Re: The Woods of Invernesse

[buulord]

"Alright, alright I'm up..." Aaron mumbled quickly as he followed along, not really trying to shake the sleep off. He hoped their turn on watch passed quickly and uneventfully so he could go back sleep.

"So how do you want to do this? I don't really have much experience in the way of guarding" He chuckled.

[Regina]

Marcy snorted in response, not having much of a clue either.

"Neither do I, but I'm sure we'll manage just fine. All we really have to do is watch out and make sure nothing sneaks up on us and attacks us." She sat down leisurely by the watch fire, placing the stone in front of her so Aaron could see it. "'Sides, even if something does try to ambush us, it's not like we're totally defenseless," she added, flashing her fangs and claws.

She pointed to the stone, wanting to keep Aaron in the loop.

"From what I understand, that thing glows bright when our turn is up. Apparently it's really, really bright so I wouldn't stare direcly at it."

She patted the ground, indicating to him to sit down so they could talk.

"Hey, at least we can talk and stuff during watch. That'll make it go by quicker."

[buulord]

Aaron smirked. "Magic timer, cool. I think I've been built more for towards flight than fight though. " He gave his wings a little flutter for emphasis. "Not too sure how much use I'll be in a fight against...whatever it is that's out there."

"But enough about what ifs." He curled up is tail around him into a makeshift armchair next to Marcy. " How's the adjustment for you been?The whole 'not being human anymore' more thing, this magical world, all of it?"

[Fira]

Matteo smirked and gave Ian a light sock in the arm. "Hey, man, it's fine. I don't want my bros facing their worst fears alone. That ain't my style." The reached their destination, conveniently near Matteo's sleeping bag. The naga plopped down with a contented sigh, closing his eyes. There was nothing he loved more than a good sit. He cracked one eye open. "So...If you don't mind me asking..." Do you have a girlfriend? He flinched as the thought barrelled rudely into his mind. Where the fuck did that come from? "Erm...wh-what was the dream about?" He spluttered, reddening, trying to cover up his embarrassment. His tail twitched, the pointed tip of it scratching at the dirt.

Elijah chuckled to himself as he started up on his patrol again. Now that his nagging worry with Emily was resolved, he was in a much better mood. The poor ghost girl must have been so embarrassed. He made a mental note to tell Emily about it later.

Emily froze as the demon passed her, expecting a reprimand, an expletive, hell, maybe even an attack. But he passed by with nothing more than some words that sounded vaguely comforting, even if they were spoken a little roughly. She visibly relaxed, slumping. Her wings and antennae drooped with relief. She hadn't offended him after all. Suddenly, Emily found herself absolutely exhausted. She had a hard time making her way to he sleeping bag, and she didn't even bother covering herself with her new blanket as soon as she reached her goal, merely laying herself gently on the fabric and falling right to sleep.

[Regina]

Ian noticed Matteo's stuttering, and honestly found it completely adorable. He was glad that the boy was concerned for him, but was brought back down to earth by the word "bros". Oh right. They were just friends. He sighed inwardly, deciding to distract himself from that by describing his nightmare.

"Well, it was just me falling...and falling...and falling..." he inwardly shivered. He hated the feeling of falling; it was torturous to him. He couldn't even ride roller coasters due to his stupid fear! "And I was heading into a huge collection of electricity..." Another great fear of his. Amusement parks weren't a good time for him.

"Eugh. It just really sucked. And it was so realistic, too... I swear I usually don't freak out over stuff life this!" Although he was embarrassed to admit a simple nightmare shook him so much, he was glad he could trust Matteo enough to reveal his worst fears and not worry about the other boy mocking him for it.

Marcy tilted her head to the side, not quite expecting such a question. No one had really been discussing how they were taking their situation, after all.

"Huh. Didn't expect that question. I suppose I'm handling it okay. I mean, this was sudden, and being taken from our world and thrown into this much more dangerous one and being told that we're responsible to save it was a huge shock, but I guess it was for everyone. The scales are weird, and being stuck with a bunch of strangers is still taking some getting used to, but I guess I'll adjust."

She paused, taking in everything she just said. Those thoughts had been floating around in her head, but she had never really talked about them. All in all, while the situation was still very odd and confusing, she supposed it could be worse. She did already have a love interest, after all! She slyly peeked around Aaron to glance at August, not being subtle in the least.

"Heh heh, yeah, I'll adjust just fine..." She remarked nonchalantly. She turned back to Aaron, returning the question.

