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 Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2024 9:18 am
When Evil Takes Root (15) : Destiny City is always being expanded and renovated, so controlled forest fires and forest demolition are common enough. And yet, the forests seem bigger. Darker. There’s no logical explanation to it, but logic has nothing to do with it if you pay enough attention. Sometimes, the trees seem to move--more than just how the wind manipulates them. Sometimes, a particularly mangled tree with sharp bark and long, clawlike branches will stand out amongst the others. It isn’t always in the same place, and it isn’t always alone. They can look like normal trees–until they don’t. And by the time you notice, you’re too close to stop them. In the blink of an eye, they’re upon you. They don’t quite run as much as they do slither, and their branches are always longer than they appear. Especially when they are slashing at you or trying to squeeze you. Some of the trees have strangely human shapes molded into them, covered in dark bark. Hopefully it’s just your imagination but you really shouldn’t try to find out what happens if one of them manages to catch you. Any area with one of these trees will feel unnaturally heavy, and when they have congregated it feels exhausting, as if they are draining the energy right out of the air–and you. They fear only fire and seem to feel pain; if you hack at their branches or peel their bark, they bleed. If in too much danger, they will flee into the trees. Once you lose sight of them, it’s impossible to find them again–unless they want you to.
Note: If you choose to encounter these strange tree-like monsters, your character will recognize they are not youma. The trees either do not understand or do not care to listen to human words. It will always disappear back into the forest before it can be caught or killed, and if any bark or branches are broken off of it then these will quickly wither and petrify. Under close scrutiny they appear to be normal wood though they do not match anything Earth has seen and when dated may seem to be up to two hundred years old. This RP can be used as a battle requirement as long as there are two powered characters involved; you must be interacting with another player’s powered character. This does not count as the ‘one youma battle’ per stage for growth. This can only be used as a battle requirement once per character, but there is no limitation for how many times a player can use this prompt. Even if your character falls unconscious or becomes trapped by the tree, they must be rescued, either by someone else or a bystander. They may wake up somewhere else, away from the trees and with no explanation, but they will feel exhausted and will be nutrient deficient.
She was grateful, in fact, more than anything else.
The reason she was out tonight, however, was simply because of her curiosity. She’d noticed a heavier atmosphere in a small, forested area earlier that day, and while it didn’t feel particularly sinister it threw her off for the rest of the day. It was akin to the construction site that seemed a little too far from Destiny City and was progressing as though someone hit fast forward, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something there. So here she was, some hours later, sating that curiosity.
Jacket in one hand, flashlight in the other, and her hair up in a ponytail because it was just so friggin’ hot, Ekstrom took her first tentative steps past the tree line. The air immediately became oppressive, and the further in she walked the more she scrunched her eyebrows together. She couldn’t place it, but it felt like something was following her.
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Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2024 9:59 am
After her last encounter with the weird trees, Ilmare had intended to never come out this far again. But duty, such as it was, called and frankly, it was easier to find homeless folk or drifters to drain further from the city. She was still careful to make sure no one died from what she did, but well.
It was better to find people with no city attachments. Just in case.
Still, she hadn't found anyone and she wondered if those trees had something to do with that. They'd tried to take that hitchhiker she'd drained. Hell, they'd tried to take her. If it hadn't been for that fire senshi... Ilmare shuddered away from the memory.
The oppressive heat was starting to get to her. And she was fairly sure that she could see shadows moving just on the edge of her periphery. It was time to get away while she could. But then she felt an order aura close by and hesitated. She didn't think that most people knew about the weirdness out here. Otherwise, there would have been warnings. And since she did know, she should find whoever it was and warn them. She wavered for another moment before sighing and stomping off into the brush to find whoever it was and drag them out.
But once she got close enough to see who it was, her mouth dropped open. What were the frickin' odds?!?
"You!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2024 10:24 am
The blip of a chaos aura caught her attention, and it made her hesitate. The development split her curiosity between this weird feeling she got about the forest and wanting to fulfill her duties. It didn’t feel too far off, she thought, and unlike before when she would just barge in like she owned the place, she thought maybe she could watch from afar and leave if it wasn’t anything serious. It wasn’t like this forest was going to grow legs and walk off while she checked that out first, anyway.
