[IC] Tales From The Loop: The Eighties That Never Was

[LeSwordfish]

http://image.prntscr.com/image/05dd8271d74e4172a25c0d548433d7e8.png

Tales From The Loop
The Eighties That Never Was

Chapter One: Olof and the Lighthouse


Saturday, March 11th, 198X

It was almost three weeks since the Bona Cooling Towers had disappeared. The sun had arisen, the people of the Malaren islands had risen from their beds only to see that the familiar silhouettes of the cooling towers - squat, solid, and twinkling with warning lights - had vanished completely. Nobody could get close enough to see the base, of course, but after school the kids had travelled in their droves to high bluffs and rocks to see the space where the towers had been, the skyline of the mountains around changed almost beyond recognition by the loss of the three towers. Then, as the sun started to set, casting the farmland and forests into shadow, the towers had reappeared, silently and without fanfare, as if a filmmaker's trick.

A magician had claimed credit for it. Elias Nordstrom, an illusionist from Stockholm, claimed to have performed the trick as part of a grand illusion for his television series, World Of The Impossible. The adults in the town had seemed to accept this, and Nordstrom had been the talk of the islands for a few weeks afterwards, but had never explained how it was done. The younger residents of the island were more skeptical. They had been there, and hadn't seen any cameras.

Still, that was three weeks ago. Since then, many small things had happened. Exams were coming up for some, and in school the children were being worked hard. On the Dahl farm, it was calving season, and Sassa had been up in the middle of the night more than once holding a torch at a calving. Butterflies jumped and danced across the fields, and the forest floor was carpetted with white anemone flowers. The Nyman farm had rented a trio of planter robots, and they could be seen in the fields, methodically driving seeds into the ground with the methodological imperturbability of all the island's robots. Walpurgis night had passed, the bonfires barely lighting under a heavy storm - but the rain had passed by now, and though it was cold the air smelled of new growth.

It was early in March, on an otherwise unremarkable saturday, that the group had come across Erik Berg, crying on a bench by the side of the road. The Berg family was legendary amongst the local children: Olof Berg was the largest and most dangerous boy at the school, a thug and a bully. Rumor said that he'd been held back a year or even two, that he would have been expelled if not for an uncle on the Education board, that he'd had to leave another school after hitting a teacher. All the group was outsiders to some extent and Olof and his gang had not been kind to them: all had at least felt his taunts, and Spöke had had to beat a hasty retreat once after he had thrown a punch. Erik Berg was Olof's younger brother - a weaselly, wiry kid, aged maybe twelve, who had hung around on the edge of the gang like a bad smell. Now, however, he was alone on a bench, and crying - something they had never seen from him before.

When Erik saw them coming he looked, for a moment, both angry and embarrassed. Being caught crying was bad enough, but to be caught crying by a group mostly of girls was far worse. He looked as if he might bolt into the trees. Instead, though, he stood his ground, scowling at the group. "Well? What're you looking at?"

[Hazuki]

Sassa pauses as Erik Berg addresses the group with a confrontational tone. She glances to either side, then looks him in the eyes. "You're crying." She points out, without malice. "It's weird."

[Xaraley]

Keziah cringes internally at the word 'weird', then offers the nicest smile she can, "Weird as in out of character." She mentally fumbles for a better ice breaker and decides to just ask the obvious since that's what a real detective would do, "Is everything okay? Where are your friends? You guys are usually stuck to each other like my hair that one time Olof put gum in it." Her attention drifts to the surrounding area, making sure this isn't a nefarious trap while she struggles to remember if she's heard something that would upset Erik.

[MxKit]

Spöke looks thoughtful at Sassa's words, at first, not cringing internally or externally, but when Keziah offers the correction she nods as if satisfied. Yeah. Crying isn't all that weird. Erik just hasn't done it around other people before, as far as they know. He hadn't been around other people until they showed up, though.

"I don't think they're here," she says when she notices Keziah looking. "A crying kid would be weird bait." But a more interesting kind of weird! Despite her words, she looks more intently at Erik, like she's expecting him to do something interesting now.

[LeSwordfish]

"They're not here." Erik said sourly. "They don't want to hang out with me when... when Olof's not here."

[Hazuki]

Sassa stays silent at the comments from her friends. It seemed obvious to her, but she's been told about her communication skills before. "That's because they're bullies. They only care about whoever's meanest." She tells Erik. "If they don't want you around, it's a compliment."

[LeSwordfish]

Erik sniffed loudly. The lack of his gang didn't seem to be his main concern at the moment.

[Xaraley]

Keziah tilts her a bit, had she ever seen Erik without Olaf? "Where's your brother? Did he get grounded or something?" Her brain kicks in more as she decides that the kid that doesn't get kicked out of school for hitting a teacher likely doesn't get grounded, her internal detective quickly chimes in that it was a good casual introduction to a possibly touchy subject. Mental back pats ensue. She softly whispers to the group, "Do you think hey had a fight? He looks too alive for that." Clearly a fight with Olaf would involve missing limbs.

