## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper *We have to find her*, Alula had said, and it takes every ounce of his self-control to not snark back at her with a *where do you fuckin’ suppose we start looking?* He sighs instead, then soon after, the radio speaks again. It seems different this time, not like the other vague stories. Jakey stares at the radio. There are other survivors? Or is it another delusion? His breath catches. Is… is she still alive, maybe? They didn’t bury her body, after all. They’d only assumed the worse. Maybe he can make things right this time around. Well, the storm’s let up now. For the most part, anyway. Maybe he can at least figure out where they are. **Action**: Try and figure out where they are in relation to the Great Gaiusclaw Montainship (WIS: 9) ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: alula / m: cher, emmanuel Jakey grumbles a little to himself, rather annoyed that his skills in navigation have worsened over time. It seems that a magical approach is a better way to make progress after all. While Cher and Emm focus on locating the survivors, it’s now up to him and Alula to locate the dying god. He carefully lays himself down next to the little ashen prophet, still praying and reaching for Ys. **“Let me help,”** he says, softly. If he can’t navigate the mountains accurately anymore, perhaps he can navigate the roads between life and death. Jakey has been doing that for a while, now, anyways. He can’t remember when his heart last beat, and yet, he’s still here. Mostly. He lays his head down next to Alula and Aquila, then closes his eyes. Not following or leading, but beside her. **Action**: Help Alula navigate the Death Roads (DEX: 18) ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: cher, alula, lucky? Jakey gasps back awake, locking eyes with Cher as he does. **“Ys is there. On the Death Roads. But there’s…”** *There’s someone else*, he wants to say, but it doesn’t come out. A bipedal creature, one that somewhat resembles that skeleton he’d come across, then heard his last mundane words. The familiar sounds of dogs running about, too—why were they there, between life and death? Shouldn’t they be long dead? He blinks, tears his panicked eyes away from Cher and towards Alula. **“I… Sorry. I have to go back and see. I need to—I need to help them, Alula, but you don’t need to come with me.”** Jakey huffs and closes his eyes once more, this time specifically reaching for that two-legged animal. He’s still not even sure if it was a human. Still, Jakey calls out to it, desperate. Which way was it going, anyways? ***“Lucky!”*** **Action**: Reach out to the bipedal creature on the Death Roads (DEX: 25) ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: alula, cher Jakey wakes again, his nose twitching at the unfamiliar sensation of a smooth, human hand. He blinks and shakes his head. *Did I save them?* He brought Lucky’s dog friends back to him. The strange human is no longer wandering alone. …But they’re all still on the Death Roads. He sighs. Maybe this is a useless endeavor. He looks back to the radio, which some of the other heirs seem to have been talking through. It seems like the most logical next step, finding the survivors. He smiles softly at seeing Horizon and Diane work together. Jakey sits up a little, careful not to squash Alula next to him. His voice is quiet. **“Lucky and the dogs are together again. Not alone anymore. How’s…”** he trails off, his ears flattening as he wonders how to nicely phrase it. **“Did you… help Ys get rest?”** Jakey asks. He glances at Cher, unsure, as he remembers Pontia. *Help me out here*, his pleading eyes seem to say. **Action:** n/a, yapping (dangerous style) ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: alula, cher Jakey’s eyes flick between Alula and Cher, then he clears his throat. **“Um. Yeah. What Cher said.”** He tries to smile politely. It is not very convincing. ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: dog bones Jakey insists on pulling the sled of supplies along. He needs to. The physical exertion feels nice and comforting, somehow. He’s being useful. He’s helping. He’s long realized that he doesn’t need to eat anymore, but the others don’t seem to have had the same realization since they’ve awoken. He still chews on grass out of habit sometimes, but there’s no need anymore. He can’t die from something as asinine as that. He stops at the set of dog bones, staring and frowning. Did no one bother to bury them? It’s sad. He tries not to think of his family, still lost. Jakey kneels next to them, brows knit as he focuses. *Who were you?* **Action:** Use Requiem on the dog bones - Through prayer, Jakey can divine a dead or Afflicted character’s last conscious words. Takes up an action. ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: team basilisk generally **“They were one of Lucky’s friends. Called for him as they died,”** Jakey mumbles. As he gets back up on his feet, his joints pop and creak, but there’s no pain. He sighs and twitches his nose at the memory of leading Lucky’s pack back to him, offers a weak bittersweet smile to his companions. **“At least they’re not alone in death…”** He maneuvers the supply sled around the dog’s bones, careful not to disturb it. That dog is clearly dead, so why were they and Lucky still on the Death Roads? Isn’t that place only for the dying? It feels wrong. But again, he doesn’t really know much about old human technology. Maybe they’re permanently in limbo in those strange machines. At the crossroads, he doesn’t even entertain the idea of taking the path along the cliff. The supplies would be a bit too much to drag along there. He tilts his head toward the hiking trail and looks back to his traveling group. **“Come on, then.”** It seems safe enough, right? **Action:** Sense if there are any Afflicted animals nearby (DEX: 17) ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: alula Jakey blinks at Alula for a moment, caught off guard by her question. He shakes his head, gathers himself quickly to answer her. **“Lucky is… *was* the human who lived in the building we were staying at. He had a pack of dogs for company. I, um, found his skeleton.”** He frowns a little bit as he rambles on. **“I don’t know why he was on the Death Roads. He’s supposed to be long dead. And the dogs, too. I don’t get it.”** Jakey’s nose twitches again. **“His hand felt really weird on my face...”** Jakey lets himself trail off, remembering Alula snapping at him earlier for asking about Ys. From what he could gather, Ys wasn’t doing well. Why couldn’t Alula break Ys’s chains or dig her out? Was the little prophet’s faith not strong enough? He knows it’s best he doesn’t ask any of that out loud, he’s learned that much. But he still needs to work on his polite smile. His expression is one of obvious pity towards Alula. ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: alula Startled at Alula’s outburst, Jakey stumbles backwards and bumps his butt into the sled. He clears his throat. **“No, I, um, *Lucky* reached out to *me*. I didn’t… initiate it?”** Why *was* it different for him? He frowns. Well, maybe because he wasn’t really trying to pull Lucky out of the Death Roads, he just wanted to reunite him with his pack so he wasn’t alone. He can guess that Alula was trying to drag Ys out of her grave, if she’s still insisting on freeing the goddess. She’s even asking *him* for help, now, after his off-hand comment about Lucky petting his nose. Jakey stares at the puffed-up Alula, unsure how to politely decline her request. He eventually just sighs. There’s no nice way to put it. **“…Alula.”** He starts, his eyes dark. **“You *know* my method of *freeing* a god is *letting them die*. Ys is already dying. We need to focus on the survivors. The living.”** Jakey motions towards the sled of food and supplies as emphasis. He taps his hoof on the dusty ground, huffing from the exertion. His gaze is rather pointed. **“*It all must End,* she said. Maybe Ys wanted to be buried, but *you* wanted to dig.”** He winces slightly at his own words, coming out sharper than he’d intended. Jakey sighs again, tries to be a bit gentler. **“Just… think about it for a bit, okay? I’ll help you, but not right now.”** ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: alula, cher, team basilisk Well, that was to be expected, really. So much for being honest, but at least he knows when to shut up now. At her last spitting comment, he just shrugs.*Yes, exactly, Alula, you’re so close to getting it, you’re the one who needs to let Her die, not me.* Jakey sighs and watches her skitter away, slowing his pace to let the little cat gain some distance, but not enough to let her out of sight. He turns to Cher and the others, suddenly self-conscious about their loud argument. **“Was I too harsh?”** Jakey asks, his voice low. His ears are drooping, slightly sad. ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 60/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: the abandoned village? Jakey nods, then snorts softly at Cher’s response. *Everything but listening, eh?* He supposes he was just as stubborn when he was younger. If only he stopped and listened for once back then, instead of running away. He stifles a sigh as he checks the surroundings, letting the silence linger. The road is safe. There’s no Afflicted around, which feels more odd than comforting. It’s *too* silent. Well, probably nothing to worry about. He stops at the sight of the abandoned settlement, frowning deeply. No, it couldn’t be, right? The upriver village nestled in the mountains, overtaken by the rage sickness, who’d turned away treatment from Zhenya and Sheppy? He’s never seen it, so he can’t be sure—he’d decided to never go back near the mountains after her death, so… Jakey looks back down the path he’d just walked along, peeking past the sled. *Hm. Doesn’t seem familiar.