RP:Forest of Fear

Darrien might have cursed under his breath as the light that filtered through the canopy became more consistently polluted as he strolled deeper into the forest. Here, the flora lacked the voracious life so commonly painted by artists and sung about by bards. That day, there had been no lyrics to Darrien's hours; music hadn't come easy for as long as he could remember. He had tried beauty and the most obvious locations for inspiration, but there hadn't been a single landing at any time of the day, any hour of night to give him any solace. To add insult to injury, any moment he spent away from a person, his heart felt like it was being pierced by a bayonet. "Let this be something. The gods have their funny way of bringing events together in certain configurations to ensure progress. That must be a little more than faith, as we are a world of gods and servants," he began speaking, with some slight sense of desperation, "We used to speak day in and day out, and now you refuse me because I am no longer green. Oh, I'm green, but no longer the verdant organism that can serve you. And you deny me. You deny me." It wasn't cold out, but he was shivering.

Zidayn’s ears perk as he takes in the voice that he can hear from the other side of the tree he was so lazily seated against. Standing slowly and letting his eyes fall upon the source of incoherent babbling the Lycan now shows himself in a state of pity for the one before him, “What is this that comes over you young one?" The voice is regular, no darker than his usual tone.

Nora had been slinking through the shadow of the gnarled trees, long legs carrying her silently over fallen, dead leaves and twisted roots. At first, the two in the clearing went unnoticed by the human, concentration focused on the forest surrounding her and the muffled chatter of the creatures, which could quite possibly be her next meal. That was until their words pierced trained ears, so different from the distant sounds she sought. Steps slowed, uncertainty flickering in pale eyes. She’d hope to stay hidden in the fallen branches and shade as she watched, curious to see what the two would do.

Jolene meanders along through the woods, gnarled trees and vines making it difficult to continue homebound. “Blasted woods!” She murmurs, nearly colliding with the babbling bard as her lithe figure quickly balances itself and stands a mere foot or so before him. Jolene couldn’t have been more than five foot when standing tall, and so she had to gaze defiantly into the male’s eyes, cerulean hues taking in their dimly lit surroundings. “I happen to be lost…Do you know the way to Larket?” No apologies for nearly tossing him to the soil were exchanged, though her dazzling smile was all it would take to warm even the coldest of hearts. A brief pause was granted as she waits for an answer, though her slightly condescending tone changes track when she overhears Zidayn’s voice, the teen breaking into a smile.

Darrien nervously fingered at his neck and at his chin, shooting his rusty irises back and forth between the strangers. It took him a few moments to decide that he would answer Zidayn first. "I was just thinking. I get pretty monologues when I think alone. I was not expecting to meet somebody -- somebody’s -- while I was out here." Once Darrien realized his neck and chin were not really itchy, he ceased the nervous habit and attempted eye contact to the best of his ability. "Miss," he directed with control, "I believe Larket is north of here and you've traveled too far south. It’s ..." An ominous pause. It could have been Nora, but there was something else on Darrien's mind, a thing much more threatening than a stranger. ".. Dangerous here." He started scanning the perimeter, searching the various strata of the forest for abnormalities, but considering what he was up against, half-elfin eyes were not enough. After two hard breaths of 'Mmmm' -- 'Ooooh' -- 'OK' -- Darrien asked firmly to Zidayn through the faint chattering of his teeth, "I do hope you can defend yourself, and this lady, and me. I don't know if I am capable of that anymore."

Zidayn lets a deep chuckle boom from his diaphragm as he grips the handle of his cutlass, Bijin Sangre. Eying the two who accompany him he gives a comforting look to them both, “Of course I can defend us. I have not survived this long for lack of those skills?"

Nora was far from curious now; she wanted to know what dangers lurked in the dark forest surrounding her. It didn’t frighten her, no. Rather, she wanted to know. That was all. A few steps drew her closer to the cluster of folk, though she'd misjudged, and with the slight rustle of branches brushing against bared shoulders, she was exposed to the group. Eyes widened a touch, though she could have gone unnoticed still, had they been less observant.

Jolene stands silently fuming as the two male's converse almost animatedly about how they were or were not deemed powerful enough to protect her from the unknown. A bemused smile creeps across her face as the teen stifles a giggle, shaking her head and causing a mass of golden curls to frame her fair face. "I could probably handle just about anything that comes my way...Lest someone or something gets in the way of my mind." Nipping her lower lip from speaking further, the young woman clearly was afraid of saying anything further that could later pose as incriminating, eyes darting from Zidayn to Darrien rapidly. "Erm...Ya know, I mean..." Backtracking, she steers the topic away from her telekinetic abilities and turns to her right, coming face to face with Nora. "And who might you be?" She wonders aloud, taking a cautious step nearer to the silent woman.