With her decision made, Ekstrom quickly changed course and headed toward the aura. The closer she got, the more nervous she was, because the air in the forest wasn’t getting any better. In fact, she could swear it was getting worse...
Something creaked to her left and she stopped in her tracks, turning her eyes and flashlight toward it for a moment. She looked carefully and was just about to relax when someone cried out.
She jump-screamed and nearly lost her jacket and flashlight in the process. Thankfully she managed to hold onto both, and quickly, shakily turned the light toward the source of the voice.
Her eyes went wide.
“You!” It occurred to her that they never actually exchanged names back then. Still, she was relieved and actually happy to see the senshi, so the nerves ebbed for the moment and she managed to smile brightly at her. “Ooh, boy, am I glad to see a friendly face. Something just feels so weird here, I can’t put my finger on it but I thought I could come take a look.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2024 12:00 pm
Of course the knight would wander out here to check on the bad vibes. Of course she would. Ilmare wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or scream, but decided that she'd figure it out later. Once they were not in the middle of the creepy forest.
"We have to go now," she hissed, voice urgent. "Please trust me. We have to get away before..."
Her voice dropped as she looked around. Was it just her paranoia talking or were the trees clustering in around them? There was no handy hitchhiker or fire senshi this time to confirm. The creaking and soft clacking sounds didn't help any either.
"s**t," she said flatly. "I think it's too late for a clean escape."
Scurrying closer to the other girl, she grabbed her hand and held on tight.
"Do not let go of me. Just... just trust me. This is going to get bad, but we'll be okay if we stick together, all right?"
The trees felt closer now. The heavy oppressive feeling was only getting worse.
"We'll be okay."
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Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2024 1:29 pm
The urgency was plain to see, and it basically confirmed her suspicions about something being out here. Not that she had time to celebrate being right. She heard another creak, another rustle, and now mixed with some clacking. It made the hairs on the back of neck stand, and she glanced as well.
That was weird. Were they…closer?
Ekstrom was about to ask when Ilmare grabbed her hand. She gave a nod at the instruction, and glanced around again and repeated, “We’ll be okay.” Somehow, she was struggling to fully believe those words for the moment. She could swear they were moving in, the clearing was so much smaller now.
And then there was creaking, and her eyes went wide as a branch suddenly swung right at them.
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Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2024 3:34 pm
Pulling the other girl close in what was clearly a protective manner, the corrupt smiled. "Maybe not the place or time, but I'm Ilmare and I've seen these things before. They aren't youma, but I don't know what they are. And they can be hurt."
She wanted to say more, but a branch swung down at them and she pushed the knight out of the way, keeping her grip on the girl's hand. Glaring up into the shadowy trees, Ilmare snarled and bared her teeth.
"Back off, you ********! I've torn you up before, I can do it again!"
Pure bravado since they had no fire. But Ilmare remembered how their bark could be torn. And the knight used a frying pan as a weapon! Surely that could do some pulping?
Maybe they really would be okay.
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Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2024 5:06 pm
She would have returned the introduction if not for the sudden, oncoming branch. Ekstrom did her part to not get hit, and glancing over at Ilmare she was relieved to see the senshi was also okay. She was probably doing better than her, actually; apparently this wasn’t her first encounter with these things. The description of them being non-youma somethings brought her back to a very brief encounter with a different senshi last year. Also in a forest, but the “creature” that time wasn’t a tree but more like a cryptid. Bigfoot, was it?
She could look into it later.
For now, the page kept her eyes on the trees that were somehow closing in on them, pan still at the ready. “Ekstrom,” she finally managed after repositioning so she was sticking close to her…friend? She had to be an ally, at the very least. At least for now. “Thanks for the save. How’d you manage to get rid of these things the last time? Maybe we can do the same thing.”
She deflected an oncoming branch with a backhanded swing of her pan.
