Bough -- Logs

Mikal has taken the opportunity to speak, briefly, with Baron Kriminel, a not terribly friendly loa who has been studying Azrael in an attempt to destroy the architect's pet Throne of Death. In the brief interim, one of the other Ghede loas at Uluru comes forward, spreading out a map for the mortals to examine if they wish. The loa -- Baron Lacroix -- is a slender, attractive man, with bright eyes and unruffled suit-jacket and shirt that he wears open at the collar, and a polite and suave disposition. By the time Mikal returns, Baron Lacroix has already pointed out some of the major landmarks between Uluru and the place where Papa Ghede saw Artemis, Freyja, and Sleipnir fall. Specificaly, there aren't many landmarks: Only a trade road that leads Mirrorward, and that not directly, that goes through half a day's journey through the high desert and another half a day's journey over rather scrubby plains, before it reaches one of the vast rain forests that cover this area of the Dreamtime.

Papa Ghede seems to trust Baron Lacroix enough; he barely glances over the map, nodding to himself and confirming that the location marked is where he saw the goddesses and their mount fall.

Mikal studies the map with interest, murmuring softly to herself, "I wonder why Artemis didn't just send Freyja on with the information, and take a last stand with Sleipnir to cover the Bright Lady's retreat? Not much can catch a falcon, after all..."

Papa Ghede shakes his head sadly. "Wish I could answer that, childe. "Was too far away to really see details. But there were a whole lotta whitewings there.

Jareth looks over the map with Mikal, letting the more tactically minded folks decide their course.

Norris opens his mouth to ask what 'whitewings' are, and then he realizes in short order: Oh, right. Angels.

Mikal frowns thoughtfully, "I would be very interested to cover that area carefully then." She looks up at her companions, "What do you all think?" She adds dryly, "Baron Kriminel was... not able to give us the information we need."

Norris studies the map carefully. "Plan what seem most stretegic is to go right to that spot, and then search outward from that area fer clues, annat, yeah?" He hums. "Cept 'that' spot is rather vague, iddnit."

Mikal nods to Norris, "I would think so, yes. We might emphasize slightly searching in a sort of fan shape directly ahead of where they fell, under the assumption they tumbled when they went down... and we should definitely search their assumed path behind them, in case they deliberately dropped something so it would not be captured." She looks thoughtfully at Papa Ghede, "You saw Sleipnir, Artemis, and Freyja? They were all there when you spotted them?"

Norris taptaps the splotch of white towards the northern left corner "Whussat thing spose t'be, right there?"

Mikal frowns curiously, "I thought that was their approximate last known location?"

Papa Ghede nods, "'Aye, child, 'tis. I do know 'was fightin' somethin' fierce there. Even as I sent Lacroix here to see who-all we could spare to come to their aid, saw more than a few trees just get toppled, fell down... one was blown up by lightnin'. Was over in minutes, though... an' the area was swarmed wi' whitewings for the rest of the day." He points to the map. "That splotch o' white is th' site of the fight, wi' all the trees fallen." He nods to Mikal. "Aye, childe. Recognized the three of them."

Mikal nods slowly, folding her arms and frowning as she stares thoughtfully at the map. "Very well. We must assume they did something truly unique to hide anything they wished the angels not to discover, as well... this is not going to be easy, I fear."

Norris considers the matter quietly. "Aint about uniqueness, ah doan think, Mikal. Bet you that the answer's pretty simple. We just dun have to think like - or rather, not think like - an angel. Ah bet th' answer to what they hid is critical t' angels expecting them t' play by their rules, yeah? Like a shell game."

Mikal gives Norris a curious glance, "Go on."

Norris says, "Well, with shell game, yer placing bets based on being able t' find the pea under the shell. There's three shells, an the dealer moves them around right quick, so you lose track of where the pea is. But the whole point of the matter is that the pea aint in shell 1, or two, or three. It's in the dealer's hand, th' whole time. We've been given a set o' expected rules, and we assume the one that gave us the rules will play by them. And then 'e doesn't. 'At's what ah'm talking about." He rubs his hands. "So...we dun need t' think of a solution that the folk involved might think of because o' what they believe, that would be anathema t' th' angels." He looks at Papa Ghede. "Honored sir...did Sleipnir eat?"

