[B4^] Lost in the Dark (Arsinoe Wake-up solo) [Fin]

[TheMadHatter]

He felt funny, really funny, and he didn't feel like he was sitting in the pleather chairs in the food court anymore either. That's where he was though right? He and his cousin and her friend had been about to dig into the ice cream that was payment for Cordelia having drug them shopping. He could still sorta feel the spoon in his hand only he couldn't feel it enough and that was also odd.

"Cordy ... what did you do?" He groaned as he reached up to rub his head. That was was problem number one presented itself. What rubbed his temple wasn't flesh it was fabric and his eyes shot open. Gloves. He was wearing gloves. He hadn't left the house in gloves when they'd gone to meet Demetri at the mall. They weren't just any gloves either and as his brain began to unfuz their color started to register as something that should -not- be on his hand while he was at the mall with his cousin. His mind whirled as he slowly forced himself to look down at his body. Yep. He wasn't suppose to be dressed like this at ... the ...

Malls didn't have nasty dead plants and things for floors. Scrambling up, underbrush crunching loudly, he tried to dust himself off as best he could and spun in circles as he looked at what was around him. Trees, check, undergrowth, check, dirt, check, cousin and friend, negative.

"Cordy! Cordy!!" His cousin and Demetri weren't anywhere to be seen and neither was any sign of the mall that he'd been in what he thought were moments before. "Cordy .... where'd you go." He chewed his lip as he stopped and stared off into the endless looking expanse of trees and shadows.

Okay, he wasn't in the mall anymore and had no idea where he was other than in some sort of really extra creepy forest. That didn't help. Forest were -dirty- and he didn't like being dirty. He absently dusted off his legs again as he looked around once more. Nothing was familiar and he couldn't see any sign of life at all. Everything looked so dead and dark.

Dark!

Patting his waist frantically looking for the familiar cool touch of metal that seemed to be conspicuously missing. "No! No no ... why are you not on me!" Panic starting to set in he scrambled about, fingers in the dead grass, looking for any sign of his lantern. He'd -never- been in his uniform without his lantern. It was as if it was part of him and now it was missing and it shouldn't have been missing and furthermore he shouldn't have even been powered up like this.

When his hunt through the dead grass turned up nothing he whimpered softly. He was somewhere weird in this form without the use of his lantern. This was not cool. "I told Cordy i hated malls." He was never going to the mall again. Ever. "And memo to myself ... start bringing matches." He sighed again as he prodded his waist for sign of the lantern once more before sitting down on the crunchy dead grass. It was getting darker by the second and he didn't have any way to make it bright again and that bothered him, a lot.  

[TheMadHatter]

After sitting down and stewing in his own thoughts for what seemed like forever and yet not long enough he groaned and pulled himself up off the dry crackling ground. He dusted bits of leaves and twigs off his clothes with a bit more force than necessary before looking around at the trees that surrounded him again.

He was somewhere weird. Cordelia and Demy were missing. He didn't have his lantern. This -sucked-

What in the world was he suppose to do and where in the world was he? The two questions bounced around in his head as he wandered over to one of the endless trees and leaned against it. At least the trees seemed solid enough and he could keep his back to one while the light continued to fade.

He'd intended to stay just like that until something that had been nagging at the back of his mind finally got his attention. Turning slightly he stuck his hand under his back against the tree trunk to see if what he thought he felt was really there. His fingers easily spread across what felt like slash marks in the trunk and he slowly continued to turn until he could see exactaly what was under his hand.

Pink eyes widened as he stared at the gashes under his hand. Something very large and very powerful had done that and he shivered at the thought. Being alone suddenly didn't seem like a very good idea anymore. Inching closer to the tree he looked back out toward the shadows between the trees surrounding him. With how dark it was between the trees there was no telling what else could be lurking out there.

He inched around the tree carefully trying to keep his eyes everywhere at once until he could duck to the next tree that had somehow grown only a few feet from his current 'perch'. The same giant claw marks scared that trunk too and now that he'd taken notice of them he could see more and more across various trees he could make out in the gloom.

Where ever he had ended up was also the home to something that could do this much damage, or more than one something which was a worse thought, and he had no way to fight it or protect himself from it.

He let out a puff of air as he leaned against the tree and tried to think of what he could, and better yet should, do.  

