#potw | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

closingwaters · 7 months

Text

TIMING: Today, Afternoon

PARTIES: @eldritchaccident @closingwaters

SUMMARY: On the way to try to get some treats to the Wormmates, Teagan runs into Teddy and they set out to finish the bridges together. It's a gooey mess.

WARNINGS: None

It was ominous, walking around town and seeing the petrified faces of people frozen in time. Their last moments forever etched onto their visage for all to see. It made Teagan bristle, the eerie energy causing a sharp, cold shiver down her spine. Perhaps venturing out to get a pumpkin treat wasn’t the best idea, but being cooped up in the cabin with not even the ability to see Wynne or Arden was beginning to drive the nix mad. The video calls helped, if only a little, to quash the discomfort that came with the creeping loneliness.

“Okay…” Teagan sighed, eyes widening and her mind growing alert at the sound of something skittering about in the darkness of the alley by the building she was trying to get to. Another shiver crawled beneath her skin, and she quickly made her way into the shop to make her mission quick. She was happy to find that there wasn’t much of anyone around, making quick work of buying everything that looked tasty. Which was to say, Teagan bought one of almost everything.

She figured if she could get to Wynne and Arden’s apartment, they’d be happy to have a new snack, so she left the business quickly and got her driver to get as close to the goo as he could. Teagan was disappointed to find out that he couldn’t get very close at all. She was left blocks away from her destination, and now that skittering sound was behind her.

Looking around, nothing seemed out of place. Just more buildings and a few passerby, but there was one who caught her attention. They looked like they were on a mission, heading straight toward…a fire escape? Teagan made her way to them and tapped their shoulder, giving them a quizzical look. “Excuse me, what are you doing? Are you trying to get into Worm Row?”

The conversation online with Emilio had been light, jokey, jovial. A bit more “I plan to prove you wrong” than the actual “I’m fucking terrified that anything would happen to you, Wynne, or Arden” that it was. Teddy abandoned all research almost immediately. The ritual was not a fixed point. It would happen whenever it would happen and Teddy would die and it would be fine because the world didn’t need people like them. It needed people like Emilio who could actually help save people. It needed the kindness of people like Wynne. It needed the hardheaded curiosity of people like Arden.

The car (finally retrieved after weeks of avoiding the place where they were duped and subsequently had a brand new part of themself chopped off) was puttering along with the weight of the beams and boards. Comically sticking out the front right and back left window of the little yellow volkswagen beetle, they added yet another challenge to the road. Avoiding the large puddles of goo, avoiding the people who had been petrified by… touching it? It was hard to say what they were doing, only that their frozen faces made for an incredibly eerie sight.

Ted had to stop a few blocks away, and had already made a few trips up and down with the lumber after finding a fire escape that wasn’t coated in the viscous substance.They weren’t expecting to find anyone else here, and certainly weren’t expecting anyone so… calm? The blonde was a little shorter than them, looked a little spooked, but more confused than anything.

“Ah– yeah” There voice was still pretty raw and ragged. They hadn’t actually spoken to anyone out loud since the incident with the stranger. Void below, they knew they weren’t talking to Levi. Too scared to make the disappointment greater, or to somehow make a bigger mess. Getting in their own head about it. The tail was the same. Why tell anyone when it was their mistake? Their fault. Most thirty-five year olds know not to get into cars with strangers. Not Teddy.

“Few of my friends are trapped in an apartment.” They continued, eyes flicking between the bright spot of yellow just a few yards behind the woman. “I’m building a way to get them out.”

Teagan’s curiosity was piqued, a wave of sympathy also washing over her features once she registered how tired the stranger looked. Perhaps she could help them conquer their mission while subsequently doing the same for her own. The more hands they had, the better. At least, that’s what Teagan thought.

“I…” She trailed off, the skittering distracting her once again. What in Fates was that? Couldn’t be a hunter, could it? No, that wasn’t it. Rolling her shoulders, Teagan refocused, blinking the paranoia away. “Well, I-Sorry. Bit distracted, I guess.” She took a deep breath, shifting the bags of treats around from one arm to the next. “I also have some friends stuck in an apartment. My girlfriend and her roommates.” Raising the treats, she presented what she wanted to deliver. “Wanted to try and get to them so they could have some treats to pass the time.”

Skitter…patter, patter…screech!

There was that noise again, only it was accompanied by others far more eerie. Teagan tried her best to keep her composure, moving on from the sounds quickly. “I’m Teagan, by the way. My people are in that apartment over there.” She pointed, "The one with the bricks missing at the top.”

Teddy was far too focused on their task and distracted by the woman (and her melodious accent) to notice the skittering. There had been noises all over during these treks. But nothing had come close enough to warrant a second glance. The rescue mission was far too important. The same one, apparently, that she was on. “Teagan!” Their expression brightened. “You are in luck my new friend cause that’s right where I’m headed to.” A wry laugh escaped the demon as they visibly relaxed. For some reason, the idea of having two sets of hands and two pairs of eyes trying to engineer their way across made the whole thing a lot easier. Hell, even just having someone there to talk to while they did it would make it better.

“I’m Teddy. Trying to un-stick two of the nicest people I know and one of the grumpiest, but still the best.” A compliment added, as if the sullen slayer was going to somehow hear the joke, and choose to stay behind. Sounded like something he might do honestly. Spite worked overtime for Emilio Cortez. “Who are your friends? What apartment in there? Don’t tell me it’s Jeff. No offense if it is but that guy is the worst.” They met the man like once, and it was not pleasant.

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Teddy.” A grin spread across her face and she tucked her hair behind her ear. Their energy was welcomed, a bright and warm thing. Teagan couldn’t believe her luck that they both had the same destination. “So I’m guessing those boards are to make some sort of bridge then, eh?” She chuckled, a bit hopeful. With two people working on such an endeavor, the task would surely be done that much quicker.

“My friends are definitely not Jeff. Besides, I’m a lesbian. Would not have a man to save.” She scrunched her nose playfully, placing the bags of treats on the sidewalk. The chittering was much easier to ignore then. “My girlfriend is Arden, and her roommate that I know is Wynne. Don’t know the new additions. My focus is really those two.” Teagan shrugged, turning back to Teddy with her hands on her hips. “So,” She walked up to them, eyeing the boards. “Ya gonna let me help or what?”

"That's reductive, lesbians can be friends with guys." Teddy replied with an obvious grin on their face and a laugh in their heart, as they extended a hand towards Teagan. "And yes, bridge making. Got the first bridge to that building up and secured. Almost got all the materials up and over to get to their place." The demon paused for a second, gleefully balked, and began to bounce in place. Their hands joined, excitedly dancing because they just couldn't keep them still. Just absolutely incredulous at the sheer luck that they'd run into someone trying to get to the same people.

"Yeah!! Wynne and Arden!!" They were practically jumping up and down by that point. Giddy and filled with an energy they'd been lacking the last few weeks. Teddy motioned for Teagan to follow and grab the last load of lumber from the car. "And my bud Emilio too, but man. Small world. Or town I guess. I'm hella happy to have a hand. You have no idea how many screws I lost to the goo trying to hold them, the boards, and the drill all at the same time."

Teagan snorted, shaking her head and covering her face with faux bashfulness. It quickly turned into glee that matched her new friend’s, the two of them bouncing as realization took them both. They were like kids who’d had too much candy, kindred spirits feeding into one another despite the way acid began to build and ache in Teagan’s throat at the mention of Emilio. Arden and him were friends, and it was just the way it was. She’d tolerate him if it made her happy. It’s not like she had to speak to him to help save him anyway.

Quickly following Teddy, the nix put the muscles she had been refining with Andy to use. Balance was getting easier to manage, and in a matter of two hours, the pair had created sturdy paths. There was just a small stretch left, but Teagan needed a moment before they continued.

“Need a short break. Getting hard to keep my eyes open.” She laid on the ground and attempted to slow her labored breathing from all the work. Teagan’s sleep hadn’t been the best since having Arden in her bed wasn’t an option, and it didn’t feel right to use the quilt while her partner suffered. “I won’t be long. Once I’m good, I’ll grab the treats and we’ll make our way to victory.” She offered Teddy a tired grin, looking up at them a moment before she closed her eyes to rest. It was supposed to be for just a minute or two, but before Teagan knew it, sleep overcame her, glamour falling completely.

Well that was a little unexpected. Not completely, not in a town like Wicked's Rest, but the… well she must have been a nix or a nereid right? She was so exhausted that she conked right out. In a way, Teddy felt a swell of pride that Teagan felt comfortable enough to do that in front of them. Unless it had been unintentional, the actually sleeping part. Taking a quick breather and taking a nap were two very different things. Ted had to admit, they were feeling the adrenaline begin to wane. They still hadn't recovered from the mines, or the incident with the—

Shit.

Teagan's tail!

It was sliced not too differently from Teddy's own. The demon removed their cherry red glasses, dropping the illusion that they were human too. Blue skin, bright teal eyes, sharpened canines. Their more aquatic features were unfortunately hidden beneath their shirt and shoes, but the webbing between their fingers was enough to show the kinship. Part of them wanted to wake the sleeping fae and ask her all about it, what she remembered, how did she get away? But it was clear she was exhausted, they were too. But goddamn how many similarities did they share with this lady? Using all the patience at their disposal, Teddy waited. Sitting beside her protectively as the minutes passed.

The nap was dreamless, thankfully, and when Teagan finally woke up, she jolted up. She immediately glamoured herself, goosebumps raised at the way she stupidly fell asleep. For all she knew, Teddy was human, and she very well could have put herself in danger. “Teddy?” She looked all around herself, eyes landing on something else. No, it was someone else.

A toothy grin began to spread across the nix’s face, realizing that many of Teddy’s more human features reflected in their new ones. They were beautiful, absolutely magnificent, and Teagan couldn’t help but pounce forward to tackle them into a hug. “I’ve never seen someone quite like you! Dear me, you are gorgeous!” She kissed their cheek, nuzzling into them while she let her glamour fall again as if she’d known them for years.

“What are ya? Can’t be fae. Don’t sense you.” Scanning Teddy, her smile grew further, heterochromic eyes gleaming. Maybe they weren’t a nereid or nix, but the webbed hands and texture of their skin was enough to scream that they were a child of water. “Oh this is a cause for celebration, isn’t it?! We can-we can save our people and then-and then—” Teagan was far too giddy to finish her thoughts for a few beats, squealing with excitement before gasping with an idea. “We can get the treats and come back up to gather our strength with some food and conversation! Yes! Magnificent! What say you, darling?”

A joyous laughter echoed through the alleyway, muffled only by the leagues of goo that lurked around the corners. Teddy hadn’t expected quite that reaction either but it was welcome. Few people expressed their bliss so vividly, and Teagan was technicolor. “There ain’t anyone else like me in the whole ‘verse.” The demon returned her affection by wrapping long gangly arms around her, rustling her hair like she was a kid sister or something before bonking against her forehead slightly.

“Don’t meet too many nixies or nereids on land. You can absolutely smack me for this but I genuinely can’t remember which axolotls are from. That’s what you– Fresh or salt I mean. They’re like salamanders right? So probably freshwater but–” Teddy was jabbering, making a bit of a fool of themself. But when weren’t they? Couldn’t help that they were just overflowing with excitement. Only magnified by the exuberance on display. “Ah I mean, you’re the expert, clearly just look at you!” She was beautiful. It took a hell of a lot of restraint to not want to run off and go find somewhere to swim together.

Ah, but… Well that brought back an unfortunate realization. Teddy’s expression soured, combined with the second question and the unavoidable response if they wanted to give her the truth. Which they did. She deserved that. But not even Arden knew about Ted’s probability of untimely demise. It felt too heavy a thing to place on an already full plate. “The answer is a long story, and might be ending soon anyway. But don’t you worry about that. We have lovely people to save and treats to deliver.” There was a pause, and Teddy’s attention flicked away again. Maybe it was an excuse to change the subject, or maybe it was curiosity peaking once they saw the blunt cut on Teagan’s tail from a different angle.

“That wasn’t an accident, was it?” It was the first of their statements that sounded sure. Sounded like they knew something else, the context without knowing her or what happened to her. “I thought I was the only one– I–” Teddy offered something of a sympathetic smile. “We can talk about it later though, you’re right. We should save our people first.”

Teagan snorted, shaking her head and connected her forehead to Teddy’s. “Oh, you’re so lovely that I’m gonna let that slide.” When she pulled away, she offered another smile, “I protect freshwater bodies, so we’re clear. And yes, like salamanders, indeed.” Rolling her lips over her teeth, Teagan licked her lips and continued to smile, watching the way Teddy met her with the same level of noise. It truly was as she thought; water, salt or not, was all connected. Her new friend didn’t need to be fae to be kin. But her smile quickly faltered at the mention of her tail, and Teagan looked down to avoid Teddy’s gaze.

“Aye.” She sighed shakily, “Not an…not an accident.” The image of the hunter crashed through her mind, and Teagan wrung her fingers together to deal with the overwhelming anxiety that began to eat at her body. When Teddy continued, cementing themself further as her kin, Teagan let out a choked sob, trying her best to hold back the tears. And they were right. They could talk about it later. With people to save, conversation mattered very little. “Right. Let’s, um…let’s grab the bag of treats and then finish up. Been seeing people eye the bag anyway.” She smiled wanly, cupping Teddy’s face briefly before turning and heading back to the road. Luckily, the bag was still untouched despite how much time it had been left alone.

“All right…” Teagan picked up the bag, eyes still misty and red from her sorrow threatening to rush out. She hoped her smile was enough to show that she was trying to move past it. “The treats are—” Skitter, skitter! There was that sound again. “Did you hear that?” The nix’s head whipped around, finding nothing moving about. Nothing. Nothing that could cause that sound. She shuddered, wanting to leave. The goo was making her uncomfortable, probably getting to her, she thought. “Forget it. I-um…yeah! Treats. Let’s g—” Screeeeech!

“What fuck is…!” A gooey creature latched onto the fae, causing her to stumble back. She caught her footing enough to not fall into the goo, much to her relief. “Twll dy din!” Speaking in her native tongue, Teagan attempted to get the claws off of her, but the creature persisted, forcing her to scramble about and drop the treats. Its legs dug into her body, finding painful purchase in her flesh. She winced and tugged, frantic to get the thing off of her as she noticed it’s goo hardening on her skin. “Teddy! I—” With one more attack to her face, Teagan fell backwards, landing herself in a pool of goo and sending the creature somewhere else. Fear overcame her, and she stood quickly only to realize that her entire body, even her face had been covered. She was lucky that the hand that once carried the treats had remained untouched, and she quickly reached out for Teddy.

“Teddy, it’s hardening. I can’t move my legs.” Her voice remained oddly calm, but her body betrayed her. It trembled, continuing to tug, to fight for survival. After all, that’s what Teagan did. She survived. But maybe, she wondered, maybe that was the ending she was always meant to have. Maybe she doomed Arden from the beginning because monsters didn’t get happy endings. It was awful, really. She wanted to live, and for the first time, she was beginning to process and try to heal. Reach that life her and Arden dreamed of. It was a cruel fate, but it was a battle she was quickly losing while her outstretched arm became rigid. “Teddy. Listen to-to me. Give this ring on-on my hand to Arden. Please. Tell—” Her lips were getting harder to move, her breath quick and frantic. “Tell her I love…” She trailed off, no longer able to speak. Frozen and damned, with only a dangling, clawed hand remaining free.

In an instant the moment shifted. Going from one of mirth and shared exuberant experience to a nightmare of panic and ichor. Teddy didn’t have time to react properly, their seated position and strain on their already tired muscles made them slow. “TEAGAN–” Too slow to do anything about the insectoid creature that leapt from the shadows and onto their new friend’s face. Shock wiped the smile from their face as they tumbled forward trying to grasp for Teagan as she was pulled backwards and then– then…

Before the demon could blink, the goo was… encasing her. Changing her. Siphoning life from each spot where it touched. “No no– C’mon NO. NO PLEASE. FUCK.” Their voice was raw, ragged. Screams loud enough that the apartment next door would probably have heard. Enough that Emilio definitely would have. Enough that the dumbass slayer would try and come to their ‘rescue’ if they didn’t get up on the roof to show that they were alive. “We’re gonna–” They choked on tears and panic. “–gonna get you out of there.” They’d been able to save Ted from the crystals, maybe this was the same maybe it was–

Teddy’s breath hitched in their chest, hyperventilating while somehow not getting any air at all. Their head whipped around to find the bug, still skittering around nearby. It seemed smug, almost. Or maybe that was just how their brain interpreted it. Carful to not touch the vile thing, they grabbed the closest blunt object, a spare board they hadn’t needed to bring up the fire escape and swung it with every ounce of supernatural strength left in their body. It crunched and squished into a fine paste, but Teddy kept slamming the board down anyway. Fury rising up where it normally lay dormant.

The alley was too quiet after that. All that was left of Teagan was the hand, clawed and pinkish white. Teddy grabbed for it, carefully. They slipped the ring off, and looked at her frozen face with shaky eyes. “We’ll figure this out. You’ll tell her. You can do that, you have to be able to do that and– it’s gonna be okay. I’m gonna get them out of there, I’m gonna keep them safe– I’m sorry.” They couldn’t take their eyes off the statue. Couldn’t bear to. It was only the thought of losing anyone else to this mess that finally pulled the demon from this awful impromptu vigil.

They were going to fix this. They had to.

#wickedswriting #writings #waving words #teddy and teagan #c: teddy #building bridges #potw

4 notes · View notes

wickedsrest-rp-archive · 2 years

Text

Welcome to the Future || POTW with Alan, Nora, Orion, & Regan

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @alan-dixon @fearfordinner @3starsquinn @kadavernagh SUMMARY: An unlikely group finds themselves lost in what one would call a pretty desolate future. What was once White Crest is no more and looks exceptionally bleak.

As the road shifted into an expansive desert, Regan slammed on the breaks that weren’t there. The car wasn’t there, either. She stumbled and fell into the sand. Of course. She lay there with her eyes closed, feeling the coarse grains between her fingers, and death pulsing around her. What utter bull feces was this? Couldn’t she be done? The coyote was gone. Let that be the end of this wretched nonsense. But she knew better. Even before the wings and the screaming, she’d learned that White Crest was never done.

Regan collected her sanity and craned her neck up, forehead meeting the harsh sunlight. This was definitely not the road, she was definitely not in her car, and there was definitely a lot of death in whatever endless Sahara this was. It beckoned her like the shimmering heat on the featureless horizon, tugging at her senses. Slowly, she rose, squinting into the distance to see if anything or anyone might be here with her. “How did I even get here?” She asked aloud, then silently reprimanded herself for asking a question to which there would be no logical answer. At least not yet. She brushed the sand off her shirt and pants, and realized it wasn’t the fine, tan sand of nice beaches. It was peppery, with bits of various metals and materials within, as if an entire parking garage had been pulverized, including the cars and upholstery.

Regan exhaled deeply from within her lungs, a high-pitched whistle of a screech riding her frustration. Then she spotted it. Them. Not one person, but two. She visored her eyes with a hand to try and see better – she couldn’t tell much, other than that they seemed to be coming her way. For a moment, she expected the coyote to warn her. They wanted to steal the skull, the one that no longer existed. They were a threat. But that warning never came, and its absence left her as uneasy and confused as its presence would have. She would decide for herself. “Hello?” Regan called out, “I don’t recognize this beach.”

Claiming that things had been strange since Rio got back to town felt unnecessary considering nothing about this town or Rio’s life had ever been normal. But he didn’t feel like he was crazy in his assessment that things seemed even more on edge and more off the wall than they had been before he had left. Walking through the common, Rio found himself taking more careful steps, looking around the place as if he was searching for something and jumping at every dog bark or car horn. Clearly, that careful footing wasn’t helping him. It only took a small mound of dirt, misplaced and making the ground uneven for Rio to twist his ankle and fall face first into the innocent person walking by him. His only hope was to grab out at the person’s arm to try to stop himself from crashing entirely into them.

“Oh god- I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to-” Rio froze as he pulled away from the stranger, his attention now entirely lost on them and instead focused on the desert surrounding them. This place looked like it was straight out of a Mad Max film. And it definitely wasn’t the Common. Glancing around, he couldn’t see anything besides sand and skyline, both engulfed in blowing dust. “What the-?” Rio began to question, only to be cut off immediately by an ear piercing scream. Rio gasped in pain immediately, shoving his palms against his ears in an attempt to muffle the sound. He looked around for a source but could see nothing at first. Whatever that was, it wasn’t close by. And if his hunter senses were picking that up it must have been loud. “I uh- sorry. You have any idea where we are?” Rio asked the stranger with him, hoping they might have some clue as to what the hell was going on.

A woman’s voice came soon after, one that Rio hadn’t heard in a while but was pretty sure he recognized. He turned towards the voice, watching a figure slowly come into view. “Doctor Kavanagh?”

Nora was walking. She was very good at walking. If walking was a profession she probably would be in a high paying tier for it. Not that she needed a profession. Thus were the perks of being rich. The other perk of being rich was the innate knowledge that you didn’t need to pay attention at all times because if you broke something you could buy it. Which was why Nora got to be lost in thought at the current moment. Walking down the street. Enjoying the day. Being toppled to the ground as someone landed on top of her. Falling on sand instead of pavement. Falling on sand instead of pavement?

That caught Nora’s attention. “Wow…. How did you know I’ve always wanted to be kidnapped by a stranger and whisked away to an unknown location where survival would be in question?” Nora peered at the boy who had knocked her down, ready to keep the interrogation going. That was ended by a scream. A loud scream. A scream so loud it hurt her poor innocent ears that had never done anything wrong and were infact featured on many websites as the world’s cutest ears. (The last bit was only in her bear form but it was still a bragable achievement). Was there a metal concert here? Were they at burning man? Nora staggered to her feet, swirling around for any sign of the giant man who she wanted to incinerate herself.

Her kidnapper seemed to be doing a very bad job at this. He also had no clue where they were. However, he turned to his accomplice. Dr. Kavanagh. “You.” Nora’s voice, a normal monotone, was practically a growl in this moment. “I know you. You broke my best friends heart. And now you’re kidnapping me? How evil can one person be?” Plus Nora had long suspected she was a serial killer online, but the proof wasn’t in the pudding yet so she kept it to herself.

One moment, Alan was filling up his thermos with coffee and picking up a pastry from the break room (he shouldn't have, he had been putting on weight ever since he turned 40 and his doctor told him that he just had to deal with this being absolutely normal), the next, he was stepping into the scorching hot heat of a desert instead of enjoying the AC of his office.

Feeling as though he'd been teleported back to Afghanistan, the startled estate agent turned around, expecting to find himself completely alone in this big and empty land. To his surprise, Alan found 3 figures in his horizon. He gave his watch a look, then gave one to the sun.

He could have been dreaming, he could have been dead too. Or maybe this fucking town was playing with his nerves again. Taking off his navy blue jacket, the werewolf, pastry in one hand, coffee cup in the other, took a couple of strides toward the trio, waving his hand at them, and hoping (but not too much) that they wouldn't be hostile. "Hello," he tried, "Are you from White Crest too?!"

Walking in the sand with brogues was proving to be extremely tedious, and he could already feel it slipping between his sock and his sole. “Mother fucking sand, always getting…” Cutting himself off, Alan narrowed his eyes and found that he recognised at least one person out of the three. She’d been trespassing on his building sites. And she wore clothes now.

Regan braced herself for anything as the pair came closer – and as they did, she realized one of them looked quite familiar. The other simply looked quite goth. And before they could even get closer, she spotted a third figure, this one alone and glancing around as if confused. Well, at least they had that in common. And wasn’t he hot in that suit? Regan exhaled another deep breath at hearing her own name. A name. The name she so rarely heard these days outside of the ME’s office. “Yes,” she confirmed, glancing hard at the young man. It had been so long since she’d laid eyes on him. He looked… “Malnourished as ever, I see. I might have some sustenance in my purse. Perhaps a protein bar.” She was looking down at the tendons in Orion’s lanky ankles as she dug into her bag.

The second person stopped her. “Excuse me,” Regan said, looking up, a hint of irritation in her voice. “I break hearts on a daily basis, technically, if you consider the autopsy of them and removal of tissue for histology to be “breaking”. My condolences for your best friend.” Her fingers brushed up against the bar she was looking for, and she presented it to the starving child. “Who might you be?” she asked the goth, remaining expressionless at the proclamation that she was evil. “And you, for that matter,” she gestured toward the besuited man who looked as though he’d been dropped here straight from Wall Street. This was confusing. But one thing was comfortingly clear. It pressed against her from all sides, a reminder that this place could never be truly alien. “I am delighted to inform you all that wherever we are, we are surrounded by the dead.”

Rio had been so wrapped up in trying to make sense of their new surroundings that he had barely registered what the stranger that had been teleported with him had been accusing him of. But as the world slowly registered in his brain he scoffed at the idea and turned back towards the “I did not kidnap you. I don’t even know where we are. I would be a terrible kidnapper.” He stopped just short of exclaiming just look at me. But that would only add more fuel to the very offensive fire that the doctor led with as soon as they ran into each other. For the first time in over a year, Rio noted. “Ah. Always a pleasure, doctor. I missed you too.” Rio mumbled, feeling completely defeated. Not only because it wasn’t the warmest welcome after what felt like a long time of not seeing her (especially full sized and not fairy sized), but also because Rio was pretty sure he was the healthiest he had ever looked. Props to Ari for forcing him to eat her real food.

Surprisingly, the oddest part about this scenario wasn’t even the weird desert, but the company apparently. Stuck between a stranger that just called him a kidnapper and a medical examiner who was taking the phrase heartbreaker way, way too literally. “I really don’t think that’s what this person meant…” Rio began, but gave up halfway through the sentence. A fourth person was coming to join the group, and if Rio was lucky at all this person may actually focus on the situation at hand. Considering he was in full suit, Rio didn’t have the highest hopes.

“Hi!” We are from White Crest! Or at least I am.” Rio explained, hoping to be a welcome face for the stranger. As long as this stranger wasn’t a murderer. But as the man got closer, Rio could feel the hair on his neck rising, and goosebumps break out across his skin. Okay, so definitely a werewolf. That’s a start at least. A protein bar was placed into his open palm, distracting Rio temporarily so he could look at Regan and bring a small smile to his face, “Uh, thank you?” Rio gave her a thumbs up and decided against trying to refuse the treat. “I’m uh- Rio. Nice to meet… two of you. Any idea where we are?”

A doctor, a scrawny kid, a werewolf and the bear woman : that was certainly not the perfect line up to get out of a desert. Sure enough, Alan used to work in less than ideal conditions back in the days, but he would have happily switched his current work clothes for the 68 pounds of equipment they used to make them carry. At least he’d have been prepared for this crap. What was he supposed to do in an Armani suit?

“Alan.” A pause, “Dixon,” he glanced at the doctor, then at the two others, then down at the protein bar in the kid’s hand. Poor boy definitely looked like he could use a snack. Holding out the pastry in his hand, the werewolf smiled, a kind, worried frown on his forehead : “You want a piece of my Danish?” It was not like Alan needed it anyway…

Instinctively, the man turned his attention toward the doctor, assuming she would be the most responsible of these three. Her declaration that they were surrounded by death, however, deterred him immediately. “Come again?” Once again he gave his watch a look, tapping at the dial. Glancing up at the sun, he pursed his lips. “We’re still in our time zone,” Alan hummed, rubbing at the back of his head. “Any idea of where we could be in our longitude?”

“You are a terrible kidnapper.” Nora agreed, “You didn’t even take my cell phone. Kaden is going to hear all about this.” Nora pulled out her cellphone to start typing out a message about how his ex girl friend and her little kale goblin kidnapped her to a secondary location and that Alan was here for some reason but she hadn’t gotten around to asking. It didn’t send. She tired three times while the others were talking amongst themselves. “Does anyone have service?” Nora asked, holding her phone up to the sky.

Something clicked in Nora’s mind. Something important. They didn’t have service. In a desert. With out cards. Which means she was going to run out of ham eventually. Nora’s hands started roaming up and down her jacket as she started taking inventory of her pocket ham. How long would it have to last? She wouldn’t be able to order more… She eyed the others in the group. They’d probably need pocket ham too. It looked like the doctor had pocket food too. While Nora thought that was very smart of her, as everyone should have pocket food, she also didn’t trust the doctor to not poison them and maybe eat their bodies.

Did bears eat people? They did right? Nora eyed them. Nah. She wasn’t that kind of bear. Also why was no one talking about the scream? The ear shattering scream? “What was that loud noise we heard? Is that what brought us here?” What if that was some kind of light speed shattering noise? And that’s how they got here so fast. Sick. She’d love to be able to do stuff like that. No wait, Nora reign it in, she told herself, she was getting off topic again.

Regan couldn’t help but think that, even stranded wherever they were, she would have been better off alone. The famished adolescent was clearly lacking in survival instincts, considering he’d thanked her. At least it seemed like a question. Maybe it didn’t count. And then there was the man in the suit – he seemed like he just wanted to get back to whatever important meeting he was pulled from. And… “Kaden?” Regan’s nose wrinkled. “How do you know – my boyfriend hardly matters right now.” Neither did what she just said, once she’d realized she’d said it. Ugh. “I would hardly call that one ear shattering, but unless any of you plan on dying within the next – oh, I don’t even know, maybe a few days – then that doesn’t matter right now either.” Regan brushed her pants off again as if some sand still stuck to her, but her busy hands told her it was nerves more than anything else. Unacceptable. She needed to take charge if no one else would. She scanned the horizon, not really expecting to see anything. It just looked like an endless wasteland. And, to boot, The Goth was right. Her hardy flip phone had no signal.

“Yes, death, it’s really quite impressive how much there is here,” Regan said offhandedly to the Suit Man, now Dixon. Then continued in the same breath. “I was driving past the Common when I ended up here. My car – I don’t know where it went. Who loses their car while they’re inside of it?” Regan shook her head. “Anyone spot some kind of a landmark somewhere? Surely we’re by the beach, given all of this sand. So where’s the water?” But what she smelled on the air was only pungent metals and harsh chemical scents – no ocean breeze and salt. And then there was the death, refusing to guide her in any particular direction, because it surrounded them from all sides. “Or just pick a way. You,” Regan said, looking at Dixon, who seemed least likely to immediately perish, “You appear to have more muscle mass; glowing, healthy skin; and more danishes than the rest of us. Where should we go?” Was it misplaced confidence to think he might have survival skills, or might’ve seen anything while walking over here that could guide them? Probably. But she had no clue, Orion most probably had a severe iron deficiency and could faceplant in the sand at any moment, and the Goth was… well, Regan bristled again at the mention of Kaden.

While the two women argued about who he assumed to be a common acquaintance, Alan took out his phone, pointing it up to get any sort of signal. "Well that's not promising," and it seemed like Nora wasn't getting any more luck than he was. It would have made things a lot simpler, but this didn't mean that they were lost.

"Is it something to do with... ghosts? Can you see ghosts around us?" He knew for a fact that such people and abilities existed, and figured this could be what she meant by those cryptic words. "If we're by the shore, where are the birds? We'd see at least one sea gull," Alan shook his head. A course of action had to be figured out, and soon. In this heat, they couldn't just sit still and wait for help. He was about to suggest that when the doctor gave him quite the complimentary description and forced a thin smile out of him. "We'll get along," he noted, glancing back up at the sky. "Alright, so north this way," he pointed toward the scrawny kid and Nora. "And since we're still in the same longitude, the sea's gonna be East. I suggest we head this way." Truth be told, he didn’t know either where they were exactly, or why they were here. “I was in my office. It’s right by the Common,” perhaps it was something to do with the location, but this didn’t really look like home… “What about you two?” Folding his jacket over his arm, he led the way, hoping that wherever they were headed toward, they’d find support.

The mention of Kaden made Rio perk up, but Regan beat him to the punch by questioning the name drop. “Boyfriend? I’m so glad you two are still together. I always thought you two were cute together.” They had made a good if not odd and unexpected pair. “Actually that’s hardly important. And neither is you thinking I kidnapped you- which I didn’t, just to re-emphasize. And once we have cell service again you can ask Kaden that. Trust me he probably won’t even think I’m capable of kidnapping someone.” Which he totally was, for the record. If he wanted to kidnap someone he could do it so fast and so well. Not that he planned on kidnapping anyone. “I have no service either.” he confirmed, locking his phone again and shoving it in his pocket. For now, the thing was nothing more than a glorified paper weight. Maybe a flashlight or a notepad depending on how long they were stuck here. The werewolf, Alan, was then offering him a piece of his danish. Rio exhaled a long sigh and shook his head, mostly in defeat. “No - I’m okay. Thanks though. I’m really not even hungry. The protein bar is like… sort of a bit between us.” Only neither of them found it humorous.

“Impressive? Not sure I’ve ever used that word when talking about death before.” Rio sighed. The doctor had always been a bit eccentric, so hearing her sound impressed by a certain amount of death didn’t concern Rio as much as it just perplexed him. In his own way, he had spent his whole life around death. But he could never see it the way she was able to. “I uh- don’t hear any water. Or smell the ocean for that matter. I don’t think we are near water.” He wanted to stay vague, even if the supernatural and impossible was impossible to ignore by this point. The last time Rio saw Regan he was pretty sure she didn’t even believe that he could be a hunter. Or that hunters existed. And who knew how Alan would react to the knowledge? The final stranger was a bit more of a wild card, getting a read on her didn’t seem possible.

Well, Alan was just putting cards on the table, clearly. “I uh- can’t see ghosts” Rio hesitated with his response, unsure how the others would take the same question. But the man seemed to take Regan’s advice to lead the group, and considering Rio had no better ideas he figured the smarter choice would be to stick together. “I was walking through the Common. Heading to the campus. I lost my balance and fell into them-” Rio paused and pointed towards Nora, “Sorry again, by the way. I closed my eyes for like- a few seconds max and all of a sudden we were both here.”

If Nora was going to rank all the times she’d been kidnapped, this one was going on the bottom. It was severely unorganized. None of them had working cellphones for ransom money and they hadn’t even tired to tie her hands together. Free hands. She could do so much. Plus the kid was scrawny and malnourished as everyone kept saying. And she already knew she could take Doctor lady over there in a fight. Well, she wasn’t sure, but she was on the edge of sure. “I don’t think Kaden knows he’s your boyfriend still.” For whatever reason, Nora had decided the sub conversation of Kaden and Regan was more important than the main conversation they were trying to push.

“If this had been a better organized kidnapping, you guys would know where we are.” Nora turned to Alan. “Are you kidnapped too, or did you miss me and hire them to kidnap me?” Nora really just wasn’t sure how Alan fit into this scenario. Unless they were so unorganized that they picked up a stray. Really. They should be way more thoughtful in their kidnappings. Nora turned to the kid who had been identified as Rio. “You shouldn’t apologize for kidnapping someone before you get your randsom.” She admonished him.

“I was walking in the commons.” Nora added as they shared what they had been doing. “I was on my way to break into townhall.” Nora had just watched National Treasure for the first and thought it looked fun. Eyeing the three others Nora stared to wonder if they worked for town all. After all, everything that happened in White Crest directly revolved around her. “I don’t see any ghosts. What I do see is a cool bug.” Nora dropped to her knees and crawled forward in the dirt. She picked something up an examined it. It wasn’t a bug. Just a piece of metal. She dropped the piece in disappointment.

“Ghosts?” Regan looked sharply at Dixon, still finding the word to be distasteful, even after her recent experience with a talking coyote being in her head. “No. Not whatever you’re actually referring to. I mean death. Pure, simple death. It’s underneath us. Everywhere.” Wait a second. It was underneath them. Why? Was it the sand? She scooped some up and let it filter between her fingers, but it didn’t feel like the cemetery of sorts that must have been further down. She shook her head. It was a detail that would matter to her and no one else, considering their lack of enthusiasm over a deathly discovery waiting to be found. At least Dixon was doing what she’d hoped, and picking a direction. They trailed toward the direction he’d pointed in. Regan always found walking on the beach with shoes to be an irritation, and this was no different; the sand felt like it could suck her in with each step. At least she’d be closer to whatever she was feeling.

Orion and the Goth quickly made her wish she would be sucked in. “Stop talking about me and Kaden.” Regan hissed, and a high-pitched screech escaped from between her teeth. Maybe enough to make their ears itch, but not much else. She wouldn’t apologize for that. “Go play with your cool bugs and your danishes and your nonfunctional cell phones instead.” Regan kicked up an arc of sand, in a display of emotion that she knew Deirdre would have given her weeks of admonishment for. But– what was that? Something metallic poked through where she’d kicked, black and shiny. Regan squinted and bent down, hoping the others would pause their walking and take a look. “What is this?” She glanced quickly at the Goth, anticipating ridiculousness. “It’s not a bug.” Regan pulled a packet of nitrile gloves from her pocket – always with her – and stretched one over a hand. Carefully, she reached out and traced a finger along the curved black metal. There was more attached to it, ratty wooden planks. The sand was easy enough to dig out of the way to get a better picture of what the object was. And it was beginning to look a lot like the corner of a park bench. Like the ones in the Common.

“Well that sounds like good news,” Alan would have rather this had been a normal day for him. Then, he could have pretended that the lady had lost her mind, but this was another one of those days, wasn’t it? Loosening the knot of his tie, he led the way, glancing behind him every now and then to make sure no one was struggling or getting left behind. And he was doing exactly that when the doctor shrieked about her boyfriend, causing the werewolf to cover both his ears and glare at her in barely concealed offense as she proceeded to throw what he would have called a tantrum had this been a child. “Wow, she really roasted us all here,” taking a sip from his coffee mug, he found the beverage managed to make him feel a bit cooler. Enough, at least, to stop in his train of thoughts and pay attention to that piece of metal in the sand instead. “That’s… could be from a… plane,” he tried, figuring that was the only thing that would make sense in the middle of this deserted hell. Glancing at the other two, Alan motioned them to get closer and help the doctor and him as they tried to dig that thing out. Sure enough, he didn’t have plastic gloves in his pocket (like a normal person), but if something had been buried in the sand, he doubted that would matter at all. Setting down his coffee mug, and placing his danish on top, the businessman took a hold of what looked like one end of the object. “Maybe we can try to pull it out, what do you think?” He glanced at Nora, then at the kid. Neither looked exactly strong enough to help, but it would be better than trying on his own.

Breathing a sigh of defeat, Rio accepted his fate as the kidnapper. “Thanks for the advice” he admitted toward Nora, taking special note to withhold any apologies in the future until he acquired the ransom. Technically speaking, it probably wasn’t terrible advice, though he wasn’t sure the amount of apologies given to the victim really changed the situation much. He also wasn’t sure why he was so hung up on the kidnapping thing considering they still had no clue where they were.

Regan’s brief screech made Rio wince and tried to play it off by pretending he was scratching at his ear rather than an attempt to muffle the noise. Regan served as a constant reminder that banshee and hunter hearing did not mix well. If it had been an actual scream Rio wasn’t even sure he would have kept consciousness. Kaden had been Rio’s expert on hearing, and his expertise wasn’t exactly fae. Although in a way, he was probably the best source to ask about Regan’s screams in particular. Not that he wanted to question Regan about Kaden right now. He had thought they were still together, but Nora’s comment combined with Regan’s general anger implied otherwise.

The discovery of something under the sand was exactly what Rio needed to get his mind off of other distractions. He joined the group in trying to unearth the object, pulling his sleeves over his hands to help shovel it out of the way. “I got the other end” Rio agreed with Alan, partially to try to be helpful but mostly with something to prove. He was sure that they’d still call him scrawny and feeble after a display of strength too, but at least it might show that he’s not completely useless. He found the other edge of the object and grabbed at it. “I’m good. Go ahead.” He nodded towards Alan, putting some extra strength into effort but failing to pull it free. “I think it’s bolted down or something.” Rio suggested, slowly realizing what this thing looked like, but trying to ignore the implication. Plenty of parks probably had benches that looked like this one, bolted down just like those in the Common. He didn’t want to entertain the idea that this could be the Common, but in this hypothetical scenario, it at least gave him an idea. “If this is a park bench-” Rio paused, wondering if he made himself sound crazy by suggesting the idea at all, “Maybe we should head that way.” He pointed off towards the center of where the Common would be located. He couldn’t think of a good excuse to justify why he was suggesting this at all, so settled on a poor lie, “Maybe the bench was uh- facing something?”

Nora watched as they digged wondering why Alan was digging with his human hands instead of wolf paws. As they talked about where to go in the commons, Nora was steadily stripping off her clothes and stacking it in a pile next to her. When Rio suggested the bench was facing something, Nora made a dramatic show of her transformation and started digging. Her bear paws were much bigger than her tiny little human hands which meant she made some good progress as she tossed sand around her.