Baron Lacroix lights and takes a pull from a cigarette, blowing the smoke upward and away from the group. "Tricky's goin' to be seein' the spot from the ground," he says easily. "There are a few landmarks to get you goin' but it'll be kinda serachful after a point."

Papa Ghede blinks a little. "Eat? How do you mean, childe?

Mikal is silent, thinking.

Norris smiles. "Food, ah mean. Ah know he's a divine creature, as much a god as any. And hell, us humans doan even need t' eat here if we caint or doan want to. Just wondering fer a moment if 'e could if 'e wanted to. An if 'e would, eh..." He makes a face. "Excrete. Like a normal horse, annat."

Papa Ghede ohs! and nods, "Far as I know," he says, "Sleipnir was an aethyr, so's he needed to eat, aye."

Norris smiles. "Ah! Aright, then. "Mong other things, let's be onna lookout for horse droppings. Spect that woul' be a way of hiding sommat that th' Huntress would appreciate."

Mikal raises an eyebrow at Norris, "That would be droppings that are how old, now? They'd be long gone, I'd think."

Norris opens his mouth....and then closes it. "Sheeeit." he swears, appropriately.

Mikal murmurs amusedly, "Exactly...

"Anyway. All right, we need to find... a purloined letter, effectively." She sighs softly, studying the map one last time before she turns to the loa, "May we take the map with us?"

Norris shakes his head. "Well, one way r' another, lets start makin our way. Caint look for it till we's there."

Papa Ghede nods, smiling. "Of course you can take it. Don' worry, we'll make more if'n we need. I jus' hope it'll be useful, seein' as how there's so little on it.

Jareth spends the time while they wait to get going just exploring as much as they are allowed, though he makes sure not to be intrusive. These are the sorts of t hings that Mikal and Norris are good at planning.

Mikal thanks the loa and rolls the map up, tucking it into her backpack. After that she finds a high spot on the huge boulder, on the side next to where the fleeing deities were spotted going down. She sits with her feet hanging over the edge, still and silent as she thinks.

Norris absently wishes, as he gets his things together, that his ability to create things include more technonogical items that might be useful for searching. Then again, it's not like he could make one of these on the spot, either. So he keeps things simple: helmet off and hair tied back, so he doesn't miss anything within eyesight (or earshot) because of easily avoidable hindrances. But then he does get one idea, and sees if he might beable to dream-shape a spyglass.

Mikal will, the next morning, head out with her companions towards the area marked on the map. She rides Iron Antlers, the map spread out over the fey stag's withers, and with Raphael trotting ahead. She is still musing hard on what might be a good hiding place for something -- a hiding place that angels would overlook, but which could be created or used or whatever in a flash of effort. She murmurs thoughtfully half under her breath as she rides, "Could it have been turned into an object? A creature? Fed to something? Should have asked about teleportation back at the Rock..."

Norris is trying very hard to imagine a spyglass as he trots along on his new pony. And when he opens his eyes again, he got the tube...but no lenses. Clearly, what he was doing required a little more knowledge about optics than he had at his disposal. He groans and throws away the tube.

The day's travel is somewhat slow going. It takes half a day to cross the desert -- large gourds and skins of water help -- and another half a day to reach the edge of the forest. The light has faded to dark twilight by the time they reach the vast, dark line of the lush, increasingly-humid forest. There must be a major river nearby, to bring all this moisture into the forest, which is probbaly the reason the forest sprung up here.

Mikal, despite being deep in thought, notices their tail about noon. Whatever is following them, has been quite stealthy and good at keeping out of sight; she turns to look and a shadow flits out of sight. It does not seem to be doing anything more than following them, and keeping out of sight.

She is careful they don't overwork the poor horses and stag, since none of them are desert-bred. Fortunately the four mortals don't need water. She casually murmurs at some point, "We have a tail, packmates. Very stealthy... or nervous. Haven't decided yet. Raphael, lay an ambush please?" The next time they cross over one of the rising and falling rolling dunes, the big raptor-wolf drops his casual, tongue-lolling trotting to fall instantly into the sand, burrowing so it slithers over him and covers him in camouflage. Mikal keeps on riding onwards, giving no sign of seeing Raphael's behavior.