[TheMadHatter]

Obviously the first thing he should do was not panic but he'd already failed that and was rather sure he would continue to do that so moving on to option number two. That would be finding out where Cordelia and her friend had gone and why they hadn't come with him to whatever this place was. He patted his waist absently again in case his lantern had returned to it's proper place before he carefully moved away from the tree he'd been leaning on.

There wasn't really much of a sense of direction with all the trees clumped together so after looking around for a moment he headed off in no particular direction. No matter what is mind was trying to tell him forest weren't endless. No matter what way you walked so long as you kept going in a straight line you'd eventually come out the other side. All he had to do was not get caught by whatever it was that had scared almost every tree he passed.

Every now and then he winced as his feet crunched into a particularly loud patch of dead undergrowth. "So much for keeping quiet ...." Then again maybe it wouldn't be too bad since nothing would be able to sneak up on him. ".... unless it can fly which i'm sure it can just to make my life worse"

He sighed and rested his hand on another tree before looking around again. There wasn't a single sign that anyone was around and he hadn't heard signs of any wildlife either. The further he went the creepier the area seemed to get. Nothing but dark trees, dead grass, and shadows. He -really- wished he had his lantern and his power so he didn't feel so naked and exposed. Sure a light would probably attract things but at least he'd be able to see what was going to eat him before it did. That would be comforting, somehow.

Stopping in a small space where the trees weren't as clumped together he looked around again. "Hello? Anything alive out there?" He didn't raise his voice too much but with the silence of the forest maybe if Cordy was out there somewhere she'd be able to hear him.  

[codalion]

Something rustled in the bushes on the other side of the small clearing -- a shape was moving through the trees. It looked to be humanoid, no, human: but it was moving a little oddly.  

[TheMadHatter]

He jumped when he heard the rustling and stared wide-eyed at the darkness. "H-hello? Cordy is that you?" His voice was just above a whisper as he tried to figure out what was crawling along in the darkness. If it was Cordy and she was trying to scare him .... it was working.

Chewing on his lip for a gripping the tree like it was a liferaft he watched the human shape move for what seemed like an eternity before finally shifting his stance and following after it.

"Hello? ... are you hurt? ...whatever you are." The last was said to hismelf, barely audible, as he tried to get close to whatever it was but not too close that he couldn't still run away if the need arose. Nothing in this forest seemed right and with his luck whatever he'd run across would also be whatever had made all the marks on the trees.

He didn't have any idea what he would do if whoever, or whatever, it was near him was hurt but it seemed better to ask than to not. If it was someone else then at least he wouldn't be alone anymore  

[codalion]

A moment later a man staggered into the clearing and collapsed onto the ground.

He was dressed like he was from another era: somewhere in the 1800s, it looked like, in trousers and a billowy shirt of the kind fashionable knock-offs of were called 'peasant shirts' in the GAP nowadays. He looked a bit like a peasant, but did they have peasants in the nineteenth century? Maybe a working-class man, an artisan, something like that: a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker. He was young, and wide-eyed, and completely out of breath.

Aside from some spattered blood and rips and snags in his clothing -- not entirely surprising for someone who'd just been running through the woods -- he didn't actually appear to be wounded. In fact, the main reason that he'd been staggering appeared to be that he was utterly and completely winded. Exhausted, even.

"Lasă-mă în pace," he said without raising his head.  

[TheMadHatter]

His heart stopped for a moment as the strangely dressed man appeared and collapsed in the dead underbrush not far from him. He almost half expected to be imagining things and to find out that the shadow he'd seen wasn't real. Having some man who looked like an actor in a history program practically jump out of thin air hadn't been anywhere on his mind.

What was worse was that he had no idea what the man had actually said "I .. i don't understand ..are you okay?" He took a few careful slow steps toward the strange man. He didn't really seem hurt-hurt but something was wrong. You didn't just go running through a place like this like your life depended on it unless it did.

Which wasn't a comforting thought at all.  

[codalion]

"Lasă-mă în pace," stuttered out the man between heaving breaths. "Nu. Nu acum, vă rog."

He didn't even look up at Arsonie, as if he didn't think he had to. Above them a black bird circled in the sky over the clearing, swooped down and landed on a branch not far over the stricken man. It blinked red eyes at him with a peculiarly sentient air.  

[TheMadHatter]

".... i still have no idea what you're saying." Which was starting to get on his nerves. He wasn't exactaly 'Mr Friendly' in the first place and having someone speaking some language he'd never heard before wasn't helping any either. Whatever the man was saying didn't seem like any sort of please for help though. The tone was all wrong for that.

