|
Post by The Evil Biscuit on Sept 20, 2010 22:55:20 GMT -5
One, what do you see?
The trees exhaled, shifting their verdant canopies like great green umbrellas, sending spattered showers of morning dew falling from the uppermost branches into the shadowed floor below. The moss grew, as did the roots of the great durian trees that the moss clung tightly to; the forest yawned as it stretched and flexed and uncoiled itself. In every hidden place, every rotten nest and muddy burrow, eyes watched. The thousand eyes of Hoang Lien blinked and scanned and focused and understood.
As the boy amused himself with his preternatural mimicry, a frog adjusted itself to better see him. Appearing as no more than a spot of moss against the twisted curl of an ancient tree, it blinked twice and angled its spiked head towards the trespasser as he roamed away, crawling on his belly in the dewy loam.
I see a boy of many talents.
_______________
Three, what do you hear?
The wind laughed through the understory, swaying branches and jostling leaves, her symphony of shimmering foliage echoing for miles. She curled her winsome fingers around the great wet trunks and made swirling patterns in the clouded mists that hung like a pall over the soft, dark ground.
The breeze danced in to the clearing where the boy crept and coiled around him playfully. It trembled the tiny shoots that clung to the topsoil, shifted a rat's furrowed trail, and even swayed an errant twig, but it found no purchase of the boy's person. It sauntered over him twice more, perhaps to stir the muddled hat or flutter the ever-changing topcoat, but to no avail. It crept away with a disappointed sigh that drew for an eternity.
I hear a boy who is not real.
_______________
Two, what can you feel?
The heat drew in close, falling like a leaden blanket over the undergrowth. It trapped water beneath it, and inside its folds, and wherever it treaded, it left glistening dew dripping from every damp surface. It brought life, a perfect breeding environment. Everywhere it trundled was awash in green and brown and vibrant flowering shoots. It also took life when it chose. Brother Water needed not accompany him. He could suffocate at a whim; pull the breath from his prey. Under his wrathful stare things withered and shriveled and died.
It drifted around the boy, laying weighted paws upon his shoulders and brow, letting the water run freely over him. He did not draw sweat. Again he spread himself across the boy, and again the boy ignored him.
I feel a great power inside.
_______________
What does the Mountain say?
Hoang Lien will not speak of him.
Then it is not our place. What of the others?
He is the one they desire. They will hunt him soon.
|
|
|
Post by ch00beh on Sept 26, 2010 10:58:08 GMT -5
There was a hack, and then a slash, and maybe even a smack, and the sweet little girl made of shadows pushed her way past the thicket. She still wore her dark dress, but on her head was a sunhat, black and blue to match her clothes, and in her hand was a machete, also black as night. "Rhometer!" the little girl called. "Where are you?" Despite her bad luck earlier, the little girl's face glowed with happiness. Today she would find her playmate, that silly little boy with his funny little shadow. And to get to him, she had to become a safari explorer. Little Vieve cut down another fine that was in her way as she stumbled through the forest. OOC: Playing with narrative styles instead of trying to make a substantial post woooo
|
|
|
Post by The Evil Biscuit on Sept 29, 2010 20:51:31 GMT -5
Tôi đói, anh; I'm -hungry-, brother.
Me too, Five. We should find the others. They look like easy meals.
Yên tĩnh, quiet! One, where are the others?
There is a man - alone. A woman, thrashing through the undergrowth. She pains me.
Very well. We split up. I'll take Three and deal with the man and the spirit. You take Two and Four and handle your pest.
Thank you, anh.
----------------------
Joseph was lost. Everywhere he turned he found unyielding thicket and hostile foliage, reaching out to him, grabbing at his clothes, his face, his arms. He had just thrashed his way into a low clearing when the wind began to blow.
It started as a whistle, a shimmering top note on the green reeds of the glistening canopies. Slowly it built in strength, becoming a hollow moan that shifted the mighty trees and creaked their trunks and clattered their branches. As it gained power, it began to circle Joseph, swiping at his hair and battering his worn clothes with invisible paws. At its peak, it was shrieking through the undergrowth, throwing dirt and twigs and debris in all directions as it beat its horrible tantrum through the sticky jungle floor.
And then, as quickly as it came, it stopped, and as the chaos died down, the sound of tiny bare feet crunching in the dirt could be heard behind him.
'Ohhhh, you way lost now, meestah!'