Norris noticed no such tail...of course, it was partly that even as he was looking around for notable things ahead of them, he was giving serious thought as to how a war and love goddess, a hunt goddess, and a mighty horse would have hidden something. At Mikal's comment, he perks, and makes sure his mace is within easy reach as he resists the urge to peer around behind them.

Mikal figures best to lay the ambush right near the edge of the desert, where it would be natural for tired travelers to press anxiously forward for the coolness of the forest. She murmurs amusedly, "Norr, sweetie, don't look suddenly interested. Keep that slightly tired sag in your spine."

It really isn't long after Raphael digs himself into the scrabbly sand, when a shape scrambles around the dune. Then Raphael leaps out of hiding, and almost instantly regrets it.

The sound that follows is a cacophony of shrieks, startled chirps, and accusatory hisses, accompanied by a storm of flapping wings. Raphael is too startled himself to do much more than bounce back, yodeling once. Which just serves to make the chorus of oddly catlike chirping all the louder.

Mikal laughs, already whirling the big fey stag around and calling, "It's all right, easy, easy there!" to the gryphkit behind them. She reaches into her pouch for some nice strips of jerky for the huffy and ruffled chicks. She's grinning broadly, wondering if their dam knows they're out here.

Norris blinks and turns to look. They're being snuck up on by birds?

Mikal swings down easily from Iron Antlers' back, the map tucked away in her backpack by now, and croons soothingly to the offended gryphchicks, "There there, now... easy, pretty babies... see, the mean old nasty raptor wolf isn't going to eat you -- got some tasty jerky for you instead!" Raphael rolls his eyes and snorts amusedly, which makes Mikal giggle.

It isn't one of the gryphkits that has been trailling them, but three, in fact the three that greeted them on their arrival; and Mikal remembers what Tautoru said about them, being 'precocious as hell.' Yes, one of them is the one that was slobberingly introduced to Raphael. After a little bit of calming, they seat themselves neatly in a row, looking up at the mortals and 'mewp?'ing curiously.

Jareth laughs and comes over to greet the chicks, offering his hand to the one that was sitting on his head when they first arrived, "Have we got some new friends, lovelies?"

Mikal giggles at the threesome, carefully feeding a strip of jerky to each of them, "Yes, we have plenty for all of you!"

Norris stares at these strange little creatures with big eyes. "Did we know these dun existed?"

Mikal picks up the blue one while he's still chewing up his jerky, stroking the soft feathers and gently scritching his poll as she croons, "Aren't you just the most adorable little chickies?" She grins over her shoulder at Norris, "They were at the Rock when we landed, Norr! Remember?"

Jareth grins at Norris and nods, "They said hello to us when we got to Uluru." He makes encouraging clucking noises, strangely happy to find the gryphkits following them.

Norris shakes his head. "Musta had my mind on sommat else." he rumbles, peering at the strange little things curiously. "Should we take em back? Ah mean, less y'all think we's kin take care of em."

Mikal settles hers on the hump of her backpack behind her, making sure he's firmly settled before she picks up the pale gray one with emerald eyes. She holds the little gryphchick up to Norris, crooning to it as well, "Yes, he's so big, isn't he? Lots of places for a chick to sit, don't you think?"

Norris stares at Mikal like she just sprouted a third head at the way she's talking. And then studies the grey chick. "How d'ya do." he greets the little thing.

The gryphkits cheep their thanks, happilly accepting and gnawing on the jerky; the blue one, while still chewing the jerky, is giving a happy purr, which makes a curious sound.. The one that Jareth met earlier most defintiely recognizes him, and lifts himself on his hind legs to stretch up and preen Jareth's hair.

The grey gryphkit tilts his head as he studies Norris. Then, with a flapping of surprisingly large, fluffy wings, it alights on his shoulder... or tries to. These are young, after all. So while the forefeet find purchase, the hind legs continue to scramble for some time to find purchase on Norris's arm. Finally, in a rather awkward position, it looks at Norris and chirps, as if to ask if this is good enough.

Mikal giggles, pushing her bangs back out of her face as she watches... then she turns and almost skips back towards the forest, "All right, let's go! We can make a little camp here, I think, for the night so the others can rest and eat. Come the morning we'll go find the crash site and start searching, yes?"