[LeSwordfish]

"He's missing." Erik said. The young boy seemed to be trying to be sullen, but instead started sobbing again. "He's been gone for nearly a week now and no-one knows where he is!"

[Hazuki]

Sassa pushes her glasses back up her nose and faintly furrows her brow. "Who did you ask?" It's not that she doesn't believe that somebody might go missing. If it happened, it's bad. But there's just as much chance of Olof not bothering to tell anyone about him going somewhere else. Somebody sobbing would normally tug at her heartstrings, but something about the boy's past cruelty prevents it.

[MxKit]

"Maybe he got tired of Ungdomsskole," Spöke suggests. If she was still there when she turned seventeen, or eighteen, she probably would too. That's a long time. And a week is a long time, too, probably, but, "Does he not go places without telling his family? I do."

[LeSwordfish]

"He didn't tell me, he didn't tell Mom, he didn't tell his friends. Our uncle in Stockholm hasn't seen him. The police say there's nothing they can do."

[Xaraley]

Keziah mind reels for a moment, "Why can't the police do anything? Do they not have any clues? They're supposed to have detectives that find clues and solve things." A smile sneaks onto her face as she imagines one with stubble on his face smoking while searching Olof's last known whereabouts. Wait, what was that? "When was the last time you saw him? Was he acting okay?"

[LeSwordfish]

"The police don't care." Erik sniffed loudly. He seemed to have calmed down a little: Keziah's urgent questioning at least made it seem that she cared about the problem. "I last saw him on monday after school. He said he had something important to do and left on his bike." (Olof's bike was nearly as legendary as him: a hideous smoking old motorbike.) "He hasn't called or come back since."

[Hazuki]

Sassa watches Keziah from the corner of her eye. It seems to her that she's getting just as excited as when she finds a particularly good book. "Do you know what road he left on? Or the direction?" She's not much of a mystery person herself. Unless it involves eldritch horrors.

[Xaraley]

"You don't know what he had to do? What about the rest of your... friends? I don't think a boy like Olof could disappear without anyone knowing something. Has anyone seen his bike? That might be a clue." She made a mental note to ask around about his bike when she saw other kids followed by seeing if anyone knew where the pawn shop was since stolen stuff is always in those according to tv and her books.

[LeSwordfish]

Erik wiped his nose on his sleeve. "He took his bike and went north out of Satuna. I dunno what he told his friends but they weren't with him."

He sniffed again. "They're at the kiosk in Farentuna now. I told them they should be looking for him and they laughed at me."

OOC
North out of Satuna could take him to a lot of places - perhaps only a few kilometers to Farentuna, or perhaps as far as Davenso or Munso. He's probably still on the islands, though - if he was headed to stockholm he'd have gone south.

[Hazuki]

Sassa frowns a little more. Police officers should at least be humoring people, even if they're jerks. Dealing with jerks is meant to be their job. "At least he didn't crash. That would be on the news." She points out.

[MxKit]

A jerk disappearing might be weird, but normal kind of weird; to Spöke's mind, adults, even police, not paying much attention to kids was pretty normal too. But she perked up noticing how many questions Keziah and Sassa were asking, looking between them and then back to Erik intently, more invested for the first time in the actual disappearance. Having something important to do, she realized, and then disappearing... That was interesting.

"If he went north he might have gone to Farentuna. They laughed at you. Maybe they do know where he is."

[Xaraley]

Keziah mulls things over for a few seconds. It was true that Olof wasn't her favorite person, but their damsel in distress just hung around him and his group and she couldn't find it in herself to consider him guilty by association. She didn't outright want to volunteer to take him to Faretuna just in case, but suggesting that he go there and get someone to go with him could hurt, "Why not go look there to see if you could find him? Maybe you could ask your parents to drive you there. What do they think about him missing by the way? Are they worried too?" She looked at the others, "It wouldn't hurt for us to see if anyone else has gone missing too, right? That would give an idea of if he was kidnapped or just lost somewhere. Really really lost." She said the last part with a look that she hoped expressed 'don't imply he's dead' but wasn't too sure if the message got across.

[LeSwordfish]

"Mom doesn't drive." Erik said, a little darkly. Erik and Olof's father had been absent for as long as anyone could remember, and few people had seen their mother. Sassa remembered the rumors about them - that the mother was a drunk, that the father had left after discovering Erik wasn't his - and suspected that such rumors had not reached Keziah's ears.