The wind kicked up one short time, as if to agree.
|
|
|
Post by Beelzebibble on Oct 4, 2010 23:54:23 GMT -5
OOC: I miss Yoon and Mayordomo. Rhometer knelt up off the ground and tilted his nose up into the air. He had just smelled a voice. It smelled like candles, black tea, four balloons, and puddles on the sidewalk when you jumped in them. He knew who that was! "Vieve!" he cried out. But there was no response. Rhometer considered this for a minute. Oh. He was still a Bengal monitor and those didn't vocalize. So when he had cried out "Vieve!" he actually hadn't cried out "Vieve!", he had just moved his lips without making any words. He was about to fix this by stopping being a Bengal monitor and actually crying out "Vieve!" when a better idea came to him. He didn't move his lips but he made the sound "Vieve!" happen anyway. There! Now he'd moved his lips once and made the sound "Vieve!" happen once! Higgledy Piggledy would be positively gobstoppered by this unperpendiculared break from character. Rhometer had actually gone out of his way to put everything together the way it was supposed to go."What makes you think that's Vieve," his shadow inquired. "You notice anything thing I do'd there?" Rhometer cleverly shot back. Higgledy-Piggledy paused. "If you're referring to the delay which you for no apparent reason but to create a disjoint for the sake of itself inserted between the act of enunciating the name and the effect of producing the sound I did in fact notice this." Rhometer faltered. "That's -- Yeah but--" "It is a trivial enough action. I will not go back and correct it." "Yeah -- well -- don't!" the boy shouted. He flopped onto the ground, looking very small amid his own loose-fitting clothing. He huffed and started gnawing on a twig in imitation of no particular animal. Higgledy Piggledy did not mirror his action. "If I may repeat my question what leads you to think that voice is Vieve." Rhometer spit out the twig. "What makes thinks it's not," he mumbled. "You even can't know anyone apart. They'm all one, and the same to you." The shadow quivered. "A fair point," it admitted, "and in any case the voice sounded harmless enough for which reason I will grant that you may be free to--" "Okay!" Rhometer sprang up and started off running and jumping through the humid thicket. He was smiling broadly again. As the shadow tagged behind, low-hanging vines which had spiralled and zigzagged up out of the boy's way fell limp once more. "Here I am!" he shouted two or three times in a singsong voice. OOC: I miss Yoon, Mayordomo, and all of my characters who are not Rho or Hig.
|
|
|
Post by Yoshimitsu on Oct 5, 2010 9:36:55 GMT -5
"Nearly at the jungle, bright hair," Felix reported, firing a piston at the nearest tree. He was dragged along on the wire, anchored into the side of the trunk. Not one for perfect precision, Felix had two of the piston-firing wristbands. They only required a twist of his wrist to fire the next. Easier than Samm's single band, but Samm had the perfect accuracy and analytical mind that was required. "Can you lock on to my location?" Samm's reply came. Felix rummaged around in one of his many pockets, producing a ear piece. He firmly attached it to his left ear, the visor and mouthpiece extending immediately. A map of the area covered his left eye, with two glowing red dots. Himself and Samm. "No fuckin' problem, boss man," Felix confirmed. He aimed for the next tree and fired another piston. "Probably be a coupla minutes 'fore I get there, sit tight." "No can do," Samm argued. "Following some kind of tree-human hybrid. You'll have to move quickly." "Man, you gotta make it fuckin' difficult," Felix sighed. A click informed him that Samm had terminated the link. No point in moaning about it now, time to catch up to his partner. Not a huge amount I can do here, since Lee hasn't replied saying his treeman was doing something different.
|
|
|
Post by Loogs on Oct 28, 2010 23:06:55 GMT -5
Swinging from a tree branch, grinning wildly was Rhometer, with his shaggy hair, his patchy old overcoat, and his ragged gray hat. He swayed back and forth, back and forth, and with a good push leaped over to an adjacent branch. Rhometer parted the thick, viridian foliage in order to investigate the source of all the rustling and bustling down below. He searched left, and then right, and then left again, until he spotted a man on a rope speaking to himself. What a silly man. Who was this Samm person? An imaginary friend? Rhometer has lots of those! Maybe this man could play with him! Rhometer giddily clapped his hands and began to sneak down the tree, using his overcoat belt to dangle precariously from branches and swing over from tree to tree. A curious frog hopped into his pocket from its hiding place in the tree trunk. Oh, hello froggy. Do you want to play a game with Rhometer? You do? Yay! Okay, Mister Froggy, hold on tight now. Rhometer dropped several feet lower, placing him directly behind Felix. Felix, who was too busy communicating with Samm, did not notice the boy behind him. Rhometer managed to quell his materializing fits of mischievous laughter. He reached over slowly, slowly slowly... his hand was now close to Felix's shiny ear piece. What cool glasses! How cool would wearing those glasses with the cool microphone thing be? Rhometer could play SUPER SECRET AGENT. Or SPACE PIRATES! This silly man who talked to himself, he was now Rhometer's new playmate. Today they should play... keep-away tag? Yes, keep-away tag! And in a single irretrievable instant, Rhometer took a giant leap off of Felix's shoulders, fancy new ear piece in hand and already several trees off in the distance. Yes guys, Pohatu totally greenlighted this. Don't worry.
|
|
|
Post by ch00beh on Oct 31, 2010 4:11:33 GMT -5
"Vieve!"