* But his mental map of the world hasn’t been the best lately, so he figures he shouldn’t rely on that, anyways. His brows furrow as he closes his eyes to instead look back in time. *Who lived here? Where did you go? Try to remember.* **Action**: Use Time magic to find out who was once here. He’s on the lookout for any familiar faces. (DEX: 13) ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 55/60 hp - inflicted with FEAR of Ys > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: Cher, Alula Jakey returns to the present with a choked gasp. He’s overcome with the urge to start running, to get the *fuck* out of there, but his legs don’t move. *No, stop and listen for once,* a small part of him says. It hurts, but he keeps himself steady on his feet. *Don’t look away.* **“…She really killed them all,”** Jakey finally manages to say, turning to Cher with a deeply troubled frown. **“All the humans, all at once. Why?”** He’s trembling and reluctant, but he manages to force his body and the sled through the hole in the fence that Alula’s shadow cut. The wire scrapes against his hide. *How spiteful, just like her god*, he thinks. Jakey turns to Alula. His voice is gentle, but he does not mince his words. **“Tread carefully. *Your god* made this mass grave.”** **Action:** Keep moving. ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 55/60 hp - inflicted with FEAR of Ys > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: gatekeepers Jakey flicks his ears at the new voices and the sounds of activity. One of them sounds familiar, though he can’t place it. **“Hi. We brought food and supplies after hearing you on the radio. Whole sled of stuff. Sorry if we took long.”** Jakey offers, his tone stilted and a bit awkward. His brows furrow. **“You sound familiar. I’m Jakey. Have we met?”** He shifts his weight back and forth on his hooves, watching the ground and waiting for a response, but not daring to peek back. It can’t be, right? ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 55/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: biel He just keeps staring at Biel, her scruffy curls and wagging tail, unable to even speak as she leads him into the town. The only sound he’s made the past few minutes is a little “oof” from the dog headbutting him right in his chest. Jakey’s steps are small, as if the entire earth beneath him was unstable. Maybe it is. He swallows hard, looks to his sister again as she prances ahead like nothing was wrong. It’s been, what, five years since the Afflicted got her? That’s a whole lifetime ago. *Wait, that doesn’t even matter. How is she still alive?* He wonders, troubled. Jakey pauses, taps his back hoof to count. *Nineteen years? No one’s ever lived that long.* **“How long have you been here? Do you remember everything?”** He finally asks Biel, his signing slow. **“Is anyone else here? ||Akari||? ||Angel||?”** Jakey kicks the ground a little bit, flicks his ears in a particular way. **“||Hans||?”** The names flow so naturally off of his body, yet feel so odd from not using them for months. Biel might be the only other being on the planet who knows those name signs. He feels a little bit ill as he glances back at Cher for a brief moment. Action: Question Biel ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 55/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: biel, m: alula, allain *It’s like death forgot about me. About all of us.* Jakey winces at her words, pressing his ears flat to his head. Processing. He turns away from his big sister, starts to rummage through his saddle bags. He should have… something for her. Anything. Tears threaten to drip from his eyes. When’s the last time he cried? It feels stupidly sudden. Why now? He keeps nosing through the junk in his bag until it stops. After a brief moment of hesitation, he grabs a black scrunchie with his teeth. It was one of Hans’s. Jakey offers it to Biel. **“Here, tie up your hair,”** he signs gently. **“Don’t… don’t lose it, okay?”** He flicks his ears at Allain’s words. The cat seems to be related to Alula. A father or brother, maybe, also afflicted, also with no idea how he ended up here. His jaw tightens. If the rest of his family and friends aren’t here, where are they? … Jakey holds back a snort at Alula’s diplomatically vague responses to Allain while her shadow twitches in agitation. He looks back to Biel instead, his signing blunt. **“Pontia and Gaius are real, by the way, but they’re dead now. I think you’re here because Ys is dying, too. We saw Her.”