Shaking his head he backed up until his back hit the tree behind him and sagged against it. He wasn't sure he should -leave- the man there but he damn well wasn't offering any more help either. The guy had run out of his chances.

Eventually the rustling of feathers caught his attention and he looked up. "You look like you belong here ... dark and creepy." Great. "I suppose you're just waiting until someone dies so you can get a meal. Not like i've seen anything else you could eat."

He didn't plan on being the one that would die though and at the moment he didn't -look- like the one that was dying either.  

[Sin Sterling]

[[With permission granted to enter <3]]
There were voices. Not exactly close by, but that was enough to get his feet moving somewhere. He would much prefer to sneak up on whomever it is, but the loud, sharp crunch of dead leaves and other matter under his shoes really do not offer him the option. Shrugging it off since it can't be helped anyway, Marx just focuses on not losing the sound of who, or what.. no it had to be a WHO it sounded like a person's voice - or two maybe, was doing the talking.

Each time the talking paused, he had to stop walking just to make sure he was still heading the right direction until it picked up again. He could almost regret following the voices when he manages to actually find who could have been the ones he heard. Some guy in weird clothes on the ground, and another guy in weird clothing leaned against a tree. Oh, perfect. This really wasn't looking so great, huh? The guy on the ground at least doesn't look dead so that's something. Maybe he hit his head and fell asleep until Halloween came around again. "Did you run out of a costume party or something?" Right, forget the smart question and opt for playing the fashion-police. Nobody said you have to be smart when you're lost in the woods.  

[TheMadHatter]

Stupidly lost in his own thoughts he hadn't even heard the crunch of leaves that signaled someone approaching where he'd taken refuge for the moment. He was too busy thinking of what he was going to do and why he'd run into a half dead man and a weird bird to notice until the new intruder spoke up.

Blinking wide-eyed he looked at the newcomer on the scene. At least he spoke the right language but why was he asking -him- if he was in weird ... oh right. For a moment he'd forgotten that where ever he was he'd turned up here powered up to some extent. "N-no ...."

He wasn't entirely sure how he was suppose to answer something like that. He couldn't just -tell- people who he was right?  

[codalion]

The man ignored all this, still catching his breath on the ground. He looked up briefly at the senshi and peered at him, looking a little surprised for once to find exactly what he found: whatever he'd thought he was, it wasn't this.

The raven croaked and spoke in what was distinctly the Queen's English. "Well? What are you looking at me for? You've got a human conversation partner down there."  

[Sin Sterling]

Well, okay the first question was.. sort of, answered. Now for the smarter one. "Alright then, so do you know where-" Wait. Wait wait wait. "Did that bird just TALK?" Marx looks around for any other person first. Dude on the ground didn't look like he was going to be saying anything, the way he was just looking at mister stammer, so. "Don't tell me the bird just talked. This place is twisted enough to wake up in a pile of leaves and twigs and only costumed...people, around" here he sends a glance at the man on the ground again, very skeptical, and the same to whatever-his-name-is, "before you toss in talking birds."

"Do you have any clue what's going on here, because I sure as hell don't. And I don't think I'm going to ask a talking bird." Well, maybe not in company. Talking birds would be something to talk to, possibly. But come on, really?  

[TheMadHatter]

He stared at the newcomer on the scene for a moment as he tried to process the sheer amount of questions that had come out of his mouth. Why did people think it was necessary to talk -that- much?

Of course the bird had just spoken. That made just as much sense as anything else around here. Ignoring the babbler for a moment he turned his attention back to the avian intruder. "Quoth the raven .. Nevermore" He shook his head as he thought about all the bad things black birds usually meant. "And no i don't know what's going on."

The latter comment was directed at the babbler since it seemed to be the only real question that needed an answer. He had no clue what was happening, why it was happening, or where they were and asking everyone who he ran across didn't seem like the way to get answers.

"I'm looking at you birdy because he," he waved a hand at the prostate man "Doesn't speak english and as stupid as this sounds, because it really does, you are the only thing i've come across that looks like it belongs here. So i'd say you are a good source of information"  

[codalion]

The bird, if birds could shrug, shrugged.

On the ground, the man, having assessed that neither boy was what he'd assumed they were -- whatever that was -- had started talking again, in that language neither of them recognized. It sounded Eastern European. He looked a little Eastern European, come to think of it.