The little girl stopped thwacking her way through the thick vines and branches when she heard her name.
"Vieve!"
There it was again! It sounded just like him! But where was it coming from? That silly boy was making his voice come from everywhere. Vieve laughed. She wished she could do things like that. Wait, she could! Maybe.
The girl tossed her shadow-machete in the air. Wisps of shadows spiraled and curled out of the weapon as it dissolved into nothing. Before it had even disappeared, Vieve was already tracing a pattern on her left arm, inked lines glowing faint black. She ended the spell by squatting down and reaching her left hand into her shadow. As she pulled her hand up, a cone-like object solidified in her grasp.
The girl put the megaphone to her mouth. "Rhome— SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
Vieve jumped and dropped the megaphone, which she had apparently not formed right. Birds flew up and animals started screeching, all equally surprised by the burst of feedback. Oopsies.
|
|
|
Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 7, 2010 22:23:06 GMT -5
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure that I'm way lost. And you're 'it', right?" Joseph smiled bitterly to himself. He shifted slightly, making sure that the bulk of his sagging jacket was between him and the evidently hostile native. If the guy tried to stab him, better to allow himself some wiggle room.
"I don't really like hide and seek. I'm a bit too old for shit like that," Joseph folded his arms over his chest, feeling the concealed weaponry beneath his jacket. His left palm pushed against something hard, cold even through the jacket and in this torrid weather. The barrel of his sawed off shotgun, secured with two loops of twine sewn into the jacket. It'd work. He slipped his hand inside his jacket, obscuring the movement with the bulky coat.
"Of course, on the other hand, how about cops and robbers? I'll start-" BLAM! Joseph winced slightly as the shotgun went off inside his jacket, the bullet ripping through the back directly at his pursuer. Fortunately, he'd angled it right, and had avoided any harm more than powder burns, but it was still fairly painful.
He took off at a run, glancing over his shoulder. He secured the shotgun once more, and began patting his pockets for a handgun as he sprinted for the woods.
|
|
|
Post by The Evil Biscuit on Nov 8, 2010 20:16:49 GMT -5
The boy began to grin, and he chuckled gleefully.
The jacket ruffled, air slammed. The boy's head vanished in a cloud of pink and gray mist, his limp body cartwheeling into the thicket with a sickening thump. The laughter, however, did not stop. Rather, it ratcheted up in pitch and volume, screeching in the treetops and roaring in the undergrowth, surrounding Joseph on all sides as the unnatural bellows and guffaws beat at his ears. As he ran, a sudden and terrible blast of wind surged upwards from his feet, throwing dirt and stinging underbrush in his face and shattering the thinner branches of the damp trees as it spiraled upwards with a terrible shriek.
The laughter began to recede, and the viney clump the boy's body had landed in began to tremble.
'Oh nooooooo, Meestah Pow-Pow... you in trouble now.' the voice was hollow - it came from everywhere. The headless body of the young boy staggered out from the foliage, hands feeling for purchase on the nearby trunks. When it had regained its balance, it stood upright, as if to draw in a breath. Then, it shook its tattered neck from side to side violently, spattering blood and grist against the mossy bark and verdant floor. As it shook, faster and faster, the head began to reform itself, first the dull gray bones, then scarlet muscle and pale tendons, then rotted teeth and milky yellow eyes, and finally leathery, weatherbeaten skin and straggly hair. The boy reached into the bushes and found his angled hat, the brim frayed and jagged from catching an edge of buckshot. He smiled his broken smile, grinning from ear to ear; Joseph could now see that his teeth were no longer the worn down blackened nubs they had been before, but now rows and rows of jagged yellow shark-like teeth, clicking together in anticipation.
'Big trouble, Pow-Pow.'
|
|
|
Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 18, 2010 18:05:36 GMT -5
“Oh, wow,” Joseph raised a calloused hand, and slipped his sunglasses off, “Haven’t seen somethin’ like that in probably…” “Eh, probably two or three fuckin’ weeks. Been longer since I saw a decent beer. Cute trick, but really…” He reached into his pocket, and produced a cigar, “Want one, buddy?” Thick, stinking smoke seeped from the tip of the cigar, blending in with the slight stench of death that hung in the area. The biker brought it up, and slipped it between his lips. “Here, catch.” Joseph drew another one from one of his pockets, and then flipped it lazily through the muggy air. His other hand went to a large knife strapped behind his shoulderblade, looking for all the world like he was scratching at an itch. Not yet time to whip it out, but that moment was surely coming soon enough. OOC: Not much to do at this point, since Joseph's stock reaction is "Be thoroughly unimpressed."
