[PRP] Down by the River (Preacher & Chester)

[Smerdle]

He had expected it to take literal ages to get to the other side, but he and Preacher showed up there mere minutes after they had set out and were making their way toward the water a short time after that. Maybe some psychic, wish-granting othercreature had foreseen their need and facilitated their journey. Maybe Preacher had veil breaching powers she wasn't revealing. Or maybe the otherworld was just laughing at him. Chester knew he was being ridiculous, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something large and horrible was going to use this opportunity to violate him.

"I guess we can just start anywhere along here," he said, looking through the trees toward the river.

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The Semblance of Unity

i started coding right away when i got home last night for code night and i didn't stop until i was done with my mentor session even though i meant to take a break to start this and then i aggressively fell asleep when mentoring was done what a fail

beverly maaaass rivers for ambience or something
the satellite imagery is so cool too like you can just walk off the street into the water what

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[The Semblance of Unity]

"You a bro, bullshit land," she muttered. It always felt kind of nicer in this place, like it was easier to breathe. The proximity to the some trees made her kind of anxious, though. Preacher was well aware she'd made a deal with a being and had, thus far, neglected to fulfill the requirements fully. Well, at least they were here and she'd expected to wander around for ages first.

Preacher eyed Chester. "Ya got some kinda enterin' trick or somethin'?" Then she shrugged, the pain from the movement acceptably dulled by the medicine she'd downed before leaving. "I wanna find one what the hole is intact, y'know? There're hagstones where tha hole ain't perfect, is like broken on tha side. N' I think that might not work right." She moved closer to the water and began nudging rocks with one foot - her good foot.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Not that I know of. I thought you might have." He often didn't deliberately try to come here since things rarely worked out that way, but he was always prepared to open a door into opposite world when he least expected it. All it really meant was that he carried a very large shoulder bag with him at all times.

"I'll look for a good one," he assured her. "Should I do it farther down the coast?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Nah, let's stick tagether, boy scout." Preacher's form seemed to shimmer and then she shifted, dropping to all fours. She took a few shambling steps forward, then stumbled. <******** s**t damn c**k ********." The words all ran together and she shifted back into human form, flopping onto her back, hands pulled up against her chest. "Maybe I shoulda-" Her breath was labored, but the pain was dissipating a bit. "-thought 'bout how minks is on all fours. <********>." She didn't really want to move.

"So. See any rocks n s**t?"

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[Smerdle]

Chester frowned, hoping that Preacher was too distracted by her pain to see it.

"Yes. Maybe." He meant it as a response to her maybe-possibly-intelligently considering that she was too still too injured to run around as a mink, but since it could have also applied to his search, he made no further immediate comment. He wondered if he might magic up a cart or a tiny boat for her to sit in as he glanced around, but concluded that it would take time they didn't have. Plus, he could envision it ending in disaster. Catching sight of a couple of shiny, quarter-sized rocks in the shallows, Chester bent to pick them up, pushing them around on his palm. He singled out a flattish oval stone and brought it over to her.

"I'm picturing something like this, except, you know, with a hole."

He got back to searching.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher stared up at the sky for a bit. She was going to have to move soon, but she was putting it off. Instead, she glanced up at the rock Chester presented. "Yeah, if only ya could bore a hole innit wit' ya mind. Though that'd defeat tha purpose."

With a groan, she rolled over and painfully got to her feet. "Hole's gotta be more or less in tha middle."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Hm." He continued to search, wading out farther into the water and immediately regretting that he hadn't removed his shoes. He found chunky rocks, pointy rocks, rough rocks, a rock that broke in two as soon as he picked it up, and finally, as he was coming back to shore, a rock with a hole in it. It was all wrong in his opinion—off-centered hole, too small, an ugly, pukey brown color—but it was a rock, and it had a hole. Chester stuck it into his pocket.

"Any luck?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher had slowly moved a few feet downstream from Chester. Mostly, she was finding horribly gravelly sand. She pocketed a few rocks, using her uninjured hand, but none were perfect.

"Some contendas, but nothin' perfect. I feel like we gotta get a real good one for this s**t ta work."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Chester nodded, then added, "Yes," so she didn't have to look at him. He grabbed a few more rocks, none with holes, just because they were nice to look at. Somewhere along the way he had forgotten about his unease over the threat of mutant otherworld leviathans in favor of being the first to locate the perfect stone, but he had still only found the one.

"I'm going to go a little farther that way," he said, pointing.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"A'ight," she said. "Don' wander into no tree, k?" There was s**t in those trees, Chester. Preachre walked into the water, ignoring the fact that she was ruining the bandages on her feet (she was barefoot, of course). With her uninjured foot, she jostled around some rocks.

"Found an okay one so far!" It wasn't exactly perfect, but it was a nice shape, with a hole near the center. If they didn't find anything else, it would do.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"I won't," he said with a smirk. Chester rummaged around near what looked like a deliberately placed trail of rocks, but they all appeared to have come from somewhere else, lacking something unquantifiable that would have made them perfect. None of them had holes in them either, but that was another story.

When Preacher said she found something she deemed okay, he dropped his own jagged candidate back in the water.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher picked up a holeless stone and skipped it across the water. One, two, three, four, five. Decent.

"I dunno if we're gon' find a better 'un than this. Lookit it, Elephant - lemme know if ya think it'll work?" She held up the stone for a moment, looking through it at the sun, then she extended it to Chester.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He couldn't help looking around a little more as he made his way back to her, unsure as to when this had become a bit of a competition, but when he saw the rock Preacher had found Chester gave up his search.

"I think you've found it. Can I see?" He reached for the stone.

The Semblance of Unity

ROCK GET

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher held out the rock to him. If Chester found it acceptable, they have to do some kind of magic-y bullshit and make it all watery. Or something. Imbue it, attune it, stick it in a fishbowl.

"Whatcha think - we good ta go?"

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Chester looked the rock over, quickly deciding that it was the one. Mostly he had just wanted to hold it. He handed it back, smiling as he did.

"Impressive. I suppose we just wander around now until we end up back home again?" They could start attuning it while they waited to be spit back out, but he kind of thought that concentrating on the sort of magic he had no idea how to cast should probably involve drier feet.

The Semblance of Unity