[Aruetii]

Alrik eventually manages to catch up to the group, bending over and panting heavily once he arrived at the group. Initially, he didn't seem to notice Erik, just seeing that his friends had stopped by the road as Felix stood there at his side and looked at everyone while wagging his tail. "Sorry. . . He had to go but then decided he wanted to run around and. . ." Alrik trailed off as he finally noticed Elrik on the bench, apparently having been crying. "Uh, sorry." Felix on the other hand either had the obliviousness that comes with being an animal or preternatural insight that something was wrong. He proceeded to go up to Erik, and sat down next to his leg whilst his tail wagged behind him, waiting for attention and wanting to cheer the boy up.

[Hazuki]

Sassa gently places a hand on Keziah's shoulder (Which could probably swallow it, givent their size difference) and subtly shakes her head when she mentions Erik's parents. The idea does occur to her that Olof might have gone in search of his father - there was a chance that he was his true son, after all - but there's no way to voice that at the moment.

She nods at Alrik when he arrives, then looks back to Erik. "Do you and Olof have a way of communicating? Or a place special to you two? Might be worth keeping that handy, or looking there." She suggests. They had a hideout, and she was almost certain that any given kid would.

[LeSwordfish]

"Only our room," Erik said. "There might be something there but... wouldn't he have said something to me?"

Erik eyed Felix a little warily. Without the gang around him, he seemed much smaller and younger. "What's your dog's name?"

[Xaraley]

Keziah gives Sassa a baffled look, but catches on between the head shake and Erik's tone. She also made a mental note to add "do not bring up parents" in her file on Olof and Erik with a star next to it on Erik's. Said file was one page of notes in a folder with all of her other notes and theories on people, most of which she suspects of being aliens, haunted, or werewolves (there's only one suspected haunted alien werewolf). Her mouth starts talking before her brain catches up, "One of us could go to Faretuna with you if you want help looking for him. Or... one of us could just go there and look for him and let you know if we find anything out."

[Aruetii]

Alrik nods his head over to Sassa as he catches his breath, standing back up as he grins a bit to Elrik. "His name is Felix, I promise he won't bite or anything. He just likes making friends." At the mention of his name Felix turned his head to look back to Alrik, before returning his attention towards Erik once more and the poor tail wagging faster.

[LeSwordfish]

Erik slowly reached out and patted Felix on the head. "I... I'd like your help, yeah."

[Hazuki]

Sassa watches for what Keziah will say next.

[Xaraley]

Keziah looks at the others, dropping her voice a bit, "I vote for helping him or at least taking him to Faretuna to look for Olof for a little bit. What do you guys think? I don't really want to talk for everyone since I know some of us aren't fans of who we're looking for.. I'm not a huge fan of Olof either, but I don't feel right leaving Erik like this." She stops to wait for replies, then a thought hits her, "Has anyone else heard about people going missing?"

[Hazuki]

Sassa considers Keziah's question. "It's something to do." She admits. It's not the best way to spend their time together, but it could help somebody. At the least, knowing somebody tried to help would stop Erik from crying in the streets, or from having to spend time with an alcoholic mom.

[Aruetii]

Felix just sat there contently as he was given attention, the tail slowing down to resting while he was happy. Alrik didn't have a huge grasp on what specifically was happening, apparently that some people had disappeared lately, including Olof. "I mean, Felix likes you so I wouldn't feel great leaving you here. I don't know how much I'll be able to help, but I'll do what I can for you Erik."

[LeSwordfish]

Farentuna was a squat grey town of only a little more than two thousand residents, a cluster of sixties houses around a core of stone buildings that had sat there for hundreds of years and a church that was even older. At this time of year the playing field and village green was an expanse of mud, the scorched circle of the Walpurgis bonfire still visible at the centre. There was one row of shops, and Nyström's Kiosk huddled at one end of it as if hiding from the wind. Alric inspected the tables outside the kiosk from a distance: sure enough, Olof's gang was hanging around there. The garage was at the other end, though, and they were able to approach it without being noticed. Nils, the middle-aged man who ran the till and operated the pumps, was sweeping leaves off the forecourt when they arrived.

"Afternoon," he offered. Much of Nil's face was hidden behind a heavy beard and mustache, and it was hard to tell when he was joking. "Come to put your hands in the till again?"

[Hazuki]

"Hello, Sir. I can if it's broken." Sassa says, as she shifts in her bike seat. "But we're looking for somebody, right now. Can you please tell us if you have seen Olof Berg, or his motorcycle? His brother is worried."

[Xaraley]

Keziah kept an eye out for missing posters as they entered town, still trying to figure out if this was a single kidnapping or if aliens were stealing people. She'd read that they do that. She also remembered reading that the government and cults steal people, but Olof seemed more likely to be abducted to her since he was abnormally large and clearly worth studying for that reason.

