(no subject)

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It's raining in Point Lookout, and foggy, and the word blattering is probably not all that inaccurate a description of conditions on the other side of the door- at least, what can be seen and heard of it through the door of the ancient, decrepit remains of some prewar maintenance shed. Admittedly, there's a slime-and-blood-and-mud-covered power armored figure blocking some of the view. But given that it's Ellen in the slime-and-blood-and-mud-covered armor...

Oh. And there's the head she's carrying.

"Can anybody here identify this thing for me?" comes Ellen's crackly, staticky voice as the door swings shut behind her. She's doing her best not to drip or leave goop or blood behind her as she goes, but... well, given that the thing in question is a spotty yellow-brown, slope-skulled, thick-lipped, lidless head easily the size of half her torso, with barbels as long as her arms coming off either side, the yuk puddles were more or less inevitable.

Comments

[not_his_pa]

William stares before realizing she needs help and Bar provides him with a tarp that's like oilcloth but lighter,

"Ellen, here put it in here."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh good," says Ellen, and staggers over to William's table. "Gah. I've got olfactory and respiratory features six ways from Sunday in this helmet and I can still smell this thing."

[not_his_pa]

"Its awful,"

He hurries to wrap the head up and the cloth has some odor cancelling stuff in it which helps slightly.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"There were two of them. You think this is bad, you should've seen the one that got away," Ellen says. "I have no idea what this thing is."

[not_his_pa]

"Almost looks like a fish if you messed with it."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Maybe," says Ellen. "The only fish I've ever seen have all been here, though."

[not_his_pa]

"Oh, all the fish turned into other things?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Maybe? I assume they must still exist, there's got to be something the mirelurks feed on," Ellen says. "They don't really strike me as plant eaters... this thing just erupted out of the swamp with the other one and came at me and Cross. It had two legs, and you should've seen its arms..."

[not_his_pa]

"I'm glad I didn't. Well, its dead now and someone will now what it once was."

[student_of_impossibility]

For several long moments, a pair of vibrantly green eyes regards Ellen and her prize with a combination of shock, skepticism, wariness, and amusement.

That is... quite a thing.

"A creature without the sight of which my life would have been less rich," he says with some irony in his voice--and yet, a strong and sincere trace of fascination. "Where did you find it?"

As he says it, he's waving down a waitrat--with a quick request for a plastic tablecloth for the table.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"In the swamps of an island called Point Lookout," says Ellen. "There were two. The other one got away before we could kill it."

There's a squishing noise.

"Darn it, I keep stepping on that thing coming off its lip..."

[student_of_impossibility]

"Then I really can't help you. I've never been to swamps, I don't know anything about their animal life. There was another?"

The squishing noise, however, makes him wince.

"You'll be able to put that down in a minute."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"A little bigger," Ellen says. "This one was- probably about two feet taller than me, I think. It's hard to say, with the way the ground kept shifting. They lunged up at us out of what must've been pretty deep water..."

[student_of_impossibility]

An eyebrow arches. "I've seen water-creatures that large, but nothing that looks like that. Were they called there by something?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"If they were, it wasn't anything I heard or saw," says Ellen. "Maybe they noticed our motion- or our sound. These suits aren't designed for stealth at all, and we were sort of up to our ankles in mud or water or whatever the heck it was just there."

[student_of_impossibility]

Finally a pair of plastic tablecloths are carried over and tossed on the table, which Tavi then waves at. "Put that down," he urges.

Even so, he's wrinkling his nose. Because eugh, the smell. "But nothing that looked like ambush? Happenstance only?" Just to be clear. He has concerns about this sort of thing, and that fish is gigantic.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen hastily moves to do so. "No," she says, "nothing that looked like ambush. I didn't see any smell of people anywhere in the area, just a lot of animal scents that I didn't recognize, and a lot of water. And nothing looked built or arranged, either."

Terezi's goggles come in useful sometimes, but they're not always great if you don't know what the smell colors correspond to.

[forgottenmotley]

"It's dead?" The Fool suggests unhelpfully. He'd offer to help but it'd probably end up hindering her more.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I should hope so, I went to a lot of trouble to decapitate it," says Ellen. "Ugh, I can smell it even through this thing... is anyone using that table up ahead?"

[forgottenmotley]

"Nope! I'll clear it off for you even."

Translated as "yes, but I don't care, you can use it now."

He cheerfully shoves things off the table and moves the chair out of the way.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Thank you."

She staggers forward and sets the monstrous head down on the table. At least it's not actively bleeding, what with the circulation being long since gone and all, but it is still kinda... oozy.

[forgottenmotley]

The Fool pokes it cautiously with his walking stick.

"What did it used to be attached to?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Something bipedal and sort of brownish-gray," Ellen says. "About seven feet tall. This was the smaller one. The big one got away."

[forgottenmotley]

"How tall was the bigger one?" He wrinkles his nose as it stinks.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"About half a foot taller than that," says Ellen. "I think. It was really a mess, the ground wasn't solid at all... it had broader shoulders, though, and sharper finny claw bits."