Norris makes a startled noise as the big clumsy kit makes a home on his shoulder. Of course, being the kindly sort he is, he's trying to assist as the grey one fumbles about...and when it chirps at him, he nods solemly. "Ya'right, now?" He doesn't feel quite at home with the gryph kit enough to nuzzle or pet it, but he's not bothered by it, at least. And those adorable eyes would get to anyone.

Jareth wrinkles his nose as the preening pulls at his hair a bit, but he happily scritches the kit's poll and murmurs, "You keep this up and you'll have to have a name, little one."

For the time being the grey gryphkit on Norris's shoulder seems content to perch awkwardly -- for both him and Norris -- on his arm. The russet-hued on chirp-purrs to Jareth, before contentedly sitting primly and properly in his lap in the saddle. The blue gryphkit that has adopted Mikal is not so much 'sitting' in Mikal's lap as 'curled up.'

Mikal grins and strokes her little gryphkit once camp is set up, murmuring soft nothings to him. She cheerfully introduces Raphael and Iron Antlers to the tiny thing as well, giggling at the fey stag's calm resignation to his antlers being used as a perch.

Norris is a little uncomfortable...but only a little, and not enough to actually lay hands on the kit. it makes things a little more difficult after he gets back on his horse...but the smith gradually relaxes and gets used to the chirping little cutie riding around atop him. "Yep. Got a good view of everythin' up there." he says absently to his grey companion.

Jareth seems somehow comforted by the presence of the odd little creature and uses some of Mikal's jerky to feed it when it seems to be begging like a kitten.

Evening wears on as the group camps, to give the non-mortals in the group some time to rest and recouperate. The gryphkits play a little on the perimeter of the campsite, but they're clearly tired from the long travelling from the day, and shortly they've more or less nestled up against a chagrined and amused Raphael, beaks tucked under tails and wings.

The forest itself, on the other hand, is not terribly welcoming. It gets cold at night this close to the plains and desert, and the forest is humid enough that a mist rises up, possibly even a prelude to rain. While the gryphkits, ponies, and Iron Antlers don't seem phased by anything out of the ordinary, the mortals in the group have an uncomfortable feeling that rises up as evening wears on and does not seem to let up. Like there's something watching them from afar, and it's not a gryphkit.

Mikal will, once they've built a fire and settles their companions safely with bran mashes and nibbles of meat, settle herself down next to Jareth. She giggles at how the gryphkits play with each other, and cuddles up against her lover, murmuring, "How're you doing, sweet chat?"

Norris absently wishes he'd managed to create that 'glass. Or not. There's no light to see by, at the moment. But he stubbornly stays awake, ruffled by these eerie eyes on them.

Jareth strokes Mikal's hair and shakes his head, "I feel uncomfortable..."

Mikal smiles faintly and nods, leaning against Jareth, "It is... odd feeling, yes..." She remains still, taking her time and trying to figure out where the sensation originates.

Norris keeps trying to see whatever it is, but all he sees is darkness and trees. So he'll have to live with the irritation, for now, poking away at the fire with a stick.

Norris manages to not see anything; it's just an unnamable disquiet for him, but he doesn't even really actually see anything. Jareth on the other hand has brief moments when he sees something in the evening mist... but when he turns his head, it's either an unfortunately-angled branch, or just a trick of the mist.

Mikal on the other hand.... Though every so often out of the corner of her eye in the distance she can see movement, once or twice she turns, managing to pick out the movement of a somewhat tall, lean human shape in the middle-to-far distance. It is almost ethereal: the figure will move quickly amongst tree branches and be lost from sight, then not too far from there she'll catch a glimpse of movement again. She frowns in quiet concern, murmuring, "There's... a humanoid out there, mon beau chat. I'm going to see if I can catch it, all right?"

Mikal rises after a bit, calling out in quiet cheer to her companions that she needs to relieve herself, but she'll be right back! She picks up her backpack, careful not to disturb any of the animals, and walks into the forest like a regular person. Once within the shadows of the trees, she goes silent and stealthy, drifting through them much like a wraith herself.

Jareth puts a hand on Mikal's arm and murmurs, "Be careful, mon amour."