Once at the garage, she blinked at the impressive beard on Nils, mentally betting that there were things hiding in it. Her attention shifts to Sassa as she starts talking to the man, deciding that out of the group, Sassa would be the most likely to know the man's 'language'. Despite that, she still feels the need to add on, "We're also wondering if anyone else in town is missing."

[LeSwordfish]

Nils leaned on the handle of his brush. "I saw him and his bike go past, about a week back. Haven't seen him since."

[Hazuki]

"Thank you, Sir." Sassa says, then shifts as though to turn away, then looks back at him. "Just one more thing .
Did you see where he was going?"

[Aruetii]

Alrik frowns as he looks between the man and Sassa. "Seems that we're going to need to look harder before getting anywhere with this. . ."

[Xaraley]

Keziah frowns, trying to think of what's in the next nearest town in that direction, "Should we try asking his friends? Erik didn't get too far with that, but it might be worth a try. I'm not sure who else he would talk to aside from them and Erik."

[LeSwordfish]

"East, I think." Nils said. "Headed off the island or to Vantholmen, maybe."

[Hazuki]

"Thank you, Sir. Have a nice day." Sassa wishes the bearded Nils, then walks away a little distance so she can talk to the rest of the group. "We can talk to them." If it seems like they agree, she rides over to Olof's gang and clears her throat. "Hello. We're looking for Olof." She tells them. "Do you know where he went? Or know anything else?"

[Xaraley]

Keziah follows after Sassa, keeping a close eye on the other children. Despite trying her best to not act scared of them, she still stands a tiny bit behind Sassa. Her attention stays on the others, but her mind drifts to Vantholmen and what Olof would possibly have to do there. Maybe he did go off the island.

[LeSwordfish]

The gang gave Sassa a cool look. Lanky and muscular, she wasn't an easy kid to push around - but she was being followed by four others who fit the bill rather more easily. Moa was the nearest of the group - a skinny, punkish girl, Spoke knew her as one of Olof's closest friends - and probably with more brains than the rest of the group put together. Keziah thought of her as Olof's Lady Macbeth.

"He put you up to this?" Moa asked, jerking her cigarette at Erik, who stepped hastily behind Sassa's back. "What, you brought the chess club in, Erik?"

OOC
Keziah knows that Vantholmen is mostly forests and farmlands, with a couple of small farms or villages, a lighthouse, a few holiday homes (the north shore is one of the more picturesque areas, popular with artists) - and her overactive imagination will point out that that's the road Olof would take were he headed to the East Gate - one of the main cargo/heavy machinery entrances to the Loop itself.

[Hazuki]

"None of us are members of the chess club." Sassa corrects Moa, as she stands up properly. "Could you answer my question, please?" She doesn't approve of the cigarette in Moa's hands, but it's not her place to dictate other people's health habits.

[LeSwordfish]

Moa stood too, dropping off the table she'd been sat on onto the muddy ground and squaring up. She was older than Sassa and more powerfully built, but a little shorter. "What do you want Olof for anyway?" She ignored Sassa's question. "Pretty sure he doesn't want to talk to you."

[Hazuki]

"I was told he's not been seen for a week." Sassa answers, unmoving even as Moa squares up to her. "We decided to see why. Could you answer my question, please?"

[LeSwordfish]

"If Olof wanted-" one of the boys behind Moa started to say. She shushed him with a gesture and squared up to Sassa again.

"That's none of your business, farm girl." Moa said. "Now **** off."

[Hazuki]

Sassa raised her eyebrows disapprovingly at Moa. "I challenge you to an armwrestle. If I win, you tell us what you know. And say something nice. If I lose, we leave you alone for today." She said, evenly.

[LeSwordfish]

Moa laughed. "An arm-wrestle? We're not discussing this, farm-girl, I told you to **** off and I meant it. Now you can leave or-"

"You're just chicken." Erik piped up - and then ducked back as all eyes turned to him. "You're chicken," he said again, rather more quietly.

This seemed to have struck a nerve for Moa. "Shut up Erik, or I'll send you home to your Mama with a black eye." She settled, slightly. "Okay, then. Fine. Can't say I'm a coward."

She stepped back, gesturing for Sassa to sit at the picnic table she had been perched on. "Except if I win, you don't just go home. Hans there chucks you in the pond."

OOC
If you accept those terms, feel free to make the roll for it - it's Force (of course).

[Hazuki]

"Okay." Sassa said. She took a seat at the table and waited for Moa to take her seat before resting her elbow on the table.

[roll0]

She clasped hands with Moa and started off slow, but with a firm position. It was better to gauge her opponent, that way, and she'd arm-wrestled with a few of her siblings on the farm. When Moa pushed, she pushed back just a little more. Some small part of her took pleasure in putting the bully in her place, milking her victory until the girl's hand was firmly on the wood. She held it there for a couple of second, so there'd be no ambiguity as to who the winner was.

"I win." Sassa said. "Answer my question, please."

