Man Made

Spider appears curled up in their chair

Luna and Hinata are busy working on some things on the coffee table. Seems to be something with playing cards, and a few bottles. They're giggling and having fun with it.

Lochlan is half awake in the corner

Cole walks in from the hallway with his hands flapping as he excitedly says, "Guys i have a fucking theory"

Luna mutters something as she seems to pull an ace of spades out from behind her ear. "Wait a theory?" Those ears perk up.

Hinata is looking up at Cole from the ground.

Lochlan glances up

Cole nods as he starts explaining, "So based on GPS positions of the lighthouses, there's one to the south east and there's one to the north west and and annnndd if we follow that pattern that means there's one to the north east and one to the south west" Cole takes a breath then continues, "Which could make a triangle which could point us to the center of the island which might have something cool there!!!!!!" He seems very excited

Lochlan tilts her head

"Wait lighthouses??? What do you mean Lighthouses??" Luna seems very confused. "I only know of the one."

"In your defense Lu, you've gone exactly once."

Cole seems to get more excited, "Okay so there's another lighthouse near this place with a submarine door where i found some people wearing masks but that's not important right now, it was all tall and rusty and shit with the inside partially exposed"

Lochlan looks down, "Oh. That place."

Luna takes a couple moments to process his words, "So that would make it a square with four lighthouses. But reasonably, if we can find a place where the four intersect, there might be treasure or some-- what do you mean that place?"

"That place near the lighthouse. It's a town called Ivory Summit. It's where I went when I had ran away."

"Ah. So there's like 5 cities/towns that we know of now?" Hinata is looking through Luna's laptop, "Cherrywood, Haze Borough, Trotston Enclave, New Bristol, and Ivory Summit. Cool town names."

Cole thinks for a second as he mentions, "There's also a town called Bristol though i don't know anything about it, i just heard it get mentioned"

"I wish I could see a map of everything. Easier to visualize things." Luna tilts her head.

Cole starts bouncing slightly, "You want a map...."

Luna smiles brightly towards Cole, "You absolute madman, please tell me you've been building a map!"

Hinata's tail is wagging.

Cole spins around and projects this map on the wall

Luna looks really excited until she notices the top right corner. Her ears flatten against her skull as she seems really uncomfortable. "Ah... s-s-so that's a thing still. So... Wickheck is a thing.." She looks over at Cole with sadness in her eyes.

Lochlan comments, "That's the state"

Hinata's tail stops wagging. "A state. I-I see."

Cole nods, "I should explain what the sudden north west line is, i wanted to see what's off the island and before my suit ran out of power i saw that florida is covered in a forest, so it's either that he untied states is still the original 13 states or simply doesn't exist"

Luna recovers quickly from whatever she was feeling back there and instead focuses her attention on the rest of the map. and not the jovian shaped elephant in the room. "Solar chasm pass on the right, lunar pass on the left. The moon isn't right is consistent even in the geography. Triple cities all next to each other. New Bristol is that one location I found, 149 Mino Street New Bristol."

"I wonder what's past Jovian Ridge in the north. Seems to be another forest considering the small hint of green."

Cole nods, "We could go out and actually search for the other two lighthouses, if that's what you two think is more important"

"That sounds fun. Maybe we'll be able to unlock more of this map too." Hinata smiles.

Luna nods, "Just as long as we stay far away from the other state, I'll be okay."

Lochlan sighs and stands up, "I'm definately not staying home while almost everyone is out. I learned that lesson last time mailman showed up."

Cole pulls his gloves out of his pockets and puts them on, "I'm assuming we're going now if there's no objections"

Luna and Hinata both stand up. "none from us." They both put on their messenger bags and take a picture of the map for evidence sake. 

Hinata asks "Right, would we need our Loonism clothes?"

Cole nods, "It's possible we might run into some non-ferals on the way, better to be safe then sorry"

Luna nods, "got it." Luna clicks a button on her phone app. Both Luna and Hinata instantly transform into people wearing hoodies, jeans, gloves, sunglasses, and white mouth masks. "This should be okay."

Cole snaps his fingers as a gas mask appears in his hand and slips it on as he holds his hand out, "I'm pretty sure i can teleport us to the other lighthouse" his voice sounds like it's being sent through a speaker but it's no louder then his normal talking voice

Luna and Hinata nod and take his hand gently. "We trust you Cole." Luna comments

Lochlan grumbles to herself before touching his hand

Cole takes a breath as he mutters, "I hope this works" then the group disappears

They all appear in the base of a lighthouse. Surounding them is metal sheets still clinging together to form the walls, though a few are missing. The metal is all covered in orange rust and the remnants of stair case are resting beside them. Light filters through the large holes of the structure where anyone could easily step outside without needing a door.

