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 Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 9:29 am
It was late, but he wasn’t sure what time. After sunset, but it wasn’t too much later than that. Chad also wasn’t sure what was chasing him, but he was pretty sure he was safe. At least for now.
He was already upset because the weekend was almost over and he hadn’t been able to see Elliot at all. They’d made so many plans to do so many things, and Chad wasn’t able to meet up with him for any of it. Not Elliot’s baseball game, not lunch, not going to a craft store with him. Not hanging out with him at his house and drawing things, or maybe watching a movie, or letting his dad suggest stories to read.
He sniffled quietly from where he hid beneath some bushes in the park, and scrubbed at his wet eyes. He didn’t want to make too much noise in case that person or… creature… came back. Maybe he was imagining it. Maybe it was just all in his head.
Part of him wondered if he ran, if he could make it to Elliot’s house. But he knew he was horrible at running. And he was tired. And hungry.
When was the last time…? No, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was if Elliot didn’t want to be his friend any more because he broke his promise to meet him.
A few more tears fell at the thought, and Chad tucked his head against his knees and under his arms. Maybe if he apologized then--
There was shuffling outside of the bush and Chad froze.
Oh no, was the thing back?? Had it found him already?
Chad let out a terrified and distressed squeak and shielded his face with his arms as he tried pushing himself further back into the large bush. He knew it would likely do very little to protect him, but he was going to at least try. Oh, but he was also going to cry about it because he just wanted to see Elliot.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 5:41 pm
Devyn wasn’t often out after the sun set, mostly because he spent his weekends wherever Michael was, and there were very few days where Michael was out this late during the week. Today, Devyn had gotten a little restless, and Michael was getting things ready for school tomorrow. So, while he was showering, he decided to take a quick walk around the neighborhood. He’d let Michael know before he left and promised he wasn’t going to go far. To the park, maybe make a lap or two around it, and come back.
Just a few minutes. Twenty, thirty max.
He’d been out for a little less than ten minutes when he heard the noise from the bushes. It wasn’t the first noise he’d heard that night, but it was the first he’d heard from here. When he’d first gotten to the park he felt like there were eyes on him, but he hadn’t seen anyone else there.
He was vigilant, especially when it was dark outside.
The bush moved, and Devyn didn’t know enough about Earth animals to know if it was something he should be concerned about. He’d paused, just in time to see the shape of–what, a kid?
Oh, that was sniffling. Those were tears.
It probably wasn’t his place to interfere, but Devyn had never been good at minding his own business. He doubted a kid was playing hide and go seek this late, but maybe his friends forgot about him and he was upset?
…Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that he still felt like there were eyes on him.
He looked over his shoulder but saw nothing. It wasn’t particularly windy, but he took a second to tie up his hair. Just in case. He stayed alert as he approached the bush and asked, “Everything okay in there?”
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 6:01 pm
Oh… oh, it was just a person. Okay. That was a little better, although he knew it would be bad if they saw he was upset and tried to make him go home. He didn’t want to go home! Chad never wanted to go home again, even though he knew he had to. He just wanted to see Elliot for a little while and then he would go back to whatever was waiting for him at home.
“Yes!” he quickly responded, although he couldn’t hold back the quiet sob that escaped. “I’m okay,” he added in an attempt to further reassure the man.
Maybe he could just leave it at that. If this man thought that some weird kid was sitting in a bush to pass the time, then he would go on his way. Chad hoped whatever had been chasing him before was gone for good, and if this man was walking around, then maybe it was.
And that meant maybe he could get to Elliot’s house after all.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 6:18 pm
Devyn was, quite reasonably, not convinced. He looked at the boy for a second longer and then glanced around again, because he still had that strange sensation.
But, more than that, he wanted to know why this kid was so upset he was hiding in a bush, sobbing. He was immediately protective and he didn’t know why. Maybe there was a part of him that figured that if it had been Percy out there, maybe alone, or scared–but certainly upset–he would have wanted someone to check on him.
“Okay,” he said, in a gentle, soothing voice. Or, he hoped it was, it had been a while.
“You want a hand out of there, or are you thinking you might like to stay in the bushes for a little longer? If you’re hiding from someone, there’s not anyone out here but me.”