"So, how bout you? How's being a giant winged snake thing working out for you?"

[buulord]

Aaron followed her gaze and smirked "Strangers for not much longer I think."

Turning back to face her he said cheerfully. "I absolutely love my wings. Back home I was a pilot so this is basically a dream come true for me." He leaned forward a bit and stretched his wings out behind him as far out as they would go. "They'll take some getting use to and i haven't exactly given them a proper flight test yet, but I think these guys are gonna be what I'll miss the most when we go home."

Aaron sighed. There was no way flying in a plane was going to be able to compare to actually being able to fly. He'd always be thinking of what he was missing back here. Maybe...no. That was thinking for another day.

"The only thing that sucks about this is this tail. Its not terrible mind you, but you miss having legs after a while."

[Fira]

Matteo sighed, glad that Ian hadn't commented on his sudden embarrassment. However, the description of the dream was interesting to him. "Falling, huh...? I have an awful fear of heights, so I can definitely understand that one..." He trailed off, shuddering at the idea of it. "Jeez, man, I can understand why you'd be so freaked out."

The snake boy paused for a moment to think, then grinned. He had an idea. "Hey, how bout you move your sleeping bag over here? We can chill for a while and you can wake me up if you have another nightmare." Oh man, that sounded kinda weird in hindsight, he better fix that. "It'd be like a sleepover! Just a couple of bros hanging out and stuff. Yeah." He chuckled awkwardly, still unsure whether that would be taken the right way. He wasn't even sure which way WAS the right way at this point. "...So, how bout it?"

[Regina]

Ian smiled, glad that Matteo understood. It was nice to have someone to share those kinds of things with. Goddammit, why was he both cute and considerate?

"Sure. That would be great!" He smiled and quickly dragged his sleeping bag near Matteo, falling asleep with a new sense of security.

***

"Heh. I can understand missing your legs. Hey, you're just like that other snake-boy!" She exclaimed, referring to Matteo. However, before she could say anything else, the stone glowed painfully, and she hissed, shielding her eyes. She gently woke up August, handing over the watch duty to him and Bobby. As the two stood watch, she unsubtly brought her bag over to August's set up.

The two exchanged smiles as August woke up Lacy, whose eyes flew open upon August's arrival. She sat still for a second, silent tears threatening to fall, but after a moment she was her old self. August passed on the watch duty and feel asleep, his hand mere inches away from Marcy's.

Lacy yawned and rubbed her eyes as she made her way to (slime) Aaron.

"Hey. It's our turn to take watch." She guested him to follow her, still too hazy to make any clever remark.

[Captain]

Lacy was talking. Right. "Okay. Let's go."

On the way, he started talking. "You know what's weird? Not sleeping. It's weird because I've been used to sleeping since... well, since forever. It's normal! People sleep! They've gotta sleep. It's in the genetic code to require sleep to function, so they just do - they sleep!"

"But that's the weird thing because I don't need to sleep right now. I mean, I've been through nights that feel like I don't need to sleep and I'm hyper the next day but that's not like this; I mean I don't have to sleep! It's a weird feeling because it's dark and you'd expect to be feeling tired, but I'm not, and I'm not gonna be tired, not tonight, not tomorrow, and possibly not ever again! It's just that I'm never gonna ever be sleepy ever ever ever again, and that's just really weird!" He'd already accepted the potential of being stuck in Invernesse and it really didn't bother him. The slime body was starting to grow on him, too.

"It's like not needing to eat! Which I don't have to, either! The two big things I always have to do and that every human always has to do are sleeping and eating. And pooping. And I don't have to do any of them! Not a one! It's weeeeeird, man."

He suddenly remembered he was talking and talking was a thing people didn't always like, so he shut up.

[Regina]

Usually, Lacy would have made a sassy remark, or at least commented on Aaron's endless, hyperactive rambling. But she was consumed by complete and utter terror which drained the color from her face. The several hours of pure nightmares (which weren't numbed by the alcohol at all) had certainly taken their toll, but she would have snapped out of her horrified stupor if not for the fact that the watch post was by a live fire.

She broke out into a cold sweat, her many legs trembling ever so slightly. Thank goodness Aaron was oblivious and that she was so good at concealing her fear. Because right now, her heart felt like it would beat right out of her chest; a strange ringing sounded in her ears, and her vision blurred so much it was all she could do to keep walking. Heat and screams of agony filled her brain and she was walking, leading Aaron to watch without realizing that she was.

