|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friendly Conversationalist
|
 Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:25 pm
"Oh, my grandmother enjoys chance games," Tsetsiliya said. "She plays quite often on the weekends.." The memory of noisy Spiderday evenings and the strong smell of pumpkin wine while her grandmother played cards with her ghoulfriends came back to her. Unfortunately her grandmother was never very good at them.. perhaps she should stop betting so many pumpkin seeds after one too many. "But what is D&H?" Tsetsiliya asked. She had never heard of a game called that, and needless to say she was curious.
The curiosity would be short-lived, however, as she sped up to match Jericho's pace. He seemed just as anxious to get in and out of the forest as she did, but she suspected it was for different reason than hers. This speed carried them pretty easily through the school courtyard and brought them to the edge of the forest. Tsetsiliya was quiet as she wrestled her nerves. Jericho had been in here once or twice - that was one or two more times than she had been in there, and he wasn't nervous! There was no reason for it! She still slowed her speed as some apprehension slipped through, coming to a full stop at the edge of the woods.
"W-well, shall we?" She nodded towards the darkened path underneath the trees, clutching her basket in lieu of her belt. Now she was not feeling so eager for a new plant, but they were here - no turning back now. "A-anything interesting will be fine.."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:30 pm
"Dungeons and Humans," replied Jericho plainly, "It's a tabletop game."
Since she didn't know the acronym, he wasn't going to bother trying to explain further details of the game, feeling it may only confuse her further on what it was exactly. As they moved on towards the woods, he didn't say much else, at least until they reached the edge when he noticed she had stopped completely in her tracks.
The demon looked rather nervous of the place, and he couldn't really see why. It was a dark forest sure but there was nothing dangerous about it as far as he knew. Grimacing at her hesitance, he nodded and continued on into the woods, keeping an eye out for anything that wasn't grass, weeds, or trees.
"How about those flowers over there?" he pointed at some growing not far ahead. They didn't look too different from some of the ones he's seen around town, but he gave it a shot anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friendly Conversationalist
|
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:55 pm
It seemed to Tsetsiliya that the boil was growing rather impatient with her, judging by his brisk, uncaring answers. She bristled a little inwardly. Well! Her nervous disposition is something she couldn't help all the time, and it wasn't her fault that enclosed areas like forests made her nervous (particularly places she had never been in before). She was a poludnica! Open fields were where she thrived best!
Well, if that was how he wanted to be, then she could be just as uncooperative!
"I have this one already," she answered shortly, turning from the small flowers in favor of staring down the path. "Let us go in further, yes?" She was still nervous about the woods, but now she was less inclined to let Jericho see that. Riding high on her irritation with the dragon, she took the lead into the woods. She turned her head this way and that, looking for something of interest.
It was amazing how quickly the path darkened.
The poludnica would not let her anxiety show, however. But oh Jack did she want to hurry and leave. As though to answer her desire, she caught sight of something sitting just short of the path ahead of them. They were very colorful, whatever they were.. it seemed to her to be a flower patch at the base of a tree.
"I do not think I have those," she noted, nodding towards the flowers. She had lost the defensive edge to her voice, and now looked at the flora in curiosity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:07 pm
Seeing how she already had that particular flower, Jericho let out a smoky huff before going on further into the forest. He definitely wasn't much happier than her to be there, but for very different reasons indeed. By no means was he nervous about these woods seeing how they had provided him quite the meal the other day. But he really wanted to get this over with.
Not minding the darkening path, he looked around for anything that seemed to stick out. Hearing Tset speak up about a potential win, he glanced over to where she was looking to see the colorful plant thing in the distance. Well it certainly didn't look like anything he had seen before so that was a good sign indeed.
Then again, who knew what sort of exotic plant things this girl had that he never seen?
Quickly, he stepped on over towards the flora up ahead.