[LeSwordfish]

Moa had the most sour expression Sassa had ever seen, and for a moment she wondered if the other girl was going to hit her. She seemed to be chewing her options over for a moment - and then, suddenly.

"Look. Olof told us not to tell anyone. So this stays with you, alright?"

Erik, now stood beside Sassa, nodded vigorously.

"Olof said he got a letter from his father. He went north to Vantholmen to meet him there."

[Xaraley]

Keziah furrows her brows, finally saying something after watching Sassa prove why she suspected the girl could toss most people through doors, "Why would he want that quiet? That seems a little weird..." She looks at the others, acting much more relaxed now, "Does anyone have to be home early or are we continuing our investigation?" She tried to figure out the most polite way to ask Erik about Olof's father. Knowing what kind of work he does and how he is on money would narrow down their search in that area.

She leans towards Alrik, speaking softly, "What's the nicest way to ask someone about their brother's father's job and monetary status?"

[Hazuki]

"I will not tell anyone." Sassa said, while Keziah pondered the implications. Erik was probably the best person to ponder it.

[Aruetii]

Alrik rubbed the back of his neck at Keziah's question, not quite knowing the best way to respond before whispering softly. "Not quite sure really. . . think it is best to leave it for the moment." He spoke up to the group itself. "What are we going to do now? Go north or try and talk to his brother?"

[LeSwordfish]

"So why didn't you tell me when I asked?" Erik insisted. Moa looked like she was preparing a scathing response, but stopped and softened.

"You know why, Erik."

"No!" Erik insisted. "Tell me! He's my dad too!"

"That's the problem, Erik."

Erik had tears in his eyes again. He turned and grabbed up his bike. "Fine. I know where he is now, I don't need your help any more."

[Hazuki]

"It's dangerous to go alone." Sassa warned Erik, as she rose from her seat. "We should go with you."

[LeSwordfish]

"Maybe I don't want you to," Erik insisted.

[Xaraley]

Keziah offers Erik an almost motherly smile, her best imitation of her owns, "I wouldn't feel right letting you go that whole way by yourself. If you don't want help then it's okay, but how about you at least let us keep you company until you get there and find your brother? That's what friends do, right?" She knew it was a step to call them his friends considering their odd past, but was really hoping that would be the right wording to convince him to let them tag along. She was telling the truth about not feeling good about him going that far on his own to find someone that he hadn't heard from in a week who may or may not be at the house of someone that he likely doesn't hear from often if at all.

She kept her friendly/motherly smile while trying to figure out why Olof wouldn't call to let them know where he was. If he was moving in with his father, then Erik would have had to heard about it. Plus, wouldn't Olof have taken stuff with him or at least come back to grab clothes? This all seemed a little odd.

[LeSwordfish]

Erik hesitated, Keziah's kind words clearly affecting him. "Okay. We'll get Olof back."

Moa made a deliberately noncommittal noise.

[Hazuki]

"Have a nice day, Moa." Sassa wishes the young woman, then gets on her bike to ride with the group and towards Erik's terrible person of a brother.

[Xaraley]

Keziah mentally breaths a sigh of relief, mostly because she wasn't sure if everyone was stealthy enough to casually tail Erik if her words had failed. They didn't even have walkie talkies and trench coats. She smiles at Erik and gives him a nod as she gets on her bike, "Do you know anything about the town? Maybe where Olof might hang out or something? I don't know if you two have ever gone there together or not."

[Aruetii]

Alrik nodded his head towards Erik once he agreed to letting them come along to find his brother. He wasn't the biggest fan of Olof but whatever was going on was bigger than him after all. Felix seemed excited now that everyone was moving on to bikes, going over to Alrik's and standing there until Alrik came over and got on his bike. "It is a long shot, but if you have anything of Olof's I can try having Felix smell it and see if he can find a trace of him once we get closer."

[LeSwordfish]

Erik hesitated, but Moa had overheard. She shrugged off her oversized jacket and threw it over, the weight of it nearly enough to knock Alrik down. "That used to be his. Get it back to me or i'll kick your ass, though."

[Xaraley]

Keziah looks between the jacket and Moa, then wiggles her brows.

[Hazuki]

"Why are you wiggling your eyebrows?" Sassa asks Keziah.

[LeSwordfish]

"Because she's a ****," Moa said irritably.

---

The sun had started to lower as they cycled out to Vantholmen, and as they crested the low ridge and looked downwards towards the lake, a cold breeze tugged at their hair and clothes. To their west, the main road lead away, wandering over to the handful of farmhouses and tourist cottages: to their north a smaller road, muddy and rutted, wound down through the forest: the Nyman farm and it's fancy rented robots were below, and on the other side of their farmland, the lighthouse stood, the lamp and dome protruding just a little above the treeline from this distance.