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 6:31 am
Oh, he was offering a hand to get out. He could get out and continue making his way to Elliot’s house, but maybe this man would try to walk him home… maybe he would walk him to Elliot’s house.
Chad chewed nervously on his lip. He didn’t know who this person was, or what they would do once he was out of the bush. He felt like he could trust him--
Oh, but that was probably a bad idea and just his loneliness talking. He just missed Elliot so much. Which was probably why he couldn’t stop himself from sobbing a few more times, even as he rubbed his hands over his face.
“I’m okay in here,” he decided with another sniffle. “But thank you, that’s very kind of you to offer.”
He didn’t want to admit that something had been chasing him. No one would believe him, anyway. No one except for Elliot.
Of course, that was when his stomach decided to announce that it was empty. It was a sad little sound, like it was used to being empty, but it was still embarrassing.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 7:39 am
Devyn might have been persuaded to leave him be and just hang out in the distance to make sure that everything was actually without crowding him. Even if the tears and sniffles put him on high alert. He knew he didn’t have the full story, knew that there was more to this than just what he could make out in the brief seconds he’d been here.
But, he knew this kid was hungry, there was no denying that.
So, it was probably good that Devyn came by, considering he had no less than five different snacks on him despite only heading out with the pockets in his pants and jacket. “All right, well you be safe in there. Seems like a weird night, I wouldn’t stay out too late if you can help it.”
Out of his jacket he withdrew all four options. “Probably no good to be out on an empty stomach. What do you want, beef jerky, granola bar, brownie, crackers and cheese, or banana chips? It’s not poisoned, if you’re worried. I always bring snacks with me when I go out, just in case I get caught hungry somewhere. But I’m going to head home in a little bit, so have your pick of any. Or all. I’ve got plenty back at the house.”
Except, now he was really sure that there was something lurking about, because he heard something rustle a bit of a way off. The shadows didn’t move, but he kept his eyes fixed on where the sound had come from. It was hard to see into the dense thicket of shrubbery and trees.
He didn’t say anything, didn’t want to scare the boy. Just in case.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 9:42 am
He wanted this guy to leave, right? Chad had told him that he was okay and that he didn’t need help getting out of the bush, so why did his heart suddenly leap in panic when it was clear that the man was going to be on his way.
Oh, but not before offering snacks apparently.
Chad opened his mouth to refuse, because that was the polite thing to do. But his stomach protested and made another sad whine. Wow, that was so rude.
Cautiously, he shifted so he could crawl out from under the bush and peer up curiously at the man offering him food, and then at the options he had. They all sounded good but… he wondered which would keep him full the longest.
“Um… the granola bar, please? Oh… I mean… maybe the brownie. No, I shouldn’t. Granola bar, please.”
Wait, he was literally taking food offered to him by a stranger… Well, what was the worst that could happen, really?
Cautiously he reached up a hand for the offered snack--
But was alarmed to see the dark color on his skin under the nearby lamp light. He lowered it to inspect, thinking it was too even to be dirt. Somehow, in his hunger and exhaustion, and adrenaline too probably, he hadn’t realized that the creature that attacked him had cut through the sleeve of his shirt. Which meant he’d been rubbing blood all over his face as well, as he tried wiping away his tears.
Devyn’s phone was vibrating -- a call from Michael.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 9:51 am
Oh, he was hurt. That explained the hiding, and the crying. He looked so small.
“Why not the granola bar and the brownie?” he asked, and put the rest away so he had a free hand to get his phone. Even though the hand had been retracted, Devyn still had a good idea of where the kid was, so he crouched down and placed them both within easy reach. His eyes flicked to the bushes; nothing had moved but it didn’t do anything to ease his concern.
“Start with those and if you want the rest, someone’s gotta eat them. I’ve got a phone call, it’ll just take a minute. You eat as much as you want, I can give you the rest if that’s not enough to fill you up.”
He stood up, already frowning because Michael knew he was going to be gone for a few minutes, why was he calling? –Was he okay? He wanted to ask this kid to come out so he could make sure he was okay, and feed him, and get him out of here and somewhere safe, but–
It was just weird.
He accepted the call immediately and pressed it close to his face. “Michael, are you okay?”