As soon as they reached the watch spot (she hadn't comprehended a word the slime creature had said), she quickly tossed down the stone and took out her flask, draining the last of the alcohol in one gulp. That helped her a little bit. She took a deep breath and quickly skittered past the fire, standing with her back to it. If he asked, she would just say that there was plenty of light from the fire and the slowly-rising sun to be able to see without being right next to the pit.

She knew she should say something: in any normal circumstance, she would. Perhaps she wouldn't say anything flirty, but she would talk to him and joke around and make light of the situation, but right now, in an unfamiliar world, fear had prevented her from saying anything remotely positive. It wouldn't take much for her to snap out of it, but for now, she would use the excuse of being very diligent on watch to not talk.

[Captain]

Aaron noticed something was wrong with Lacy. He considered saying something, but when she pulled out a bottle and drank something, seeming to feel a bit better afterwards, he decided against it.

Reaching the lookout spot, he had a thought. Patting a tree with his hand, he saw what he expected - his hand went into the tree and a very small portion of where he touched the tree dispersed. He frowned and patted it again, excited when he discovered that his hand was NOT absorbed and none of the tree disappeared. Having another thought, he patted the spot again, disappointed with no result. He closed his eyes and tried again, opening them to look at his hand. Dissatisfied again with the results, he punched himself in the face a few times, causing a strange glooping sound to permeate the area, before he punched the tree. Bringing his hand back, there was definitely an imprint of the tree on his hand. "YESSS!!!" he yelled, and smacked headfirst into the tree.

Returning back and turning to Lacy, he rather looked like a giant ball of yellow translucent molding clay, with the imprint of a tree on it. He waved to get her attention and waited a moment before snapping back to normal. Or rather... glooping back to normal.

"DIDJA SEE? DIDJA SEE? I DID A THING!"

[Fira]

