This is better than ring around a rosey

[ghostofaqueen]

Characters: ghostofaqueen & auirsfavoredson
Location: London, England
Rating: G
Time: January 3rd - Mid-morning
Description: I-004 -- Kerrigan had dragged Tassadar from his tinkering to go on an investigative mission with her.

Comments

[aiursfavoredson]

Tassadar had met Kerrigan at the time she had established. He'd worked through most of the night on the probe, and after all of the adjustments, the templar finally had all the calibration right. He couldn't let the coming opportunity pass him by, and while he would focus on the mission at hand, Tassadar would also be compiling as much information from the test run as possible.

They had entered London not too long ago. The stares he'd received were easy enough to ignore. It was something that the templar had grown used to since his arrival here on Earth all that time ago.

Kerrigan was just off to the side, her form crouched and observing their surroundings while they scouted the Tower of London. His form was crouched also, except for the fact that his hulking form still towered over most. He didn't mind in the slightest, and as the small probe nearby emanated the protective field around their position, Tassadar regarded their destination.

'There is a lingering scent of something, but it does not appear to be from Kishin Eggs,' the templar murmured thoughtfully. With some luck, the field the probe was emitting would be enough to ward off the Madness, but they wouldn't discover that until they drew closer to whatever it was creating this influence.

Hearing the question, Tassadar glanced down towards the Weapon. 'I have none more than any others lacking abilities of protection,' he murmured before his attention shifted back to the Tower. 'Being in such a state will allow us to see how well the field works.'

[ghostofaqueen]

For the most part, she had ignored the probe that was stationed nearby. She knew that Tassadar was testing it, but she hadn't much hope that it would protect them much. It was still too early in the construction stages to hope for anything another than flashy lights and maybe data collection. It was only in testing faze.

As far as she could tell, it had established something, but most people wandering passed appeared to assume it was one of those funny motorized vacuums or pets. An amusing thought, she knew. No doubt it would make headlines in the logical newspaper. 'Giant faceless alien takes robot for a walk at London Tower', it would say. Ah if only they could be there tomorrow for that.

Nodding her head, she felt assured that there wasn't a Kishin Egg that could sneak up on them. All they had to deal with was the high potential for madness to drive them away from getting too close to whatever was causing it. "True enough, and I suppose we've wasted enough time pretending to be civilians," she remarked.

She rose to her feet and stretched before she began to walk towards the large tower that was the source of all of this. "Let's find the cause and hopefully bring it back to Shibusen intact. You might be able to use it to test the crystals within the city," she murmured as she walked, tucking her hands into her trouser pockets in an attempt to seem casual. Not that she could with a ten-foot alien next to her.

[aiursfavoredson]

There was a light chuckle from Tassadar at Kerrigan's remark. The thought of him being a 'civilian' seemed to amuse the templar, but he spoke nothing of that amusement as he rose up moments after she did. His tall form towered over her own as he walked alongside the Ghost towards what he had discovered was a tourist attraction while the small probe followed at their heels.

He could still catch the scent on the air, one which was getting marginally stronger the closer they got, and moved to follow the lingering traces. 'We will have to see if such an outcome is plausible once we find whatever is causing such a disturbance,' Tassadar murmured as he walked over the bridge leading to the tower.

[ghostofaqueen]

While she was not one to make a deal out of appearances, she felt that having both Tassadar and a mechanical probe moving along with her to make them everything but tourist. Those who were hoping to catch a glimpse or a picture with the tourist attraction stopped to open stare at them as they headed for the London Tower.

As she passed under the entrance wall surrounding the building, she passed a sympathetic look to the green-looking guards. They were there because they had to be, not because they wanted to be. "It must be annoying to have to stoop for every building you enter," she commented casually as they headed towards the main building.

There were moments where she was certain she felt a brief wave of nausea or the odd pique of a headache forming, but it wasn't so bad. She stopped in front of the main entrance and heaved a heavy sigh. "It appears that we'll have to search this place from top to bottom."

[aiursfavoredson]

Tassadar ducked beneath the guard area as they passed it. He had grown used to having to duck when it came to human establishments, and this area was no different when buildings were involved. It was just fortunate for the templar that whoever built it seemed to value allowing large open spaces as well. That was what he noted as he stepped into the large open-area passage and followed alongside the ghost.

'There are times where it can cause some level of annoyance,' Tassadar admitted as he glanced down towards his companion. The Madness in the area was thick, and it appeared to be difficult for the probe's energy field to keep most of it at bay.

Stopping when Kerrigan did, he glanced up at the large archway leading into the main area. There were quite a number of buildings that would need searching, and his gaze shifted from one to another as he attempted to pin down where the scent was coming from. Crouching as he stepped through to the old village area, Tassadar thoughtfully murmured, 'If we are in luck, whoever placed this device left a lingering trace only in that area.'