The dirt road was too churned up by rain to show any tracks, but was just about dry enough to cycle on. They bounced along, Felix trotting cheerfully alongside, until they turned a sharp corner, and found the bike lying by the side of the road.

Keziah recognised it as Olof's bike immediately. It had clearly been there a while, and it was badly damaged: something had hit it hard, buckling the front wheel and breaking the engine block. Oil was spilled over the road and the grass verge. There was, at least that they could see, no sign of Olof.

OOC
I'll sort you out with a map later - i'm on shift right now.

[Xaraley]

Keziah grins due to taking that response as confirmation. She quietly explains to Sassa as soon as they're out of sight, "I think they share their lips too." She winks at Erik, hoping to make the boy laugh.

------

Her stomach churns the second she sees the bike, her eyes immediately searching for any signs of blood. She gives Erik the most reassuring smile she can, "It's not as bad as it looks. It's just his bike, not him. We'll see if there's a clinic or something that had a boy come in with any scrapes, if he even has one. Plus, I think people send someone out to clean up big accidents, so we know it wasn't reported and you have to report if you hit someone with your car or something!"

[Hazuki]

Sassa frowns faintly when she sees the crashed motorcycle, but doesn't say anything. She parks her bike nearby, then carefully moves over to the crashed bike itself and starts to investigate the damage done to it. Keziah's words make sense, and it's odd that nobody's cordoned off the site, if there had been an accident. There has to be some clue about what happened.

To figure out what hit it and how it's damaged.

[roll0]

[LeSwordfish]

"Nobody lives down here but the Nymans." Erik said warily. "They don't come into town often, they might not have seen it."

Sassa inspected the bike. As best she could tell it had been hit by something, hard, on the side. It wasn't even too badly damaged - you could have wheeled it with a little effort, though the engine block would take a long time to repair. It was strange though - the dent didn't seem like a collision or a hit from a car, too small. Perhaps it had been hit by another bike - but with so much force? As if a giant fist or rock had sideswiped the bike and knocked it down.

Felix whined, and Alrik turned to look at him. The golden retriever's ears were up and forward and his eyes were wide, staring off the side of the road into the forest. He had seen - or smelled something, there in the half-light in the woods.

[Hazuki]

Sassa feels a tug in her stomach as she realizes that she doesn't know what happened to the bike. Normally she might miss something, or not have the right tools to fix it, but this time she knows exactly what the damage is. And has no idea how it actually got there.

"Something hit it." Sassa tells the group. She gives one last long look over the motorcycle, then pulls herself up to her full lanky height. "Something small,"

[Xaraley]

Keziah frowns in confusion at Sassa's words, "Like what? Would getting hit by another bike do that? I think Olof could have outrun someone with a baseball bat unless he wasn't on it when this happened." She turns her attention to Erik, "Are you two friends with the Nymans? Would Olof had gone to them for help if he needed it?"

[Hazuki]

Sassa shakes her head, her eyes lingering on the bike. "Too much damage for a bike or a bat."

[LeSwordfish]

"We didn't know the Nymans," Erik said, distracted. He was staring off into the forest along with Felix. "But they're closest."

[Aruetii]

Alrik frowned as he noticed Felix turning his attention over to the woods. "What is it boy. . . ?" He spoke softly to his dog while he turned his attention over towards the woods, trying to peer into them to see what Felix had noticed. "Guys, I think Felix noticed something in the woods, I don't know what it was though."

[Hazuki]

"I'll look." Sassa announces, and grabs her bike as she approaches the woods. She could leave it there, and it would be comfortably secure through seclusion, but if a wild animal were to show up...well, she'd need a quicker getaway than even her lanky legs.

[Xaraley]

"Stay in earshot Sassa. I don't know how much help we would be, but at least that way we know you didn't disappear or something." She smiles at Erik, "We'll go talk to the Nyman's when we're done here." She looks towards Sassa and the woods with concern. If we make it out of here.

[LeSwordfish]

The ground in the forest was a thick bed of ferns, and Sassa had to drag her bike through it. She had gotten just far enough that it was hard to see the faces of the others behind when something moved in the undergrowth ahead. It was just below her in a stream-bed, and hard to see, but was clearly massive. Bigger than any of the bulls she'd worked with, maybe the size of a hippo, but low to the ground. She paused uncertainly, and the thing - practically the size of a van - moved again. A whole tree swayed, as whatever it was moved past. Sassa stepped backwards - her bike caught on a root - and she overbalanced and sat down heavily. The thing stopped - and then raised it's head out of the bushes.

It was a dinosaur.