Matteo sighed quietly, relieved that his suggestion didn't freak Ian out. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on with his emotions tonight, but he decided to just sleep on it. Maybe he'd figure it out tomorrow. After a couple seconds of squirming into the curled-up position he favored for sleeping, Matteo exhaled, relaxed, and drifted slowly off to sleep.

~~~

At the edge of the camp, near an old, leafless tree, the blue harpy watched the travelers with a malicious glint in its eyes. Like the rest of her kind, the creature had gone mad from the corruption, losing her humanity and becoming little more than a cunning, vicious animal. She once had memories of a quiet town, a quieter coffee shop, and many wonderful books, but most of them had been extinguished when she had been taken to this strange, broken world. The only one that remained was a negative one, as the corruption was wont to leave behind, and the harpy replayed it over and over in her mind, maddeningly.

A boy. A darker-skinned boy with messy black hair, annoying her over and over and over with his unwanted advances and infuriating speeches. He assumed she had actually listened to him, back when the creature was human and cared about such silly things as politeness, but really she had spent that time hiding behind her book and hating him, quietly, wishing for someone or something to come along and rescue her from the situation.

As soon as she had seen the same boy, now a naga, in the circle they had all been taken to, she had retreated to the trees, watching him, hating him, but too wary of the others to make a move. She had followed the group quietly ever since, waiting for her moment to strike and repay him for all of the embarrassment he had caused her. The moose had seemed like a good idea, but the hated boy's companions had killed it with ease and not a single injury, only proving the harpy's suspicions of how dangerous they were.

Unfortunately, the death of the moose had left her without a single plan, and she was growing impatient. A noise, a strange, hissing, broken call echoed from the trees, startling the blue harpy out of her reverie. She fluttered up to the top of the old tree in a panic, knowing that all of her planning would be useless if she got eaten before she had a chance to enact it. However, her extra weight was too much for the ancient tree, and its termite-infested trunk was far too weak to support it. It cracked, then with a crunch like a skull being stepped on as its trunk gave out, the tree leaned and toppled over. The harpy screeched in surprise and flapped upwards, watching the leafless tree's descent. It landed heavily in the camp, awakening everyone who had been sleeping, and crushing two of their party, who had made the mistake of pushing their sleeping bags together and sleeping too close to the edge of camp.

There was a brittle crunch, like a bundle of sticks getting stepped on by a giant's foot, and then, silence. Blood flowed slowly out from beneath the massive trunk, staining the white feathers of an angelic wing.

[Regina]

Aaron's kidding around snapped Lacy out of her stupor. She chuckled in amusement, his energy and excitement beginning to rub off on her. Sure, he wasn't someone she would want to get with, and sure, he was very energetic, but he seemed to mean well and he wasn't a jerk, at least.

"Heh. Well, look at that. I guess-" She was interrupted by a sickening crash that shook the entire campground. She stared, jaw dropped at the fallen tree and the seeping blood. Her flask dropped from her hand, landing with a hollow clunk.

Ian jolted awake, the crash chasing away any hope of getting a good night's sleep. He rubbed away the fuzziness that clouded his eyes, his sleepy brain not yet processing what was happening. He turned to Matteo, yawning.

"What was that...?" He turned his head to face the source of the noise, his eyes flying open as he viewed the scene. He opened his mouth in a silent scream, the blood rapidly draining from his face. When he fully understood what was happening, that the crunch was of bones, that the blood flowing out belonged to members of their group, that someone was dead, his head felt light. In another moment, he was passed out for the second time that day.

April regretted that she wasn't able to react in time. She would always regret that she hadn't smelled whatever it was that knocked down the tree, that she hadn't transformed fast enough and ran over, that she couldn't wake them up or physically move them. She dove under it, hoping against hope that she would manage to block the blow or somehow protect the two of them, but she simply passed through it, as she always did and always would. She stared wide-eyed in horror, a whine forming in her throat. She threw her head back in an agonized howl, not thinking that the sound could alert enemies.

August and Marcy lay under the toppled tree, their heads and torsos covered by the trunk. They were killed instantly, their skulls crushed in a second. It was too sudden for them to feel pain. They hadn't even begun to wake up as the tree fell. The bottoms of their sleeping bags were uncovered, but quickly bloodstained. If one were to somehow move the timber, they would view a ghastly sight: heads crushed too much to be recognizable, clumps of hair matted by red liquid. Organs leaking fluids that mixed with the blood, covering the whole mess a nasty scarlet. One of August's wings was peeking out ever so slightly, the top half resting on the grass next to the bodies. The two were dead for sure.

[Captain]

Aaron did not react well. It was painfully obvious he'd never seen death before. He stood rooted to the spot, trembling slightly and somehow managing a whispered, stuttered "wha-a--aa-a-a-at???".

Hope did not react the same. Once jolted awake, he was instantly on the site, moving far too much like a cat for it to be normal. Batting a few feathers away to clear his sight, he noted the cracked branch. Grabbing onto the tree, he shimmied up to the broken segment, climbing atop the nearest branch to it and inspecting it. Grunting once, he dropped back to the ground and carefully stepped around the blood to look at the branch itself.

