grow blow defeat repeat - joining

CLONY
[ age mover of the oblivions ]

The whirring of machines was never ending and the rumbling of the ground made the air vibrate. Near impossible flying conditions. Clony would manage. It hadn’t meant to stay in the land of Infinity for this long. It thought that it could see the trees of a different land just up ahead. What land? Clony didn’t know, but could only hope that it would provide refuge, if just for a few days. Stupidly it had tried to take a shortcut. It had seemed like a clear pathway right towards freedom. The path was lined with metal, Clony observing while it hovered. If it took this path, it could reach that odd looking forest before nightfall. Clony hated traversing the Badland at night. It became harder to see what was coming and traps became near impossible to avoid.

In the dusky light of an afternoon filled with smoke, Clony let itself drop down to near ground level. Large feathered wings stretched from a round, fluffy body. Silver eyes were focused straight ahead, lazily moving along. The past area had been filled with radiation and its fur burned from brief contact. It would survive. It was only in its nature to continue to spite all the traps and difficulties created specifically to strike it down. As Clony flew through the narrow corridor, though, it heard a sharp noise sound behind it. Turning briefly, Clony realized the source of the noise. The path that it had elected to take? Clony swiftly realized that it was a trap. It was filled with Replicants. Duplicates of itself that were not Clones - for Clony could not speak to them - and were certainly evil and it knew they were evil for the color red flickered where silver normally should be. Only having one eye, too, was equally as obvious of their evil intent. These were Replicants that Clony had only seen a few times before, ones that spar out black smoke and was covered in spinning saws. It didn’t truly know how to outpace them. With less than pleasant flight conditions and the whirring of a saw blade at its rear, it became clear incredibly quickly that it did not have the time to figure out any way better than to fly straight and fly fast.

Silver eyes squinted against the haze of the mechanized land of Infinity’s air. Wings flapped furiously, propelling the dark fuzz ball forward. It could hear more Replicants sprinting to life. The ceiling and floor were laced with them, ready to sputter into the air when triggered by movement. Clever. Clony could be clever too. It could see some fuzz up ahead - a batch of its prior selves clustered together. It raised up into the air and flung itself into the batches, springing to life many clones of itself. “FLY!” Clony screeched to the clones to wrangle them to the severity of the situation. This was life or dead and Clony certainly wasn’t about to pass up the slightest amount of aid. With a sudden burst of creatures, the Replicants had many targets. Some were flung backwards and the gut wrenching noise of fur and bone against saw blades sounded. It made Clony wince, but it was better than itself getting sawed up again. The Clones slowly diminished in numbers as the flight continued. The Replicants heavily outnumbered the Clones and Clony, sawing each and every one of them down.

The narrow metal pathway began to narrow severely. It was pin sized, and the Replicants wouldn’t fit - neither would Clony. It would smash into the walls and be slain when it bounced back into a massive wall of whirring and flying blades. Clony barely had enough time to forcefully shrink itself through the hole. The Replicants slammed into the wall, shredding the last of the Clones. It left Clony as the only survivor. Typically that was how it went, but it didn’t ease up the basic gut wrenching feelings by any means. The mechanic noises died down, and Clony had to screech to a halt after all of its brisk flight. Many silver and white eyes peered out of holes, frightful of the small creature that had just barged in. Clony continued slowly glittering forward. Exhaustion was creeping in. It passed through another narrow opening, then allowing itself to return to normal size. It could see a nest, and a glowing white rabbit perched above. The rabbit didn’t say much to anyone; it certainly didn’t have anything to say to Clony. The creature fluttered on into its glowing red nest, huddling away like the rest. A little rest was all it needed.

Pop.

Clony was used to being in weird bodies before. It was used to being turned into a wheel and a box, usually. Both had their uses, but Clony certainly preferred being a box over being a wheel. Boxes were immune to saws, which Clony found nice considering the absurd amount of saws it had just finished flying away from. Groggily it slowly began to shuffle up into a sit, wings flapping madly to aid such an action. Their head felt heavy, and Clony became increasingly aware of how segmented their body felt. “Where... where is-” It began to question, head swiveling rapidly around. This wasn’t even close to where they had been previously. This was no giant tree, no forested area. Those were mountains. This was a mountain range. Wobbling, Clony rose up into a stand for a brief moment before promptly collapsing. What had happened? What absolute oddity of a form was it in now?