** He tilts his head towards Alula. Doesn’t matter if she knows sign or not, it’s pretty obvious that he’s talking about her. **“That one’s a prophet of Ys. Not taking all of this well.”** Action: Look back in time to see when and how Biel and Allain appeared here (DEX: 21) ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 55/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: biel Jakey blinks out of the vision, deeply unsettled. Were they called here, just as he was called to Greeneye City? He doesn’t articulate his thoughts well, his mind still racing as he looks back to Biel. **“Do you have powers?”** He asks, then winces, realizing how ridiculous a question that is. He pauses, rolls back his shoulders, then proudly signs: **“I have powers.”** Jakey moves his shadow across the ground, demonstrating with a small grin. Little brother behavior. Action: n/a, doing some shadow puppetry ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 55/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: biel Jakey’s shadows slow down from prancing about as Biel’s question knocks his mind off-balance. They retreat back to his side. He frowns slightly as he signs. **“I think… when I put Pontia to rest, that’s when I got the powers.”** So Biel wasn’t *chosen* like him, then? Or maybe she hasn’t awakened. Then, Horizon’s warning deeply unsettles him. *We have to leave before nightfall? Why?* …Oh. Oh, shit. Shit. Fuck. Fuck. Frantically, he shakes off his blade-shaped stone and offers it to Biel, commands his shadows to stay by her side to protect her. His signing is sloppy, panicked. **“Take these with you. It’s—what do they mean? Are you… I don’t…”** He is scared. **Action**: Attempt to give Biel his ceremonial stone and shadow protection from whatever danger will come at night (DEX: nat 1 lolll) ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 55/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: cher, biel When he awakens, his head hurts. He’s deeply unsettled by it all, but sighs softly when he sees Cher curled up near him. Jakey softly nudges her awake with his knee. **“Hey, we’re alive,”** he murmurs, squinting at the small streams of sunlight peeking between the boards of the shelter. He’d insisted on staying with Cher, in case the affliction took over her during the night like it did the other animals. Now that he thinks about it, he’s not sure what the plan would’ve been if she *did* turn, but he’s happy to have spent time with her anyways. Joints creak and pop as he heads back into town, yawning. Jakey’s nose crinkles and his ears flick when the tunnel comes into view. It’s familiar. A physical entrance to the Death Roads, maybe. He stops short of it, not wanting to go in quite yet. He wants to see his sister first. **“Biel? Sheppy?”** He calls, looking around. **Action**: Attempt to soul read Biel (LUCK: 6) ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 55/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: alula, cher *Are you fucking serious? Do you know what Cher just went through?* He wants to spit at the little prophet that’s so obviously about to ask for a favor, but he holds back, nods as diplomatically as he can. **“G’morning, Alula...”** He flicks his tail in annoyance as she talks of combining powers, notices that she’s asking Cher and ignoring him. Jakey huffs softly to himself. *I said I’d help you*, he wants to whine at her, but that’d be petty and childish. Like her. *We’re tied together, aren’t we? I’m sure you had that dream too.* Jakey looks to Cher, curious at what she’ll say. She seems too exhausted for Alula’s experiment, but he doesn’t want to speak for her. He lowers his voice, gently bumps the top of Cher’s head with his nose. **“Hey. You alright?”** Action: N/A, yapping ## 🎠 JAKEY > -# he/him // 14 yrs // horse (large) // 55/60 hp > -# lvl 4 :class_black: carbon keeper > -# iw: biel, m: cher “Of course I came back,” Jakey signs, then pauses as he looks into her eyes a bit more—they’re milky, but her soul is clear of any wretched divinity. He’s a little jealous, actually. He tries not to think about the light stain of death within her for too long. Jakey blinks back to the present, glancing at Biel lightly butting her head against his leg and softly calling to him. “Sorry,” he signs back, sighing. “I slept fine, I think. We bunkered at the edge of town.” Jakey flicks his ears towards Cher. “She was cured from the rage, but she was itching last night and didn’t get much rest. I… don’t quite know what’s happening.” He pause before he continues, his hooves and movements hesitant as he signs. “How about you? Did the stone help? Are you taking the poppy meds? I… I want to help.” Action: Try and give Biel more Time as her non-afflicted self? (DEX: Nat 1. Again..)