He ran his hands lightly over the wood, leaning in close to look well and intentionally ignoring the others. Seeing nothing, he grimaced at the quickly gathering group, grabbed hold of the trunk, and pulled it towards him.

The bone-crunching seemed louder now, now that nobody was speaking and all were gathered in horrified silence. The branch rolled over the remaining skull and off onto the spilled blood. Hope no more than bit his lip as he continued his search over the bloodstained bark. Suddenly he stopped, his fingertips detecting claw-marks. He stood and looked up. "This was not happenstance. We were not alone."

[Fira]

Elijah had been clear on the other side of camp when the tree had fallen, so by the time he reached the site, Emily and Matteo were already there. Matteo looked shell-shocked, blank and confused. How could this have happened? Just yesterday they had been a happy, if a bit large, group. Their travels had been going peacefully. The watch had been uneventful. And then, all of a sudden, two lives had been brutally extinguished. He just couldn't process it, and stared vacantly at the scene of their deaths, cringing and turning away when Hope moved the branch to expose the bodies fully.

Emily sobbed quietly to herself, having fully realized that two of their party had died, and not peacefully. When Hope moved the tree, she paused in her sobbing and forced her eyes open, feeling that she needed to see what had become of her friends. However, now that the wings were fully exposed and she could see the extent of their injuries, she only felt worse. "Oh, god...I-it's August...August and...M-marcy..." She wailed, her crying beginning anew. August had only been kind to her, helping her down from that tree when the moose attacked and giving her time to collect her feelings before she talked to Elijah again. And Marcy...while they had never talked, she still thought Marcy was sweet. Neither of them deserved to die like this, so horribly.

Elijah took all this in in the course of about half a minute and hurriedly went over to Emily to try and comfort her. He hugged her gently, whispering consoling words to her in an attempt to calm her down. This was one of those rare times that he cursed his robot self for not having as much empathy as he used to. He didn't feel very bad about the deceased at all, beyond a simple disappointment that he hadn't been there to try and prevent it. He looked up when Hope made his announcement, processing this new information. Something- or someone- had caused this. He clenched his hands. His patrolling hadn't been good enough. He had failed. The one thing that pissed him off more than anything else was failure. "Whoever did this...I'll kill them. I will rip them apart. This cannot happen again." He growled out his declaration, irritated but not wanting to make the situation any worse.

Thorb was the last to wake up, blinking awake drowsily and turning to look at the scene with a confused expression. He felt exhausted, and significantly weaker for some reason. He'd probably slept too much. With a sigh, he got up and waddled numbly over to the rest of the group to see what had happened. "S'cuse me, coming through..." He pushed through to the front of the small crowd and gasped when he saw the carnage, his eyes widening and the color draining from his face. He spluttered, unable to grasp the situation. "Wh-what...? How...how could this have happened....?"

Elijah turned and filled him in with a monotone voice. "August and Marcy have been killed. This tree is the cause, and according to Hope, this was no accident. Something or someone pushed it."

Thorb gulped. Something had done this during the watch? He knew he should have felt outraged, upset, maybe even a little crushed to know that his watch plan had failed, but instead he felt....nothing. Just numb and exhausted and weak. He wobbled dangerously and toppled over, sitting roughly on the dirt and barely able to keep his eyes open. Elijah stepped back, surprised. He thought for sure that Thorb would have had the strongest reaction of the group, but instead he had just sat down. Had the shock gotten to him? Either way, neither him nor Ian were safe here. He left Emily and lifted Thorb gently, carrying him closer to the fire before coming back for Ian. He hefted the merboy, a little surprised at how light he was. "I can't be any help here. I'm going to keep watch on these two until they wake up." With those simple words of explanation, he left the group to go stand by the fire.

Emily gave Hope a worried look, unsure of what to do now that Elijah had left. Matteo shook his head vaguely, trying to regain control of himself and decide what to do next. He spoke up quietly, looking everywhere but the bodies. "I think...we should bury the bodies. Or burn them. If we just leave them here, they're only going to attract predators." He shuddered. "As for the culprit...I doubt anyone here did it. And it's too dark to go hunting for who did. I hate to say it, but...I think we're just going to have to let this go unpunished. We've got to keep going like normal. The sooner we get out of Invernesse, the less likely it is that someone will...die, again."

[Captain]

Hope shook his head at Elijah's suggestion. "It certainly doesn't look like anyone pushed it, per se." He skimmed back to the cracked portion and tapped at the wood fragments. "See, the wood's not really new or even living. There are no leaves, but that ain't a definition of a dead tree, but if you look closely, it's pretty clear that this wood is either fuckin' dead, or been close enough to dead to manage, but it looks damn fuckin' near petrified enough to have been an accident."

