All of the people around us, they say

[protectthem]

WHO: Sam Winchester, Kyp Durron (closed)
LOCATION: The Forbidden Forest
WEEK: 67
TIME: Night of course!
WHAT: Manly bonding timez
RATING: PG

Comments

[sun_ofagun]

If Kyp was honest, he found Sam's company more amusing than anything else. The kid was the exact sort of person he was used to running into, and therefore he knew how to deal with him.

That was, mock him and his sensibilities mercilessly, because the kid had already made up his mind about him and Kyp didn't care enough to try changing it.

"Actually, I was thinking about how best to stab you in the back from this position. So I might just hang around this area for a few minutes, if that's okay with you?"

[protectthem]

The sad thing was, Kyp just seemed to catch him on all the wrong days in all the worst ways-- otherwise Sam would be more than capable of putting up with a sarcastic devil-may-care attitude, being as he had years of practice.

Somehow, though, that had just never seemed to work with his esteemed colleague.

A phantom pain tickled between his shoulder blades at Kyp's quip, and Sam grit his teeth. He would not give Kyp the satisfaction of a grumble, instead replying helpfully, "My heart's on the right side." Then Sam pushed past the entrance to the forest. Dense leaves and a thick canopy enveloped him almost immediately; the lengthy shadows making the time seem to jump from dusk to midnight in a second.

[sun_ofagun]

If there was one thing Kyp was good at, it was being obnoxious. "Who said anything about going for the heart?" Admittedly the topic of conversation was a little morbid, but ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. Of course he was damn well coming.

Pausing for a moment, Kyp closed his eyes to block the kid out and concentrate, opening his mind to the Force and reaching out in a wide radius around them. Immediately the forest came to life as he stepped in after Sam, opening his eyes again; the place was alive, ancient and touched with darkness as it was with light and that was enough dramatic thought for the time being. Kyp took his own quiet enjoyment in the place, and kept his mind out on the lookout for possible danger.

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"It's usually the point you aim for," Sam replied easily, as if Kyp was only one being difficult.

When Kyp came up behind him, Sam rolled his shoulders, ready. His wand was out, his eyes were tracking-- All right, down to business. "Did Cid tell you if we're looking for anything in particular?"

[sun_ofagun]

"Me?" Kyp stepped forward again until he ended up to Sam's left, giving the guy a sidelong glance. "No, I'm more for headshots apparently."

He drew in a breath, dragging his focus in a little in order to get his mind used to the expanded sense. Usually he had a longer reach, but the Forest was so Force-damned busy he could already feel a headache brewing.

"I don't know how good you are with magic sensing, but hers is - sick. Everything she touches is wrong, unnatural. If nothing else, I point, you shoot."

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Headshots. Great. "But then you wouldn't be stabbing them in the back."

Why were they even having this discussion? This was a stupid discussion. Sam sighed and stepped around a fallen, rotting branch, deciding he was already over this little outing.

"Things that feel sick and wrong. Got it." Because he was just the best judge of that sort of thing, lately. The forest had a dense, stiflingly quiet aura to it, as if every word Sam spoke was breaking some secret rule. He spoke again anyway. "You getting anything?"

[sun_ofagun]

Kyp didn't bother to hide the fact that he was rolling his eyes. "Don't worry, kid, I haven't done that in at least a year."

Had Sam said that aloud, Kyp would have agreed about the stupidity of the conversation- but he probably wouldn't have stopped it. There was a part of him that still enjoyed the simple toying, even though he had long since changed from the classic manipulator. Mostly.

"Other than a strong pain behind my left eye? Nothing, just yet. We'll have to go in deeper."

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"Comforting." And that was all he would say on the matter.

They were getting fairly deep fairly fast. The trees in the forest were old, but the ones around them now were turning almost ancient. Sam paused at the base of one such old one, glancing back at Kyp. "Headache?" Sam's eyebrow quirked up. Either that was a subtle quip at him to shut up, or... Oh, hell, he'd ask. "Everything okay?"

[sun_ofagun]

"I try." No, he didn't.