Darrien’s eyes stayed trained on Jolene for a mighty bit longer. He was staring at her as if she had been turned into a fish. He simply could not grasp the woman's need for introductions at such a time, but he hadn't the heart nor the time to protest. For a moment, Darrien's shoulders resumed their normal angle and he contemplated resuming his conversation with the forest, as much as it would seem just a conversation with himself. Paranoia came too naturally to him. The breathing exercises worked to some degree. "Good sir, I do not know of your history, so I am not at all acquainted with your ability. In any case, it seems like we won't have to be putting it to the test today." Joey 05:13, 17 March 2009 (UTC) Leaves rained down all about them. The rustling was close. "It's been watching us. Oh." A few exasperated breaths later, Darrien cleared his throat, "Hmmm. Well. Uh. This is very real. This has become very real. So very real. It's come. I'm thinking it's for me. So you should all be fine if you just stay away from me." Inconveniently, he could not have been more incorrect. Through the slow fall of the foliage shined a bright red eye in a smooth, alien body poised like a scorpion. No mouth. No expression. It made its lunge, first for Zidayn for a speedy kill by venomous sting from its tail, then to Jolene, then to Nora, then finally to Darrien if it had its way.

Zidayn lifts his nose to let in the scent of the intrusion upon the now growing group. Crimson eyes widen as they unfold upon a large creature lunging from the leaves. A cloth drenched in a poison of some sort comes dragged across his blade before a smooth slice towards the midsection of the creature. All the while the assassin steps from the path of the creature that seems to create a blur in his direction in order to dodge in the case that his strike in unsuccessful.

Nora remained stoic as Jolene neared her, shoulders tense and eyes unmoving from the woman. She did not answer immediately, chewing contemplatively at her lower lip. When she did at last, it was done so warily, "Erm, Nora." It was then that she was showered in leaves, the flora clinging to unruly curls and sweeping down to pile at her feet. She watched their descent with shifting eyes and uncertainty, that's odd, she thought. It was then that the alien being swooped down upon them, lunging first at Zidayn. She was not frightened per say, as she should have been, but without proper shoes or even a weapon like he held she was without means of defense if that poisonous creature was not cleaved by the blade.

Jolene winces as Zidayn's blade slashes the creature in the mid-section but doesn't appear to be enough to stop the venomous creature. Standing nearer to Nora, the teen narrows her eyes on the crimson-eyed foe which was now circling the clearing, it's newest target being none other then Darrien, the babbling bard. Gasping as the venomous alien approaches the incoherent male at a lightning speed, she nudges Nora in the ribs and extends a dainty arm outwards, pointing at the horrific scene which was to unveil before them. "We have to help him!" She hisses, before glancing every which way, her gaze finally lingering on a dangling tree branch which was high above Darrien's stoic figure. If Jolene focused enough, she knew that her powers would send the branch hurtling downwards and hopefully crippling the creature, though if was likely that Darrien would be harmed in the process. Weighing her options, Jolene begins to pace, never straying far from Nora or tearing her gaze from the red eyed creature that was intent on attacking Darrien.

Darrien was shaking his head, disagreeing with everything that was unfolding before them. Zidayn looked strong and had an impressive weapon to boot, and was now apparently out of commission. This creature never once touched the forest floor; it always found a way to perch upon a branch, or even vertically on the sinuous trunks of the trees. It was dangerously close to Darrien, scanning him over with that globular red eye of no irises and no pupil. Metallic. This slight pause gave the impression that this organism was thinking. If this were true, it seemed to have decided Darrien would be dessert. It began for Jolene and the other fresh female, as Darrien stumbled backwards to run, flattening himself upon colliding with a low-lying branch. He sputtered a few coughs and hoarse exclamations, "Run. Go. Run. Now." Each time it touched down on a tree, it tore bark in its wake, and in only two more trees, it would be on both Jolene and Nora. "No, they're too young. Not again. Not them. Me! You want ME!"

