor boards mixed with trash.

Cole sighs quietly as he moves to the trunk and attempts to slowly and quietly get the trunk open

It seems the car parked at an angle so its harder to see the trunk from the house. On looking at the trunk is already partly open. It has several large dents and the lock is completely busted. The trunk is and covered in icicles that are connected to both the top and bottom of the small opening.

Cole heats his the tip of his finger up to melt the icicles while keeping one hand on top of the trunk to prevent it from swinging open

It only barely shifts from the weight change as the ice melts off. All that can be heard is a few drops of water

Cole cools his finger by sticking it in the snow as he slowly lifts the trunk up

It barely moves before catching. It would take some force to pry it open enough

Cole clenches his jaw slightly as he pry's it open

There is a LOUD creaking from the metal

Cole freezes in place as he waits to see if Icarus noticed

He can hear shuffling from inside aswell as steps heading briskly to the door

Cole looks at what's inside the trunk while he still has time

On a quick glance it apperas to be empty but with a strange brown texture. The door to the house swings open

Cole quickly ducks under the car and pulls himself against the bottom of it to better hide himself

He can see Icarus's legs step out into the snow. Theres a pause as he sees the footprints left behind and he makes his way towards the car.

Cole realizes that he might have fucked up slightly as he drops and plays dead

Icarus jumps slightly at the sound. he moves next to the car and leans over to look at Cole

Cole lays perfectly still, not even breathing

"Cole. What the Hellare you doing?" There's a hint of rage thats quickly seeped into icarus's tone.

Cole still lays there, motionless

Icarus growls as he grabs Cole by the leg and attempts to throw him out from under the car with great force

Cole is thrown and is completely limp as he ragdolls and tumbles slightly

Icarus growls before yelling at him, "WHO THE HELL SENT YOU. I KNOW YOU LOOKED IN THERE."

Cole continues playing dead, hoping to wait out Icarus

Icarus stares quietly before aproaching. He puts a hand roughly around Coles neck, hoping to both feel for a pulse, feel for breathing, or scare him awake.

Cole's pulse is faint but it's there, otherwise he seems pretty dead

Icarus partially slames coles head back into the snow as he snarls. He steps back and gets out his phone to call someone

Cole doesn't seem to react

He can faintly hear a voice over the phone, "This is Morris, im currently busy or at the dinner again. Leave a message after the beep." Icarus starts to walk back in the house as he speaks. "Moris. Where the fuck are you? I already have another one to sell. Its another expensive loon." Icarus steps inside as he slams the door shut.

Cole moves quickly and quietly over to the trunk to look at the brown texture closer

The second he leans closer he smells a strong fruity smell. The brown crusted interrior looks like dried blood.

Cole takes his knife out and cuts a square of the fabric out and puts it in his pocket as he scampers away while sheathing his knife

He leaves safely

Cole huffs as he takes out the device with the ear piece and attempts to track where the signal is coming from

By the direction and distance he can tell its really far out. Almost twice the distance it took to get the mysterious foggy town

Cole huffs as he starts jogging to the marker

After a long walk the sun is starting to go down and he reaches the lunar pass

Cole stops at the edge and sighs as a pair of wings made out of bones with about a 15ft wingspan unfurls from his jacket as he strongly takes off and starts flying across

The wind is bitterly cold as he goes across. After awhilehe makes to the other side

Cole lands as his wings furl back into his jacket and he continues walking towards the marker

Theres no more fog but large icicles hanging from drooping branches above him. On the way he can now better see the old town. A few loons are still outide even doing the weather. They wear warm clothing aswell as their gas masks or human like masks. A few glance his direction as he gets closer. The town itself seems small and run down

Cole continues walking, keeping his head down

Something starts to feel off about the lack of light in the town as one of the loons walks out infront of him and speaks, "Sir?"

Cole stops abruptly as he looks up from the ground, "Can i help you?"

Its a loon wearing a gas mask who keeps their hands stuffed in their jacket to keep warm, "I can tell you're not exactly familiar with this area, and its dangerous being out here in the snow like that." As cole looks up he can now notice that none of the houses were built with windows.

Cole doesn't seem bothered by the cold as he shrugs, "Not dangerous to me" he starts to walk towards the marker again

The loon shuffles infront of him again, "SIR. Do you even know where you are?" A few loons watch from their porches

Cole shrugs, "Past some fuckin mile long crack, why?"

"Ok I can't stop you from walking out there but atleast let me tell you where you are?"