Shaking its head, Clony decided that it would be far better to be airborne than stuck on the ground. They struggled with moving fluffy wings, now covered in far more feathers than what was normal. Floppy ears were raised and perked. The bat like creature struggled, trying to get up into the air and simply could not manage. It knew not of how to fly with suck a wonky, heavier, segmented, and bonier body. Clony previously had been sitting but it’s sharp thrashes causes for it to collapse back onto its belly. “Is anyone there? Hello?” Their voice was not carried by noise, but instead a deliberate intrusion into the mind. Clony spoke after hearing movement, their white eyes flickering rapidly about to try and find the source of the noise. Surely no Replicants would be this determined, to saw the black fuzzball before it had even managed to move. Although Clony supposed that machines really couldn’t have a sense of determination. Its chest heaved rapidly while it grew accustomed to having lungs, and feathered wings moved to help lift the bat’s face from the ground.

//last two paragraphs are the actual joining - random large bat just appears and instead of verbally speaking, is talking mentally, and can’t seem to get up.

TAGS 3/17/20:

CLONY
[ age mover of the oblivions ]

Clony wasn't quite skilled in all the forms of communication. At most it'd talk to a rabbit here, a bird there, trying to get directions and figure out which way would be the safest to maneuver through the metallic environment that it sought to defeat. How? That was truly beyond its thoughts. It just hoped that what it had done was helping the wildlife. Clony was quick to realize that the environment that it was in currently was a far cry from the mechanized lands that it was used to. Its head continued sharply turning. White eyes took in the grass, the trees. Untouched by coal colored metal, of explosives, of many traps designed to catch and kill. It struggled to keep its head up, not sure how to properly position itself. Clony felt as it had when it had first woken up after tumbling out of a trash shute. Confused, disoriented, and without any form of control over its body in a way that mattered.

Clony hadn't ever seen a feline of any sort before. White eyes blinked, seeming a little surprised. It was used to all creatures having pelts that were just as dark as the machines and holes that they hid within, and the lack of gleaming white eyes was quite startling. Its ears wriggled a little, taking in the noise. Words. Thankfully Clony could understand, even if it was a question that it had never been asked before. A territory? Clony couldn't think of any territories that it had been to before. Simply different climates... although it supposed that 'Infinity' could perhaps be considered a territory. It was not a drastically important thought.

"Um. I... don't know where I am," The bat chattered, again flinging its voice in a mental manner. It didn't know how to work the weird gaping hole present in its face, nor did it want to try and fumble with the process of pushing noise through such as it had just witnessed Rin do. A bushy tail, another mutation of the weird bat creature, began twitching while Clony began trying to shuffle more into a stand. "My name's clone. Er. Clony. Just call me Clony." It backtracked briefly, eyes slowly blinking again in a manner that could be deemed methodical. Clony hadn't ever heard of an environment called an 'elysium' before, and it brought confusion onto its face. Not that a face covered in black fuzz, pure white eyes, and a silver disk could truly be expressive. Large ears helped, but a face lacking any expressive alterations added on to its unnerving nature. "What's an Elysium?"

TAGS 3/17/20:

CLONY
[ age mover of the oblivions ]

Large ears swiveled to account for a second person's arrival. They continued twitching, Clony unfamiliar with how to correctly move any of the new limbs that it possessed. Even the wings that it had, while similar, were still different. Heavier. Clony couldn't figure out why. It would devote time to sorting out such an issue later. Their white eyes focused, taking in the other's appearance. Also not coal colored, also lacking pure white eyes and a silver face. It figured that was the theme in these parts. It was something it could get used to, for sure, but it would take time. Their fluffy tail fell still, Clony briefly attempting to somewhat cease its sporadic movements. "It's nice to meet you too," it replied, head lifting up a little more. Clony struggled, but finally managed a near fully fledged sitting position that certainly looked odd for a bat to maintain. Clony was used to being able to flop down on any platform and feel marginally comfortable. It did not know how to feel about this awkward and heavier body.

The first to arrive then gave their name, and Clony nodded their head in affirmation. Rin, and Dale Cooper. Two names. Simple, easy to remember. Then came the term 'magna', which resulted in a confused expression coming to the bat's face. If one ear raising and the other lowering could be considered confused. Its face didn't seem able to alter to compensate for any emotion, locked with a white eyed one hundred yard stare due to pupils and sclera mixing together in pearly white hues. "Um," it stammers briefly, ears then lowering. Clony hadn't ever stayed in one singular place for a while. It supposed that the lack of mechanical interference here was welcoming enough to warrant it lingering. "That'd be nice." A nod followed Clony's statement, wings flapping rapidly in a way that caused the bat to somewhat tumble. "Is there a nest you all stay at or something? I'm still getting used to being this heavy and all," it chattered in addition, rising back up wing a few flaps of its wings to actually become airborne and somewhat hover.

TAGS 3/17/20: