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 Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2024 4:15 pm
Quote: All Bark and Some Bite ( 8 ) : Though still early in the season, some trees have already begun to shed their leaves. Maybe it’s climate change, maybe it’s a parasite. The bark of the trees seem oddly dark, almost black, but on their own they don’t look so unnatural. Maybe it’s just a pesticide or something? There’s no reason to be nervous around trees, anyway. By day, they seem perfectly normal. By night, they’re oddly loud and creaky, but even that’s normal too, right? And it’s just the wind that makes it seem like they’re moving behind you as you walk. It doesn’t explain the low gurgling you sometimes hear from the darkness, like a monstrous, grumbling stomach, and it definitely doesn’t explain how the trees seem to lean in close to you. Or how they grab at you. When you least expect it, the trees seem like they’re trying to take a swipe at you. It’s strong enough to knock you off your feet or scratch you. If you get close enough, you’ll see that it’s not any ordinary tree hollow you’re staring into–it's a mouth. Leaking sappy drool, with a mouth full of sharp, barky teeth. The trees are smart, they never move when you’re looking at them, but as soon as your back is to them, you’re free game. The only thing you can do is try to get out of there before you become plant food. Laeradr patrolled a park perhaps a little too close to home for comfort. He really ought to have gone farther, but... After one of his niblings had come home and complained about creepy trees, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was something magical. He just had to investigate. So here he was, hoping that nobody from the Chaos sides of things showed up to try to screw with him, because he had enough on his plate, thank you very much. He kept half an ear out for Chaos activities as he stepped closer to a group of blackened trees. Yeah, no, he could absolutely see why this might freak a kid out, especially a kid who may or may not know about magical things happening. That thought scared him. One of his niblings potentially being a senshi. Then again, he wasn't too sure that they would openly complain about weird magical bullshit if they had such an identity... Well, whatever, it was weird, and he didn't like it. He felt an aura nearby—some kind of Knight. He turned to look for them—maybe they could come to a conclusion together? "Heya. Know anything about these... trees? Oh! Hey, Lanting."
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Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2024 4:57 pm
Lanting was getting real tired of weird bullshit in city parks.
It wasn't like he was some brave defender of nature or whatever, any more than being an Ida Knight kind of inherently made him? But really. Evil things in the wells, strange moths, and now trees that he swore were watching him. This was out of ******** hand.
He was glad for the presence of another Knight, at least, so if these were violent, he wouldn't have to face them alone. And when he recognized the other Knight's voice, he perked up even more.
"Laeradr! No, I don't know anything, sorry, just...that they're the third creepy thing I've encountered in the parks this month and I am real upset to have hit three nickels."
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Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2024 5:39 pm
"Not the dreaded third nickel!" Laeradr gasped. "I... I have no idea where I'm at. I haven't been keeping enough track. It's just, y'know, October. One of my younger family members mentioned creepy trees when they came home, so I figured I'd better investigate. So far, I've really only seen that they're sort of... blackened? Like, almost like someone took a flamethrower to them or something. I haven't gotten closer to see if there's anything else that's different—not yet, anyway. I don't want to get close. Something about this sort of screams danger." He leaned on his cane, not out of any necessity, but for the simple pleasure of it. "At least if there's two of us looking at these things, there's a slightly higher chance of survival, right?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2024 5:55 pm
Oh, it was so, so good to run into Laeradr again.
"I mean," Lanting sighed, unhappily, "if we're counting individual incidents? Wayyy more than three nickels, especially since stuff has happened outside the parks. But this is my third 'unique weird occurrence in a park specifically this October' nickel and friend, I do not want a fourth."
Honestly, if there was a fourth nickel, he was going to stop counting. Or possibly start avoiding parks, but...augh....the well creatures....
"Anyway," he said, "besides these apparently very cursed trees? There's something super creepy in the wells, so watch out for that, it'll scrabble and sob like someone looking for help and then try to lure you into the water, so that is six kinds of no good. Also, spotted some weird moths with faces on their wings, not just regular moth eye spots. So this has been...a month. So far." And it was only about two-thirds of the way through. Ugh.
He glared over at the trees, like that was going to make any difference, and then squinted.
"Hey, uh. Those...branches..." He gestured at a set from a blackened tree nearby that seemed to be...reaching forward. "Were those always like that?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2024 6:07 pm
"Oh, s**t, yeah, I've dealt with one of those well things. I was stupid, though," he admitted with a sheepish grin. "I was all like, no, guys, we have to help this injured animal, something's hurt and needs our help, and uh, no. No, nothing needed our help, I am very dumb and almost got killed for it. Thank God I have smart friends." He shook his head at himself, slightly amused even though the incident was quite recent. "I'm hoping I don't have to count any more nickels, but if you start getting more than four, I think it might be time to call it quits until October is Oct-over." He waggled his eyebrows at Lanting, pleased with his pun, until he saw Lanting's expression changed. He turned to stare at the branches that.... had definitely not been in that position before. Not until both him and Lanting had been focused on each other, anyway. "Nope," he said firmly, absolutely positive in his knowledge. "How many other trees around us are blackened? Maybe it's... tree-monic possession or something. I don't think we should take our eyes off 'em if we're gonna get in close."
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Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2024 6:31 pm
Lanting smiled, ruefully. "Oh, I almost fell in the first time, too, and someone had to help me out," he said. "Total stranger pulled me back from the edge and made sure I didn't get hurt or worse." It felt like sort of an embarrassing story, all things considered, but Lanting would live. "I've had to pull out two other people myself, since. It's malicious, whatever's down there."
He huffed, though the pun did get a wry little smile. "I wish I could, I'd like to skip this whole month given the chance," he said, shaking his head, "but I don't think Knights get to decide they just don't wanna." Not if he really wanted to be...something. Someone. More than some loser who shared a name with a jerk.
Which he was about to undermine, but oh well.
"Okay, so. I don't think I can heal, uh, tree-monic possession, and I don't want to damage city property by fighting the trees, so. What do you say we uh. Leave? Get out of here? Exit, hopefully not pursued by a haunted tree?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2024 6:38 pm
"No, we don't," he said a bit gravely, keeping his eye on the trees. "Someone has to make sure these stupid things don't hurt anyone. Even if the best we can do is just... warn people to stay away." Without turning, he nodded. "Yeah. Let's hightail it—" The joke almost slipped him by, but he laughed just in time. "Nice one. Yeah. Just keep an eye on them. Don't turn your back. Weeping Angels style."
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