Nora nodded gravely in agreement. Jolene was right, Darrien had to be helped. Whatever it was the other woman had been planning though would have been thwarted in moments as the metallic eyed beast skittered through the branches, leaving ribbons of bark in its wake. The man's words were not heeded; she couldn't very well just leave the two to be victim of the strange being. The bow slung across her torso is stroked by careful fingers, eyes darting, following its path, "Maybe I can shoot it." She murmured to Jolene, voice never rose even as tensions rose. She was a good shot and though it was no blade, mayhap it would work. Without a second thought to it she pulled the bow free and knocked it with deft fingers. Before it could reach those last two tree limbs she shoots, the arrow whizzing ominously through the thick air. Whether it would land or not was anyone's guess.

Jolene swallows hard, sapphire orbs following every movement the creature took, also the movements of everything in its wake. "Hmm...Perhaps we can work together?" She murmurs to Nora, watching as the arrow glides through the air and delves into the crimson eyeball of the creature, causing it to momentarily freeze in its attack, blindly trying to pick up the whereabouts of Darrien. Droplets of silver blood ooze from the gaping eye socket, as Jolene swiftly raises her left hand, staff ever present. Humming a soft lullaby as the creature cries out in pain, the painted runes on the staff dimly glow before a gust of wind bursts forth and causes all of the rocks, bark, and debris to come colliding into the creature's form, crashing into the immobile alien at all angles. Uncertainty was evident in Jolene's visage as the sorceress lowers the used weapon, trailing her gaze to Nora before once more eyeing Darrien, worried that their combined forces wouldn't be enough to stop the creature.

Darrien made it up to his elbows and was working his way onto his knees when he heard the *thunk* of the arrow pierce the vulnerable flesh of its eye. The resulting cry was metallic itself, but its host was very organic in its movements. Even injured, the creature caught itself with its tail hooked onto a thick branch. It's clawed hand tore the arrow from its head, but it would only bleed profusely for a whisper more. Regardless of the chaos about them, Darrien heard Jolene's feathery voice. It protected him doubly, easing his mind and keeping the threat at bay for at least a short amount of time. After a ballistic grunt, he found his footing (as teeter-totter it may have been) and began heading toward the battlefield. It had stopped bleeding now and was bounding from tree to tree, staying below the canopy. Jolene was succeeding in pushing it back little by little, but if Darrien knew it as well as he thought, this was a cat's ball of twine. A toy. Limping closer to the fray, a net of roots blasted him in the face cutting his face some, but he kept onward. He felt it. It was on the verge of expanding, unlocking its maximum potential. And just as it fulfilled this prophecy - tendrils abounding, exponential cancerous growth, thorns, large thorns - Darrien fell to his knees. 05:13, 17 March 2009 (UTC)05:13, 17 March 2009 (UTC) STOP IT. 05:13, 17 March 2009 (UTC)05:13, 17 March 2009 (UTC)~~ The decibels ruptured the air particles and bellowed a gigantic invisible punch toward the amorphous alien, impaling it in two dozen places upon a tree that Jolene has so magnificently splintered. A pathetic smile killed itself on Darrien's lips before he crumbled to a heap, though looking a bit better than their failed predator.

Nora quietly swore beneath her breath, hiking the bow back onto her back. She was never one with magical potential like Jolene, her only weapon now rendered useless against the defiant creature. Everything panned out in slow motion then, the roots pushing through dirt with magnificent force, thorns and branches tearing at the delicate flesh of her arms and face, the sheer power throbbing and pulsing in the clearing, and then suddenly, with words that rung in her ears and a force greater than she thought possible, the alien being was left with only a sad twitch before it fell limp. She did not relax however, shoulders still tensed, convinced that it had an army hidden nearby, but eyes did stray to Darrien, who she kneeled beside cautiously, “Do you think he’s okay?” She asked Jolene timidly, voice quiet.

Jolene heaves a sigh of relief as the creature is now at rest, the teen wiping the sweat from her brow and eyeing both of her acquaintances with a bewildered expression. “What the hell was that thing?” She inquires, glancing from Nora to Darrien, hands clenched into tight fists. “And who are you all anyway? Meeting in the middle of the woods, beneath a full moon, and battling red-eyed aliens?” If one were to walk past, they surely would find amusement in Jolene’s description of the evening, though few would be perceptive enough to see how frightened the teen truly was. Feeling her façade wearing off, the teen shrugs from her cool exterior and turns away from those gathered, muttering beneath her breath as she makes her way from the clearing. “Oh…I’m Jolene, by the way.” She shouts, her soft voice reaching their ears as the petite blonde vanishes from sight.