"But check this," he said, running his fingers back to where he'd been before, "the dead wood isn't the only thing, because we've got nice, brand-new scratches here." He tapped the claw-marks running perpendicular to the bark. "You can tell they're new normally because of green showing, because that'll fade within 24 hours, but this tree ain't that alive. That ain't the point. Check it." He rubbed the mark lightly. "This is far lighter than the wood on these scratches," he pointed to some obviously old ones. "See, that's because weather wears it down, and even though this'd be a lower branch, it'd still get darker than the bark given half a day."

He looked up. "In addition, this ain't the biggest branch in the tree. By far. Plus, it was protected by this tree over on this side," he gestured to his right, "so it'd have worn down slower. Which means," he continued, "we had a friend perching here." He looked back to the marks. "Given the scratches, I doubt this was intentional, since I can't fuckin' fathom a way claws CLOSING would knock a branch DOWN." He stood. "Chances are, rather, that the thing was on it, and its weight pulled the branch out of place, surprising our friend into fleeing."

He looked around. "Anybody hear anything suspicious right before the branch fell? Possibly AS it did?"

[Fira]

Matteo sighed, still refusing to look at the bodies. "Hope, this is some great forensic work. You should be a cop. Oh wait, you can't! Cause we're trapped in the fucking forest with two dead bodies on our hands and no sign of a culprit beyond these scratches!" He rubbed his forehead with one hand, obviously frustrated. "Look. I appreciate the info, but we're probably never going to find who did this. And even so, two of our friends are...dead." He had to force the word out, his voice cracking a little. "...We should at least give them a proper send-off. Or at the very least, a decent one so we don't attract any predators. I don't know about you, but I'd appreciate not being eaten tonight."

Emily trembled, her wings and antennae drooping. She seemed to have gotten some control back, but she was still quieter than usual when she spoke, her voice hoarse. "I...I agree with Matt...We have to honor August and Marcy, first...Th-they wouldn't have wanted us to k-kill ourselves trying to find a culprit...I think..." She trailed off, unable to say more.

[Captain]

Hope wrinkled his nose at Matteo's words. "Whoa. So death happens every day and you're more fuckin' worried about that it happened to somebody you saw than you are about how it happened, what kind of world you might be living in, how you might avoid such bullshit in the future, and just how that might fuckin' affect your chances at finishing this quest?" He shook his head. "Don't tell me you feel like you actually KNEW them after... what, a day? If that?"

He grunted in disgust as he turned to walk towards camp, around the branch. "I'm in the middle of a strange world with danger fuckin' everywhere, and surrounded by non-warriors. Fan-fuckin'-tastic." Waving dismissively as he passed the others, he added, "Do with the bodies as you will. S'not my prerogative."

[Fira]

Emily turned to watch him go, looking upset. She didn't want to make the situation any worse but she didn't want everyone to hate each other either and she was just so unsure. She spoke up, her voice a little stronger. "H-hope! Don't leave!" She looked down and away, feeling like an idiot for deciding to speak. "I...don't think Matt didn't care about why they died, he just...he wanted to get the...bodies out of the way before they attracted something. P-please don't go..."

Matteo exhaled, cooling down a bit, and went to follow Hope, not wanting him to have the last word. "Yeah, you're right, I didn't know them. But we were all supposed to get home safely and now they can't thanks to some freak accident. If that doesn't matter to you then you've got to be pretty fucking cold." He shook his head, moving on before he started another argument about ethics.

"And besides, realistically, trying to find a culprit while it's still dark out, with three members of our party passed out, nearly so, or watching those left behind, and with two bodies that could very easily attract predators is just not a smart move." He frowned, stealing a glance at two deceased. "Trust me, I'd love to find out what happened to them. But we've got to have priorities. And I'm no robot, so I can't calculate our best options or any of that shit, but I think we should take care of the bodies first before we go hunting for clues. Fighting about it, or just getting up and leaving, won't change my stance." He crossed his arms, determined to defend his point and not intimidated by the demon one bit. He might have been before, but it was obvious this guy was just another stubborn asshole like Elijah.

[Captain]

"Cold?" Hope stopped and half-turned. "I'M cold." He shook his head. "Lemme guess. You grew up in a small town where nothing of significance happened until your dumb ass landed in this world, suddenly steel and shit. Your whole life has known nothing but maybe a dot of depression. Maybe it got so bad you got suicidal. Hooray." He turned and faced Matteo.

"Try living in a city where your life is a fight for breathing from 10 years old on. Try moving in a world where death isn't only common, it happens daily. It's a fact of life. You deal with it and move on, or you let the guilt and despair crush you until it's your life taken. Be it by yourself or a fuckin' gun at blank point, it HAPPENS. Try living in that world and calling me cold. Because life happens and death happens, and you get used to it and don't cry needlessly over those you weren't close to, or you don't." He shook his head. "I don't fuckin' fault anyone for being empathetic and emotional most times, so I'd thank you for not judging me for acting as I do in my element."

[Regina]