Cole shrugs, "Why not? I've got time"

The loon sighs, "I'm Marsh. This town you're in is New Bristol." Marsh looks off towads a path that leads out of town towards the West, "If you take take that road you will be heading towards Bristol." He points to another road heading East, "And if you take that road and hug the left you should eventually reach the Ivory Summit. I would be careful no matter what direction you go. Both paths drop off quite a bit once you go over the feralfolk bluffs."

Cole nods along as Marsh talks as he remarks, "Right, well thank you now do you have anything else to say?"

"Oh yes, there were bears spotted in the area so watch your back."

Cole starts walking again as he responds, "Cool i got people to double kidnap....or reverse kidnap....who knows? anyways byyeeeee"

Marsh steps aside and lets him continue. As he walks, the signal is leading him down the longer path going East

Cole follows it regardless of it taking him to a longer path

As he walks the sun has gone completely down. The woods around him is pitch black and he can hear the songs of nightjars in the trees

Cole continues walking without much fear

He can the tracks of a large group of deer that were recently in the area. Soon after he reaches a drop off. Two wooden stakes on the edge of the cliff have thick ropes that hang off of them and out of sight

Cole looks over at the thick ropes with a sigh, "God don't make me slowly fucking rappel down this"

After he looks down he sees a rope ladder that reaches down into absolute darkness

Cole sighs as he starts climbing down the ladder

The ladder moves alot as he makes his way down. After climbing for roughly 5 stories down, he touches the ground... sort of. He steps onto a hard and smooth surface

Cole taps the surface with his foot while still holding onto the ladder

It feels very solid though a hint slick. Its hard to tell what it is with no light

Cole groans as his eyes click and illuminate the area that he's looking at as he looks at the surface

It looks like somekind of clearing under the ladder. Its a steel gray color with a thin layer of ice over it. The path continues past it.

Cole sighs as he lets go of the ladder and follows the path

The trees past the bluffs all have lost their leaves, leaving behind frozen skeletons of branches layered with snow. As he conitues the path ocasionslly forks, offering a path to the right and to the left

Cole heads to the left, as per Marsh's recommendation

He's getting much closer to his destination but sees a brief flicker of light in the distance above the trees. A strong enough light that it illuminates the forest for only a second. In this second he can see more and more patches of the steel gray material in the ground and a more hidden path covered by dead bushes that leads straight towards the light

Cole heads towards the light with a heavy sigh

The ground slopes up to something like a perfectly circular mound of the gray material. On the center of the mound he finds a larger lighthouse. The sides of the lighthouse have rusted exposed metals and a few square sheets of the building missing, allowing sniw to build up on the inside. The beacon at the top flickers yet again.

Something about the area gives him a feeling of good luck 

Cole stares at it then shrugs as he resumes following the path

Going back to the path the source of the signal leads into a building at the end of the path. The building has walls that reach straight up and out of sight with no windows. The door itself looks to be made of a strong metal and curved around the edges, like that of a door for a boat. Theres a wheel in place of the handle to open the door.

Cole seems suspicious of the door at first as he cautiously starts opening the door

Its fairly sturdy and tough but opens just fine. He feels a draft of warm air from inside what looks like a large concrete airlock room. A few loghts line the ceiling and text is printed on the wall reading, "Ivory Summit South Gate"

Cole heads into the airlock room with a raised eyebrow, "What the fuck is this place...."

The door shuts behind him after a moment and a green light turns on above the next door

Cole heads through the next door as his eyes start to shift back to being hazel brown

He steps into a larger room with several conected doors of the sane style. An industrial sized square staircase spirals up for seemingly a few miles

In the center is an indistrail sized lift with a panel of controls. It looks large enough to fit a good group of people af a time

Cole sighs as he heads into the lift and inspects the controls

It has a lever that can sit at up down or neutral.

Cole bumps it into the up postion

Its bumped and the lift jerks. But then the lever falls back into neutral

Cole holds the lever in the up position with a huff

The lift jerks again before steadily moving up. He has to wait for a long time before reaching the top. The stairs and lift end flush with a metal catwalk that leads to a more normal looking door.

Cole sighs as he heads through the normal door, "I swear to god this better not be another lift"

Suddenly he is facing a large cooridor full of white marble arches. The floor is decorated with checkered tiles and large arcges windows flood the cathedral with artificial light. He sees various nonferals talking in groups. Many are wearing expensive clothing while a third of them wear the same dark cloaks with decrotive masks that he had seen before. An area towards the front has more movement as it seems to be a ballroom being used at the moment. Only one or two nonferals glance at Cole before resuming their conversations and listening to the live music being played at the end of the fancy hall.

