NIGHT 54: Forest

[sanguinario]

[From here.]Edward knew exactly where they were going, exactly how they were going there, and how it would end when they finally did. It helped that he wasn't slamming his foot down on the gas pedal of an Aston Martin before collapsing into the forest, but even standing still wasn't enough to prepare him for a new wave of the nausea he had

Comments

[broodings]

How exactly did someone prepare themselves for a "horrible feeling of vertigo"? This was the last thought going through Stefan's head before the room abruptly lurched all around them, seemingly for the sole purpose of knocking him off his feet so his back could get slammed against hard, uneven ground. If the darkness might've let Stefan believe they were still in hospital, the pine needles and icy rocks digging into his hands instantly proved otherwise. Portal rings. Okay. That was... one way to get around.

Keeping physical contact with Edward seemed to have paid off. Stefan heard - and felt - the other vampire moving nearby, and pushed himself upright too, only to immediately regret it. Oh my god. Perhaps he should be thankful that he hadn't been able to stand eating anything for days, so Stefan could at least avoid adding "throwing up on Edward" to the growing list of reasons why he didn't deserve his friendship

[sanguinario]

"It could be much worse," Edward said, brushing crushed leaves and dirt off his pants. "Last time I was driving a car at ninety miles an hour before that happened, and I hadn't been expecting it. It wasn't a pleasant experience." It also hadn't been pleasant to have Venom fall on top of him while internally screaming, either. And yet he missed his Aston. "And before you do - don't ask. I can explain later." He was sure that would be an invigorating conversation, explaining the whole... world thing. Perhaps he was lucky and Stefan had already swallowed that bomb. Probably not, though

[broodings]

Driving a car at ninety miles-? Even if Edward wasn't a telepath, Stefan imagined he could read the bafflement clear as day in his face, and decided... yes, okay, he wasn't going to ask. Even if Edward had somehow gotten his hands on a car at one point, he was clearly still trapped here like the rest of them, so it probably wasn't much of a lead. (At ninety miles an hour and suddenly losing its driver, that car likely wasn't even intact anymore.) Stefan had already been told by Claire that physically escaping the hospital at night still didn't guarantee they wouldn't wake up in their assigned beds in the morning.

Just as well. He wouldn't have abandoned Elena alone inside for long even if he'd somehow managed to escape. Well, there was Damon watching out for her, but...

Stefan shut his eyes for a moment, letting the cold settle into his still oddly feverish skin. Were they alright? He trusted Damon as far as Elena's safety went - he would protect her, if not for Stefan's sake, then his own - but Damon was no longer on the

[sanguinario]

Admittedly, he was a little disappointed by a vampire thinking it was ridiculous for him to drive so fast... perhaps this was the one thing no one would ever agree with him on. So Edward silently took a moment to mourn his car, because he knew as well as Stefan that the poor thing was now nothing more but a shiny, twisted pile of metal wrapped around the trunk of one of Forks's moss-covered trees. Despite knowing that car had been something else - something drawn from his memory, fake, part of a Forks that wasn't his - it was still somewhat saddening. Edward loved that car as much as he could love any inanimate object

[hes_deadjim]

[From here with Kirk and Spock]

McCoy was just as surprised as Jim was when Spock swooped in and pulled him up. He was speechless in that second. He knew that Vulcans weren't too fond of physical contact, which generally meant you didn't go around touching Vulcans casually like you would a human. Spock usually had his hands clasped behind him, as if by doing so, he could somehow produce a force field an inch from his entire body. That combined with the general air about him tended to work. Spock just didn't touch people unless he absolutely had to and he didn't have to here at all.

What was he doing? McCoy found himself wishing this one was as predictable as the one he knew. Now his Spock was usually happy to let you get up on your own. Still, it was damned uncanny how similar they were. Spock was always fond of saying the same thing all the time

[dual_worlds]

Although Spock was certain that he'd drawn unwanted attention to himself by aiding McCoy in such a way, neither he nor Kirk saw any reason to comment on it. The fact they had important matters like the captain's health to discuss most likely helped in that regard. Furthermore, despite his own cultural upbringing, his gesture was perfectly acceptable by human standards. It made sense, then, that his colleagues would not see a need to outwardly question him during a time such as this. That was the scenario Spock had both wanted and anticipated, although he knew there had been a chance that their exchange just now wouldn't have gone so smoothly

[doneinthree]

It was a good thing Kirk had waited after finding his uniform before tackling the forest - while the boots provided by Landel's were durable enough, they clearly weren't made for hiking through rough terrain. He glanced over his shoulder a few times to check on Bones' progress, but the doctor seemed to be handling himself well enough, and at least Jim was confident that Spock would step in again if anything happened. So he focused most of his attention on navigation: if the ground was evening out the further they got from the Institute, the growing thickness of the trees made up for it.

