The Phoenix Colony

Reva watched them go. They hadn't made a ceremony out of it but it seemed more to her like a pack of dogs again, loping away to some other exciting scent in the night.

"Well, Derek," Reva asked, "what did you think of that?"

She winked at Raylene. There was no way she would acknowledge Raylene's gift until they had gone inside for the evening and then she would ask what had been happening in Frank's head.

 

"What the....?" Raylene sat and watched as Frank and his gang walked away. "All we learned was that no one can talk unless Frank says they can. What a crock!!!!"

 

"Well, they seemed civil enough," Derek shrugged. "Hey, maybe if we're lucky we won't have to fight 'em." He smiled at her, then yawned. "Alright, well do you mind if I go ahead and get some sleep? Didn't sleep all last night."

 

When the men were out of sight Reva waited. Fox lingered in hiding, apparently not trusting the men not to come back, but finally she and Chrys appeared and walked to them.

"We did know more than they did," Reva said mildly, "Still, they have a plan and they might be useful."

"You didn't sleep?" Reva was aghast and then she noticed how tired Derek's eyes looked. It was a wonder he hadn't fallen asleep at the fire, "Yes! Get your tail in there and rest. I have a suspicion that Fox and Chad may need to do the same."

She smiled at Derek and ruffled his hair, which always looked as though it had been combed by a tornado.

 

Derek chuckled a bit, then laughed even harder when tiny Reva had to reach up on her tiptoes to ruffle his hair. "Good night," he said, then walked over into the spot where he usually slepted and plopped down onto the ground, falling asleep almost instantly.

 

Reva laughed, too, - Derek's laugh was infectious - and when he had gone she posted Cull and Cody outside to watch and went in with Raylene to find out what all of the strange signals had been about.

 

Raylene stood and started stripping the rest of the meat off the carcass. There wasn't much left. The savages ate almost an entire deer. She piled it on a wide leaf and took it inside. She sat next to Reva and shook her head in confusion.

"I could hear him just fine, but he was singing Queen. There were moments I thought he'd started on a new thought, then Queen would break through full and clear. He was blocking. He must know..."

She sat back against the wall and mulled over what she had heard. "He was thinking about someone named Dan. Then he'd start to sing again. And then later, he was thinking about a bloody shotgun in the snow, and he started singing again. I'm just so confused. I wish Pasha was here. He deals with overlapping and conflicting thoughts all the time. He could help."

 

Reva didn't take any of the meat.

"Queen? Of all the strange things,"A bloody shotgun..."

Her had slipped into the jacket pocket and touched the paper.

"Perhaps you can talk with Allen. He might be able to help disentangle information, too. After all, I'm sure his life has depended on it before."

 

Smith had listened to what had went on the rest of the meeting up until the part of bait came up. He watched his hands, his new hard, strong skin. He stood up and decided to inturupt Reva's meeting. "I'll be the bait when the time comes." He anounced to her, face determined, he was the only one that might be a bit tough to chew, if his skin kept getting harder, he really would be like biteing a rock.

 

Raylene cringed at the idea of talking to Allen about anything. He had been on his best behavior recently and hadn't tried to kill anyone....yet. Reva may be quick to trust him, but she definately wouldn't. She took a seat next to Allen and kept her promise to the clan and focused to turn off her "gift" before talking to him about what she heard from Frank.

"Allen, I need to ask you something. Frank was singing in his head. He'd start thinking about something and then go off into this song by Queen. He did it everytime we asked him a question, like he was trying to block out his thoughts. I don't understand it. I, well, Reva thought you might be able to help, considering you've dealt with interrogations and things."

 

When she reaches the bonfire, the need to sleep hits Fox hard. "I haven't slept in nearly to days." thinks Fox.

She finds a quiet place in the back of the cave and lays down. She falls asleep almost instantly.

 

Chrys sat on the ground....Great nothing, to do...Wait a minute..She watched as Raylene reluctantly began a conversation with Allen, ...Wonder if she could help me clear up a few things...

Chrys walked over to Allen and Raylene, "'Scuse me, but could I borrow you for a moment?" She asked, her tail moving playfully.

 

Raylene looked up at Chrys.

"Yeah, Allen, just think about it, ok. What do you need Chryssy Kat?"