This was kind of fun, Nora decided to herself. Fun in a 'I hope I find a body down here with a ghost so we can talk about sand' kind of way. Nora did hit something. It was a square piece of metal attached to a little stand that she easily ripped off and threw behind her in her digging frenzy. She was not to be stopped by anything. Eventually she met with pavement stopping her from digging more. She climbed out and switched back into a naked human covered in sand. "Nothing there."

As the sand was slowly cleared by combined digging efforts, Regan only watched with narrowed eyes as more of the bench was revealed. And it was a bench. They all seemed to be thinking the same thing. But was it a familiar bench? And did that matter? Regan wanted to chalk this whole experience up to a bad dream, but the feeling of death all around plucked at her skin in a way that could only be real. She didn’t have any better ideas than what Orion suggested, so she gave him a curt nod. It didn’t take long for them to stop once more and dig around again, looking for something in this endless expanse.

And then there was a bear. Nora had just been there a moment ago. She– yes, she was definitely in that very spot. Regan doubled backward, a scream climbing up her throat, but she locked it inside of her along with her fear. Most of it, anyway. “There is a bear,” she pointed out, looking emphatically toward the other two, “a bear.” At least the bear seemed to have no interest in causing them harm, and started pawing around in the sand. It made fast work of the hole it dug, and Regan wondered if they ought to throw sand over it and try and trap it down there.

A piece of metal was hurled into the air from out of the pit, and it seemed to break into a second piece in the air. Regan turned and watched one piece land soundlessly in the sand behind them. Did she dare completely turn her back to the bear? She sucked a breath in through her teeth and marched back, carefully pulling the object from the sand. It was old and worn, a thick layer of rust covering the engraved letters. Down the center, the object had undergone sufficient trauma for it to tear in two. Regan held the metal up to the sunlight. A plaque. This was a plaque of some kind. She heard Nora’s voice and felt a shiver of relief, but this had her full attention. The death even quieted against her senses, as if it wanted her to focus on reading. After reading it, she could partially understand why.

She called out to the group. “I think the bear dug this up. And it… come here.” Did this even deserve the importance she was giving it? Her fingers, as they brushed against the letters, said it did. “It broke in half,” she pointed out, “but it’s legible. I don’t…” She held the plaque up for them to read. “In remembrance of

1770”

“In remembrance of who?” Regan asked, knowing her companions were unlikely to know any more than she did. Perhaps even less. “1770. This must be commemorating someone around the founding of the town.”

Nora made it clear that she didn’t care much for hiding her true identity, and Alan did his best to pretend he didn’t see her bear form or that he didn’t feel a mix of worry and terror anytime he glanced her way. Better this than trying to explain anything to anyone. “What do you mean there’s a bear?” Turning to look at Regan in confusion, Alan watched as a piece of metal was hurled up in the air by Nora and sent away.

While Regan fetched that piece, Alan turned back to the two others to take a look at what they’d dug out. “Well that’s odd,” he gave the plaque a puzzled look, brushing sand off of its surface with the back of his hand. His brows furrowed at the text engraved in the metal. “Doctor, would you mind coming over here?” Taking a seat in the sand, Alan gave a glance up at the sky, squinting as his eyes met the Sun. “This doesn’t make any sense,” he muttered, reaching in his pocket to check once again for signal, but his Maps app wouldn’t load and his screen stubbornly remained white. “So, what does it say?”

There was a bear. Seemingly out of nowhere. Rio would have been freaked out if he hadn’t been able to connect the dots so quickly. He had learned about bugbears growing up, and had read about them at the Scribrary, but he had never seen one in person. He knew that the correct reaction was to be disgusted as a hunter. He also knew that the appropriate reaction for him should have been fear. But his eyes widened in adoration instead as he watched Nora in fascination and mumbled a not-so-subtle “Woah. So cool.”

That brief moment of awe was disrupted by the flying piece of metal that made Rio cringe in fear and try to use his arms as cover as he tried to spot them mid air. The pieces split at the end, with Regan and Alan both going to fetch the separate pieces. He heard Regan’s first, nodding in agreement once she read it off. The town had been founded in the later half of 1770. It had to be significant to that. “Maybe just the founders? I don’t remember any books about White Crest ever naming any families specifically.” Though he couldn’t remember any sort of plaque in the Common that had paid tribute to the specific year of founding. The thought gave him chills. And found himself wandering with Alan to take a look at the second piece. He read it to himself at first, feeling his blood run cold as he tried to think of an explanation. “Um… this doesn’t make any sense.” Rio stressed, nerves inching into his voice as he prepared to read it out loud.

“of White Crest, ME

- 2022”

The connection was clear as day, though Rio hardly wanted to admit to it. But eventually he just had to say it. “It says ‘In remembrance of White Crest, ME. 1770-2022’”.

#wickedswriting #season 4 #season 4 thread #potw #potw thread #alan #nora #regan #orion

10 notes · View notes

3starsquinn · 2 years

Text

Uprooted || Rio & Solomon (POTW)

TIMING: A few days after Foundation of Decay PARTIES: @shroomsbysolomon & @3starsquinn SUMMARY: Rio runs into baby Solomon in the Common, but after funky time distortion nonsense things get dangerous CONTENT: parental death mention tw, gun mention tw (briefly mentioned)

Something definitely wasn’t right, but Orion couldn’t tell what it was yet. The Common still looked the same, not much out of place besides the lack of people. It might have been too early in the morning for the college kids to be out roaming the open field yet. Rio walked along one of the paved paths, heading towards the campus to find a spot to read. The sun had only just begun to rise, and it was still cool out for the time being. It was welcome, wearing pants and sweaters in the summer only worked to make him run hotter throughout the day, so he loved moments like this where he got to feel comfortable roaming the town. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, but he pushed the feeling away. He was still getting used to being back in town. To the constant state of unease that knowing the things he did about this town made someone feel. The only useful things his parents had ever taught him was that this town was a dangerous place.

A noise came from off in the distance, too far for anyone with normal hearing to pick up. Rio couldn’t recognize the source, so against his better judgment he deterred from his path to head towards the noise. When he finally came upon it, Rio was pretty sure he had completely lost his mind. The only thing out of place here was a branch. At first, Rio was pretty sure it was just some oddly shaped tree branch that had fallen from a tree and seen better days. At least until it… moved. “Holy crap” Rio mumbled. It was definitely moving. Running through his mental list in his head, he could really only thing of one thing, but Rio had never actually seen a Leshy in person. Not one without glamour at least, or so… small. “Uh hey there.” Rio spoke, pretty sure that if a morning jogger came by he’d look completely insane, “Are you okay?”

Perhaps simply trying to find the forest had been a mistake. Memories of those that the young leshy knew, people Solomon knew that lived here that might be able to help him were all that he could think of as he abandoned his search for the woods. Which was just as well, considering his fairly close proximity to the wildlife reserve… of course once he’d finally found his forest, he’d reconsidered the need to disappear into it. That wouldn’t fix this… issue. And frankly, the idea of living an extra one thousand years was exhausting.

Sprawled out in the grass, absorbing the morning dew through his dark, wooden skin, Solomon stared blankly up at the early morning sky. The sunlight crept over his little body as he lay there, feeding him in a way he desperately needed, draining as it had been to be so panicked the last few days. Closing his eyes, the leshy rolled onto his side and curled up into a ball, only to hear the voice of someone behind him a few moments later.

The panic he might have normally felt at the sound had been dulled by his recent experiences, and he wearily sat up, turning to look at the human apprehensively. “No,” he answered, looking back down at the grass. “Small… small age.”

The Quinn household held two specialties. Fae hunting from the Wardens on the dad’s side and Werewolf hunting from the ranger on the mom’s. Rio had studied both, just like his sister despite being a ranger himself. The training became more specific the older they got, but he had learned plenty about Leshy as a kid. And yet none of those lessons ever mentioned what it would be like to encounter a leshy as small and defenseless as this one. It was no surprise, unlike his sister Rio had learned very early on that James and Linda used lessons as propaganda. Knowledge intermixed with stories about the ruthless atrocities these monsters committed. Rio only believed them at a young age, when they came across as more of a ghost story than anything else. The more he learned about his parents, the less he figured these stories were true.