Lochlan instantly pulls her hand away and stuffs them into her jacket pockets

Cole adjusts his gloves and glances around to make sure they appeared with him

Luna and Hinata are standing next to him and adjusting their gloves and masks.

Luna mutters, "man compared to the other lighthouse, this one is a wreck."

Hinata giggles, "come on, it can always be worse." 

The two are holding hands. (edited)

Lochlan stays near the group as she grows uncomfortable

Cole sighs in relief, "Good, it worked" Cole decides to carefully step outside through one of the large holes

Luna and Hinata follow right behind taking great care to not get cut.

Lochlan follows aswell. They step out to see a forest surrounding them. smaller trees that had shed their leaves cover the area with twisting branches. Random patches of the ground, and especially all around the lighthouse are made of an exposed grey material that is smooth and perfectly flat. Lochlan looks down at the material as everyone stands on it.

Cole looks around as he notes the area, "Right so the next Lighthouse should be to the north east which is..." Cole turns to face the north east

Hinata is looking down at the material, trying to piece what it could be. "Is this sandstone?"

Luna on the other hand pull out her phone and looks over the map she took a picture of. "Right, so south west of us is Ivory Summit. Wouldn't it make more sense to go for Southwest's lighthouse? Then again, going north east lighthouse would give us more information on the map... north east sounds good." 

All of the plants in the area seem dead due to the cold Winter as everything is drowned out in grey tones. A few birds over head fly to the north. Lochlan mumbles while keeping an eye on the suroundings, "I don't remember much about around here but I definately don't like it..."

Cole starts heading towards the north east, "Well better start moving now rather then later"

Hinata goes to touch the material they're standing on curious if it will react in some way. Luna shrugs, "honestly I'm just glad to be here. I love exploring places." They follow right behind 

As he walks his shoes hitting the ground sounds like he's walking on metal (edited)

Lochlan follows

Cole raises an eyebrow at it sounding like metal but continues heading towards the north east regardless

Luna is following behind confused, "wait, why is the ground metal?"

Hinata shakes her head, "better question, why did I think it was Sandstone?"

its only a minute or two before the ground suddenly stops at the ocean. The view from here however is anything but normal. Instead of a clear view to the ocean they can see beams of metal stretching out for miles in various directions. The beams themselves are wide enough to easily fit a car and rest just above sea level. a bit of smoke is rising from the distance out past the beams. (edited)

"Huh. Not gonna lie, I expected this place to be a lot more natural. Not uh.. machine." Luna doesn't know what to think or say. Her eyes seem unfocused while struggling to comprehend the state of this 'island'.

Hinata is dead silent in confusion

Cole seems not surprised as he shrugs and places some of his weight on one of the beams, "It's basically a floating table, well at least that's what someone told me"

Lochlan scoffs, "Yeah someone you killed."

The beams seem to have an unmeasurable strength, they aren't going anywhere any time soon.

"A floating table?" Hinata asks. "Sure does explain how erm. Artificial this place looks. I dig it."

Cole starts walking on the beams as he turns to glare at Lochlan, "You say that like i enjoyed it"

Luna follows right behind, so does Hinata. "Look, what matters is we push forward into the future and not look back."

Lochlan follows aswell. "I wouldn't doubt you had fun with it. Unless I'm mistaken I recall you tearing out one of Morris's bones just for fun." It seems they have quite a distance to go. Just under the water they can see old deterierating cables that ran between the beams that are nolonger connected.

Cole raises his eyebrow, "Now that i don't remember, i don't think i killed Morris to begin with"

"No, Morris wasn't Cole's. That was uh what were they called again? God of Swords and Gold or something like that. I was there for that Datrs convo." Luna confirms.

Lochlan scoffs, "Well I didn't kill him. That's for sure. Still having nightmares over hurting that one guard"

Hinata looks back towards Lochlan, "Wait that was you???"

Cole shakes his head as he keeps walking, "Of course"

"It wasn't me. I was out in the woods but I wasn't going around killing people. Heck that killer is even still out there probably. I wouldn't doubt if there's already more pople missing."

Cole nods as he sounds unsure, "Uhuh"

"Right. I'll uh make a note of that." Luna does so and continues following.

Hinata is confused about this conversation but she keeps quiet

Lochlan huffs, "What? You guys don't beleive me? Have you even read what happened in it?"

"No, I believe you, but then that would mean there are multiple Gods of Swords and Gold. Not to mention you don't even use swords. I think Morris was killed by a golden blade? Lemme check." Luna seems extremely unsure.