[ghostofaqueen]

She had no doubt about that, since places here were made to allow large pack animals to move through with funny little wheeled carts, but she didn't think that width was Tassadar's problem. Of course, in seeing the amount of buildings that they would have to search, she knew that things had only gotten more difficult.

"Yes, but no doubt we'll have to go in most of those buildings to be certain," she remarked softly. The ebbs of nausea and headache were stronger here, almost as if she were on some kind of dying space ship that jerked from side-to-side too much. "Unfortunately, unless you plan on crawling around on your hands and knees, most of those buildings will be difficult for you to get into," she added.

She glanced at the probe, trying to figure out how it was handling the situation. "I think some madness is leaking through, but it would be far worse without it."

[aiursfavoredson]

He had no doubt about that. There was a large chance that whoever had left the device had moved through multiple locations, which would make discovering the device difficult to pin down. While that was a large concern for him, what Kerrigan also mentioned had crossed his mind. He didn't think that scaling the side of the building would be appropriate, but it would be difficult for him to move around inside.

'I will do what I can,' the templar said as he began to approach the first large building. There appeared to be a number of floors to it, which would mean that they'd have to take care with searching so as not to miss anything.

The mention of the probe's output did catch his attention, and as he approached the doors leading into the first building, he murmured, 'I have taken note of such a thing as well. With luck, it is due to the small size of the crystal.'

[ghostofaqueen]

This many locations and they would have to move quickly or risk the spread of the madness wavelength in the area. It was probably an object rather than a person, but that just made things more difficult. This place was a tourist location and would be filled with various objects. They would have to check everywhere in every building until it was found.

She walked towards the largest and central-most building, looking up at it. Did people actually live in such things? Not even the fringe planets looked to be made completely of stone like this one, but she had never figured out anyone on the starting planet had done things. "These corridors will be cluttered and hiding whatever we're looking for."

She sighed heavily as she stepped to the doorway leading into the main building. "I wonder if we can move between buildings and see if the madness is stronger from one than another? It might be easier then searching each one? If nothing turns up that way, we will have to search."

[aiursfavoredson]

Nodding his head, the templar shifted into more of a crouch as he attempted to move through the doors and into the room within. While it was a squeezy effort through the double doors, he did find that the ceilings were high enough that he didn't have to be at a full crouch - only half-hunched over, a sight that was reminiscent to how Zeratul often stood.

'I should also be able to tell if the scent moves off in another direction,' Tassadar offered as she spoke of the hallways being cluttered. Humans truly did fill their covered spaces up with what appeared to be useless items for the most part.

Shaking his head, he focused his attention back on the task at hand. 'It is a start,' he thoughtfully murmured before suggesting. 'Perhaps it is wise to split up and take what buildings we can to cover more ground. While our communication devices will not connect to Shibusen, we will still be able to use them to keep in contact with each other.'

[ghostofaqueen]

The vision of Tassadar literally squeezing into a Terran building was an amusing one, and she waited outside while he moved himself in. She subtly took a few pictures with her camera to enjoy later, particularly from the doorway when he had made his way inside. How he was going to get out without breaking something was beyond her.

Well, as long as he had scent enough to follow things, she supposed that it would be fine to split up. Of course, the probe would remain with him, and its barrier would no longer protect her as she moved off. She had dealt with considerable madness when reconning on that desert mission.

"Very well. You explore this one, and I'll move to the rear of the property. We'll meet up again on the west side of it in that long building," she murmured before stepping off of the stair and heading off to the south end of the property from where they had entered. When she was a few feet away from Tassadar, the full force of the madness in the area assaulted her senses.

[aiursfavoredson]

He didn't notice Kerrigan taking any photos of him as he moved in to investigate. It took all of his concentration not to knock anything over even if the ceilings were thankfully higher than usual. Awkwardly turning to regard his companion as she spoke, he nodded his head in understanding. That was something he could do, and so he continued on without too much concern. While the probe was pottering along behind him emanating that field, he believed that Kerrigan would stand well against the Madness. That didn't mean that he wouldn't keep his mind with hers for as long as he could though, just to make certain that she wasn't succumbing to the effects.

Tassadar continued to make his way through the corridor of the central building. The old architecture and armour had drawn his attention momentarily. He had never seen such things when it came to the Terran, and it left him curious to know more about it. Now was hardly the time for such things though, and he forced his attention back to the task at hand.

Whoever had planted the device had come through this area. He could smell traces of them on the floors and a number of the items, but as he approached the stair area, he couldn't sense the scent moving up. That didn't stop him from stepping one foot on the steps to peer up and double check. Allowing the soft wind to blow over his face, he couldn't catch anything unusual on the breeze. That was when he stepped back and continued on with his search.