Cole freezes as he tries to not slip into an episode as he starts subtly searching for the radio transmitter

Theres many different species of nonferal in varing sizes as he spots a familiar set of ears peaking up over the crowd

Cole stares at the ears then starts slowly making his way over there

Rowan is conversing with a group of people. He's smiling and telling stories while the others take sips from wine glasses

Cole wanders up to Rowan and whispers to him, "I got lost....who are these rich people and why are all of them drinking wine..."

Rowan glances over at Cole as he looks him ul and down for a breif moment. He glances back at the guests, "Everyone if you will excuse me have a few matters to attend to." The others nod and continue talking as Rowan steps a few feet from the group

Cole follows Rowan as he continues to subtly glance around for the transmitter

Rowan smiles but speaks in a hushed tone as he glances around at anyone who could hear them, "Cole! Friend! Why the fuck are you here?"

Cole looks around as he talks in a hushed tone, "Do you want the fake reason or the real reason...."

Rowan grits his teeth, "Real reason."

Cole sighs as he continues in the hushed tone, "So Lochlan may or may not have ran away and i asked Icarus where she went and then he talked about some cult members that i recognized from the description he gave, so i grabbed the receiver i took from you" he takes out the receiver, "And i traced where the signal is coming from since that might be where she is and here i am"

Rowan nods, "Yeah you got the right place but I'm not sure tjis such a good idea."

Cole sighs and shakes his head, "I'm not trudging back through the snow empty handed, i said i was getting Lochlan back and that's happening one way or another"

Rowan raises his eyebrows and looks directly at Cole, "Oh yeah? You wanna bust into a meeting a cult is having to save the little fox chick who was kidnapped against her will by this evil cult that won't let her leave no matter how much she fights to escape?"

Cole nods in response

Rowan laughs rather loudly and grabs him by the shoulders. He starts pushing Cole farward down the hall as he speaks at a normal volume, "Fucking go ahead!!! Be my guest!"

Cole starts mildly panicking but doesn't say anything as he lets himself be pushed

Rowan stops him infront of a larger group of cult members that all look over at him. Rowan pats Cole on the shoulder, "Good luck sport."

In the group of cult members he can see one wearing the familiar kitsune styled mask, though its colors are more vibrant as they had been throughly cleaned. The cult members watch in silence

Cole stands there for several seconds before speaking, "Uhhhhhh i'm just here to pick Lochlan up....."

A few of them glance over at Lochlan who shakes her head, "Uhhh... no? I'm staying here."

Cole looks slightly confused, "What do you mean no? It doesn't look like anyone's forcing you to stay here, you can leave"

Lochlan scoffs, "That's becuase I don't want to. These people spend more time and effort on me than any of you could ever attempt."

Cole folds his arms as he shakes his head, "Do you get to eat whatever you want whenever you want? Do you get to take a nice walk outside whenever you want?"

"Well... no but I get my own room just for me and I'm given objec- activities to do." Lochlan folds her arms. With her arms now in view, both arms appear to have solid white fur with a few brown spots towards the elbows.

Cole seems to raise his eyebrow at her arms being different, "You could have that back at the house, and be able to do whatever you want whenever you want"

Lochlan still tries to stand her ground, "The walls of my room are softer than any wall in that entire house."

Cole stares at Lochlan, "Did....did they put you in a fucking padded cell...."

"What's a padded cell?"

Cole sighs as he explains, "it's a all white room with pillow like walls, typically with a heavy door with no way of leaving if you're inside"

Her ears perk up from behind the mask and her cloak moves some as her tail wags, "Yeah!!! That's the style!"

"Cottage core!!!"

Cole face palms as he says with a disappointed tone, "That's not a good thing, those rooms are for insane people"

Lochlan laughs again though with a hint of nervousness, "That can't be true. He's lying!"

Cole sighs as he pulls Rowan's phone out and starts doing a google search

Rowan glances over and comments, "You took my phone?"

Lochlan takes her mask off and looks curious as he types. Her fur looks alot more different now, mainly shades of brown and white, patterned much like a border collie.

Cole shrugs as he finishes google searching what padded rooms are for and shows it to Lochlan

Lochlan steps forward and leans in as she inspects the page. Her ears slowly lower as realization sets in. The others around them watch, anticipating Lochlan's reaction

Cole turns the phone off and offers it back to Rowan as he remarks, "So who would you rather stay with?"

