InsaneJournal

A trip to pick up new strings for her violin didn’t necessarily warrant anyone else coming with her, but Vanya was happy to venture out with Isabela. She still had no idea how she had managed to get along so well with both Diego and Allison’s partners, but here they were. She had somehow managed it, and Vanya genuinely enjoyed Isabela’s company. There were other places to buy new violin strings that were more conveniently located in the city, but they were nowhere near as good.

She’d ordered the strings in advance, the owner of the store was familiar with her at this point from when she had first come here and asked a million questions. They were in and out of the shop without issue, Vanya’s new strings tucked safely away into her backpack. Now they just had a bit of a walk to get back to the Waypoint that would take them back to the city and Morningside.

“Thanks for coming with me.” again, it hadn’t been necessary, but it was a chance to get out of the city for a bit. As annoying as the changing forest could be at times, it was also beautiful. Usually. Vanya enjoyed the sounds she could hear here as a change from the sounds of the city. It was a hell of a lot more calming when she let herself really listen. “Sorry it’s nothing overly exciting.”

There were times that Isabela actually missed the forest and living there - pine needle carpets on the ground and the way the green of the trees seemed to just breathe; all those earthy brown shades and roots so deep in the earth were nice too, reminding her of some of the more pleasant parts of Thedas even if she would always prefer the freedom of the seas, and sailing upon the glory of her very first love.

But Morningside was alright too - she’d become accustomed to the modern conveniences and said she would never ask Diego to give them up by moving elsewhere (out of the city) but, truth be told, Bela didn’t really want to give up wifi and Pop Tarts either. So. They were perfectly fine where they were.

Running an errand with Vanya was also perfectly acceptable - it let her get out and about, inhale some fresh air, and spend time with someone she considered a friend. She didn’t have a ton of those - and she certainly wasn’t as welcomed by many of Diego’s other siblings either, which was alright. “Oh, it’s plenty exciting!” she assured, a bit of a bounce in her step. She actually wore trousers today - leather ones, with a flowy shirt that kept her cool, sturdy boots, and her daggers tucked away as a just in case. When wasn’t she armed? Probably only in the shower, but that was beside the point - she still always had something to use to kill someone remaining in her sights regardless.

“I always like hearing you play too. Have you got any more concerts coming up or anything?”

She didn’t really understand Isabela, how any of this was exciting was beyond her. But Vanya didn’t really have to understand her. She seemed to accept Vanya for who she was, and Vanya could do the same. She was easy to be around, even though she was far more outgoing than Vanya would ever be. “It doesn’t seem that exciting, but it’s nice to just get out for a while.” She always felt at ease when there were fewer people around her, even though she actively wanted to live in a city.

“I usually have a concert every month.” she just didn’t always post about them. “Or around that. Sometimes more. I don’t always post about them though.” She hardly posted as it was, if she posted about concerts she’d never say anything else. Though maybe that wasn’t the worst thing.

They turned out of sight of the shop when Vanya stopped in her tracks, and tilted her head slightly. Something felt off. Or sounded off. “Hold on.” She said before closing her eyes and listening, very carefully. It took her a second to figure out what it was she was hearing. “I think I hear cicadas.” She’d know that sound anywhere after living on a farm in Texas for a period of time. But something was off. She could hear them moving, and with her hearing, that wasn’t impossible. But it also shouldn’t be as loud as it was. “Something sounds weird though.”

Isabela paused when Vanya did, head cocked to the side. “Cicadas?” she repeated, because she wasn’t familiar with that sort of thing. “Is that some kind of bug or something?” Insects, worms, sure - she supposed Thedas had similar types. And most went to feed the hungry bellies of other animals like nugs, who dug around in the ground with their pointed snouts.

Point was, she didn’t happen to be a bug expert. But she still reached for one of her daggers anyway, the Heartbreaker - which had been freshly sharpened. And was now nice and deadly.

She might need it (and her question was answered) because all of a sudden there was a swarm of them - letting out these Maker-forsaken noises that sounded like screaming. And not only were there smaller ones, but the ground practically shook beneath their feet when giant ugly things swooped in - six legs, a bulky body, bulging red eyes. Oh, disgusting.