Mikal smiles and brushes a gentle kiss against Jareth's cheek before she leaves.

Norris learns from the last time. He doesn't look around at all, and just continues poking the fire, and checking on the kits every now and then.

Mikal disappears almost instantly into the forest, leaving no trail or trace. As she does so, the grey gryphkit stirs, lifting his head up almost suddenly and startledly as if waking up from an unpleasant dream. He blinks slowly and sleepily, looking around, before stiffly padding over to Jareth, clambering into his lap -- "My lap, thanks," -- and curling up; it's clear, though, that the gryphkit's large green eyes are wide and watching, though it appears to be lying down to nap.

She can't seem to get near the strange entity circling the camp, so she stops trying to do so. Instead she finds its path and whips together a quick, simple rope trap. That will hopefully hold it -- him? -- in place long enough for her to talk to it and reassure it they are friendly. She crouches neatly out of sight once she's laid the trap, waiting for the entity to continue the circle.

Norris can't help but smile as the russet one takes posession of Jareth, warming to the cute kits, it's reaction putting him at ease a little.

Jareth chirps at the little gryphkit and scritches around its poll, trying his very best not to seem to be on the lookout for anything strange. To distract himself, he starts singing softly, a mournful old ballad from Staunton.

Mikal has been watching the entity circling the camp -- drifting around it like fog, more likely -- so she makes sure she moves out when the creature is approaching where she is. She neatly tucks herself out of sight, waiting to see if it will try searching for her, or simply pass on by.

Norris peers at Jareth. "Why do you think they followed us?" he queries, as the bard fusses over the wide-eyed kit.

As she disappears into the forest, she feels herself focussed on the figure she briefly spotted. It does indeed drift closer to where she is -- not directly, though it does seem to be, in it's own, indirect way, drifting towards her. At one point, the mist seems to clear a very little, and she catches a breif, somewhat clear glimpse of the creature. At least, she thinks she does. If it is, then it is extremely tall and thin and does not look quite normal.

Mikal waits silently for it to come closer. She's quite surprised it has spotted her -- she was pretty sure her stealth was exemplary on the way to this spot.

Jareth smiles quietly and strokes the kitten-like back of the odd little creature, "I think they might have bonded with us. Theyd id tell us they're curious."

Norris comes over and crouches next to Jareth. "Are you curious, little one?" he asks the red chick.

Jareth smiles up at Norris and reaches up to touch the big man's face, "Are you asking me or the kitten?" He's trying to appear nonchalant.

Norris is surprised, but he likes the bard's touch. "The kitten." he admits. "Although I suppose I shouldn't expect an answer. Just trying to get a better sense of them, other than being small and cute."

Norris wiggles his hand in front of the gryphkit's face, to see if it follows the motion with it's eyes.

Jareth smirks and murmurs, "They're predators, Bear. I'd be careful wiggling small pink things in front of them. They might think your hand is prey."

Norris ah-hmms. And draws his hand back.

The creature does seem to come closer; it isn't heading directly towards Mikal, as far as she can tell now, but it is approaching. A brief breeze clears the mist, and now she gets a clearer look at it. It is most definitely not human now; it seems to be walking on slender arms or tentacles that make barely a sound; its legs do not move, giving the creature the appearance of drifting above the ground almost serenely, if somehow threateningly. The branching tentacles from its arms or shoulders moves slowly and strongly.

And then the mist returns, and the indistinct shape blends once again into the trees and branches.

Despite Jareth's warning, the gryphkit doesn't pounce. Instead, his eyes flick briefly to follow the motion, but other than that, it quckly returns to watching, alertly and warily, the firelight reflecting brightly in its eyes. Jareth can feel him move in his lap a very little, still holding very still though it seems like the gryphkit's hackles are rising. The other gryphkits twitch a little in their sleep, and the blue one seems to give a very throaty, feline growl in her sleep.

Mikal frowns confusedly as she watches the thing. It almost looks like a humanoid body with tentacles sprouting out from its shoulders. She continues to wait silently, trusting in her careful hiding place and not sure how to react. She decides not to move... she doesn't really want to attract the thing's attention until she's had a chance to see it more clearly.

