T E A L I T A

[Twisted Nightmare]

“Oh, what a lovely night, a lovely night, a lovely night. Oh what a lovely night for me-eee!” The voice coiled through the night air, cracking from tree to tree, ricocheting from sky to earth, grinding through each animals’ ear. As harsh and coarse as a raven’s caw, yet possessing a demented ring that no bird could utter. Leaves shuddered in their nest of branches, high above the forest floor; the creatures of day and night cowered together, eyes glazed in silent fear; and the wind itself tossed this way and that, disturbed by the rasping song. The shrieks of wood being stripped from its tree screamed in the creatures wake, long gashes rent in their sides.
“BUT, what a pity, what a pity, what a pity. But what a pity, there’s no one else to see-eee!”
Screeching, ripping, rasping, the song continued, slowly fading off into the distance. At last, all was silent and the forest – nursing tender ears – returned to normal once more.
But now the reader’s eye zooms forward, following the creature’s broken trail, until the cruel parody of a song tortures the mind once more, then finally erupting into a clearing, crazed eyes and drooling jaws fill the vision.
“And maybe then, maybe then, maybe then. And maybe then we will be-eee!”
With a chortle, a leer and a cracked and croaking snarl it had reached its end. Finally.
Slowly the creature collapsed into a gibbering heap, sniggering and whispering to itself, barely tangible words twirling into the sky. Suddenly all noise stopped and the matted snout rose to follow the path those words had just taken. Blood-shot eyes twitched and stared at the moon dangling above it, claws awkwardly attached to hands that were half paw dug into the soft earth of the forest floor, and a stubbed tail snapped from side to side, painful in its passage.
“Not long my sweet, not long now.”
Whispered and soft, like a lover’s murmur, this voice was so different from before, one could believe it came from another, but no. It came from the same, twisted, pained, demented creature as before. One could almost pity this poor creature, but for the blood flecked ropes of drool and mud caked fur. Any pity directed at this creature would be sadly misguided, and definitely unappreciated. Indeed, sympathy would be seen as a weakness, a tool, and would instantly be used against one.
Just imagine the scene:

Ignorant Do-Gooder: Oh what a beautiful night! The moon is shining, the stars are bright, and there’s a poor, sad creature in that clearing! Maybe I can help it! *cheesy smiles all around*
‘Poor Sad’ Creature: *snigger, snigger* another fool for tea-eee! Another fool for tea-eee! *fake puppy eyes and whimpering* oh, I’m such a pitiful creature, help me! Please! Be my friend…
Ignorant Do-Gooder: Oh, let me help! Here, I’ll be your friend! *Rushes over and makes cooing noises*
Crunch, crunch. Mmm, yum.

Time rushes forward, the gibbering continues –fast forwarded now –and the moon sinks, to be replaced by the brilliant sun. Scorching, searing across the sky, slowly it begins to descend, and here the normal pace of time is restored. The creature is gone; a young boy curled in its stead, asleep and oblivious to the world.
What now? What events shall unwind?
It’s your turn to decide.

This post has been edited by Twisted Nightmare on Jun 29 2007, 09:53 AM

[Phoenix]

(So I more or less sent in my little joineth thing when we plotted at the data base, no?

That is a little cruel... But do gooders are very Crunchy, and taste good with ketchup. Yumm... ketchup. Eww... bad spelling.)

Tamwym wandered though the forest. it was a plesant place for a walk. But there wer too many random blood stains on the ground, probly from a bear hunting it's prey. Or a fight over who gets how much money on a less than legal venture. But they still haunt a person if its their first time going though the forest. However, Tamwym was not a first timer in this forest, and the sun cast light that was the color of blood anyway, so it was all good in the end. Exept for finding a humaniod skeleton. That was sightly scary, for walking in the forst during the night on a full moon rarely enters a mans top ten idea list. And the place was void of sentenent creatures. As a thief, he was poor, but had he not been a thief, he would have been consitered quite rich. But to him, when money could be found where-ever there were people, money had lost it's vaulue, and so his most prized possession was a ranger pin he had stolen a while back. (Must... not... go... into... monolog about its shinyness... and green leafy pin-ness...) Closely followed by his weapons; two short daggers and one long sword.

He walked randomly though, taking a cruved rought that looped twice before heading into town. when suddenly he came across the boy. he couldn't have been older than eleven. What in the Haell was he doing way out here, and night was about to fall. So he did when any person with a heart would do... he tapped the boy gently with his boot to try to stir him. Then again, not so gently, for he had not gotten a responce with the first nudging. He bent his legs and sat on his own feet, alert to the outside and ready to spring up if any random animals walked by with ill intent for Tamwym's health.

"Psst... Hey, kid, what are you doing out here at this time of day?"

(Am I correct in assuming that it is, in fact, sunset?)

[laurahborealis]

(I should tell you, Phoenix, as nasty as my character's being to Tamwym, it's nothing to do with you personally. People always tell me that when their characters antagonize mine, and I usually think it's obvious but sometimes I do forget. So yeah.)