She stands upright with a worried look as the gears turn. Just as she's about to speak, another man's voice interupts, "It was by her own choice." Mailman walks up to the group wearing his usual atire except for the helmet. He greets the group with a polite smile, "As she said they felt softer."

Cole glares at the group as he speaks with annoyance, "Let her speak, it's her choice" One of Cole's hands shift to the upper part of his jacket

Mailman shrugs, "Very well. Go on hun." He gestures to Lochlan. Lochlan looks more nervous as her grip on the mask tightens

Cole waits patiently

Lochlan looks down at the ground as her mind races, "I uh... I don't know anymore?"

Mailman soeaks a bit more clearly, "Are you sure?"

Cole glares slightly more harshly as he speaks through a clenched jaw, "Maybe she just needs some more time to think" he clearly stops himself from saying more

Mailman takes a step towards Lochlan, "She can all the time in the world to decide but until she decides she needs a place to stay with a roof over her head."

Cole moves one of his hands to the inside of his jacket as he still speaks through a clenched jaw, "Maybe a place that doesn't put her in a padded cell and allows her to have free will"

A few cult members instantly stare towards Cole's hand. Mailman stands by Lochlan and gently puts a hand her shoulder. Lochlan flinches. Mailman sighs, "Again that was her choice at the time and if she wishes to be put in a different room that is up to her. You can be telling her what all she can or cant do with her room."

Cole notices Lochlan flinch as he grips something in his jacket as he speaks with authority in his voice, "Take your hands off of her, and back the fuck up so she can think on her own for a couple minutes"

The people around him go quiet as mailman softly tilts his head. He lifts his hand from her shoulder, "So I'm not allowed to put a caring hand on my girlfriend's shoulder when she is stressed?" Lochlan's breathing starts to pick up slightly. More of the cult members lock their eyes on Cole's hand.

Cole continues glaring, "Girlfriend or not, she clearly flinched so why don't you back up before things get louder then needed" There's a couple clicks from inside Cole's jacket

Theres another loud click from behind Cole. Mailman still smiles while keeping calm, "I surely hope that wouldn't be needed."

Mailman pulls out a slim gasmask from his pocket

Cole doesn't seem to budge as he responds, "I hope so too, now why don't we let Lochlan have some thinking time"

Mailman steps back from Lochlan as he slips on the gas mask, "Knock yourself out."

Cole waits patiently while keeping his hand in his jacket

Theres a slight hissing as a few people glance up at the sound. A thick red mist is slowly lowering from the ceiling towards everyone. Lochlan looks up aswell.

Cole glances up and gets incredibly concerned as he speaks, "So you wanna explain what that is?"

Mailman folds his arms, "Like I said. Knock yourself out." The mist is already half way down to the people as a few of the noncult members run for the exit.

Cole nods as he understands and glances at Rowan and Lochlan

Rowan sighs as he just walks away. Lochlan looks over at Mailman. Mailman waits quietly.

Cole quickly draws his revolver and fires a shot at MailMan's gas mask filter as he grabs Lochlan by the scruff and starts sprinting back to the lift that he took

The haze settles over the crowd. Theres a loud crack as Mailman stumbles back frim the gunshot. Lochlan flinches and clings to the mask in her arms as she's carried. Several cult members try to move in Cole's way as they start to draw guns from their cloaks.

Cole shields Lochlan from any gunfire that might happen using his body as he charges into them, hoping to charge clean through them as he screams, "GET OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY"

A few are shoved off their feet while others move out of the way. Before Cole reaches the door, there's atleast three gunshits fired in their direction.

Cole is hit by the gunshots instead of Lochlan as he continues to shield her, he gets into the lift and slams the lever down

The room with the lift is almost full of the haze aswell. Lochlan has started to calm down quite a bit from the gas as her grip on the mask loosens. The cult members who make it out the door as slowing to a stop as they loose their train of thought. The lift moves down with no issues.

Cole huffs as he checks where he got shot, twice in his chest and once in his right shoulder, the pain hasn't hit him yet as he scans the area for anymore cultists

He has a clear shot out the doors as the cult members haven't made it anywhere near the end of the stairs.

Lochlan dops the mask as her arms go limp.

Cole picks the mask up and tucks it into his jacket as he takes this moment to run out the doors

He makes it out safely

Its started to snow harder as the mist that made it through the air lock disolves into the air

Cole looks down at Lochlan as he says with slight panic, "What does it taste like? Does it taste fruity?"