Norris looks Jareth in the eyes...the kits are definitely reacting to something with greater agitation. He casually sits next to Jareth then, and resumes his poking at the fire as he keeps his ears open.

There is only a few fleeting glimpses that Mikal can catch of it after that one clear view, then nothing for a few minutes more.

And then there is the tiny crunch of leaves as if someone were walking nearby, except it's not the normal cadence of footsteps, more of a step-and-drag sound, and it comes from a handful yards to Mikal's back and left, and yet she cannot hear anything remotely resembling breathing.

Jareth catches his breath slightly and then tries to normalize it again. They are definitely not alone here. He reaches over and grips Norris' wrist, and then he turns to his companion as if to nuzzle against Norris' ear, it lets him speak in a bare breath, "There are things in the mist. Not just one..."

Norris tries not to stiffen. "Where?" he breathes, leaning in as if to kiss the beautiful young man, his eyes darting around.

Mikal frowns in silent confusion. She can definitely sense it -- it's definitely there -- but it feels so odd, like a shell... like there's a mind but there's nothing in it... the young woman looks perplexed. She doesn't know what this thing is, but she'll wait until it passes, then return to the fire. Generally when there's something with an emptied mind around... there's a nasty reason why the mind is gone as well.

The creature is on the other side of a tree from Mikal; she can see the occasional arm or leg or tentacle from the thing as it stands there, motionless for long minutes. What she can see of the body seems to be wearing a cheap, black suit of some kind. And it does indeed look very tall, unhumanly tall. She can't see the thing's head or most of the rest of it for that matter. It seems to be waiting, patiently.

Mikal gets an uneasy prickle at it apparently waiting there, and decides now would be a good time to slide silently back to her companions. On the other hand... she might draw its attention. On the other other hand... she could try addressing it then. All right. She takes a deep breath, firmly reminds herself she is the finest hunter of Staunton -- then she slips as carefully as she can from her hiding spot, heading back to the fire. She has one last trick to use if she accidentally makes noise, and she keeps it prepped.

The creature remains standing there; it does not seem to take notice of Mikal slipping from concealment back to the fire. She lasts sees the mist concealing it from view, still motionless. She cannot hear any crunchings of leaves behind her.

By the time Mikal reaches the campfire, Raphael is wide awake, nose quivering though he is trying desperately not to look out into the darkness for Mikal. The other two gryphkittens have woken up, and while the blue one is crouched between Raphael's forepaws, the grey one has crawled onto Norris's back, looking alert and with a tail about twice its normal size. The one in Jareth's lap, without seeming to be looking at anything in particular, gives a very feline growl deep in its throat.

Mikal calmly builds up the fire -- something in her says these indistinct, foggy things will most likely not come into the light. Then she turns to the others, putting her hands on her hips, "All right, I refuse to be scared by ghosts -- or whatever these things are!" She's doing her best to think of these things as simply monsters, as she adds, "I saw one, and it felt like it used to have a mind but doesn't any more. Here, I'll try to draw it for you," and she crouches down, scratching out the odd, tentacled shape with a twig in the dirt. "Does this look familiar at all to anyone else?"

Norris is relieved we're not trying to pretend we don't know there's something out there when the kittens are so clearly agitated. He reaches up and testingly tries to sooth the grey one with scritches, as he peers down curiously at what Mikal is sketching.

Jareth reaches out to touch Mikal's hair, voice low, "There's more than one, my love... and there's something unnatural about the fog."

Mikal glances up sharply at Jareth at that, "The fog?" She looks unhappy as she considers for a bit, then studies their stash of firewood for the night. Can they make it through the night?

Mikal's fingers close tightly around Jareth's a moment later, as if she's drawing comfort from his proximity.

Mikal sighs in relief, sitting back as she murmurs quietly, "Yes... we should be able to keep the fire going through the night." She's still holding Jareth's fingers tightly; she points at her sketch with the twig she's got in the other hand, "So... does that ring any bells for anyone?"

Norris opens his mouth...and closes it again. He has this strange look on his face. He's actually having an idea. "not...precisely."

Norris peers at the figure. "This...this wuz something I remember from modern times. At th' bar. Was a..." He gropes for the word. "Urban legend. Like, myth, only in the days when religion wasn't as big. T' kinda stories folk told to scare each other."