The feel of the forest was starting to set in, now, and the furrow between Kyp's brow eased slightly as he grew used to the sense of so many creatures and minds. He didn't bother looking over at Sam when the kid asked if everyone was all right, focussing on the job now as he was. "The Forest is full of life. Lots of minds, it's like having a quick succession of brightly flashing lights thrown in your face." He reached out further then, ignoring the strain. Soon enough it had faded entirely and he was operating at full capacity. No trace of Ultimecia, but... "There's some sort of dark mass in the northwest." He paused, and then pointed. "That way."

[protectthem]

Yeah, Sam figured.

"Sounds painful," He commented softly. A succession of quickly flashing lights... didn't that give some people seizures? But Kyp could handle it, apparently.

"Dark mass. Northwest. Got it." He sounded so very excited... no, actually, he did sound a little excited. It had been awhile since he' gone out hunting. He was surprised to realize he'd missed it.

"Well, no time like the present." And he head down the way Kyp had pointed.

[sun_ofagun]

"There are worse things," he said shortly, drawing his lightsaber. He could hear the faint thrill in Winchester's tone, and had to admit that he could relate. Sitting in a class all week was definitely not what he'd trained for years to do.

He stretched his mind out further to see if he could sense what exactly it was that they were about to face, and found he didn't have to. "Never mind, it's coming at us." He paused, focussed, and cursed. "They. They are coming towards us. Hope you're not squeamish, we're about to hit a next of Acromantula."

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Sam arched an eyebrow as the lightsaber came out, growing wary. That didn't necessarily mean there was danger, right? Maybe Kyp was just--

And then he spoke. Sam swore.

"Spiders. Coming at us?" Well, there was little reason to try and hide, then. Fighting giant spiders was not the way Sam had wanted to spend his evening, but apparently he now did not have a choice.

"I thought it felt too quiet," Sam muttered, pushing suddenly to the left. There was the faintest of clearings on the other side of these trees, and fighting surrounded by tall thick trunks that the spiders could climb on did not sound appealing to Sam. The forest was dense, so there wasn't too much option, but -- this would do. He waved his wand and cast come very quick preparation spells, wishing for a river or a cliff or something to have at their backs so that they could not be surrounded.

[sun_ofagun]

"Did I stutter?" He didn't bother pausing for a response, drawing on the Force instead. There was a clearing in the distance that could give them more space to manoeuvre in, but they weren't about to make it there in time with all those trees in the way. Clearly, the only option was to get rid of the trees, which was exactly what Kyp did. "Brace yourself," was all the warning he gave, before a wave of Force burst outward. There was a series of loud groans, creaks and thunderous crashes as the ancient trees toppled outwards, and their path was clear.

A cursory glance clued him into what Winchester was doing with his spells. "You first. I'll hold them off, you do your spellwork to force them into a bottleneck towards the clearing. The big one's not here to do their thinking for them yet, so we've got some time."

[protectthem]

Oh goodie, they were still being sarcastic. This was going to be a jolly little fight for their lives.

Sam might've jumped, a tiny bit, when several of the big trees abruptly toppled sideways. The cracking and crashing sounds were enormous, and Sam stared at the Mental Magics professor. "...Well, if they didn't know where we were, the whole forest certainly knows now.And wasn't their Headmaster concerned with, yaknow, keeping the forest in one piece or something

[sun_ofagun]

"Forest is creepy, not stupid. Most intelligent creatures avoid Acromantula." And with that last probably unnecessary comment out of the way, a curious change came over Kyp Durron - not that Sam really had the chance to notice it, of course. But it happened nonetheless, a serious, focussed expression settling on his face as his mind snapped into battlemode. Sparing a moment to check Sam's casting behind him, he thumbed on his lightsaber with a familiar smap-hiss and quite literally ran into the horde of young Acromantula fast approaching

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Some tiny part of him wondered if they had permission to explode half the forest, or if Cid might possibly fire them, but those thoughts were quickly drowned under the much more present threat of Giant Horde of Spiders Running To Eat Them.

"Gimme a minute!" Even Sam Winchester could not spell a dozen tree trunks so quickly. Kyp was probably oddly in a hurry, and Sam refrained from the urge to add another snarky reply. He didn't want to attract the spiders to his location too early, anyway.

Once the fallen tree trunks sufficiently weaponized, Sam hopped off the limbs of the last one, and waited instead of immediately sprinting for the clearing. "Go, go, go!" He shouted, lifting his wand again-- already beginning to feel a drain-- to cover Kyp's retreat. "Don't touch the wood!"