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 10:00 am
He was trying not to hover. He knew that Devyn was okay because the necklace hadn’t changed its pace in a way that he needed to be concerned, and yet…
“Hey, I’m fine. Be careful, there’s something nearby,” he said quickly, because he wanted to make sure Devyn had his guard up.
“Don’t think it’s human,” Michael added. He knew the risk of saying things out loud, especially over a phone. If someone tried accusing him of knowing more, he could just pretend he… had premonitions or something unbelievable like that. Chad had already turned his attention away from the blood on his hand and shirt and was eyeing the snacks that were put down in front of him. He knew he should be concerned about his injury, but it wasn’t as though he hadn’t been injured before.
He slowly inched his way forward and pulled his knees up to his chest as he picked up the brownie first. Ah, well, he should probably wipe his hand off, which he did on his shirt since the short sleeve had already been ruined.
Oh, but he hated these wrappers… He tried pulling the brownie wrapper open, but struggled with it. So he switched it for the granola bar but was having a hard time with--
A low snarl not too far away broke the relative silence of the park, and Chad’s head snapped in that direction with wide, terrified eyes.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 10:28 am
“Oh. Is that what that is.”
Well, at least he wasn’t paranoid. Maybe he wasn’t as rusty as he thought he was, either.
“Yeah, I think I know where to find it. It’s fine. Thanks for the heads up, I’ll take care of it. I’m at the park. I’ll let you know if there’s a problem, but if you don’t hear from me for a minute, don’t worry. I’ll call you back, I was just talking to a kid I ran into.”
There was only so much he could say but he trusted that Michael would understand. He wasn’t alone out here, and he wasn’t going to just leave and let some kid–who was hurt and hungry–fend for himself. But, even knowing that there was something out there, Devyn was calm. Alert, but not panicked.
He didn’t hang up the phone; he kept it pressed to his ear to make sure he could hear if Michael had anything else to say and angled it away from his mouth so he could speak to the kid. “Is that the thing you’re hiding from?”
He moved between the bush and the snarl, just to make sure whatever it was wouldn’t reach the kid first.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 10:36 am
Devyn’s response had Michael relaxing a little. He was glad that Devyn knew something was out there. Good. Then he was already prepared to deal with it and not be caught unaware.
Michael crossed one arm over his chest as he kept the phone to his ear, listening for anything else he could pick up on Devyn’s side, but with the phone’s filters, it was difficult to hear more than Devyn’s voice.
“A kid? This late?” Michael frowned, although he was quite aware that children were out that late for various reasons, but as a teacher he hoped they would be in bed so they were ready for school. Chad didn’t know what to say. His eyes went to Devyn as he moved between the bush and whatever was in the darkness, and then back at whatever made that noise.
“I… I don’t know. I think, um… it was just a dog,” he suggested because he had no idea what else it could be. No one would believe him if he said it was some strange monster.
He carefully gathered the snacks up, and then pushed himself up on shaky legs. His heart was already racing, and he didn’t know what to expect, but he would really rather not be eaten by some creature.
From the shadows, form approached. It was bipedal mostly, but looked like it could easily drop down onto its front limbs as well. Except they were fitted with sharp claws and probably not the easiest to run on. It looked like it could have been some kind of emaciated dog. If dogs also had ridges along their back and a barbed tail.
It seemed to decide on Devyn as a target and charged forward, clawed limbs outstretched to grab.
Meanwhile, Chad let out a distressed squeak and immediately tripped backwards over his own feet and landed on his butt in the dirt.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 10:55 am
Devyn heard Michael’s voice, but as soon as the thing lunged out of the shadows he shoved his phone in his pocket.
It looked like a dog, kind of. Devyn still wasn’t exactly sure what Earth dogs all looked like, but the kid said it was a dog so it must have been. “It’s okay,” Devyn reassured in the split second he had to say anything, and then he moved again to secure his spot between the youma and the kid. The creature was fast, but he was fortunate that it seemed to have focused on him.
Devyn didn’t really wait to react to any of it; as the creature came towards him, he charged to meet it. There were a myriad of reasons why–keep some distance between it and the kid, mostly, and to build up momentum.