Mikal curls up against Jareth and looks inquiringly at Norris. When Raphael cuddles up against her other side, resting his big head on her lap, and the pretty little blue gryphkit crawls up to snuggle between Raph's head and her lap, Mikal automatically starts stroking them soothingly as well, listening carefully to Norris. She looks a bit relieved, "Oh, whew. So it's just a legend of something?"

Norris perks as he thinks of a corollary. "Like th' original Red Riding Hood. Only it wasn't a fairy tale as much as a cautionary tale." He juts his chin at the fog. "Cat done can see it. Doan know if it's that much of a legend iffn it shows up like that."

Mikal blinks at Norris, "Cat what see what?"

Norris's head tilts. "But mebbe the whole point of it is they aint real dangerous. Just scary. Like shadows on th' wall." He gestures. "Yannow, Rabbit. Th' way Cat sees stuff, special stuff." Norris tries to say this quietly.

Mikal still looks a bit confused, but then she brightens, "Oh! Our Cat, not the gryphkits, got it!" She looks relieved, "I'm glad they're all fog things then. We'll just stay here by the fire."

She quietly keeps feeding logs to the fire as necessary as the night progresses. Over time she notices the gryphkits, the horses, and Iron Antlers finally uneasily doze off... and at some point Norris is no longer there either. That causes her to press close to Jareth and Raphael, whispering softly, "I hope no more of us awaken and disappear, tonight..."

Jareth smiles a bit and strokes Mikal's hair, eyes scanning the fog. He's gathered the gryphkittensin close, but he's not sure if he's wanting them close for their comfort or for his. "Let's hope both our other selves stay soundly asleep, mon lapin..."

Raphael raises his head to give Mikal's cheek a reassuring lick, which causes her to laugh shakily as she hugs him about the neck with one arm. She quietly adds, "Whatever it is, its mind feels like it has been emptied out." She leans her head against Jareth's chest, reassured by his warmth and steady heartbeat. After a while she murmurs thoughtfully, "Do you suppose this is... one of those hostile tulpas that the kachinas so dislike?" A bit regretfully she adds, "I wish I'd asked more about how to defeat them..."

Jareth nods slowly, "It's possible... I can see... they're all around us. They don't seem to like the fire, though."

Mikal goes alertly still at that, thinking... then says after a moment, "'They'? I only felt one mind -- do you feel more?"

Jareth nods, still stroking Mikal's hair, "They. I can see several of them... all through the mist..." He smiles crookedly, "I don't have any sense of how many minds there are."

Mikal sits up a bit, a perplexed look on her face, "Wait, how could there be more than one, but sharing only one emptied mind?"

Jareth's brows draw together, "I don't know... maybe... is it possible that it's the mist that's aware and it's just showing us the pictures?"

Jareth seems almost to be talking to himself, "Maybe that's why it seems to move so unexpectedly... does it just flicker one image and then another? Staying just out of sight... trying to throw us off..."

The mist seems to remain outside the limits of the fire; the slender man itself, is out there still, though it can't be heard. It can certainly be felt, and every so often, out of the corner of the eye, can be seen the oddly distorted shape of the Slender Man, before it is gone again. The grypkits' are extremely agitated, giving tiny growls deep in their throats, and not moving a lot, and the hackles and polls being raised and expanded, and tails flicking. They are not happy.

Mikal murmurs quietly, "It -- the Slender Man -- it does seem to move... very oddly. Like... sometimes I see it over there -- but then a heartbeat later, I hear it behind me. No breathing either. Just a sort of dragging, sliding motion sound."

Mikal is also softly musing aloud by this point, "So just destroying the Slender Man wouldn't stop it, then, I'd think. Rather, we'd have to figure out how to either destroy or change the fog itself...?" She adds thoughtfully, "When I'm really, really focusing on it, the tulpa seems more... more present, more noticeable."

Jareth thinks about that and asks slowly, "Just one figure, or the mind? Is it possible... to trap it into one body?"

Mikal blinks at Jareth, "That... oh! Maybe that's how to do it -- to use our Conviction to make the Slender Man be very present, to make the fog manifest... and then to break that body and thereby destroy the malice? Hopefully that would leave nothing behind but simple, actual fog?"