Vanya was going to explain about cicadas. The sound they made mostly, when the swarm of them emerged from the trees. Not just the small ones that Vanya was expecting, but the giant ones that explained why what she was hearing had felt so off.

“Shit.” she said with a sigh, sounding more annoyed than anything else. Vanya didn’t have a weapon to pull, she had her powers. Thanks to training with Erik, she was much better at responding with them. Vanya threw up a shield around both of them, her skin and eyes going white as a blue-white light enclosed around them, keeping the bugs back for now.

Her eyes settled on the big one. “Yeah, so that’s what sounded off. That’s definitely not normal.” At least she didn’t think so. Cicadas were perfectly normal, even if they were a pain in the ass sometimes. She enjoyed the sound of them in the fields in Texas. At a distance. This swarm was about to wipe away any good memories she had of that. “No one mentioned giant bugs today on the network, did they?”

“Maker’s nutsack, I don’t think so,” Bela responded, unsheathing yet another dagger as soon as the shield went up (oooh - handy, that). It seemed like she’d need two - which was fine, because dueling with a weapon in both hands was a specialty of hers. “Then again, I don’t check the forums very regularly.” Sometimes she did, if she ever wanted a good read or to catch up on gossip - but those who wanted to get in touch with her, they knew how to do so. The few people that did want to get in touch with her.

She was usually out on her ship anyway, soaking up the sun from the deck and breathing in air kissed by salt - hard to reach her. But, well, now here she was in the forest and they were being attacked by bugs - wasn’t that fun?

“There’s so many of them - can you burn up the small ones?” she asked, assessing the best points to do a counter-attack. “I can stab the big ones and end up with bug guts all on me. I’ve been covered in worse.” She was ever-so-generous like that, you see. Saving Vanya from the splatters.

There were some psychics among them, but she also wasn’t sure how reliable their powers were with Vallo magic holding the trump card. Either way, they were in some shit now. It was the last thing Vanya had planned to do with her day, but there was no avoiding this. “Neither do I.” and when she did check, a lot of the time it was just a quick scan. She could easily miss something important if it wasn’t very obvious.

“That’s disgusting.” she replied, tone dry and trying to not picture what Isabel was talking about. “I don’t know if I can single out just the small ones.” Or even everything around them. Would she be able to keep from burning up the forest as well. “How determined are you to end up with bug guts?” Some people were just more stabby, and would take any fight presented to them. She might end up taking them all out, and hopefully every other creature in the forest had run for it.

Oy, this was going to be a literal and actual mess. “I don’t know if determined’s the right word, but let’s see what happens,” Bela replied cheerfully. Honestly, she really had faced more disgusting things - like the fact that the former Knight-Commander in Kirkwall, Meredith, was so corrupted by red lyrium that her dried out and desiccating corpse remained where she was killed simply because no one wanted to go near the literal crimson skeleton.

And then let’s not talk about the demons shitting from the sky. Honestly, she was surprised Vallo hadn’t taken a page out of Corypenis’s book yet - but she wouldn’t give the place ideas.

So with that, she sprang forward - flickered out of view, too quick to catch. And then she slashed with her blades, reappearing from a lower vantage point to where she could take out the legs of the giant bugs in one fell swoop. If they were wiggling on the ground (and causing a ruckus), that would make them easier to kill. However, there were definitely stains on her clothing now - probably nothing that would come out of these leather pants, alas. “Do they always scream like this??”

Vanya barely had time to react, dropping her shield when Isabel sprung. Vanya had no idea what would happen if someone without her powers tried to go through it, and she had no desire to find out now.

But that also meant that the shield was down, so her time to think about what to do was over. So as quickly as she could, she focused in on the sounds of the cicadas, using the sound as a target, while trying to ignore the feeling of sound of the smaller ones landing on sections of her clothes.

It was only a few seconds, but it definitely felt longer when the small bugs started to disintegrate to dust around them, starting with the ones closest to Vanya and then expanding outward until she couldn’t hear their ‘singing’ anymore.

“They usually make noise, yeah.” She confirmed, while still listening for more in the area. “Sometimes they’re nice to listen to, but I’ve never seen them do that. Which isn’t surprising, I guess. It’s Vallo, so of course there’s giant versions.”