Cole shakes his head, "No i don't believe you, i believe you fucking murdered Morris"

Hinata is reading the entry over herself. "I'm unsure as well Lochlan, no offense. I want to believe in you, but it sounds like multiple people ganged up on Morris."

Lochlan continues, "Well what about that cop? The one that was checking on a suspicious car and suddenly got attacked. I know I didn't kill them. I don't even know what they looked like."

Cole rolls his eyes as he mentions, "I'm sure that mask knows what they looked like"

"Intense bad luck, a creature behind the log, and the ability to wrap its victims. Definitely not Lochlan there." Luna mutters while reading. 

Hinata nods, "meaning there has to be other creatures out there attacking people. Lochlan shouldn't be able to wrap victims or bite people to death... right?" Hinata looks back.

Lochlan replies, "Considering I'm smaller than most nonferals I doubt I could wrap anyone even if I wanted." 

Cole still seems suspicious but goes quiet instead of continuing to talk about it

Luna is questioning everything, constantly typing in her phone while walking. Hinata is right behind being her second set of eyes before she crashes into the ocean.

Lochlan mumbles, "Be my guest and question a paper mache mask if you want." They reach a point on the beam that seems to spider web out into smaller beams. They can see a few make shift buildings strapped to the beams come into view past some fog. Most are made with old shipping containers or large beams and cables.

Cole seems surpised by this discovery and marks it on his GPS, "Huh....a shipping container town?"

Luna's eyes widen and glow slightly more intensely. It can be seen through the shades. "Yo this place is cool." 

Hinata is looking around the area in surprise and curiosity

A few trees have managed to grow around the buildings with their roots tightly weaving around the beams for suport. Some containers have large telephone poles welded to their sides with wires running from house to house. As they get closer they can see a few people moving about with quite a few loons in the mix that cover their faces with gas masks. Their attire is generally casual or dirty, focusing less on it's appearance and more on it's utility. Some are walking between the houses down on the beams or hoping across a gap to take a shortcut. Others balence across thin metal rods proped between two conatainers to reach another story. There's a sudden bright spark from inside of one as there's a nonferal welding a sheet of metal to something while wearing a welding mask.

Cole shrugs and starts approaching the town, "What's the worst that could happen? Maybe they know where the other lighthouse is?"

"Agreed. Can't hurt to ask." Luna says as the two follow.

Lochlan stays quiet as she flollows. They reach a few open faced containers with shops built into them. One of them has a tall nonferal mouse organizing a mesh of wires into a few baskets. Hanging on the walls around him look like prostetic arms and legs but a few robot heads resembling humans can be seen in the back.

Cole spots the prostetic arms, legs and robot heads as his face drops for a second then goes neutral and continues walking

Luna feels weird and uncomfortable walking past this place. Hinata is dead silent.

Lochlan glances as she walks past. They reach a stand between the containers with an older nonferal rabbit wearing a welder's mask. Sitting around them are a few scrap car parts that had been melded into art pieces. He looks to currently be carving a design into the rubber of a tire.

Cole sighs as he knocks on the side of the container, "Uh...excuse me?"

He glances up

Luna looks at the art with interest. "Whoa, cool!"

Hinata is next to her

Cole asks with a polite tone, "Do you happen to know if there's a lighthouse to the north east?"

The man uses the blunt side of the blade to scratch his head as he responds with a heavy accent. The accent and style seems to remind Cole of how Erik spoke and dressed, "You mean East? Yeah should be. But I don't think crossing there is a great idea. You new around here?"

"Yeah we're taking some time to explore." Hinata says. Judging by her tone, there's probably a smile under her mask.

"And speaking of exploring, your art is really cool!" Luna nods

Cole nods, "Yeah, we are but we're just passing through" Cole notes the information as he asks, "Do you know the name of this town?"

The nonferal holds out his arms at the area, "Thank you for the compliment and Welcome to the Archipelago then. Probably would have been a better visit walking through cable aches if you came around when the trees still had their leaves but I guess beggars can't be choosers. Been here for years and it's still the number one place to go if you're looking for anything. Play your cards right and you can even send old Derro after what you're longing for."

Cole looks curious as he asks, "What's the terrain like to the east?"

Luna and Hinata are watching Cole.

The man laughs, "You aren't planning on going out there are you?"

Cole nods and sounds serious, "Yeah, what's the terrain like?"

Luna and Hinata nod. "Please, we could use some help." Luna pleads

The man continues to laugh, "You all are not makin it through all that. Trust me, everyone here as tried and it isn't worth it. Imagine a hard to manuver jungle right? Already next to impossible to find anything in, now flood it so you can't walk. Pretty bad? Well too bad it gets worse. Now lay out traps everywhere for killing things. Not bad enough? Let a killer out there too that can somehow trot around it like it was born there. There's nothing out there worth dying for."