He grabbed at what he could only guess was something of a wrist and tried to yank the thing off balance, all the while drawing back his hand and slamming as hard of a punch as he could muster.
He would power up if he needed to, but Michael had told him to be careful with his identity so he was trying.
…Besides, he couldn’t really complain about having the opportunity to pummel anything seeped in Chaos. That there was a kid nearby meant that he didn’t have time to screw around; he needed to take care of it as quickly as possible and make sure he was okay.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 11:05 am
The muffled sound of Devyn’s phone being put into his pocket he heard. As well as some kind of distressed yell and movement.
“s**t,” he hissed and quickly turned the stove off so he could race to the hall and get his shoes on. He knew that Devyn could probably handle things on his own, but he didn’t want to risk it if he could help it. The youma might have been grabbed, but it still had claws and teeth, and it swiped at Devyn before it was punched and sent toppling backwards. It hissed and spit and snarled, baring teeth as it went down on all fours to gain better balance. Its tail whipped sharply, leveling a bed of bushes nearby, and cutting a deep gouge into a lamppost.
Chad was terrified. And he couldn’t help but cry. He just wanted to see Elliot! That was all! He wanted to try to tap on his window and maybe talk to him for a bit. A hug would have been nice. Really nice. And he would have apologized for being a horrible friend who missed his baseball game and wasn’t able to spend any time with him like they’d planned.
But instead, there was this scary monster thing and a man with long, pretty black hair fighting it, and he was so nice and gave him some snacks that Chad would have eventually figured out how to open, but now he wasn’t sure what was going to happen, so he just cried.
It was a noise that drew the youma’s attention. Weaker prey, possibly already injured. It didn’t seem to recognize that it had attacked the boy before, but that didn’t matter. It darted away from Devyn, digging its claws into the ground as it went after the human child on the ground.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 11:19 am
Devyn wasn’t sure if the claws had gotten to him when it swiped in his direction but he hadn’t missed how easily its tail had taken down the bushes. Didn’t matter, they were just bushes. He wouldn’t go down so easily.
Nor was he going to let it get the kid.
There was a split second where he realized that its attention had shifted. Even as it moved away from him, he was already moving to intercept it again. He wasn’t going to let it slip through his fingers, wasn’t going to let it hurt anyone else.
The phone call disconnected when he powered up.
He didn’t want to make Michael worry but he didn’t want to risk anyone getting seriously hurt, either.
Sailor Alastor replaced Devyn, and his fingers dung into the youma’s tail with even more force as he tried to swing it and yank it back.
“It’s going to be fine, just stay put,” he said to the kid, and maybe only then realized he probably should have at least asked for his name and introduced himself. He did his best to stay calm, for the kid and for Michael. Deep, easy breaths. This wasn’t stressful. No need to worry.
Being powered up meant he could feel the Chaos seeping off of it, and it only emphasized to him how important it was to absolutely destroy it.
He had no pity, no mercy, for a creature so tainted with Chaos, and as soon as he could get a good grip on it again he was going to pummel it into nothingness so he didn’t have to worry about it slipping away and hurting anyone else.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 11:43 am
Chad wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. He could see the strange monster whipping its tail around, could see its head turn towards him with its seemingly eyeless sockets. He didn’t know what he should do. Run? Try to hide?
And then something magical happened. The man who was talking to him before turned into someone else. He was dressed in long, silky sleeves and rich fabrics that seemed to shimmer different colors in the light. And he was telling Chad it was going to be fine and to stay put.
He stared in awe at the man as he effortlessly grabbed onto the creature and yanked it backwards. The creature snarled and slashed its claws through the air.
Sailor Alastor probably felt it immediately, but was likely distracted by the more immediate threat of the larger youma. A second youma, seemingly slower than the first, hobbled its way out of the darkness, like a person wearing a poorly designed and grotesque animal suit.
The one Sailor Alastor was fighting hadn’t been the one that injured Chad, but as soon as he saw the creature, he let out another startled yelp--
Oh, but he was told to stay put. Okay, he was just going to sit and cry then.
The first, more dangerous youma rolled back onto its clawed feet and made another lunge for the Senshi, even more agitated than before when it was just two civilians.
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