Rio supposed he fell somewhere in the middle now. He figured a lot of those stories could be true, though they hardly represented the entire species. Looking down at this Leshy now, he knew what his parents would think of it. But they weren’t here, and he was. “Yeah uh- very small” Rio tried. Admittedly, he wasn’t even sure if Leshy were able to talk this young. He lucked out that the two seemed to be able to communicate, even if it seemed a bit limited. “I’m not here to hurt you or anything- pr” he cut himself off immediately. He had absolutely no intention of causing the small Leshy any harm, but he had to draw a line after the mess he had found himself in with Lydia. Something that should have been as innocent and simple as a promise to keep someone safe had turned into something so ugly and sinister. “Do you need me to take you somewhere? We should probably not be here once people start walking The Common to get to class.” They were tucked away behind trees right now, but that hardly meant they were completely concealed.

He didn’t know what a class was or why someone would need to get to it, but what Solomon did understand was the warning of large crowds to come. He’d been trapped in a crowd when this all happened, and was not keen to repeat the experience. As much as he worried whether or not he could trust this person, his fear of being surrounded by strangers again was a more compelling motivator than paranoia, and it urged the little leshy forward. “Cutler,” was all he could think to say, trembling as he neared the young man. “Virgil. Nicole. Kaden.” Rattling off names of people he knew, people he’d feel safe with seemed to be all he could do. There was little hope that this person knew any of them, but it was worth a shot, since he couldn’t seem to remember where any of them lived. Staring up at Rio, the leshy shivered. “Help find.”

Rio didn’t really care about the class he had anymore. All he needed to focus on was getting this leshy somewhere safe. Which would be a lot easier if he was more knowledgeable on younger leshy and their habits. Clearly he could speak, but how much could he understand of human english at this age? He once again found himself cursing his stupid parents and their hunter lineage. He mentally put leshy on top of his list of priorities once he got back to the Scribrary. He could probably find some sort of journal about leshy and their aging. If he was lucky he might even find a first hand account from a leshy, which would be a lot more reliable than going off of what some old human dude could say about them.

Rio didn’t recognize the first couple of names, but the third one was familiar. Nicole wasn’t an uncommon name, but was it possible the same woman that had saved Rio from that bauk in the woods knew this leshy? But the fourth name was even more familiar- and even a bit surprising. “Kaden?” Rio repeated, continuously surprised by yet another supernatural creature that trusted the hunter. Rio felt a twinge of pride. “I can get you to Kaden. Follow me.”

Walking slowly at first, Rio turned around constantly to make sure that the leshy was able to keep up behind him. He led the leshy back across the common, passing by sections of the campus on their way to his car. If he could just get the leshy there, they’d be home free and able to get to Kaden. Considering Rio still hadn’t run into him yet, this would be one hell of a reunion. As he passed by a sign, he paused, stopping dead in his tracks as he looked back at the name of the building that they had just passed. “Hold on.” Rio froze, a sinking feeling in his stomach forming as he stared at the name on the building. “This… isn’t right.” Rio spoke, not sure if he was talking to the leshy or just out loud to himself. But he couldn’t seem to find the right words, mostly because none of them made any sense. For his own sanity, he continued to talk out loud. “This building it’s- well it’s named wrong.” He looked down at the leshy again, wondering if any of this was being communicated to him or not. “They changed the name in 99 when they got a new donor. This hasn’t been the name of the building in over twenty years.” Rio explained himself further. Something was really, really wrong here.

“Kid, I’d get away from that thing if I were you.” A voice came from across The Common, breaking Rio from the trance he had fallen into staring at the building. He spun around, instinctively stepping in front of the leshy he was watching over. He knew that tone, had heard it most of his life. As the figure moved across the open field, slowly moving further into focus, Rio could see a small, dark gray object pulled from a pocket. “Oh crap.” Rio mumbled, taking a deep breath and balling his hands into an involuntary fist. Running into a hunter was the absolute last thing he needed right now. “Seriously. Get to class or wherever you’re going. I’ll take care of that.” Rio could see the man’s head angle towards the leshy and Rio slid further over to try to block his view. But once the hunter got close enough, the feeling of dread that had washed over Rio threatened to drown him completely. He was pretty sure he had completely lost it. Between the thirty year old building behind him and the hunter stalking towards him, Rio had to be having some sort of psychotic break. Because he had seen this hunter before. In photos around his home. In the aged stare that he used to get from the man’s operating theater in their basement. In the empty look in his eyes right before Rio plunged a knife into his chest. This wasn’t just a hunter. It was his dad.

So it seemed that Solomon wasn’t the only one being affected by time strangeness… this whole area had apparently slipped into a different decade. While such a meager shift made little difference to a creature as old as Solomon, it clearly made a lot of difference to the young man attempting to help him. Solomon stepped closer as Rio stared at the sign, worry lacing his wooden expression. He reached a hand out in an attempt to comfort but the gesture was cut short by an unwelcome voice. Solomon froze like a deer in headlights, peering past Rio’s legs to try and get a better look at the person that was approaching them, but the young man stepped into his line of sight.

Even though he couldn’t see the gun, the man’s promise to ‘take care of that’ sounded less than friendly, and Solomon bristled with offense. He was afraid, too—of course he was afraid—but the anger was quicker, lashing out like a disturbed snake. Poking his head out from behind his protector’s waist, Solomon sneered at the stranger.

“Go!” he shouted defiantly, little fists clenched at his sides. He was tired, and this inability to communicate was really starting to get on his nerves. “Leave!”

Rio felt sick to his stomach. What the actual hell was going on? Was this some sort of sick dream or fae illusion? Because this was Rio’s worst nightmare come to life. As weird as life in this town had become, he couldn’t actually be standing face to face against his father from the nineties, right? Even that was too far. All of this was just too far. But considering Rio wasn’t waking up, he had to do what he could to protect this leshy. On the off chance that this was reality.

“You heard him. Leave.” Rio stated coldly, fists still clenched and praying this his anger sounded genuine. That James Quinn couldn’t hear the trembling in his voice or the way his whole body felt like it was shaking right now. Hidden behind that top layer of fear was a growing anger. That same primal rage that had led Rio to stabbing his father in the first place. As much as Rio would rather keep that part of him buried deep, he could dig it out if absolutely necessary.

“That thing is not a him. It’s a monster.” James Quinn spoke with venom, the same disgusted tone that Rio remembered from countless hunts he had been dragged on while he was a child. His father had always been the more calm and collected one, preferring to keep an even disposition to balance his wife’s vicious and excited energy. But no matter how even-keeled the man acted, a deep and animalistic hatred of all fae and supernatural creatures rested. In many ways, Rio’s father had been even more of a monster than his mother. He just chose to hide behind science as an excuse instead of facing that evil head on. “Now, I suggest you move on before you end up getting hurt too.” As the man’s shirt lifted, Rio could see the gun in his side holster, the sound of a click proof that James was pulling it free.

Years of training forced Rio to act before his brain was able to. He had never been much of a fighter. He had never had good enough reason to try. But between his forced training with his family to the help that Adam and Kaden had both tried to provide, he had spent his entire life learning how to do it. Putting it into practice was easier in theory than reality though. His form had been sloppy, stepping too far forward and stumbling into his grip on the man’s armed… well, arm. But what Rio did have going for him was the element of surprise. An unassuming disposition plus his own hunter strength. Eventually, Rio was able to grab onto the gun, his other hand holding onto his father’s wrist and then twisting both in opposite directions, ripping the gun from his father’s hand. Rio took a step back, pressing the button to drop the magazine before racking the slide to empty the last bullet from the gun. He ripped the slide from the gun, tossing the disassembled gun in two opposite directions. “Holy crap” Rio mumbled, amazed that that had actually worked, taking just a bit too long to celebrate the moment when a fist cut across his vision and directly into the side of his face.

Stumbling onto the ground, Rio felt the entire world spin for a minute. It had been awhile since he had taken a punch. He felt himself being lifted up off of the ground and made a weak attempt at escaping from the man’s grasp, trying and failing to fight against the grip that the hunter had on him. His back was crushed against something, a crunching noise as pointed pieces stabbed into his back made Rio assume it was a tree. “I have no idea who you are, but stay the hell out of my way.” James warned before slamming the back of Rio’s head against the tree and letting him crumple to the ground.

