OLD - Week 1 Day 6 Morning

This area was beyond the plains, both dust and industrial. This set of lands, known to all as “green sepulchre”. Its distinctive features are of the tall evergreen trees that grow in abundance. Their bark is tough and incredibly sticky with its sap, which is toxic. The trees feed on insects and small rodents, but have also been known to trap people who get too close.

While Ellyn woke with the dawn, she decided to make the most of the comfortable bed. While she did appreciate the carts hammocks they had nothing on that bed. Seth meanwhile had decided to not lie in and was doing some errands for himself and the other members of the Regal Syndicate. By around 10 o’clock Seth had already completed his list of tasks, and now he decided that it was time enough. So he opened the door to Ellyn’s room, peered in, saw she was still asleep, and then threw Acorn on to her bed. The post-aerial Acorn was less pleased with the Ellyn shaped landing pad then she was. It certainly woke her up. With a scream Ellyn leaped out of bed, pulling the bead sheets and a confused acorn with her, producing a tangle of sheets and limbs on the floor. Ellyn pulled herself out of the mess and stood up, straightened her clothes and smoothed her hair.

“I’m up.” Ellyn said, acting calmer than she really was, swaying slightly with her eyes still closed. She yawned widely and stretched her arms, then opened her eyes and saw Acorn staring at her as if she had some sort of mystical treat for him. Seth was leaning on the door frame, recovering from a laughing fit, Ellyn looked to him and asked “So, what does today bring?” Seth walked into the room and fell onto the bed and with a sigh he said “I have no idea!” Ellyn rolled her eyes “Great…” she replied. There was a knock at the door and Seth pulled himself up, left Ellyn’s room and went towards the door to their apartment. Ellyn followed him out and watched from the other end of the main room as Seth checked the peephole before opening the door to allow Julian in, “Morning all!” he beamed as he wandered into the room. Julian continued “Will you be joining our activities today Ellyn?” Ellyn, who had been studying his tie, stammered “Uh-hm?-what?-yeah sure, maybe, I don’t know, ask him” she finished indicating to Seth. Seth held his hands up in defence “I’ve got no plans for today,”

“Well that’s settled then!” Replied a now exited Julian, “Seth, join us outside at noon, make sure Ellyn is ready!” Julian seemed much more serious about the last sentence then he usually is. Julian nodded to Seth, patted Acorn on the head and turned out the door. Seth rubbed his face with both hands and mumbled “Great”. Ellyn was getting the feeling that she may have signed up to something other than she had thought. “Right then, what does he mean by make sure I’m ready?” asked Ellyn. “Well, for starters I should explain to you what it is we are doing exactly.” Seth indicated for her to sit down, as he did so himself. “So you know that these guys are uh “information brokers and secret spreaders”?” Ellyn nodded. “And do you remember that ritual that I spoke about before?” Ellyn just looked confused, until Seth brought out the two blue test tubes from that bar, “Yeah, ok” Ellyn said. “This activity is the ritual.” Ellyn nodded and said “Get on with it!” getting impatient. “Ok, so this activity involves those tubes, us and a secret base nearby. Basically we are sneaking into the base, it’s mostly underground but we have ways in, it belongs to one of the factions, the Narcomats, or just Narco’s for short. These guys specialise in taking areas of land by force and …uh… “having their way” with the inhabitants. Regardless, this happens to be where they keep most of their battle-plans and ideas, so, what we do is, go in and “Borrow” them!” Ellyn nodded once more feigning understanding. “You’ll understand once we are doing it” Continued Seth. “Ok, if you say so, but what’s the catch? As in why do we need to keep it a secret?” asked Ellyn. “Put it this way, if the Narco’s see us or find out what we are doing, then they will be less pleased, and will try and kill us, a lot…”. Seth sighed. “Perfect…” muttered Ellyn, rolling her eyes. “Right, you heard the man! We’ve got till noon to prepare you!”

“What about you?” Ellyn complained. Seth had gotten up and with his back to her; he turned his head and said “I’m always ready!” with a wink. “Go put your outdoor clothes on, oh and your shoes” with a nod to her feet, which were bare. She wandered into her room and picked up her clothes from where she had discarded it last night. She pulled it all on then re-emerged from her room, the various straps and fastens clinking as she walked, her boots clacking on the hard tiled floor. Ellyn followed Seth out the door, after checking that they had left nothing, Acorn leaping after Seth’s heals.