"That might be it," said Kirk as he pushed aside a low-hanging branch. "I had to replace mine a couple of nights ago." For all the good that did now. The density of the forest would've been bad enough already without the fog, which ensured they could barely see six feet ahead of them. Actually, he couldn't remember a single night he'd ventured outside and not seen fog - if Landel's (or Aguilar's, he corrected himself) influence did extend outside out

[hes_deadjim]

Yes, yes, he agreed that they shouldn't cancel their plans every time the institute tried to pull a new one, but this was the Captain here. So if Jim had another fit, what was their solution? Because they'd stood around Jim and waited for it to pass and now they were going to keep traveling into possibly hostile territory and hope for the best

[full_score]

((From here.))

Claude had walked through his fair share of forests during his journeys. While he appreciated what a sharp contrast they were when compared to the megacities of Earth, he also respected how dangerous they could be.

For an Earthing who'd grown up without having to pass through any monster-infested wilderness to get from one town to another, the thick branches and tall trees of a forest could prove difficult to navigate. They also made it almost impossible to detect an ambush until it was too late. Consequently, while Claude's previous experience with this sort of terrain certainly served him well during situations like these, he still couldn't say it was his strongest point.

That was all right, though. He still had weapons, which meant actually defending himself and the other members of his group wouldn't be a huge problem as long as he stayed focused (he hoped so, anyway). Claude was determined not to let this become a repeat of last time, when they'd lost Asch within a matter of moments

[razing_phoenix]

It didn't take long for the woods to get even thicker as they continued to move away from the building, but Guy wasn't too bothered by it. What he did remember was how Marc had initially been injured in this place, and how Jill had given them a warning about it. This had to be the forest itself, right? The trees were much closer together here, but he was relieved to see that there were still some workable paths that extended through the woods. It would have been difficult trying to wade through the brush, after all

[melodists]

Anise's attitude had a way of being infectious. Consequently, Tear found herself relaxing a notch. A slight notch--they were still roaming around in a danger zone--but all in all, she felt better. With renewed focus, the soldier stepped beside the group, ears trained for running water and eyes out for any potential danger. The task was relatively easy thanks to previous experience; for that, she was glad. The woods here were about the same as the ones back in Auldrant, and therefore, they were manageable despite the difference in location

[gald_digger]

To Anise, it seemed like it was only yesterday that she and her friends had returned from the Cheagle Woods. Now they had to go into another forest? Anise was starting to get sick of the sight of trees. This place was even worse, with it being so dark out. The thick layers of leaves above them blocked out what little natural light they had, so it was a lucky thing they had those light-making devices

[full_score]

((From here.))The further Claude climbed, the more aware he became of the cold wind rustling through the branches, sending several dead leaves scattering through the air. Goosebumps spread across his bare arms, but he did his best not to pay any attention to that. He needed to stay focused! One wrong move, and he could come tumbling out of the tree, which wouldn't be fun for anyone involved. With each branch he came across, he slowly tested his weight before moving more fully onto it. There was no sense in rushing this and botching everything up, after all

[damned_monsters]

Just a few feet away, a creature that looked like a misshapen lump of moss with legs. It had a large teeth-filled snout and dragged a tail behind it that curved like a scorpion's sting, but with a decided droop to it, as if it'd been pasted on incorrectly.

It was quiet, its body blending easily into the darkness and against the foliage. The leftover crept up over a damp rock, skittered up the bark of the tree as it followed the scent of fresh prey. Its legs gently brushed an arm.

Without warning, it simply bit down, chewing away at the flesh bit by bit, like a piranha.

[full_score]

It was difficult to see, but Claude did his best to pay attention to the few clues he could gather. Squinting through the dark, he gazed from his vantage point across where the river flowed. The ground seemed to slope up toward the north, and under the moonlight he thought he could make out the faint shapes of a mountainous, rocky terrain. Claude wasn't so sure they'd find what they were looking for in that direction, but it wasn't as though he had any solid proof yet.

Quietly humming to himself in thought, he craned his neck into the opposite direction and tried to get an idea of what they'd run into out there. As he did so, though, he became faintly aware of what felt like some leaves brushing against his arm, as well as a weird pressure that could only be attributed to some twig digging into him or something.

Without thinking, Claude tried to flick his arm away as he kept searching for more hints on which way they ought to go.

[damned_monsters]

It was rare that to have a meal that didn't fight back immediately. The leftover seemed hesitated -- had it just stumbled on an unusually fresh dead body? -- but when the bit of flesh it was gnawing on moved away, it quickly grabbed firmer hold of it with its legs and buried its teeth in even deeper.

By now, it had created a messy open wound. Its rotted tongue lapped up what blood it could, but it wasn't fast enough to catch everything. It kept on chewing, mindless and almost lazy in the way it fed. There didn't seem to be any danger of losing its prey, after all.