It had been months since that thief had made off with her pin, but it was still on her mind. An easy trinket to replace, sure, and it wasn't as if he could actually use it to pass for a Ranger. But that pin had been hers for nearly ten years. Young and confused in a foreign part of the land, she'd rubbed its polished surface to ease her nervousness. The scratches, rough spots, the little dents and nicks in the shape were a familiar map of those ten years. And now this scruffy little thief had made off with it just to piss her off. He might've already sold it for a few grubby coins- oh, she'd strangle him.

As much as friends told her to calm down and forget about it, she refused to give up on getting the pin back. It may have become something of an obsession. She'd been nearby, spotted him in the street again. And it wasn't like she had anywhere else to be. So she had followed him. She didn't think he had noticed. She carried a bottle of mild poison with her, something that would knock him out if held under his nose or slipped into his drink. But she expected that physical force might be enough. After all, the boy didn't know she was a Shifter.

She'd been following him down this path since he had left, and was currently flying high above him in the form of a large falcon. The dark smudge that was the top of his head seemed to have paused to examine something. She circled down closer and landed on a gnarled tree branch to watch them. It might be a good time to strike. Startle him, and maybe he'd forget about his bag.

[Twisted Nightmare]

(Ergh. I'd typed up the whole reply, decided to get a drink before re-reading it in case of typos, gibberish etc and mum went and turned off the computer. *runs around tearing out hair* So yeah, I've got to type it again from memory. It won't sound as good as the first one though
And yes, it is sunset XD)

His heart pounded so fiercely against his chest it felt bruised, sucking in air with short, sobbing gasps, his legs aching and shaking. But he had to keep running. He had to get away from them, otherwise they'd kill him. Suddenly a caw shattered the silence and he looked up - shocked - into a golden, beady eye, brilliant with its own light. Stretching battered, black wings the bird swooped down towards him, its eye becoming larger and larger until it filled his whole vision and its harsh cry became words.

"Psst... Hey, kid, what are you doing out here at this time of day?"

Varsken blinked, his vision still filled with the bird's golden eye and for a few moments he believed himself still in the dream.
It's the sun, the setting sun.
Varsken smiled for a few seconds, almost peacefully, then suddenly his eyes widened and he wheeled, wary gaze pinned on the man crouching beside him. Scuttling backward, crab-like, he retreated to the edge of the clearing and only when he deemed himself safely hidden in the shadows did he roll forwards onto his heels, hands digging into the earth between his legs.

"What do you want?"

His voice was almost a snarl, yet still definitely human. For now, at least.

"What are YOU doing out here at this time of day? Don't you know it's bad for the health? Who knows what dangerous creatures you might find."

Varsken grinned coldly, red lips curved in an expression that held no trace of warmth or kindness. His eyes were blank, not moving from the man's face.
And who knows what those dangerous creatures will look like. You might even stop to help them.

This post has been edited by Twisted Nightmare on Jul 1 2007, 07:49 AM

[Phoenix]

With agility that amazed Tamwym for one that had been truely awake for maybe three seconds, the boy rolled off into the shadows, snarling at him. Honestly, you could swaer that boy was in his twentys, and if Tamwym had not just seen him seconds before, he would have sworn the boy was a threat.

"What are YOU doing out here at this time of day? Don't you know it's bad for the health? Who knows what dangerous creatures you might find."

"Well, I asked you first, and I, unlike you, can take care of myself. I can handle most of the creatures that come out at night. But you are a mere boy, a light snack for most creatures."

And again, that unpleasnt feeling of being watched surrounded him. There were shifters about, or at least one... He looked down at a rat that was gathering food for its family, he turned around and there was a hawk looking at him, rather fiercly, but all hawks have a fierce look about them, so the fierceness was probly his imagination. beside him there was a twelve point buck, (Yes I'm a hunter during the fall, not to good at it, but I try.) that would easily fetch several hundred at any market you cared to name. That was just animals in the immedent vincinity that he could see. Was there anything wrong? WAIT! Hawks EAT rats. Why was a bird of prey, staring at Tamwym, instead of at the rat. Most birds would have simply ignored Tamwym and snagged the rat and flew off. He turned back to the boy, giving the outward apearnce that it was nothing, and crouched to the boys level, feeling though the grass and dirt for a good sized rock. The sifter was a bird. Hopefully s/he had cloths nearby, because shifters cannot shift into cloths, the cloths must fit.

(I.C Edit) AND To the more not very observent type that took an idoit to complerely disregard the falcon carried a bottle of poisin. WHAT KIND OF BIRD CARRIES POISEN!? The shought echoed in Tamwyms mind, as the fact that he went though all the clever deduction for nothing. He could have simply looked at the bbird with poisen in its Talons and said, WOW! A shifter!

((Yes.. me being horribly picky... BUT It is in the shifter descripoin... thingy.))

This post has been edited by Phoenix on Jul 2 2007, 06:33 AM

[Phoenix]

Were is Fiacre? Laura... Come...The board is waiting, and bits are falling off of it.

[Twisted Nightmare]

I'll just go for now and Laura can whenever she's next back on.

[Phoenix]

Okay. *Pokes kid with ranger pin that magicly stretched*

MUAHAHAHA! THE SHINY PIN OF DEATH PRODS AGAIN! Well... actally, for the first time.