Lacy had moved in front of Aaron, blocking him from the disgusting view in an oddly protective move. She was obviously disheartened by the recent events, and reached down for her flask to drink away the shock and confusion, dismayed when she discovered it empty. As sickening as it was, she couldn't help but look at the bodies, still making sure that the slime boy didn't have to see them. The first thing she felt wasn't grief over the loss of two of their group, but the urge to consume their bodies, to savagely feast on their broken flesh and muscle. The suggestion to burn the bodies snapped her out of it, the simple idea of a flame big enough to melt away the two of them scaring her.

"Bury them... let's not let the fire attract other creatures." Her comment was lost in the forensics analysis and the knowledge that the tree didn't just fall, that it was caused by someone else. She paid no attention to the snarky comments, but focused on the fact that something, deliberately or not, was the reason two of the group were dead. However, the fighting was getting obnoxious and distracting, and definitely not helping the headache that was forming.

"All RIGHT, already! We get it! You two are very different from each other and the shock and despair from this epidemic has shortened everyone's nerves. None of us are physically or emotionally stable right now, and fighting won't help us one bit! Pick up this debate once we're past the fact that dragongirl and angel-boy are fucking dead." She glared at Hope and Matteo equally, thoroughly fed-up with them. "Now. If you two were observant, you would have fucking noticed that we have a werewolf who could probably track whatever it is with the added bonus that, oh yeah, she can't be hurt."

She guested to April, who indeed had been busy. Although the bodies were enough to make her sick, she still examined the scene, sniffing rapidly. She ignored the scent of the dead, of the blood and organs, of the tree, of the animals that were living in it, but something was out of place. There was a scent that should have been unfamiliar; she didn't know what it was, but she had smelled it before. She could have smacked herself: when she was patrolling earlier, she had picked up the scent, but dismissed it as harmless.

She looked up when Lacy mentioned her, nodding at the spidergirl in understanding. She transformed into her wolf form, pacing, trying to pick up the scent. Her ears picked up as she tracked it from the top of the tree to the forest, growing panicked as the scent quickly grew faint and was soon lost. She turned back and returned to the group, her head down in shame.

"Sorry... The scent is gone. Whatever it was is either really good at covering its tracks, or just flew away. I'm such an idiot!" She threw a hand over her eyes, her ears pulled back in dismay. "I had picked up on whoever that was earlier! I didn't even realize it could be dangerous..."

Ian, meanwhile, had slowly woken up, confused and disorientated. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

"Wow. That was an awful dream. Thank god it's over..." He voiced to no one in particular. He let out a small laugh of relief, thankful that the nightmare had passed. "I dreamt that August and Marcy died under a tree..." He started to sit up before he caught sight of the uncovered bodies. The reality of the situation and the blood and the bodies and the blood was too much for him, and he passed out once more.

[Fira]

Emily squeaked as the fighting got worse, covering her antennae as best as she could and scrunching her eyes shut. This was all her fault, she'd asked Hope to stay and now everyone was upset and on edge and there were dead bodies and she just couldn't take it anymore! However, Lacy spoke up before she freaked out completely, silencing the others. She looked up with tears in her eyes, paying attention to the spider girl even if she freaked her out more than a little. "O-oh...I had completely forgotten...about April..." She frowned and wiped at her eyes. "If the scent disappeared like that, a-and there are claw marks on that tree...Then whatever caused this was some sort of bird. Maybe a...bird-creature?"

Matteo tried to respond to Hope's statement, attempting to prevent the situation from getting any worse, but was cut off by Lacy. He sighed, rubbing at his forehead. He'd never wanted things to escalate into an argument but he just couldn't stand for a lack of empathy. It was why he didn't like Elijah, besides the whole workaholic thing. But Lacy had the right idea for sure, this fighting was pointless. He backed down. "Ugh..Sorry." With a frown, he watched as April did her work, and, as he suspected, returned with nothing concrete. He slipped over to her and gave her a small smile, trying to cheer her up. "Hey, you did what you could. I don't think you're to blame at all."

His consoling finished, the naga looked over the group with a grave expression. "Okay...Thorb's still out, Ian's still out, and Elijah's still busy taking care of them both. We've got no leads on the creature that did this except a scent that's disappeared and claw marks, which, like Emily mentioned, probs point to a bird-creature. I think we've got all of the clues we can get about the culprit, at least for now, and we've still got the issue of disposing of the bodies." He scratched at his neck, a bit embarrassed. "I know I'm probably not the best suited for it, but we need someone to lead the effort and I was the one to first suggest it. From what I heard, Lacy would prefer a burial...? Fires that hot would be difficult to make with our current supplies anyways, and the smell would definitely attract predators, now that I'm actually thinking about it...So either we try and dig some graves, or we come up with something else."

[Regina]

Lacy huffed, annoyed at the newest information.

"A bird creature. Great. We've got two fliers in our group, but one isn't very strong and the other hasn't tried out his wings, to my knowledge..." Still, she sighed in relief at the decision to bury the two rather than cremate them.

April perked up a bit at Matteo's reassurance. At the very least, she had gotten the creature's scent, and knew what to look out for. She noticed Ian stirring and floated over to him, speaking gently to the disoriented boy.