 

..Chrissy kat? I kind of like that..."Okay, that one's new, but I like it!" She grinned, "I came over to ask of you could look beyond topical thoughts. You know, like meories, or even," she paused, unsure how to say the next part," Or even, say, any ablities we may not know about. Like if you told me to do something with my tail, would you be able to identify where the message came from in my brain? It's tat there's this thing I keep doing at odd times and I want to know why, but I still don't know if it's just me or this darn planet." Chrys blurted, still a little embarrassed by the awkwardness of what she had to ask.

 

"Honestly, I don't know if I can do that or not. Are you asking if I can find the part of your brain that makes your tail move? I think that may beyond my capabilities. Heck, I couldn't even tell what the hell Frank was thinking for sure. Stupid Queen. I hate rock. Now it's in my head forever."

 

"I should try this a different way, I can't put it into words, so I'll try this,"...read my thoughts please, are you here? Okay...I know the cat thing is planetary...but I have this weird feeling about another change, but I can't identify it...I want to show you an example, but to do so, you'd have to move around a bit, like get up and move, and say something very clearly, but not necesarily to me...I've done this to others and want to know if there's something I'm thinking when I do this....Oh, and this is random, I think I can help you pick the "block" that frustrates you so....

 

Raylene sat and focused on Chryssy Kat and heard her rambling in her brain. She wants me to get up and walk around, say something and then listen to her thoughts? She's a bit wacky!!

"Sure, let's give it a shot."

Raylene stood and walked to the side of the cave. "I wish we had a JukeBox and then I could get Queen out of my head." She waited for words to enter her brain.

 

Chrys watched Raylene, and began to mimic her, step for step in her Ray's own personal cadence. As she walked, she focused on the sound of Ray's voice abnd repeated her, "I wish we had a JukeBox and then I could get Queen out of my head." Then stopped walking....see what I mean? It's weird, was I thinking anything in particular? or was it just monkey see, monkey do?

 

"Holy cow Chrys! That's amazing! I heard you using my voice....in you head as well as outloud. You were thinking...'Be Ray, move like Ray.' Then you meowed, but it was my voice meowing!! That's totally crazy!"

 

...Good, it's not me..."Thank you for clarifying that!" She sighed with smile, relieved to finally get some bit off understanding from this life. "Alright, I promised to help you pick the 'block the block' and here's how"...Okay, I have two truths that make me who I am, you've been reading Chrys' thoughts, but I want to know if you can read Diane's, my former self?...Do you want to try?

 

"What the hell! Might as well. I have to practise so I'll be prepared the next time Frank comes."

 

7:00 am the following day

*** TIME ADVANCEMENT ***​

Time: 7:00 am the following day.
Conditions: Sunny, 49 degrees F., remaining snow rapidly melting (lots of runoff and mud)

Reva sent out scouts first thing in the morning to look for other tribes.

It was true that the tribe would need help to hunt down the invisible beast and she would like to have more options than Frank's gang. He may have been able to see the problem, but with a bunch of street thugs who didn't have the ability to gather and hunt their own food she doubted how much help they might be.

((Okay, I think Chrys, Fox, and Derek asked to go...if we have one more volunteer (Reva would be happy to go if nobody else wants the job) they can double up two to a team. Work it out in PM however you want and then PM me so I know, ok?

Also, I think since we only have one other tribe to find I will intro my 2 new chars for the second scouting party to find and bring back.))

 

After being told to scout, Fox grabs her knife and gun, and two clips. Fox walks over to where Dereck is standing. "Hey Dereck, do you want to team up and scout together? It'll probably be dangerous for us to travel alone through the woods."

 

Chrys looked over at Raylene...Let's start off....can you hear this?.... She played in her hair, acting as if she was thinking about nothing.

 

Raylene tugged at her cloak as they walked. She was getting the shivers occasionally.

"can you hear this?...." She looked at Chrys and realized she hadn't actually spoken.

"Yeah, I can hear you. Are you sure you want me that far in there? It would make me completely vulnerable if I let someone hear every little thought in my head." She paused for a moment and inspected a crevice in the rocks, then continued walking with Chrys. She pulled some dried meat out of her bag and began to chew on it. They had left so early, she didn't have time to eat. She handed Chrys a piece too. "I mean, I don't mind, but are you sure about this?"