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Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2024 10:36 am
Ekstrom, huh? Odd name, but Ilmare had no room to judge. Instead she pressed close, watching the trees carefully. She knew how fast they could be and how sneaky. Hell, some of them might even be part of the group that had attacked her the last time. And if that was the case, they might be out for planty revenge too.
Great.
Turning her head slightly to give Ekstrom a fleeting smile, Ilmare decided that being blunt was the best approach here.
“Unless you have magical fire powers, I don’t think we’ll be able to pull off the same trick. Though I would love to be wrong. Please tell me you really do have magic fire powers.”
Scanning the ground, the corrupt was disappointed to see that there weren’t any handy rocks that could be used as a weapon. And she was hesitant to suggest using the flashlight as a club. So they really were down to a frying pan and well. Teeth.
Even ******** better.
Ilmare caught sight of a thin vine creeping along the ground towards her and stomped on it, grinding her heel down and grinning at the high pitched keening noise it’s owner produced. She had no doubt that she was meant to see the vine, but she was still going to do her best to remind these things why they shouldn’t mess with her.
“Bash and break ‘em with that pan of yours,” she murmured urgently. “But stay close. Their bark’ll tear if you can manage to pull it enough. Hell, biting works a treat. We can hurt ‘em, but we can’t really beat ‘em without fire.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 5:07 pm
The page gave a dry laugh and shook her head. “No magical fire powers here,” she said while smacking away another oncoming branch. “I’d honestly be surprised if any Mercury knight had fire-based powers.”
It was a planet of snow and ice, after all. Even at her wonder, she...
The thought faded away as she widened her eyes, though, and she slipped her pan under her arms and chose just that moment to start digging through her subspace. “Sorry, just a minute,” she said, keeping an eye out for more sneaky swipes from the creepy trees while at the same time trying to find…
“AHA!” she eventually cried out, and she held out a blow torch in a pose reminiscent of finding some loot in one of those old handheld video games. “Light ‘em up,” she said as she handed that one over to Ilmare, and after digging for another moment she produced a second one, aimed it at another branch, and lit it up.
The following screech was horrendous, but somehow satisfying. It was hard to feel bad for creatures that were out to get you.
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 7:17 pm
Ilmare wasn't quite sure what, precisely, knight of Mercury meant, but was willing to let it slide in favor of stomping on wandering vines. Still, it was educational to learn that whatever it meant, there was no fire magic involved.
Pity.
She very nearly froze in shock when Ekstrom paused and began to rustle about in subspace, frying pan remaining unused as the trees grew bold and made a grab for the knight. Ilmare grabbed the one and pulled at it, making sure to dig her nails in.
The resultant AHA seemed to startle everyone in the area as even the trees went still. Ilmare's eyes went wide as she recognized the thing Ekstrom held up so proudly. Lips curling in a smile laced with unholy joy, she took the little handheld torch.
"Oh ******** yes," she breathed. "I could ******** kiss you right now!"
Twisting the little knob, she pushed the button and screeched triumphantly as fire blossomed out. Ekstrom apparently had another torch and was threatening the trees with it. Approaching the trees, she swept her arm out aggressively, lighting the seeking vines up.
Was the sound the trees made going to haunt her soul for eternity? Most likely. Was it worth it to drive back a weird predatory monster that was weird, even for the Negaverse? Most definitely.
"Drive 'em back and scorch 'em!" she ordered. "I want them to think twice about ever ******** with people again!"
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Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2024 7:43 pm
Ekstrom smiled, half amused at the sheer joy on Ilmare’s face when she presented her with the blow torch, and half relieved that she was able to contribute to this fight somehow. It was short-lived, though, as the trees, once they recovered from the surprise of her very loudly exclaimed AHA just moments earlier, seemed to come at them with a bit of extra gusto now.
So she was happy to follow the “scorch ‘em” instruction.
The sounds were horrible, but eventually the trees started to back off. Their numbers thinned and soon the clearing was…well, clear. By the end of it, Ekstrom’s blow torch was running low on fluid. Nice timing, she thought, then nudged the senshi.
