iconoclassist | goddamn snakes in my goddamn forest

goddamn snakes in my goddamn forest

[The place: Somewhere in the southwest, where endless desert gives way to grasslands gives way to a forest, the farther out of the rainshadow that created this desert you get. This particular piece of woods...well. There aren't very many settlements there, because the spirit(s?) who lives there employs a very 'stay the hell out of my woods and I don't give a shit what you do' policy of diplomacy.

This probably doesn't mean much to anyone hired to look into a rash of missing children in the towns closest to it.

Of course, most of the mercenaries who were hired tromped in loudly and boisterously, got stuck full of drugged arrows and sent back out with large signs expressing people were still to stay the fuck out of the forest, which would imply the spirit either isn't aware of the children or took them herself. Then the oathbound tried to get in and were also sent out.

Given it hasn't killed anyone, turning to the higher echelon of mercenaries now is a little tricky. So, daggertooth, why are you here, and how are you handling the problem of the angry, angry spirit?]

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[He looks a little exacerbated but he's got a gun trained on her perfectly still. He kind of wants to bite her now.]

Yes, that is what we call them.

Well, then I'll tell you the same thing I told the last thirty-four jackasses. I didn't take them, I haven't seen them, and if you try to shoot me I'm putting you in traction.

[It's okay if you want to bite her, Konstantin. She'd kind of like to hit you.]

I'm also going to point out accusing someone of something I'm still not entirely clear on, in their own home, and then shooting, stabbing, and one weird guy who tried to catch me in a fishing net is all incredibly rude.

We know they came through here. Most of the kidnappers who took them aren't able to talk; the others refuse to. Children are important to mortals. I don't care if you find it rude; I will not threaten to shoot you, you will be shot. If this is your home, then you clearly know something.

Edited 2016-06-18 08:08 (UTC)

No, not really.

[...She sighs a little, but she sits up.] I'm not omniscient. I keep this place healthy and growing, that doesn't mean I'm naturally aware of everything that goes on in it. I'd go insane. That jackass thunder spirit in the council isn't constantly aware of all electricity and magnetism either, I'll bet.

[Standing up, and dusting herself off.] So no, I don't know where they are. They wouldn't still be missing if I did. What would I do with a bunch of human children anyway? What would any spirit do with them?

I figured most spirits would have no interest in them, but a lot of them have become a lot more worldly.

[Still trained on her, btw.]

And to be worldly, you need money. Do you see what I thought you might know? Still... nothing out of the ordinary?

...[Her eyes narrow quite a bit.] A lot out of the ordinary in two weeks. Think carefully, think how I might have missed them.

[She does seem to be considering something, though.]

...Humans can't get through the woods in that amount of time, though. So they're still in here somewhere. How many children was it?

Twenty-four. They kidnapped an entire school full of them. Not sure where they were intending to go, but the bust broke down not far from here and they went through here.

[He lowers the gun, finally.]

So somewhere in here.

Twenty four...

[Pacing now that the gun is lowered, back and forth.]

...Tell me your name.

...Konstantin. Who am I talking to?

Shirin.

[Whether or not her name is known or unknown, she's...not that much younger than Hadrian, actually. Young enough he technically has seniority over her, but old enough for it to be remarkable her identity remains intact.]

Well, then. I can't tell you where exactly they are, but you'll end up as hopelessly lost as they are right now, wherever in here they are, unless you have help. I assume you were following something, to get this far in? Have some kind of clue?

...I can follow scents. There is no shortage of belongings that these kids left behind, parents are concerned.

If it was winter I'd likely be able to find them on heat alone.

...[Squinting at him. Like legit she's staring because she has no idea what the fuck.]

Okay. Then. That's convenient.

[Gesturing, as she picks up her bow. Curiously, she doesn't seem to be carrying arrows but, well. She's a forest spirit she probably doesn't have to?]

Look, this is how this is going to go. I'm coming with you, because this forest changes paths and shapes as it likes and if I'm not with you, you're going to get hopelessly lost and starve to death, if the predators here don't eat you first. And before you ask, it's unlikely the kids have already been eaten, most things won't eat humans if they have other options.

But you don't really smell like a human, so you're...probably a bigger target.

Alright, then. I'll take point. Don't try shooting me.

[Do oggle weird snake man if that if your thing, he doesn't care. He is trying to track by scent still, apparently. A bit unsettling to watch.]

[She's only oggling a little, she's still pretty confused. But he is pretty.

She doesn't shoot him! She does, however, reach out and keep him from walking into a tree that...wasn't there a second ago.]

Careful, there.

[His mana field is weird. He can generate it like a mortal but he seems much more.. spirit-like than anything.]

...Sentient, or just bad luck?

Yes.

[...Staring at him a while longer.] ...This is why I keep people out of this place. Enough people wander in and don't come back out, and suddenly it's 'oh, spirits eat people' and 'let's burn the place to the ground' instead of 'maybe don't wander in the living woods like nothing here can hurt us'.

....Not used to guests?

[He seems both a little exacerbated and amused by how angry she is.]

...This way.

[He's moving faster now.]

Why would I be used to guests--

[She does stop as soon as he starts moving, but she's still very puzzled by his...everything.

Including that ass. How does a mortal get an ass like that. That's just not fair.

Since he is who and what he is, he probably feels the ripple of power as she starts basically forcing the forest to stop trying to fuck with him as they go--as she does, the path starts to get clearerer, the briars pull away from them as they walk, and any number of animals have started popping up to watch because they're curious and having had reason to fear humans or, indeed, demihumans, in generations, and they're curious what's up.]

[He does appreciate the spirit lady helping him out like that, because with her magic and his tracking they're there in a matter of minutes. Not that the kid know what to make of snek and spirit.]

Here. All of you take one of these.

[He'll remove his pack to reveal... flares?]

Light them one at a time. There's a helicopter watching for them to extract you all; when one goes out, light the next one.

...Konstantin.

[She does seem to take a moment to open a clearing in the trees so they can be reached by the helicopter. But something else has her a little on-edge.]

Konstantin, I'd get that damn gun back out if I were you.

[Now that he doesn't have a backpack in the way and he's not trying to sneak up on someone, he's actually going for the rifle slung over his back. On the upside, the helicopter got the message!]

Where?

[She's just...knocking an arrow of pure mana don't you mind her.]

...You know how I was saying everyone gets lost in these woods? Sort of like a labyrinth?

[She fires slightly to the left, seemingly back the way they came, into the ground, so a giant snaring patch of thorns leaps up just in time to fuck up the oncoming charge of the minotaur.

Yep.]

[And that is followed up immediately by a shot from a rifle that in all honesty he shouldn't probably be capable of firing while standing. But hey, nothing is as effective as a gun designed for disabling vehicles.]

We just have to hold them off.

[...Well give her a second to answer, she's now temporarily deaf in one ear, holy shit.

The minotaur, unfortunately, just appears to be angrier. Bleeding! But very, very angry.]

How long until that helicopter gets here? Because between you and me, if that thing gets a hold of either of us I don't think we're defending anything.

[Snapping down another bramble barrier as the thing starts to get free of the first one.]

[It is amazing how fast he can work the bolt on that rifle, even if it looks almost painful for him to fire it standing like that.]

I don't think this is going to work...

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