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 Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:38 pm
Quote: The Horseman (13) : Fog is not uncommon in the latter half of the year, so it’s no surprise that Destiny City has been plagued by it. Historically, it has never brought anything good. Walls of white so dense that a deep breath feels like drowning, the rolls across the city in the late hours of the night like a herd of stampeding horses. You can hear them, too–the gallop of hooves. You can’t see it, but you hear a single horse, massive. Trotting behind you. If you speed up, it speeds up. No matter where you go, it follows. Sometimes, you can feel an icy breath on the back of your neck. It’s uncomfortable and unnerving, and there’s the distinct feeling of being followed by some sort of predator. It’s worse, if you run. It chases you. If you look behind you, you’ll see nothing but a dark, swirling mass, and sometimes the glint of a large blade. It’s terrifying. There’s no way to fight it, but if you’re lucky you can hide. If it catches you, you feel a painful sensation around your neck before the horse and its dark rider disappears into the night. Your heart feels like a bomb in your chest, and when you are somewhere safe you may find a deep, red mark on your neck, as if someone attempted to lop it off. The injury will fade after a few hours, but unfortunates may find a strange mist lingering outside of their window, accompanied by the sound of hooves and horse whinnies. The horseman cannot be interacted with; he does not speak, he does not have any form. He is simply hunting.
He had no idea what the ******** just happened. One minute he’d been making his way home through the fog, and the next it was as if he was being chased. He’d heard the clop of hooves along the sidewalk, looked over his shoulder but hadn’t seen anything. Something had struck him or briefly seized him around the neck, then let go and disappeared.
His heart was racing. Jasper swore again, gaze darting through the fog for any sign that he might not be alone, but the horse and rider—or whatever it was—had gone. He heard nothing but leaves rustling in the breeze. As the fog thinned, he began to make out the shapes of trees and nearby buildings.
Jasper forced himself to keep moving, but between the fog and the sudden shock, he couldn’t be sure he hadn’t gotten turned around.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:39 pm
Yuuri hated this. There was too much fog. He’d left the apartment to try and get to the store to pick up some quick snacks for himself and Misha. And Lev, even though he didn’t ask for anything -- but Yuuri knew what he liked just from observing.
His heart was racing. He could hear something, like hooves -- in Destiny City? Was someone riding a horse in the street?
… Was he even on the street any more? He could barely see the streetlights, but… now they looked like lamp posts. Had he gotten turned around and found his way to the park?
Frustrated by the lack of immediate answers, Yuuri took a breath and reached for his pen to power up.
Almost immediately he noticed the other aura close by -- another Negaverse officer. Well… he couldn’t feel any auras of their enemy, but that didn’t mean they weren’t around.
He didn’t want to alert whatever else was lurking in the fog, so he quietly headed towards the other aura, hoping to run into them sooner than later. A lieutenant may need help teleporting out if there was any real trouble.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:40 pm
Jasper sensed the sudden flare of an aura in the vicinity but didn’t allow himself to feel relieved. As far as he could see, there was no immediate sign of danger. He couldn’t even hear the horse anymore. Maybe he’d imagined it. Fog as thick as this, it could drive anyone mad. Jasper was just tired enough that he could almost explain it all away as a hallucination, except his neck still felt tender.
He continued on, heading for the stronger aura as it drew closer to him. His first glimpse of the figure was a blur of color through the fog—distinctive orange, and a fall of black hair.
“Are you alright?” Jasper asked on impulse.
The Eternal Senshi seemed unharmed, but his expression appeared pinched—tense and watchful. Had he heard what Jasper heard? Sensed what he sensed? Then again, in every situation Jasper had met this Senshi so far, he’d seemed guarded, a bit hunched in on himself, thin and pale and drowning in robes and hair.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:40 pm
He heard the man’s voice before he saw him, and Kamacite was immediately alarmed that Jasper would be the one stuck out in the fog like this. Any other situation he might have been relieved to see someone familiar (and someone he could tolerate), but there was an immediate concern for the other’s safety.
Not that Kamacite didn’t think Jasper was capable, despite never seeing him in action, but it was still worrying to be in a situation unknown to them.
Was this the White Moon’s doing, somehow?
“I am,” Kamacite responded as he quickened his pace to where he could see the Lieutenant through the fog. Familiar hair and uniform. Unfamiliar bright red line across his neck.
“What happened?” he asked with undeniable distress, immediately reaching up to Jasper’s neck. Although he seemed to realize he was being too forward and only allowed his fingers to hover. “Your neck-- it looks like someone tried to--”
Again he paused, alert to their surroundings. He could barely hear hooves again.
No, he wasn’t going to be dealing with this when Jasper was clearly injured. He lowered his hand from hovering near Jasper’s neck to take his hand instead, teleporting them out of the fog and to the Dark Kingdom’s infirmary.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:41 pm
Before Jasper could begin to guess at what his neck looked like, Kamacite had taken his hand and teleported them away. He never thought he’d be relieved to see the Dark Kingdom, but Jasper managed to relax a bit once they were out of the fog and among the castle’s familiar walls.
“Something attacked me,” he explained, though he didn’t sound too certain. “Out of nowhere. I couldn’t sense it. I heard a horse…”
Jasper touched his own neck but didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary, just a bit of soreness he was sure would fade soon. He couldn't see what it looked like, but if Kamacite was aware of it then there must be some sort of visible wound. Bruising, maybe?
“Thank you,” he said. “Sorry to trouble you with this. If I could teleport myself…” He trailed off rather than finish the obvious thought. If he could teleport, he would have done so himself.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:41 pm
Once again, Kamacite looked alarmed that something had attacked Jasper. Enough to leave a mark like that.
It took him a moment to realize he was still holding Jasper’s hand. Maybe even squeezed it in reaction to his comment about being attacked. But he soon withdrew it and crossed his arms over his chest, tucking his hands into the long sleeves. He would ignore the way he was certain his face flushed with embarrassment for the prolonged contact.
“It was no trouble,” he insisted quietly, taking another step back so he could look through the cabinets for ointment or something to put on the wound. Ice, even! There had to be a freezer of some sort in the room since ice was surely needed in an infirmary.
He didn’t say it out loud, but he was glad he’d been there to get Jasper out. He was angry that his own brother would allow Jasper to wander around without more power to save himself. He knew Aquamarine was a b***h, but to leave his brother without all the assistance he could get?
“May I tend to your injury?” he asked after finding the ice and gauze and ointment and-- realized he hadn’t even bothered asking if it was okay. He was just shuffling around like it was obviously something he’d do. He had all the supplies already in his arms when he looked back up at Jasper, still concerned about his neck, but was ready to set everything down if he refused. Maybe he didn’t want to be touched.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2024 4:41 pm
Jasper only noticed Kamacite holding his hand when Kamacite released it. The gesture didn’t strike Jasper as odd or out of place at all. Kamacite had helped him. The fog had been thick and they’d needed to make a quick escape. Physical contact was needed to do so and holding hands was, perhaps, instinctive.
A calm, gray-eyed stare followed Kamacite around the room. Jasper didn’t know if treatment was necessary, but he figured they were here and he might as well not risk it.
He took a seat on the edge of a cot. Kamacite seemed tense and uncomfortable, his cheeks a little flushed, so Jasper moved carefully and kept quiet in the hopes that he might put the other man more at ease. He dropped his hand from his own neck and unfastened the first few buttons on his jacket to open the collar and allow for a better look.
“I’d be grateful,” he said, mouth quirked into a small, appreciative smile.
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