THE SWARM: STAY
PRELUDE.
Five days have passed since you, The First, woke on the strange and barren planet of Kharas. Four days since the pods housing you exploded when tampered with, and Three since the strange Trilobite-like sand crabs began hesitantly crawling their way into and around the boneyard. At first there was only a few brave specimens to be found, keeping mostly to the shadows and scuttling this way and that. Now, however, at least a hundred of them can be found in and around the boneyard in various placed, commonly grouped together in batches of two or three, sometimes even four.
Notably they do not interact much with one another despite their groups and are much more interested in scouting out their surroundings for fibrous materials. On the odd chance that they manage to obtain any scraps they will begin to wander back towards the tracks your
counterparts began following earlier. Odd, isn't it?
As the softer morning sun overhead slowly begins to heat up with the encroaching afternoon more of the Trilobites begin to fill the area. Only unlike their predecessors these ones do not wander around aimlessly, and instead beeline their way to any Coral stalks that remain in the area. They bury into the sand beneath them to avoid their harsh shells and attack the roots until they topple and collapse under their own weight. Once this happens they practically swarm, working to segment it into pieces with their mandibles. When the Coral's shell cracks the Trilobites pry all vegetable matter from within and begin dragging it into the desert.
And that's not all: these new Trilobites seem
much braver and more interested in you than their predecessors. They will openly wander up to characters and gnaw uselessly at their ankles or feet, chittering and chattering. If enough of them happen to get together around an individual they will form a tiny ankle-gnawing mob intent on clambering all over you.
As the daily eclipse nears their numbers will begin to grow even further. Odd tremors can be felt beneath the ground, even in spite of all the sand, but characters won't get much of a chance to look into the matter before their wrist communicators begin to emit that same strange static from the mist.
...Only there's none to be seen in
any direction whatsoever.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Maybe I want to help anyone else who couldn’t get up there! [He shouts back while throwing off a trilobite that’s grabbed at his arm.] Y’think about that at all before you ran up there?
Besides! You ain’t helping much by just knockin’ ’em around! There’s thousands of these assholes! In case you haven’t noticed! It’s a numbers game! They aren’t stopping unless we stop ’em!
no subject
And for the record, the super-buff nerd flew me up here!
no subject
No shit! I wasn’t being figurative! [Geezus.] And have some goddamn manners! The guy saved your ass by plopping you up there, and you call him a nerd!
[Whack, whack. Stomp. Crunch.]
That ain’t cool, kid!
no subject
Also technically he didn't mean it to be a bad thing... Clark a hot nerd. Seriously, has Bucky seen that chin? ]
no subject
They’re not eating us, they’re trying to eat the suit! [Idiot.] And that’s hardly any reason to not have some goddamn respect!
[Okay, for the record, his ma wouldn’t have approved of the cursing but. EH.]
no subject
no subject
[Not that he fears death in the same way anyway. But that’s. A discussion for another time.]
no subject
Why does everyone always wanna stay behind in these situations???
no subject
Can’t be everyone if you’re up there complainin' about it!
no subject