“C’mon, before they notice,” she said, gesturing to her dying torch.
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Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2024 8:17 pm
Nearly losing herself in the sheer joy of wrecking the trees' day, Ilmare didn't quite notice her little blowtorch beginning to sputter. She did realize that the clearing was remarkably empty and lighter feeling though.
She would have crowed in victory had it not been for Ekstrom quietly drawing her attention to the torches. Right. They should get away...
"Right," she murmured. "Let's go."
She couldn't help but notice streaks and trails or ash and charred bits of bark as they retreated. In spite of the emptiness, Ilmare felt like she wouldn't be able to breathe freely until they were wel and truly out of the woods. And once they were, she turned to Ekstrom and gave her a friendly punch in the shoulder.
"You! You're ********' amazing! Those torches of your were literal lifesavers. You okay? They didn't land any blows on you?"
Maybe it was odd to feel concerned over a knight, but Ilmare knew an ally when she met one. Regardless of a difference in ideologies.
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Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2024 8:58 pm
Ekstrom grinned at the chummy punch to the shoulder. It felt like a gesture of camaraderie that she found unexpected considering how they first met, and honestly she didn’t mind it at all. So they were on opposite sides of this war; that didn’t necessarily mean they could only ever have a hostile sort of relationship.
“Thanks,” she said as she mimicked the gesture. “So were you! And I’m alright. Some scratches, I think, but I’ll live. How ‘bout you?” She gave Ilmare a once over, trying to see if there were any visible injuries or anything that might need some immediate attention.
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Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2024 9:07 am
Knees going weak with relief, Ilmare sank to the ground for a few moments and just sat with her eyes closed. They were safe. They’d made it out and they were safe.
And with luck, those trees would be cowed enough to leave people alone for a while.
Opening one eye, she glanced up at Ekstrom and managed a faint grin. As far as she was concerned, this chick was A-OK in her books. She’d been willing to sham battle. And willing to listen when Ilmare had had more experience in dealing with the trees. Overall, good kid. And a total ******** cinnamon roll.
Though Ilmare would not be sharing that thought with her.
“I’m good other than having to deal with those damn things more than once. I wish I knew what they actually were. Guess I’ll just have to be content that I know how to fight ‘em, right?”
The corrupt stood up slowly, feeling a bit more herself and shook out her arms. Then, realizing she was still holding her borrowed torch, Ilmare passed it back to Ekstrom with a smile.
“Seriously ******** brilliant. But I think we both need to go home and take hot baths now. We’ve certainly earned it. Whatcha think?”
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Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2024 7:17 pm
She took a worried step toward her when Ilmare sank to the ground, but the relieved look on her face mirrored how Ekstrom felt inside so she chalked it up to adrenaline finally giving way to exhaustion.
“Good,” she said with a small, relieved smile of her own. “And same…but I feel like they’re gonna fall under the same category as Bigfoot or those hell-bugs spawning from DC’s oldest tree. I’ll settle for knowing how to fight them.” She gave the torch in her hand a playful shake, looking as bright and cheerful as ever now that they were in the clear.
She tucked her torch away just as Ilmare was getting up, and when she handed the torch over, Ekstrom shook her head and gently pushed the hand offering it back to her. “Keep it, as my thanks for the save tonight. And so you have a way to fight back if you wind up encountering these things again. Hopefully not, but just in case.”
“But a hot bath sounds amazing right now, yeah. Maybe some wine to wind down, too, and a good book…” She was working her way through a pretty good mystery thriller series that she unfortunately had to pause recently due to life getting a bit busier. Maybe she could get back to it tonight.
Looking over at what felt like a newfound, if unexpected, friend, the page hesitated for a moment. It was unfortunate that they were on opposite sides of a proverbial fence, she thought, but apart from these random encounters she doubted they’d see each other much. Which was a bummer, but she left the thought there. She was grateful for a new friend, at the very least, and however often they saw each other she would just consider each time as little gifts from the universe.
“Guess I’ll see you around?”
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