Lochlan smacks her lips with a dazed expresion, "Mmm."

Cole nods with a huff, "Right, so it is" Cole then disappears with Lochlan

Cole and Lochlan appear, Cole has a gunshot wounds in his chest and one in his shoulder and he's holding Lochlan close to his body as if he was shielding her from something

Lochlan looks fine but is wearing a cult styled cloak with sun and moon decorations. Her fur pattern has completely changed, now shades of brown in a border collie pattern. She looks dazed but slightly smiling. As soon as they appear her smile drops and she glances at the room lazily.

"Cole?? Lochlan?! What the FUCK happened out there?" Luna asks, looking over at the scene. "And wait hang on, what the fuck? Are we sure that's Lochlan? She looks the same but her fur pattern is uhh... weird. Where's the orange??" There is a tone of concern and worry clear in her voice.

Hinata is not there.

Cole groans as he sways slightly and shakes his head, "This is Lochlan, trust me"

Lochlan laughs but sounds like she's on the verge of passing out, "Turns out im insane."

Luna raises an eyebrow, "I mean same here but that's not the point here. What the heck happened? And why is Lochlan wearing uh.. the sun and moon cult robe things?"

Cole seems to think for a couple seconds before responding, "I may....have rescued her from a cult and got shot three times in the process...." Cole looks down at Lochlan, "Can i put you down..."

Lochlan looks over at Cole, "huh? Wha?"

Luna squints a little bit while processing her thoughts, "Okay, uhm. So she's part of that cult that took Icarus then? Or is it the Discount Dollar Store version you encountered?"

Cole just decides to drop Lochlan, "I'm assuming it's the....the one that took Icarus" Cole starts patting himself down as he mutters, "revolver....knife.....other knife.....carpet....mask..."

Luna shakes her head, "wait hang the fuck on, 'carpet'? What carpet?"

Lochlan stumbles some but is standing on her own. She scratches the back of her neck.

Cole takes out the piece of carpet from his pocket, "This...."

The patch of carpet looks old and crusted over with something brown. Lochlan glances over at it as her eyes widen slightly.

Luna looks rather disgusted, "Ew, who shat on the carpet? And why did you take it?"

Cole snickers loopily, "It's not shit, what are you....4....it's the fuckin....fruity stuff"

Luna glances over at Lochlan for a moment then back to the carpet. Her eyebrows raise as she takes a few minutes to think things over, then after some time passes, she responds while squinting her eyes towards the ceiling, "hm. This is making my brain tingle. So that's a sample of carpet with the sedatives spilled on it. I take it you're running some tests on it? The fact that Lochlan seems bothered by it is interesting to me. Logically, that should be the same stuff that was originally in the vial Spider found at Terminal's as well."

"And considering you two are loopy, I'm going to predict the fumes are getting to you."

Lochlan suddenly sounds very defensive as she wakes up a bit, "Bothered? No I'm not bothered by it. Stop assuming averything."

Cole points to his bullet wounds then his gas mask, "I'm....fuckin chillin"

"It's not an assumption Lochlan. The moment the carpet square was presented, your eyes widened." Luna smiles.

Cole puts the carpet back in his pocket as he giggles, "I might fall over in a second....anyways Lochlan you have an awesome room" Cole starts walking into the hallway while supporting himself with the wall

Luna shakes her head, "at least I still got reasoning intact." Then she sighs and returns to her daily work. "Wait you have a bedroom here now? It's probably in the hallway."

Lochlan huffs, "My eyes widened for no reason at all. You're seeing things... and apparently sleeping in a padded room wasn't good enough." Lochlan goes to follow Cole

Luna does not feel comfort from that statement. At all.

Lochlan steps into her room. She pauses a moment as she takes in the suroundings. Dark wooden floors lead up to a faded dark blue wall. A bed, desk, wooden chest, and closet rest beneith the glow in the dark stars stuck around the walls and ceiling. Directly ahead is a window with a pair of open curtains. The window itself lets in nearly white light from the bright snow outside. Lochlan closes the doorbehind herself while mumbling, "How does he know my old room?" She heads towards the bed and moves the blankets aside. She gets ready to sleep by tucking herself under the covers and staring up at the familiar ceiling. The feeling it gives seeing the srars above her again leaves her lost in confused nostolgia. She turns her head towards to wall to rest.

In the morning she gets changed and hangs the cult robes in the closet before heading out.