[open | barracks & woods ]

[knowmycall]

Perched up on the roof of one of the barracks is Fletcher, who has decided that brooding is a much better use of his time than, you know, any number of other useful activities.

He's been here for nearly three full weeks and all he's been able to think about is Hannah and whether or not she's dead. This has caused considerable depression and anxiety

Comments

[beyondimagining]

Will looks up at the roof in confusion, his attention attracted by all the shouting. That... Why was that man on the roof?

[knowmycall]

Because he is Fletcher.

Simple as that, really.

Between a few choice words for the Universe at large, Fletcher happens to notice the young boy staring at him and abruptly stops. In the back of his mind, Hannah is yelling at him for using inappropriate language around a child.

Oops.

"What?" he yells down to Will, irritated. "Didn't your mother ever teach y'not t'stare?"

[beyondimagining]

Will keeps observing the situation calmly. He wonders briefly why he had understood every word of that strange language as if it had been English, but it doesn't seem important.

"Mum always insisted that standing on roofs was dangerous. Did you lose your ladder?"

[knowmycall]

"Oh, aye. That's exactly what happened. Would y'mind lookin' for it? I think it's somewhere out in the scary forest. Under some trees, maybe."

The narration is so, so sorry, Will.

[aheromade]

Rooftops don't talk...at least, not where Leaf's from. (Not that he'd put anything past this place.) And besides that, there's something vaguely familiar-but-not about the words, a little like the language back in Lenster but at the same time not...quite, and that gets his attention almost as effectively as anything else does.

So he looks up and calls out to...whoever that is up there. "Are you alright?"

[knowmycall]

"Do I sound alright?"

That saying about no stupid questions? Fletcher doesn't believe in it.

Here, Leaf. Have an archangel glare.

[aheromade]

Leaf doesn't have a particular opinion about the saying about no stupid questions, but he has always held to that one about courtesy costing nothing. So he just ignores the glare and neatly spells out what he'd been hoping to imply by asking in the first place.

"Do you need any help with something?"

[knowmycall]

That's some question, Fletcher thinks. Since he asked, Fletch might as well give him the honest answer: "Aye. Help gettin' home. Now I don't suppose you can really help me with that, hm?"

[savesherself]

Emily was not trying to explore the woods. Emily got chased into the woods by an angry bear or a porcupine on steroids or something and then got turned around. She's even tried leaving marks on trees so she doesn't end up turning in circles, like a goddamn Girl Scout (Emily has never been any kind of Scout), but she's pretty sure the trees themselves are moving.

Or maybe she's just really bad at wilderness navigation, but the first theory is a lot less humiliating, if a lot crazier.

She draws a deep breath of relief when she breaks into a clear space between the trees, and spots someone there. Although as she makes her way closer to Dave, and the tree he's staring at... all that relief evaporates pretty quickly.

"Just when I thought this place couldn't get any creepier..."

[merlinianblood]

Dave tenses up when he hears footsteps in the distance and tightly shuts his eyes, trying to will away the sound. There's no one there. It's definitely not a monster. I'm not going to die.

This, of course, all backfires terribly.

By the time Emily speaks, Dave's heart is pounding in his throat and he feels faint, certain of his own horrible, impending death. So when his brain registers the fact that it's a woman's voice he's hearing and that she sounds just as disturbed as he is, he relaxes visibly and turns just enough to get a look at her.

"Yeah. It's... pretty bad."

[savesherself]

Despite the foreboding feeling hanging around the tree, Emily steps forward into the circle of dead grass surrounding the tree. And then takes a few steps closer, curiosity getting the better of her despite the chill that comes with being so close to the tree.

She doesn't walk all the way up to it, though - not just yet. Instead, she turns to look at the boy after a second or two, giving him a quick, uncertain smile after looking him up and down. "I don't remember anyone mentioning this in the little 'welcome to the Wood' rundown I got. Someone should send out a memo about that or something..."

At least the noose looks old. Whoever died here, it was a very long time ago. Probably. She eyes it again for a few seconds, and then asks Dave gently, "You okay?" He... doesn't look okay.

[merlinianblood]

He lets out a little laugh at that, nodding uneasily. "Heh, yeah. Memo..."

There should be memos for lots of things. Where was the "Dave. You're going to spend some time away from home. Pack fresh underwear." memo? Where was the "P.S. YOU'RE SCREWED" memo?

He shrugs. "I've been worse."