Solomon’s peach-sized heart was thundering in his chest as he watched Rio rip the gun from the stranger’s hands and get punched in response. That anger that had so quickly arrived grew hotter, crawling up his spine and darkening the edges of his vision. He didn’t know how to fight, not really. Not like anything the two humans were doing, but… he had his magic, wild as it was. Puffing out a breath, Solomon focused his energy and pleaded with the nearby plants to help, waving his arms toward Rio’s attacker as if to beckon them in that direction. The tree he had the young man pressed against trembled once Rio had crumpled at its base, roots lengthening beneath the dirt and twisting around one another to thicken themselves before bursting from the earth. They sailed toward the warden as he stormed in Solomon’s direction, who began to sprint in a wide circle around their attacker to get back over to where Rio was.

The tree roots snaked around the warden’s ankles in an attempt to trip him up, but when that did little more than slow him down, Solomon realized he’d have to take a more direct approach. With terror in his wide, golden eyes, the young leshy clasped his hands together in front of him and extended the length of his own two limbs, new, thick cords of fibrous plant material swirling over his fist to turn it into a sizeable sledgehammer. “Leave!” he bellowed once more, his voice anything but intimidating. Swinging his arms up in a high loop, he aimed straight for the man as he brought them back down, leaping toward him at the same time.

When Rio’s vision finally returned, his head was pounding and he felt sick to his stomach. He hadn’t passed out, the pain had been too present. He felt the thrash, the roots and foliage beneath him digging into his skin as he slumped onto the ground. But his vision had gone dark and all of Rio’s senses escaped him. For a long moment there had been nothing but pitch black and a ringing in his ears. His father, or his father-to-be rather, had put all of his strength into that attack. It hadn’t occurred to Rio as a child that his father had ever held anything back during their training, but it was all too clear at this moment. If this encounter was going to be determined on strength alone, Rio and the leshy were fighting a losing battle.

But it was becoming clear that this wasn’t purely based on strength. Rio watched, seemingly helpless as roots from the ground started to peak up, coiling themselves around his father. The man swept them away haphazardly. He had probably fought leshy before. Killed leshy before. Until the leshy went on a full offensive, using his own grown limbs to swing at the man full force, taking his father off guard and connecting a hit. His father hadn’t expected that. He had written the leshy off as some weed to be extinguished and never expected a fight back. Just like he hadn’t expected Rio to know how to disarm him. The only way they were going to get away was if they surprised him. Rio tried to keep himself silent as he slowly fought against the pain and pushed himself onto his knees. The first step in an attempt to make it onto his feet despite his body pleading with him to stay put. Rio reached into his pocket, wrapping his fingers around the pocket knife that Athena had given him. It was made of silver, because of course it was, and the blade wasn’t big enough to do any major damage with just a few jabs. But it would have to do. Whether James Quinn knew it or not, Rio had a one up on him.

Memories of fighting witches and hunters in the woods came spilling forth as Solomon’s makeshift hammer made contact with the man’s body, thumping loudly as it sent him toppling into the dew-covered grass. Memories of darker times in his life, things he’d done when he was much older than he was now, which was… confusing, to say the least. He couldn’t form a solid timeline in his head, not that this was the time to do so, but instead just got flashes of wildfire in his peripheral vision and the crunch of bones rising to meet his ears. The phantom feeling of the strangleweed that had cocooned his heart for so long constricted in his chest as he took another swing at the warden, letting loose his best war cry as tears pricked at his eyes. When had he become so violent? When had he changed so foundationally into an entirely different leshy? This was not his way. It was never meant to be his way.

Golden eyes flicked to the side to see Rio getting to his feet, and so the fae persisted in his assault. But, of course, his lack of training eventually caught up to him, and the man was able to gain the upper hand. Even as roots and vines still snaked around his feet and legs and tried to pull him down, his hand found the young leshy’s throat and lifted him into the air by the neck. Solomon’s battering-ram hands broke apart and shrank back to a proportionate size to clutch at the warden’s forearms, legs kicking violently at his chest. Even the hits that landed seemed to do little to deter the man, and once again, that fear took hold.

There were a lot of emotions running through Rio’s brain, the forefront of those being fear and rage. The fear was enough to make his hands shake and his whole body tremble as it tried to stop him from taking any steps forward. He had been in this situation before. More times than he could count or care to remember. His parents had dragged him along on hunts as a child, forcing himself and his sister to receive training real time. He had seen this exact scene play out. His parents cornering someone supernatural, his sister staring in wide eyed amazement while Rio watched in horror until he couldn’t take it anymore and hid his head in his arms. So many lives had been lost and Rio had done nothing. Those memories are what fueled the shame and rage in Rio that kept him moving. He focused on the leshy, struggling against his father’s grip. Rio had made his decision. There was no more time to be passive.

Slowly slipping the knife open, Rio closed the remaining distance between himself and the two struggling. The leshy was still fighting as much as he could, struggling his father and causing as much noise as he could. It worked perfectly as a distraction, and Rio crept behind the man and hesitated for only one more second before raising his knife and stabbing it into the back of his father’s dominant shoulder blade, the smell of blood was immediate as Rio quickly pulled the knife free from his father’s skin. James yelled out in pain, dropping the leshy and swinging around, but Rio was prepared. He stepped back, expecting the hook and then side swept when his father moved to kick out at him. Rio swooped down, running the blade across the back of his father’s heel, splitting his jeans and ankle open. The man followed up with another jab, from his uninjured arm, which Rio expected and blocked, wrapping his own arms around the man’s wrist and elbow and twisting, shifting himself behind his father. Rio had never been much of a fighter, but he had always been forced into the ring. He had been forced to fight against his sister endlessly, sparred against both of his parents. It had always been a losing battle, Rio rarely ever threw a punch. But he had observed. He had studied his family's technique and learned how to survive a fight long enough simply by dodging and deflecting. His father was strong and he was skilled, but after years of losing fights against him, the man was predictable.

The moment he was dropped to the ground, everything was screaming at Solomon to run. Too many times had he stayed planted firmly in place, facing danger with a reckless fury that ended in death. He couldn’t do it again. He couldn’t bear any more death on his conscience, not when he’d been spared from the fate he’d crafted for himself with his misdeeds and given a second chance. He could not walk that path of darkness again, or he knew he would be truly lost.

Pushing himself upright, the leshy blinked away the blurriness in his vision to see Rio deftly handling the hunter—too deftly. He knew where this would lead, and he couldn’t stay. He couldn’t be a part of it. His cowardice took hold and urged him up to his feet, sending him scrambling away from the scene. He only had a vague sense of which direction was the one that he wanted, but that didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was getting away before the inevitable occurred, and the leshy was strapped with yet another sin that would drag him to his grave. The guilt of leaving Rio to fend for himself could not outweigh the shameless need to spare his own soul, and so Solomon ran.

With a final twist, Rio threw the man onto the ground, bending down and pushing the weight of his knee against his father’s chest and holding his pocket knife against the man's throat. “I killed you once. Don’t think I won’t do it again” Rio threatened, his face beet red through Rio’s rage and the tears that were now streaming down his face. A confused expression crossed his father’s face, but as he tried to speak, Rio pressed the blade further into his throat, drawing blood. All he could think about was his twenty-first birthday. The relief that he had felt once he finally plunged the kitchen knife into his father’s chest. Rio had always feared turning into a monster like his parents, but how monstrous could it be to prevent someone else from taking lives? Every single fiber of his being screamed at him to finish the job. But who knew how this time travel stuff worked? If he killed his father now, would Rio have ever even been born? For once in his life, Rio had no interest in dying.

Rio made his final choice then. “Stay down” Rio warned, slowly lifting himself off of the man and standing up. For the moment, James Quinn just laid there, an evil glare looking up at Rio. But Rio knew his father too well to know that this peace wouldn’t last. With one more movement, Rio lifted his leg and kicked the man across the face, hard enough to knock the man without killing him. Hopefully. The scream anger in Rio slowly quieted down, and between that and the fighting, it had become almost silent in the Common. Rio bent over, palms braced against his knees to hold himself up and took a few breaths of relief. This was over. By some miracle, he had come out on top. The relief only lasted a minute before he remembered what he had been fighting for in the first place. But as he spun around and looked for the leshy he had decided to help, all he saw was an open field and uprooted foliage. “Crap.” Wherever the fae had run off to, he was back on his own.

#c: solomon #potw #chatzy: solomon #chatzy #uprooted #parental death mention tw

8 notes · View notes