Choobeh, I feel your pain.
|
|
|
Post by Yoshimitsu on Nov 19, 2010 9:32:04 GMT -5
Felix swore under his breath, rummaging around his pockets for something, anything highly illegal and easy to consume. The first thing his fingers closed around was yet another joint. Not quite appropriate for how annoyed he was right now. Stupid snot nosed kid nicked off with some top-secret technology. He was gonna get bollocked for that later. With his free hand, the one that wasn't lighting the joint, he keyed Samm's number into his phone and pressed dial.
"Peacock, change of fuckin' plans," he said, his voice irate.
"You lost your headpiece, didn't you?" Samm's exasperated reply came.
"No, some stupid brat ran away with it. Fucker got close without me noticing. Looked like the picture, stupid tacky fucking ancient trenchcoat and all," Felix replied.
"I'll track your headpiece. You search for this tree human and tail it," Samm ordered. Felix sighed out a cloud of smoke. Things just had to get difficult.
~*~*~
Samm ended the call and turned the dial on his headpiece. The map of the area appeared, including a moving red dot that was managing to surpass all of the natural obstacles. Samm refocused his arm, abandoning his pursuit of the tree-human-hybrid for now, and fired another dart. If what Felix said was true, their target just managed to steal their technology. A massive beacon which Samm could use to track. It wasn't too far, either.
"Come on, let's see how fast you can move," Samm muttered, reeling himself to the next tree.
|
|
|
Post by Loogs on Dec 5, 2010 22:45:22 GMT -5
OOC: Okay, before I post in-character, let me make sure I have everything in this topic straight:
Presently,
-Joseph (Lee) and one of the Dinhs (Biz) are having it out -The jungle monster (also Lee) is, uhh, doing something, presumably being chase around by, is it Felix (El) now? -Samm has switched tasks with Felix and is now after Rho (presently controlled by me) -And Vieve (chubs) is looking for Rhometer. Right?
Either way, I'd like the chase part of this plot wrapped up nicely by around February, so if we can get to actually catching Rho soonish I would appreciate it. Take your time, though, I won't be around much anyway for most of December.
|
|
|
Post by The Evil Biscuit on Dec 14, 2010 1:27:40 GMT -5
Five's head was a blur as it snatched the crumpled stogie from the air, razor mandibles shredding the wrapped tobacco into dark, wet confetti. The demon worked its jaws furiously, devouring the cigar with vigor. Licking its cracked lips, Five turned its stare to Joseph.
'I smell you, danh từ... and so does my brother.'
At that cue, the wind spiraled through the trees above Joseph, and for a brief moment, the outline of another small Vietnamese boy could be seen leaping from branch to branch. Three hissed at the biker, forked tongue flicking over serrated teeth, before vanishing into the whistling breeze. Five cracked a twisted smile.
'He is hungry.'
The wind began to rise in pitch and speed, fluttering Joseph's clothes and shifting the undergrowth around. Five's split tongue darted out, tasting the air.
'So am I!' he screeched, flinging himself at Joseph, fanged jaws gnashing violently.
_______________________________
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
All at once, the jungle exploded around Vieve. The trees swayed and trembled, vines snaked across the loamy earth, whipping and snapping as they contorted and intertwined, and the air began to mist rapidly as an overwhelming heat fell over the thicket. A mighty roar, the sum of great ancient trunks groaning and bending and the shriek of stretching stalks and the dull thrum of shifting earth, filled the air, answering the echo of Vieve's megaphone.
As it died, the labored breathing of a young boy became audible.
'BE... SILENT...'
|
|
|
Post by ch00beh on Dec 21, 2010 10:12:45 GMT -5
"Oh!" Vieve gasped. She dropped the silhouetted megaphone into her shadow, the device disappearing into darkness. "I'm really really sorry I didn't mean to make bad sounds! Hey, wait where are you?"
The little girl looked around, paying little attention to the shifting vines and snapping underbrush. The trees swayed dangerously, but Vieve was too busy looking for someone in them to notice.
"You can't just jump into someone else's game like this! I don't even know what you look like." Vieve crossed her arms, turned up her nose, and began walking again.
|
|
|
Post by Loogs on Dec 22, 2010 0:59:29 GMT -5
It started with one drop splattering against a large leaf, then another one, then five more. Soon the sky laid siege with a powerful deluge falling upon everything in the forest. Curtains of rain descended upon the trees, quickly turning the ground into a sticky, gooey mud trap. So I'm still in the dark as to who exactly is chasing after Rho. Is it just Samm? I can't post until I know for sure you guys.
|
|