"Hey there... I guess you're up." She briefly explained to him what had happened, and what the plan was. The merboy still looked a bit dazed, but insisted on helping dig. He made his way over to the group, keeping his eyes firmly locked on the group to make sure he didn't accidentally see the carnage.

Those who were capable enough helped dig large holes for the fallen, with the intangibles patrolling and keeping watch over those still asleep. Lacy dragged the bodies in (keeping her appetite in check), and soon enough the graves were filled. Just like that, it was over. The dead were buried, the only signs of their lives were the sleeping bags left behind. It was time for the group to get moving.

[Fira]

As the others buried the bodies, Emily drifted over to the scene of the accident in a mournful daze. She didn't think she could be of any help in the burial. After all, every one of her actions seemed to end up hurting her or the group in some way down the road. She'd befriended Elijah, and even managed to get close enough to accept when he spontaneously asked her on a date. And yet he'd changed when he got to this new world, became someone cold and ruthless and maybe still a little caring but far from what she had expected, and by letting herself get close she only hurt herself by learning all of that too late. Trying to talk to Hope had worked out at first, but she'd only ended up offending him during their watch (even if he did reassure her later) and continuing that fight between him and Matteo. She wasn't sure why she even bothered trying anymore.

She sighed and sat in the grass, away from the others and far from the blood. Emily knew that she was being dumb, that shrouding herself in self-hatred would get her nowhere, and yet she did nothing to stop it from happening. "God...I'm so weak." She murmured to herself, laying her face in her hands. Her wing tip brushed against something, and she looked up, wondering what it was. There, lying in the grass near the fallen branch was a single white feather, its very tip stained a brownish-red from dried blood. Emily reached over and picked it up, studying the plume wordlessly. It was obviously a feather from August, the only thing remaining of him beyond a pool of blood and a lifeless corpse buried beneath the earth. She held it close, wondering what he would do. Sure, she hadn't really known him, but he had still been kind to her after the moose attack. She didn't want to move on and forget him so easily.

"You'd probably tell me not to give in so easily, huh, August...?" She whispered to the feather with a small smile, wondering if she had finally cracked. Emily realized that she didn't really care if she had. It was pretty nice, not caring for once. "You know...I don't think I will." She stood, holding the comforting plume gently, and moved to rejoin the group.

Elijah, meanwhile, had been too caught up in his work to notice the moth girl had left. He had tirelessly helped to dig holes for the two bodies, humming quietly to himself. The physical labor was refreshing after doing nothing but walking for so long, even if the task itself was a bit gruesome. He was a bit upset that Hope hadn't joined in on the work at first, but soon was too busy to notice or care. He'd left Thorb and Ian with April, figuring the ghost girl was at least a good guard, even if she couldn't really touch anything. Matteo, noticing his humming, shot him a dirty look, but shook his head and sighed when he realized the robot wasn't paying attention.

Thorb shook his head, recovering from his earlier stupor with a raging headache and a slight, nagging fatigue. He blinked up at April, catching her explanation, and watched as Ian left to go assist with the digging. The troll kept quiet, feeling useless. His plan for watches had failed miserably, like every other plan he made, and now two of his charges were dead. He couldn't even help dig because of that weird fatigue that had come over him. The whole sequence of events just made him frustrated and sad, and no matter what he did, he just could not cheer himself up. Instead, he sat quietly in the dirt, fuming to himself over his failures.

[Regina]

As the others finished up the burial, April relaxed with the patrolling. Now that everyone wasn't focused on the same task, she could safely assume that everyone being up could protect the entire group. She wandered over to Thorb, tilting her head at the troll's depressed demeanor.

"Hey, Thorb? Are... are you okay?" She could tell by the look on his face and his posture that he was feeling just as useless as she sometimes felt. "You know, none of this was your fault. If it wasn't for you guiding us, we would probably be stuck and lost in the forest. This was unfortunate, but the thing that did this won't be able to get away from us. I promise that."

She smiled at him encouragingly, trying to will him into feeling better. It wasn't much, but she wasn't sure what exactly to say to make the entire situation less horrible. She was used to helping friends, but sudden and horrifying death wasn't something she had a lot of previous experience with (except, of course, her own demise).

Lacy silently observed the scene, irritated each time she reached for her flask that there was no more alcohol in it, nothing to help her. She absent mildly took out the stolen necklace and fastened the clasp behind her neck, placing the stone pendent at the very center of her upper chest. She waited until everyone had finished up, speaking up as everyone was milling about.

"Well, I suggest we get moving. Staying here would be the worst thing, not only due to predators, but also for our mental state."

Ian quietly nodded in agreement. The sooner they were away from the blood and the bodies, the better. He scratched at his arms, his scales making him a bit itchy. The recent events made him a bit jumpy, which was a horrible combination to the slight nausea he still felt in his stomach. He felt that getting a move on would be beneficial to the group as a whole.

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