[ghostofaqueen]

The Madness wavelength set her nerves on edge almost immediately and without realizing it, a hand dropped down to the knife hidden in a pocket. She clenched the hilt and forced her feet to move forward. Thankfully there weren't a lot of people in the area for her to have the urge to draw the weapon on, but it wasn't easy to keep focused either. All she wanted to do was leave the area.

However, she pressed on, forcing her gaze to move around the nice gardens that were on either side of the path that she was moving on. As she approached the red building at the south end of the property, she stepped inside and looked around. Most of this stuff she didn't care to identify and didn't care to look over for any more time than it took to realize that the object she sought wasn't there.

She moved through the rooms with a wandering meticulousness, though she had to pause several times to breathe deeply in corners of the room. She just wanted to hurt someone, to let this anger and need for chaos take over. She fought with it and once she established a minor win over herself, she moved on to continue her search in every room on every level of the building.

[aiursfavoredson]

Tassadar continued to follow the scent he'd picked up. The probe behind him seemed to do its job at dampening the effects of the Madness Wavelength, and for that he was thankful. In the back of his mind, he kept a close watch on Kerrigan until the Ghost had moved out of range. While he had felt the Madness edging its way in, he could also feel her complete reluctance in allowing it to entirely grasp her. It was an encouraging thought, and he put his unease to the furthest corner of his mind.

He slowly made his way through the large building, stopping every once in a while to make certain that he was still following the scent, before continuing on. It took him right through to the other side of the building, and after crouching down and half-crawling through the doorway, Tassadar found himself outside yet again.

His form stretched back to its full height in that moment. Enjoying the feel of it, Tassadar's gaze roamed around until he'd managed to pick up the trace yet again. It was all over the place, and distinguishing the difference between the correct path and those he did not need was made difficult by the mixture of scents along with the breeze. Moving around the large area, he continued to do so until he'd found the one he needed. It appeared to be coming from the long building Kerrigan had mentioned previously.

Ignoring the slight humming sound of the probe loitering around behind him, Tassadar quickly sent Kerrigan a message to his findings. The building was large, too large for him to quickly scout on his own, and he knew that he'd need the Ghost's aid in searching the area. With that message sent, he began to make his way towards the large doors.

[ghostofaqueen]

Sarah was moving as quickly as she was able through the building that she had chosen. She had to keep focused on the task at hand or she risked getting drawn away by the nausea that was threatening to overwhelm her. It was probably a good thing that she had refused to eat something, or she had no doubt it would be on the floor by now.

She paused in her searching to Tassadar's sudden intrusion into her mind, and she hissed a cursing snarl back at him. It took her a moment to wrangle her emotions into some sort of order enough to figure out the message. Even then, it seemed jumbled in her mind, twisting like shards of glass in her conscious.

Still made her way out of the building that she had been checking and began to make her way towards the western aspect of the property, towards that long house. As she approached, her temples slowly began to well up with the pressure of a headache, and she had the urge to scream for awhile. She beat it back and continued until she had caught sight of the tall Protoss.

Approaching was a deadly haste, the knife she kept in her pocket almost emerged before she entered the probe's field of protection. Letting out a gasp of relief, she paused in drawing the weapon and simply bent over, trying to catch her breath and shook her head against the fading emotions that had come with the madness.

[aiursfavoredson]

The snarl through their link was more than enough to indicate that she was beginning to lose herself to the Madness. That was something that he couldn't allow to happen, and he had almost considered heading off to locate her before Kerrigan came into sight. While he didn't show it, he readied himself on the odd chance that she attacked, but otherwise remained stationary before the large doors leading into the other building.

The probe innocently moved around and into Kerrigan's sight as she drew in closer. The bubble of protect it gave lessening the effects of the Madness the moment the Ghost had stepped beyond the shimmering blue dome. He hadn't missed the sight of the knife in her hands, but made no move to take it when Kerrigan bent over to reorientate herself now that the Madness was kept at bay.

'We would do well to remain together,' Tassadar murmured while he waited for her to regain control of herself. When it appeared that she had, he turned his attention back to the door and began pushing the heavy doors open to allow them entry. 'It appears as though they stored the device somewhere within this building.'

[ghostofaqueen]

Clenching her eyes shut for a moment, she forced the twisting emotions out of her head and forced a calm through her body. The knife was safely tucked away, and those horrible sensations were ebbing away with the probes constant presence. She was suddenly envious of those individuals who were resistant to the madness wavelength.

Shaking her head, she forced herself to stand upright again, eyeing Tassadar for signs of judgement. His blank face didn't give her much to go on, but she completely expected him to hold this against her. Gruff and angry with herself, she huffed loudly. "Convenient," she replied and moved to follow him.