"You want a mushroom?" he asked while reaching down to pluck one of them from the tree base. In his impatience and irritability, he really didn't think this one through. Otherwise he probably would have known better than to touch weird looking shrooms.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friendly Conversationalist
|
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:23 pm
When Jericho had his back turned, she allowed herself probably the first smug expression of her young life. Persistence did pay off. She waited a moment until he had tromped ahead of her and plucked whatever it was from its home before following after him.
"I suppose it was not a flower after all," she mused, looking it over in the boil's hand. She had seen this mushroom before, she thought, but she couldn't remember where. It was awfully colorful though, and it looked as though small flower buds were growing from its cap. It was probably going to release seeds soon! This was an exciting prospect for her. That meant that she could grow a bunch of them in her room - in a separate planter of course, since mushrooms would muscle out the other smaller plants, being a fungus and all.
But that wasn't right. Mushrooms didn't have seeds. No, this one looked like it was about to give off spores.
...
Her mouth dropped open. Now she recognized this mushroom. The one that appeared in one of her botany books at home next to the firm message, "DO NOT HANDLE". She looked to the dragon boil in panic and waved her arms to try and make him drop it, tossing her basket to the ground while doing so.
"N-no, Jericho! You must put that do -- !! " But it was too late. The spore dust burst from the mushroom and Tsetsiliya didn't have time to pull back her waving hands to cover her mouth. The air spread the spore dust faster than she had expected.
And in a flash, she smelt something like burning and then saw nothing but color.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:31 pm
Looking over the thing, Jericho gave the demon a bit of a skeptical look. Keeping a mushroom didn't really seem all that exciting. And this one looked extra strange those buds all over the cap. That skeptical look soon turned to confusion as he saw the panic in the girl's expression and before she could really express her concerns spores shot out of the mushroom and right into his face.
Coughing from having inhaled a chunk of it, he closed his eyes and dropped the fungus while trying not to sneeze and set the whole damn forest on fire. Speaking of fire... something smelt like it was burning already. He knew he hadn't spewed out flames and there were no other sources of fire aside from himself so he couldn't thin of what the cause could be.
Opening his eyes, it took awhile for him to really be able to see with all the dust around but his eyes soon widened as he realized the trees around him were all... coniferous... and covered in snow.
"W-what..." he stammered out in disbelief while looking around. He knew this place. And he was not happy when he realized just what his surroundings meant.
"Tsetsiliya... do you see this..?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friendly Conversationalist
|
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:55 pm
"I am not.. seeing much of anything.." Tsetsiliya replied, blinking her eyes rapidly. The colors were so bright it hurt! Finally, they seemed to fade with the last bits of spore dust falling from her eyes. Her head was filled with a slight buzz from the rapid blinking. But it wasn't spore dust that she saw falling from her eyes.
It was snow.
"W-What is this...?" she murmured in a low, nervous voice. The trees were different from before - these smelled of pine. Were they..? But how? They had left that Jack-forsaken place far behind! She glanced down at her feet and saw snow covering the hem of her dress. "We are.. but we.. !" She looked at Jericho with widened, nervous eyes. The sudden movement made her head reel. "I.. that is explaining why I am so dizzy. The JOY.."
Now everything fell into place. It was perfectly logical.
"Jericho," she said slowly as the realization dawned on her. "We are still in Christmas Town. We must not have left at all." The days between their awakening in Halloween and now were a dream. It all made sense.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 8:35 am
As Tsetsiliya was taking in their surroundings as well, Jericho looked around a little nervously. There was still the burning scent lingering, but he didn't see a fire anywhere within his line of sight. His golden eyes darted from tree to tree as he was now exceptionally wary of them, thinking they may spring to life at any moment.
However, his gaze locked dead onto the demon when she explained what had happened here. The dragon's jaw dropped as it made perfect sense to him as well.
"Oh.. no... NO!" he cried out. He thought they had escaped this place! But no, the trees and snow clearly showed they were still in that jack-forsaken place. Concern soon shot through him as he realized this meant all the others were still around as well.. if they weren't dead. Quickly, he looked around to try and see if he could find any signs of Riley or Maladore or Israfel or any of the other students he had met during the trip. There was none.