The cicadas sounded like they were a bulldozer powered by diesel, turned up to high volume - it was a constant throb of sound, though at least when Vanya disintegrated some of them the constant screeching seemed to lessen a bit. And Isabela was relieved about that.

“I’ve never seen a murderous turkey either, but Vallo seemed eager to introduce that,” Bela sighed - she was moving quickly though, dodging the flailing legs of the humongous bug (well, what remained of its legs), wincing as it too screamed at the top of its...lungs? Did it even have lungs?

Oh, well. Didn’t matter. It was very large but she was quicker, and didn’t get too scuffed up as she went for a slice at where she thought its throat was. Maybe a few bumps and bruises but the worst part was the spray. Its wings were full of blood and its body was - well, what happened was exactly what would happen when you punctured a living thing in a vulnerable area. A shower of gore.

“Bloody hell,” she spat, stabbing it again just for good measure.

If Vanya wasn’t incredibly used to gore, either from more recent adventures, or from watching her siblings do the superhero gig from a distance at times, she might have lost the contents of her stomach from the gore that ended up on Isabela from the monster sized cicada. She’d never considered what happened when you squish a big that was so much larger than what it was supposed to be.

“Oh god.” Vanya said, automatically taking a step back without thinking about it. No offense meant, Isabela, but yikes. But she couldn’t let herself get too distracted by that, because she also needed to listen for bugs getting closer that would need to be taken care of. “We should get the hell out of here while we still can.” There was no way that was the end of them. Vallo didn’t do anything half-assed. There would be more. People needed to be warned, if they hadn’t already figured it out themselves.

Vanya turned as she heard more coming, turning on the spot and throwing her hands up just as they crashed through the tree. They also disintegrated mid air, ashes slowly falling to the ground. “These things are always in swarms. I don’t want to know what the hell Vallo will do to make that worse.”

Getting out of here seemed like a stellar plan, yes. Now that they had an opening (and Isabela would have to tell Gideon how sexy her partner was, out here burning up cicadas - one thing Bela did well was weave a tale, after all). “Yes, let’s go,” she agreed hastily, sheathing her daggers - after halfway using a leaf to wipe the slickness off of them. They’d need a good bath later and so would she.

It wasn’t too long to the nearest waypoint - but she quickened her pace, making sure Vanya was with her. “That was...sort of fun though? Good bonding exercise. Though I think I’d rather make Thanksgiving side dishes again.” Or cook anything else, rather than stab large insects.

Vanya was nowhere near as fast, or as graceful as Isabela was, but she did her best to keep up at as fast a run as she could manage through the forest, while also trying to listen for any bugs that were going to pick up where the other swarms had failed.

“This is why you’re a good match for Diego. Why would anyone think this is fun?” They all need their heads examined, there was no doubt about that. But she was glad there were people like them who would never think twice about jumping into a fight when they really needed it. Those were the real heroes.

“If you want to bond more we can just pretend there’s another holiday and attempt to make food with alcohol again.” though their last attempt had gone well. The Waypoint was getting closer, and thank god for that because her cardio was not at all where it should be.

Isabela’s shark-toothed grin was damn near blinding - it was true, her and Diego were a good match. Danger and peril were quite fun (as were stabby objects) but food was too. So it didn’t take her a long time to warm to Vanya’s suggestion. “Ooh, I like that idea,” she said. “Let’s make a lot of delicious things - and drink.”

Couldn’t forget that. “Maybe it’s National Potato Day or National Ice Cream Day - “ Yes, this was sounding good already. They reached the waypoint and Bela was still musing, thinking up all sorts of delectable recipes and excuses to try them out - she wasn’t amazing in the kitchen but she had learned quite a bit and with some teamwork, could pull off just about anything culinary.

But a hot shower first. Definitely that.

While she was glad that Isabela liked her suggestion, Vanya’s mind was nowhere near food at the moment. It wouldn’t be anywhere near food for as long as there were bug guts visible and in the front of her mind. Her only thoughts were to get the hell out of the forest, make sure people were aware there were giant bugs, and then possibly take a shower hot enough to peel off the top layer of her skin.

When the Waypoint was in reach, Vanya found a little burst of energy to practically throw herself at the thing- because those bugs were close behind them- as the two of them were swept off back to the city.

God damn bugs.