Cole stares at the man, "We will make it all the way through, with the power of friendship and the 357 revolver in my jacket"

Luna shrugs, "That sounds kinda fun honestly."

Hinata chuckles, "I'm down if you guys are."

He scoffs as he slams one hand onto the container next to him, "HEY RUST! These wackos are headed out to the Zombie stands!" The mouse nonferal from the first container leans forward to poke his head out as he lifts a pair of yellowed goggles up from his eyes, "Zombie stand? You are people insane???"

Cole looks over at the mouse non-feral as his eyes click and he looks uncomfortable and nods as he goes quiet

Luna raises an eyebrow towards Cole and speaks to the mouse, "Hey. Nice to meetcha. And yeah we intend to check out the Lighthouse. If that means we gotta go through Zombie Stand, then we will."

Hinata nods. "Yeah."

Rust furrows his brow at them, "That's if there's even one left out there. I wouldn't doubt those snobs would have torn it down for scrap by now... they fucking tare down anything that isn't efficiant enough for them. It's sickening seeing perfectly fine machines going to waste."

"Those snobs? I'm new here, so I have no idea who you mean," Hinata mentions.

"machines?" Luna tilts her head.

Cole raises an eyebrow, "Do you mind explaining?"

The old man grumbles, "New Atlantis."

Rust complains, "They isolate themselves past Zombie Stand so no one can tell them what to do. They only show up once in a blue moon to mock the quality of the trash they gave us."

Cole shrugs, "I mean that doesn't really change that we're still gonna go look for that lighthouse, regardless of it's still standing we're mostly interested in where it is"

They both nod in agreement. Luna then says, "But if we see them, we'll talk to them for you."

The old man laighs, "Have fun talking to a murderous coniving wall."

Rust adds, "In other words safe travels. Though even if you did find a way into there, going in from the side you're looking at several days. But if you go back up the bluffs and pass that solar chasm you might have a safer journey...well safeER. Still not a walk in the park."

"I mean we could start at the other lighthouse Cole?" Luna looks over. "Up to you though."

Hinata is just admiring the scenery, not really paying attention to the conversation

Cole shakes his head, "I'm not willing to completely restart this long as fuck walk, i've been through worse"

"This is true." Hinata nods.

"I haven't" Lochlan looks worried

Cole starts walking to the east, "Well nice talking to you two"

Luna and Hinata follow right behind

Lochlan follows nervously. As they go through the town they can see it's alot larger than Cherrywood as they more and more structures being used forbuildings. They even see a mamorial crafted with large steel gears the height of a two story house. Lochlan sounds quiet as she speaks, "I don't think this is a good idea..."

Luna catches up with Cole and asks, "Cole, are we sure we can't teleport to the other lighthouse and go through Solar Chasm instead? Solar Chasm is probably hard as hell too, but this actually sounds rough. And not even fun rough."

"Yeah, and how are we supposed to go through the water jungle. We didn't bring broomsticks. Plus we got Lochlan too." Hinata adds (edited)

Lochlan frowns

Cole continues walking, "So you would rather have to cross a several mile long chasm, then walk through some stupid swampy jungle?"

"Considering the person said it would take a few days, I'm gonna guess it's not as simple as that." Luna reasons.

"Plus we can actually fly over a miles long chasm. Broomsticks and your flying powers are great." Hinata adds.

Lochlan is growing more and more nervous, "We didn't even pack any food or water?"

Cole shrugs, "I don't need food or water, though i'm sure those guys just have inaccurate information i highly doubt this jungle stretches' on for that long"

Luna stops in her tracks. "I'm not going. As much as the challenge sounds fun, we're not prepared. Let's go home, regroup, plan our route, then come back."

"Plus we're more human than that. We actually need food and water to survive." Hinata doesn't move any further.

Cole shrugs and continues walking, "Your loss, i'll find it on my own"

Lochlan seems torn but afraid

"Why are you so hellbent on finding this lighthouse anyway? You heard what Rust said, it might not even exist anymore." Luna calls out to Cole.

Hinata seems torn between Luna and Cole.

Cole stops and turns back to Luna, "It's less about the lighthouse and more about figuring out my theory, plus i don't exactly believe the word of some fucker i just met so it could still be standing for all i know"

Lochlan watches and keeps to herself

"...okay, Cole, listen to me. If it turns out this shit is way over our heads, I'm teleporting us all home. Understand? This is less about me or you. This is about us getting through this in one piece." Luna looks up at Cole with a glare.