"We... need to get out of here... try and find others," he murmured, now on edge. However, he soon froze in place as he heard a distant but familiar roar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friendly Conversationalist
|
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:53 pm
As soon as Jericho had said "find others," the mantra Tsetsiliya had abided by with a religious-like intensity came back to her.
Safety in numbers!
"Yes, we must! They must have been scattered again.." She had not seen any sign of her friends from Krumm Car, now that he had mentioned finding others. Belladonna, Barth, Rain, Colette, Alwine.. even with Jericho at her side, she was feeling very much alone. But just as she had felt on the Icy Path, even if there was only one other person, that was better than being alone. Safety in numbers mattered here, as well!
... Then her confidence was shot to pieces when she heard the roar somewhere in the distance.
"What.. what was that?" she whispered fearfully. The trees around them were enclosed so tightly that she couldn't even recognize the snowy area, and the falling snow did not help things. "W-we should be prepared to fight, just in case, yes?" She didn't sound too sure, but it was all she had to offer. It was what helped her last so long earlier. However she didn't feel the wreath looped around her arm this time. That shocked her out of her bravado a little. "Where's my -- ?! Oh!" She spotted her wreath a short ways from her, and tromped the few extra steps through the snow to pick it up. Dusting the snow from it and looping it around her arm (it felt a little different than she remembered, but she attributed that to how lightheaded she felt), although the approaching roar set new shivers going down her spine.
"What is it.. ?" she asked Jericho again, almost tearful in her dizzy, nervous state, since he had spoken with such dread after the first cry of the distant beast. Whatever it was, the roar was getting louder.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:07 pm
Nodding slightly to Tset, Jericho was scanning the area around, trying to find where the source of the roar had come from. He didn't see anything, but he knew it was out there. It would explain the burning scent as well for that matter. And when the demon mentioned preparing to fight, he slowly looked over towards her.
"It's a giant Death Charm. We can't fight it," he stated, sounding a little worried, "It wiped out a bunch of students... I thought Jingleberry killed it but.. I guess not."
Looking around, he saw that the demon found her weapon, but he didn't see his bazooka anywhere around. He hadn't really used it much so it wasn't a huge issue but seeing how he wasn't in his true form, having some sort of weapon would have been nice. What did concern him was when he fussed around his pockets he couldn't find any pumpkin pills.
"Oh jack... where are my pumpkin pi-"
His words were cut off by another roar. Somewhere behind him, the faint outline of the monstrosity could be seen lumbering towards them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friendly Conversationalist
|
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:29 pm
Jingleberry.
That name caused Tsetsiliya's blood to run cold.
"You were at Candycane La -- ?!" she started to say, but the creature in the distance roared, shaking the trees. He must have ended up there after the explosion, she figured. But if it came from Candycane Lane.. "This is not good.." Jericho couldn't seem to find his pumpkin pills, and she was all out of her own.
They were trapped.
She looked around wildly, head whipping this way and that for a method of escape. A small path wound uphill into the trees, bringing them back towards the mountains. Was this leading them on an alternate route through the Icy Path? It was a chance they had to take.
"We must run!" she said urgently. "If it is from Candycane Lane, then we cannot win!" Her last run-in with Jingleberry had certainly taught her that, and if this Death Charm, as Jericho called it, defeated Jingleberry..
She wasn't sticking around to find out. She clutched his sleeve and tugged him towards the steep uphill path. "Come on!!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:37 pm
It seemed that she was familiar with who Jingleberry was. He didn't know what happened to the ninja now but one thing was clear; the death charm wasn't dead like he had originally thought. The one punch wasn't enough, but he suppose that made sense.
"I agree. There's no way we can fight it..." he nodded while running along with her to head uphill. He didn't know how quickly the death charm could move, but he wasn't willing to stick around to find out. Hopefully it was rather slow...