It's head was rounded, with four horns protruding from the back, and a massive bony beak. It's neck was stubby, and as it struggled out of the streambed towards her Sassa saw a back, thick with heavy scales and spines. It whipped it's tail, and a massive horned lump on the end smashed into a tree, splintering the wood. Seeing Sassa, it lowered it's head carefully, tail lashing heavily behind, and roared. The sound was violent and shockingly loud, a deep grunting growl that went straight through Sassa, speaking directly to some primitive mammal core. She didn't know animal behaviour as well as she knew machines, but she knew this: this was a threat display. In no uncertain terms, the Ankylosaur was telling her to back off.

http://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Ankylosaurus-Papo_815d.jpg

Back on the path, Erik started at the roar - and then yelped aloud as a second echoed from the forest behind them. Felix started barking fit to burst, frantic and furious, and the sound he made was accompanied by the shattering of twigs and the tearing of wood as a second Ankylosaur lumbered onto the road behind them. This one didn't even hesitate as much as Sassa's did. Slow and ponderous, but with the unstoppable force of a tidal wave, it began to charge the group.

OOC
The two Ankylosaurs are Trouble! Move is the most relevant response to the Trouble (to run away), but if you can think of a relevant way to use another i'm happy to hear it. Your bikes give you a bonus dice if using Move, except for Sassa, who'll have difficulty riding through the forest.

The Ankylosaurs have the Armoured Back 3 characteristic: attempts to harm them that don't avoid the heavy spines on their back and heads need to roll three successes not one.

Running through the forest will be considerably slower than staying on the road. That doesn't affect this roll straight away, but you should tactically consider it. The Ankylosaurs aren't similarly slowed - they're tough enough to break through obstructions you have to avoid.

The Nyman farm and lighthouse are each about a kilometer away. Both are in the opposite direction on the road to the Ankylosaur.

[Hazuki]

Sassa freezes, from her position on the ground, when she sees the Anklyosaur approaching her. Her expression is that of a decidedly fixed stare, as her brain pulls itself through a few different thoughts. By far the biggest is "How is this even possible?". It's accompanied by "What is that thing?", "How did it get here?", and "I don't know anything". Her fear of the unknown as perhaps never been stronger than in this moment.

But then something stronger burst through the rest of the teen's thoughts. Survival instinct. Her mind flashes through everything she knows, how she might be able to escape. She could run - but that wouldn't work. The creature doesn't seem carnivorous, so it's a herbivore, like cows, and bulls, and other prey animals. It's big, heavy, and all too like a prehistoric cow. And the first thing she learned about being around cows is that running away from them doesn't work. The best way to survive any animal attack is through scaring them, making yourself seem like too much trouble.

Then her mind flickers to what she knows of mechanics, of the world around her, and a plan quickly comes to mind. She pulls her Swiss Army Knife out of her pocket and cuts off a large part of her shirt, which she puts to the side as she grabs the nearest suitable rock and a big branch, and puts them beside it. Then, she reaches into her jacket for her pack of tissues, grabs about half of it, and rubs them along the chain of her nearby bike. Plenty of oil soon coats the tissue.

Then, she wraps the tissues and the part of her top around the top half of the sturdy branch until they're tightly wrapped. She shifts into a crouched position, then takes her Swiss Army Knife and the rock she found, using it as flint to create sparks, which land on her makeshift torch and set it alight. Then, she pulls herself to her full height, yells at the top of her lungs, and holds the torch out to one side, but towards the creature. Her other hand lifts up her bike, lengthwise, into the air above her, to make her seem even bigger.

[Xaraley]

Keziah stares at the distant roaring before slowly giving everyone a baffled look, "Bigfoot?" Her attention snaps to the nearby sound, her stomach suddenly feeling awful. She lets out a small gasp as her eyes nearly grow wider than her glasses, "Is... Is that a? That's a dinosAUGHMOVE!" She sprints off to the side, hoping they were kinda like crocodiles and not good at the whole zig zag thing. She looks back to see if the others are moving.

[LeSwordfish]

Sassa's makeshift torch and scare tactics seemed, miraculously, to have an effect. Just as the creature hurled itself forwards into a charge, she lunged towards it - and, eyes on the fire, it dug it's forefeet in and brought itself to a sudden, lumbering stop. Sassa's wild charge nearly crashed her clean into it - instead she was forced to jump backwards as it swung around, the boulder on the end of it's tail whipping around like the worlds largest conker. Sassa had a brief flash of the damage done to Olof's bike, and just how nasty it would be if it hit her - but the Ankylosaur was panicked and it's swing was hasty, demolishing a tree next to her and knocking her on her back. Dazed for a moment, she looked up to see her tormentor lumbering rapidly away.

