[ prp ] over the river and ( leslie & rodney )

[its me debz]

He'd heard of them, artifacts, and slowly over the past few weeks he's come to realize that his newly acquired shield is less of a threat and more of that. An object of power, bequeathed with powers, bound to someone, and it would be strange if he wasn't so used to Aleria. They breathe quietly in his head, two wheezing voices in tandem, sleeping because heat makes them both drowsy.

And so, with a curiosity that probably killed the cat and quite a few more things, Leslie nosed around for things, in the library and unlocked computers, through books so old their papers might as well be crumbling in his palms.

(Some had, missing pieces and pages from the move during the Life Labs collapse.)

He turns each page, wondering. There are stories about Hercules, about tricksters, about the pyramids.

And then there are stories of a forest, curious and strange, full of bobbing lights and disappearances. Aleria unfurls, their opinion fervent:

Find, become, entwine. The vines are hungry. The vines are home. The wild woods are where we belong, tipped with snow and born from blood.

Leslie shuts the book, scribbling notes in his childish hand, landmarks and locations to give to a tech.

But he can't go alone. The gears begin to turn. He looks around the library, eyes narrowed.

toshihiko two

IT'S TIME IT'S TIME IT'S TIME IT'S TIME

 

[Toshihiko Two]

Rodney was in the library a lot these days.

What he didn't understand was why there was no literature on angels. Fallen angels, yes. He put this down to the...specialization of their community, but now that he understood things better, he knew why the other hunters seemed...bored by the wealth of strange and supernatural information.

These creatures were not a result of evolution, or an entirely different structure and hierarchy. They were a manifestation of belief, and that was all. If enough people believed a blue swamp monster lived in the Great Salt Lakes, then one began existing. This creative power, and ways to harness and use it, were of interest to the scientists here, but many of the traditional means of study: biology, ecology, history, were of little interest when they could change so rapidly and nonsensically from one figment to the next.

But the scope of knowledge was still limited. The organization focused mainly on Fear, when other emotions could still manifest powerful entities. He had found a handful of reports that dealt with Christmas. And why did humans alone have this power? Had someone created man and gifted it to him? Was man the product of yet another entity's belief?

He had his own convictions. He was a Christian not entirely based on faith, but based on the daily and present evidence of something more. He still held these beliefs, because beyond the supernatural encounters (which he was now daily drenched in: ghosts, witches, yetis, more than anything he could have ever imagined), he felt sure there was a guiding and protective force.

What, like you need double protecting? Seven huffed.

"I just can't believe there isn't any information," Rodney said quietly, "even if they're only a figment instead of a separate creation, instead of a source, so many people believe in them...how could we know nothing about them?"

Some things we weren't meant to know, kid.

"You're younger than me," Rodney reminded them, closing a report on Sasquatches gently.

You've been here how many months? And you're still fresh off the truck. I mean, I'm not saying you're naive, exactly, but-

"You're probably right. Deuteronomy references secret things that belong only to God. Deus has only scratched the surface. I just hoped..."

Their names weren't in the graveyard, Rod. It was just a wreck.

lurks beneath

 

[its me debz]

He wasn't crazy: there was someone else in the library, buried in the stacks. Leslie followed the faint sound of whispering, until he found a weirdly mousy looking dude talking to himself.

Or, well.

To his weapon.

"Uh," Leslie said, still clutching the book about the wildwoods. It looked almost comically oversized in his arms. "You know you don't have to say any of that s**t out loud, and they can still hear you, right?"

toshihiko two

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Oh!" Rodney said, face reddening, "Y-yes, I know," he said, voice soft. "Was I too loud? I'll keep it down. I'm...sorry."

On the off-chance that Leslie had not just come over to tell him to keep it down, he glanced at the title of the very large book Leslie was carrying, and hedged, "Are you...um, researching forests?"

lurks beneath

 

[its me debz]

Leslie snorted. "No, just being weird." He said weird as if it were both the worst thing in the world, and also an expected outcome.

"Well. Not exactly forests, but. There's this artifact s**t I want to uh, check out I guess." He pulled up a baggy sleeve, revealing a silver shield just large enough to cover his forearm, strapped to it securely. Its surface was engraved with vines. "This ******** thing follows me like a god damned horror movie doll, might as well try and get another and see if it's the same or whatever."

He jerked his head in the direction of Rodney's pile. "You looking at this weird kinda s**t too, or?"  

[Toshihiko Two]

"An artifact?" Rodney asked, tucking his hair behind his ear. They'd mentioned those at the meeting.

"Can I see?" Rodney asked softly, and if allowed, he would gently touch the shield, as if it were made of paper instead of silver.

"It's beautifully engraved. Just ah, some reports on other forest dwellers. ...Sasquatch myths. I hoped they were friendly, but I'm working in the wrong department for that kinds of report."

Follows you around, Seven repeated. I think I...had one of them. You have to uh, do whatever obstacle course some dumbass ancient set up. Why don't you go with him. If Seven had elbows, they would have ribbed Rodney. Get you out of the house.

"Are you going now?"  

[its me debz]

Leslie shrugged, holding it out to the guy, not minding the inspection. Rodney was touching the artifact, after all, leaving Leslie's skin untouched. "Really? Surrounded by all this s**t and you're looking for ******** bigfoot?" He snorted, incredulous. "Might as well exist, I guess. Seems boring in comparison to like, dragons and s**t."

At the question, Leslie tilted his head. "Yeah, was thinking about it. You wanna come with, see what this s**t's really about?"

toshihiko two

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Well, I'd wanted to know if they were...friendly and family oriented, or- not."

Yes! Seven pushed.

"Alright, I think I'd like to. Is it alright that I'm a trainee? ...Do I need anything?"
 

[its me debz]

"Well," Leslie said, "I guess they do recruit all kinds of ******** weirdos so I don't know why I'm surprised."

He moved towards the door. "Yeah that's fine. Just bring yourself, mostly. And your pendant, for the love of god."

Toshihiko Two