Cole doesn't seem happy with that answer as he huffs, "Fine"

Hinata looks over at Luna, "Are you sure? What if we can't teleport? You know h-- yeah."

Luna looks extremely uncomfortable with everything as she huffs.

"Lochlan?" Hinata calls out to her, "Are you coming with us?"

She grits her teeth and pushes up a smile, "I have nothing better to do."

Luna and Hinata both take deep breaths and focuses themselves. "Right. To the Zombie Stand," Luna and Hinata say at the same time.

Cole turns back towards the east and starts walking again (edited)

They follow.

Some time passes as the sun starts to set. They've walked past the end of the archapeligo's city limits and are now outside in the darkness still walking along one of the metal beams just above the water. It's gotten somewhat cold with the sun nolonger out and cold mist of the ocean water by them.

Cole's eyes shift to a light blue as he continues walking

"Cole, I am beginning to have regrets about this route." Hinata mutters while shivering slightly. "Can't we do this when it's summer? Not in the middle of fucking winter?"

Luna seems to be faring okay, though she is not looking forward to the water level

Soon they find the beam leads back onto the land with the same dead looking trees as before. The night in this forest however sounds more alive than nights in wicket woods. Theres more sounds of creature lurking just out of sight weather it be bugs, owls, or assumably the rapid steps of a deer sprinting away. Lochlan remains quiet with a constant fearful expresion.

"Not gonna lie, this place sucks, but at least it's got a pretty sound to it." Luna smiles and continues to walk.

"Definitely sounds alive, that's for sure. Not entirely sure I feel welcome though." Hinata mutters.

Cole continues walking as he shrugs, "An alive forest is a good forest"

Luna goes to mention something about the name and the fact that this forest is alive, but she chooses not to jinx it.

Lochlan had been stewing in the back quietly gnawing over thoughts until she finally speaks up. Though she sounds on the verge of tears as she follows, "What if we don't make it out? What if we're stuck forever?"

"We teleport out. Like unless there's some force enabled that stops that, I think we'll be okay?" Luna mutters. (edited)

Cole nods, "Like Luna said we can just teleport out, no big deal"

Lochlan sighs

"Besides, we're all pretty good at combat. We're not gonna let you get hurt, Lochlan." Hinata's stomach grumbles, "Also I really wish I had gotten some food before leaving. Fuckin hell."

Luna sighs, "yeah I had some ramen before leaving, but that's not exactly filling. I'm down to head home if you are."

Cole's stomach suddenly growls incredibly loudly as he looks around curiously, "What the fuck was that noise"

"The fuck was that!? Was that the killer thing? But there's no swamp yet." Luna looks incredibly worried. And thirsty.

Lochlan grumbles, "That was your stomach."

Cole looks over at Lochlan, "My what"

"You must be hungry too." Luna chuckles.

Hinata giggles, "yeah I'm down to get some food before we do this."

Cole groans, "Fuck" Cole sighs as he continues walking, "But if we make it to the lighthouse then we can go home and eat regardless....."

"You say that like we even know how far we have left. I'd rather we go home, prepare, actually bring water bottles cuz right now i'm thirsty as hell, we'll bring our broomsticks for the swamp and trap section, then we do this when we're fully ready." Luna stops in her tracks.

Hinata nods. "Yeah I agree, if we keep going, we're not gonna be able to fight well. And considering there's an enemy in the Stand we need to beat, we're gonna need to be at our bests." She also stands next to Luna.

Lochlan adds, "I mean... there's wild animals out here. Does anyone know how to make a fire?"

"I can handle campfires, but we still need water." Luna nods.

Cole (Nick) — Yesterday at 9:08 PM

Cole sighs, "Unless you wanna wait until it starts raining, we'll have to find running water"

"I'd rather we leave. I'm not saying we can't survive out here, but I'd rather not have to." Hinata adds. She's 100% city raised.

Cole frowns slightly, "I wanted to eat hunt a deer and drink it's blood...."

"No." Luna says.

"So are we stopping here, walking a little longer, or try to find water?"

"I vote teleport home." Luna nods.

"Seconding!" Hinata says

Cole frowns, "Deer....."

"Can't you kill and drink a deer's blood at home? Like we live in a forest." Hinata shakes her head.

Lochlan looks torn again.

Cole thinks about it for a second, "....at home deer would be easier to catch and eat"

"Yes, plus venison sausage is delicious," Luna adds, "I learned how to make that when I was an assassin. If you kill the deer, I'll make the sausage."

Cole groans as he sighs, "Fine i'll go home"

"Right on." Luna claps. Luna, Lochlan, Cole, and Hinata all disappear.