Keziah and Alrik had been less quick-thinking. Alrik ran clean down the road, Erik and Felix at his heels, and Keziah realised too late that her sideways dash just made her the nearest target. The dinosaur - that couldn't be what it was! But what else could it be? - twisted around, moving with unexpected dexterity for something so massive, and snapped at her back, so close she could hear the crack of the massive beak as it closed behind her. She nearly fell, struggled to her feet, and kept running, all the time expecting it to close it's jaws around her spine - but the pain never came, and when she finally came to a halt, wheezing and exhausted, she saw that it hadn't gone far from where she had been caught, instead seeming content to claw at the ground and thrash it's tail. Perhaps scaring her off was all it had wanted to do - they were, she remembered, herbivores.

OOC
To update you on the positions, Keziah, Alrik, and Erik are a hundred meters or so down the road from the Ankylosaur, while Sassa is a similar distance to the side of it in the forest. To get back to the main road would require going around it - not necessarily easy, given that you've lost track of the other one.

[Hazuki]

Despite being knocked on her ass for the second time in the same minute, a broad grin stretches across Sassa's face. She's won. Just for the moment, but it's enough. She can beat back monsters just by using what she knows, and that's just about the best thing that could happen. Well, second best, but Miss Laurelkron isn't nearby.

But her friends are still nearby, and in danger, and that's something she's got to help them with. She pulls herself to her feet, torch still in hand, climbs on her bike, and tries to find them the long way round the Anklyosaur, with her fire still prepared to fend it off.

[roll0]

[Aruetii]

Alrik tried to keep a firm grasp on Felix's collar. If something did happen he really didn't want Felix to play hero dog against a dinosaur, or whatever they were actually seeing right now. "Shouldn't it be freezing?! It can't be good in the cold can it?" He had moved, panting from terror and exertion as his mind raced. Once they deemed they were a good enough distance away from the dinosaur he looked between the trio. "We have to find Sassa, I mean I know she can handle herself but that's a dinosaur, and we don't know if that's the only kind out here! There could be a lot worse out here. . . ." He frowns and looks to Felix. "You've been a very good boy and I know you can't really understand me, but -please- don't run off after any of them."

[Xaraley]

Keziah wheezes like a mad woman, wishing she'd eaten less candy... and sugary cereal... and food in general. As the fire starts to calm down in her lungs, she looks at the dinosaur. The urge to pet it pokes at the back of her mind, but she decides against it due to liking life. She quietly inches towards where she saw the others running, giving the creature plenty of space, "G-Guys? Is everyone alive? Am I alive?" Her mind suddenly starts trying to figure out if she's dead and a ghost.

[LeSwordfish]

Moving fast through the forest, the group came to the edge of the trees, and the strip of farmland between the forest's edge and the start of the water. The Nyberg farm was perhaps a kilometer to the east of here, and the space in-between was cropland, now muddy and barren. One of their robots strode solidly down the furrows, driving seeds into the ground as if nothing incredible had happened at all. One of the Echo spheres sat in the middle of this field, and the robot planted around it as if it were nothing more than a boulder - instead of a hollow sphere of metal, this one almost the size of a house. To the north was the lake, cold and unforgiving, a sheet of black all the way across. And to the west, standing on an outcropping of rock, the lighthouse itself. The keeper had been replaced by an automated system some time ago, so the small house at the bottom was unoccupied, but the stone cylinder still stood proud and tall, painted in stripes of bold red and white as if in deliberate defiance of the greens and greys of the landscape.

Erik lead the way up the path towards the lighthouse. They were halfway up the rocks when the brush at the edge of the forest shifted and the two Ankylosaurs emerged. One lumbered straight on over towards the echo sphere, watching the robot warily. The other watched the kids climb the path. It roared again, and the sound echoed along the coast: but it didn't seem willing to chase them up the narrow path.

The door to the lighthouse - or at least to the shack at the bottom - was padlocked, but when Erik grabbed at the padlock, he found it hanging loose. Looking around, the boy leaned on the door- but it barely budged. Judging by the scraping noises it made when pushed, something had been wedged against the other side.

[Hazuki]

Sassa warily watches the dinosaurs approaching the robots. She has some confidence that the robots would be able to withstand any attack by the animals. Not a lot, but metal is meant to be stronger than flesh, so...it would probably work out. Hopefully.

Their most immediate problem is the door, being wedged, and serving as their only real bastion at the moment. The automated system would probably have some kind of manual mayday or...some other way for them to contact somebody. She plants her torch in the nearby ground, hoping the fire would keep the anklyosaur at bay for a little longer, then prepared to ram the door with her shoulder.

Guessing it's Force/Body.

[roll0]

[Xaraley]

Keziah sticks to the far side of the group so she can have a head start when the dinosaurs decide to get revenge for years of turning their ancestors into food for vehicles. She looks around for recent signs of people other than them, hoping for people to interro-... talk to. Her attention lingers on the farm. Is this a farm for people? Are they raising dinosaurs like others raise cattle? Can you milk one of those?

Her hands covers her eyes as she sees Sassa preparing to show that door who's boss, just in case the door decides it's boss.