xp_logs | Buskashi: Strange Awakenings

Rahne and Sooraya wake up and find themselves in unfamiliar territory.

Ergh. Rahne returned to consciousness with a jolt that made her stomach gurgle and her head pound. It didn't help that the jolt was followed by more, a fast jiggling interspersed with irregular bumps that tried to click her teeth together. She thought she might have bitten the side of her tongue at some point.

It took several seconds for this to drag her far enough into unpleasant consciousness to realize that this was very bad. She seemed to be in some dark, closed-in space, which was bumping and therefore probably in a vehicle, and she had the nasty feeling she'd been drugged.

She was not, however, tied up, which seemed a curious omission unless whoever was responsible didn't think they had to worry about freedom of movement. Which was possible. Rahne sat up, which made her head swim and her stomach protest again, and worked her tongue in her mouth. She'd definitely bitten it. The blood tasted better than the foul taste of waking up from the drugs. She felt around in the dark to try to find Sooraya.... The most likely people to have caught them seemed to be the slavers. They hadn't seemed entirely happy about the deal.

...Rahne really wished Nathan had his telepathy back about now.

Opening her eyes, Sooraya saw nothing but black. There was a strange movement all around her, as well as a cacaphonous noise that made her ears ring. Her pulse jumped as she struggled not to panic, looking around to each side as her vision started to adjust.

A shadowy figure sat not too far away from her, and it seemed to be reaching out for her... "Don't hurt me!" Sooraya cried, recoiling against the wall as far as she could.

"It's Rahne," Rahne said softly. "Shh."

Sooraya breathed a sigh of relief, scooting closer to the girl's familiar voice. "Where are we?" she asked, her voice quivering. "What happened?"

"I don't know exactly." God please help us. And help me stay calm. "We were... given something to make us sleep, I think, and... taken. In a truck, I suppose. Keep quiet," she added quickly. "Someone must be driving. I don't know if they can hear us. Nathan will look for us." Rahne clenched her teeth for a moment. "Nathan will find us."

Nodding, Sooraya fell silent, not wanting to alert their kidnappers to the fact that they were awake. She was terrified inside but tried not to show it - Nathan would want them to be brave. She didn't know how long they sat there in the dark, being thrown about by the jolting of the truck as it passed over rutted, dusty roads. "I am sorry," she whispered eventually, hands clenched tightly together. "This is all my fault."

"No, it's not." It hadn't actually been very long at all, at least not since they woke up. No way to tell how long they had been unconscious, except that it wasn't light yet, and Rahne didn't feel any physical needs urgently enough to think it wasn't the same night. "If people choose to do wrong, and have the -- the opportunity to do it to you, and say there is something about you that made them choose you, that does not make it your fault." Rahne took her hands away from Sooraya for a moment and curled them into fists in her lap, then stretched them out and arched the fingers into claws. "I'm going to try to find out how they've shut us in," she announced. "I'm going to turn partway into a wolf. Maybe all the way, sometime." She had the shapechanging clothing on underneath her other clothes. If she wanted to go four-footed, she could. "Don't be alarmed."

She shifted slowly, closing her eyes to concentrate on the new information reaching her ears and nose, and then scooted carefully toward the rear of the truck.

Sooraya sat quietly, worrying her lip as she watched the other girl shift into something less-than-human looking. A particularly hard jolt of the truck threw her off balance, and she had to catch herself quickly with both hands to keep from hitting her head at the side of the truck. The faintest sliver of light between the top hatch and the truck bed caught her eye and she crawled forward to look more closely at it.

It was just the barest crack in the metal, barely enough for a little light and air to come through. Still, it was something. "Rahne..." she said softly, forming her tongue around the unfamiliar word.

Rahne came over, crouching beside her. She was still mostly human-shaped, despite the fur. "I see." She tried pushing the tips of her claws into it, but drew back at the grating sound. She gave Sooraya a wry look. "You could get out, couldn't you? But not your clothes. Always the problem with shapeshifting...."

"I would do it," Sooraya said impulsively. "If you think there is a chance that it might help... I could find someone to help us." She ignored the glaring holes in logic, the impossibility of it all... maybe Nathan and his friends were after them. Or maybe she could alert them and they could rescue the other girl. If she could help, she would, even if it terrified her.

Rahne sighed a little and shook her head. "It doesn't feel like we're on a road. I suppose it could just be a bad one, but it's morning, and we don't know how far we've come, or in what direction, or what's nearby. At least, I don't." She grimaced. "As a wolf, I've had enough practice, I can run a long way, and hunt. I don't know if you can travel as sand, or how often you'd need food and water if you can." She turned her eyes toward the front of the truck; the sliver of light caught and gleamed. She wasn't sure what their captors would do to them, and she wasn't looking forward to finding out, but at this point it was probably better to wait.

Sighing, Sooraya sat back. Rahne was right, there was little they could do as they were. Their only hope seemed to be waiting patiently to see what might happen next... but that was almost worse than trying to take action. How long must we wait?

The answer came almost immediately, as the truck skidded to a halt. Sooraya sat up on her knees, looking to Rahne as the distant sounds of something began outside. But what?