The next roar that sounded out seemed to be considerably closer. And as he looked behind, he saw the ominous clouds that signaled its arrival the last time they had met.
"Oh jack! we need to get moving fast!" he cried out. There really weren't many things that scared the red dragon. But that Death Charm made him feel completely and utterly helpless. The fact that he had no pumpkin pills had him rather worried. In a land without FEAR... what happened when he died? He didn't want to find out.
The looming clouds were slowly catching up to the two, and the large figure could be seen within them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friendly Conversationalist
|
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:22 pm
Tsetsiliya didn't need to be told twice. She moved as fast as her booted feet would carry her through the snow, glancing over her shoulder at what was behind them. She was not quite seeing what Jericho did (not that she was aware of that fact), but if anything.. it reminded her of Jingleberry's appearance. A figure was coming fast at them through the blurred snow.
That was all she needed to know.
The path ahead splintered off into a narrower one, and Tsetsiliya figured this might be a good way out. The trees were thick and sturdy here, and the creature, big as it was, would have a hard time plowing through all of them in one go. She felt the wreath bumping against her arm. Chance or no chance against this creature, she had to at least give it a shot. It might buy them some time to get further down the path. She spun on her heels.
"Stay away!" With a mighty heave, she chucked the wreath as hard as she could at the Death Charm's eyes (or the place she thought its eyes would be, anyway). Maybe it was all the JOY and her lightheadedness, but the wreath did not fly as well as it did, and instead veered sharply to the right and missed the creature entirely. They had managed to make it to the narrower path and she ducked inside immediately.
Hit or miss, though, the creature had stalled momentarily and instead let out another roar. The poludnica's head was was still humming, and she placed a hand to it weakly.
"Come on," she urged Jericho, "we should probably not stop. Hopefully this will give us a moment of safety." Another nervous glance over her shoulder followed, but she kept moving.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:34 pm
Jericho made the mistake of glancing back again as they ran through the snow. The Death Charm was even closer now and it did not look pleased to be seeing them at all. He watched with a sense of horror as Tsetsiliya tried to attack the creature but it was no use. Her aim was way off and even then he doubted it would have done anything to it.
Ducking into the narrow path, he winced as the creature let out a roar. The loud noise made his ears ring and the JOY overload was making him dizzy once again.
"We keep moving," he agreed in between breaths, "I don't think anything is going to stop it for long."
Moving on along the path, Jericho kept an eye out for anything they might be able to use to their advantage. Or at least for shelter. The latter may actually be considerably better at this point. The next roar he heard sounded a little more distant than the ones before. Maybe they were losing it after all. Still, he didn't want to start slowing down just yet.
"Oh Jack, I think we're running towards town," he groaned as he saw a gate made of candycanes up ahead. Town or not, maybe they could duck away inside one of those strange homes it had to offer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friendly Conversationalist
|
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:56 pm
The frosted roofs and candy-like shingles greeted the two from behind the gate of candycane. Tsetsiliya decided she would rather take her chances in town than back there with that.. that thing, whatever it was. She pushed forward on the gates, which creaked open rather easily. Were they expected? She frowned fretfully. Another thought brought her spirits up a bit - perhaps it was open because the others had already been through here! Right or not, she clung to the optimism of that thought.
This had to mean they were going the right way!
"Perhaps the others have come through here," she said to Jericho as they entered. The town was as deserted as she remembered from her last time here (which had been, surprisingly, the easiest part of her Christmas Town "adventure" so far). There was another roar in the distance, but luckily it was very far away. It looked like the beast was staying away.. for the time being. "Perhaps shelter would be best for now.." She eyed the buildings around them, identical in their cutesy exteriors.
One of the buildings look less, for lack of a better term, JOYful. It was a rather squarish building, bigger than its neighbors. She nodded over to the building then looked at Jericho. "Shall we try here?" However even as she said as much, she kept walking towards it. All she wanted to do was take a short rest, as she was starting to feel really dizzy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