Jareth nods slowly and his eyes light up a little, "Make it concentrate itself."

Mikal brightens hopefully, "Then maybe... maybe we could do something about it -- just like the kachinas did!" She frowns in fierce consideration, "What might shatter the body... fire? Salt? Something else?"

Jareth chews his bottom lip and says, "It doesn't seem to like the fire. Fire, maybe? Or just light?"

Mikal hmms, adding slowly, "Probably not water or air... those are the elements it is made up of. Maybe Earth would help, would ground it?"

Jareth says, "Salt would be earth, yes?"

Mikal says, "Umm... I think so?" She brightens suddenly again, "Oh! Can we use this information against the angels too? They throw fire, they fly in the air, they're grounded by salt... might water of some sort damage them also?"

Jareth shrugs, grinning a little, though the expresison is somewhat strained, "We can't know until we try, little love." He looks around, "I wonder if I could make a torch.."

Mikal beams at that, "Oh, I know how to make a torch! Let me help?" She's made plenty, from her time in the jungles around Staunton while monster hunting, and she's happy to be useful. She adds thoughtfully, "So, salt or earth, and fire. If I can somehow trap it, can you try throwing dirt on it, and to set it on fire?"

Making the torch is easy enough, and shortly both Mikal and Jareth have two flaming torches in their hands. Much to Iron Antler's chagrin, the gryphkits choose, when disturbed from their positions, to roost in his antlers, apparently being comfortable around something that is about as large as their mom.

Mikal can't help the nervous little giggle that escapes her at that sight!

The gryphkits chirp and chitter softly to one another, appearing very agitated.

Jareth agrees to try the destruction if Mikal can trap one of the eerie, just plain wrong forms.

Mikal hands her torch to Jareth, then gets started making another for Raphael, "All right, I have a simple rope trap that I left out there previously. I'll see if I can draw it into the trap. If I can, I'll yell, and you guys come running, okay? I'll need your help in trying to ground and diffuse it." Once she's handed the last torch to the big raptor wolf -- it has a longer than usual handle so he can carry it sideways in his mouth -- she checks her pouch, making sure she has salt easily to hand. She chatters nervously as she does so, "I'll try dirt first, but I've got salt here too, okay?" She looks up suddenly, her movements as quick and fluidly abrupt as an alarmed bird, "We ready now?"

Jareth watches her getting ready, carefully holding the pair of torches. He nods, smiling tightly, "As much as I can be."

Mikal straightens and rises to her feet, her face pale. She glances out at the darkness -- then turns and gives Raphael a very tight hug about his neck. After that she stands up on her tiptoes to grab a double fist-full of Jareth's shirt, and give him a quick, emphatic kiss! She takes a quick, gasping breath after that, her eyes almost glittering with nervousness, and grins shakily at the other two, "Wish me luck!" A heartbeat later she vanishes into the dark, foggy forest. She does not attempt to stealth this time -- she knows where her hidden rope trap is, and she wants to draw the Slender Man to it.

Jareth rocks on the balls of his feet as he's kissed, but doesn't have time to wrap his free arm around her and return it before she's gone. He smiles wryly to Raphael, "Quick-quick, like a bunny." But then he's very serious again.

Raphael sighs gustily, flicking his ears back in worried agreement for an instant -- then he pricks them sharply forward again, listening carefully to the sounds of his little half-sister moving through the forest.

Oddly, the presence of the Slender Man is not as pronounced as it was when Mikal first ventured into the forest beyond the campfire. But she is looking for it, and, she thinks, that makes it easier to find. She sees it increasingly closer each time. as she attempts to lead it to the trap. It doesn't seem to at first want to go in that direction... but then abruptly, she looses sight of it again for a brief moment, then there is the whisper of rope on leafy ground, she hears the trap sprung... then an ungodly, ululating hum that is almost a roar of some kind reverberates throughout the forest. The gryphkits squawk and mewl as they flap in panic on their perch, taking animatedly to each other.

Mikal yells in sudden anger, calling her companions as she too runs for the trap, scooping up a double handful of loamy, leafy dirt as she does so, "Here! We've got it -- come get it here!" She doesn't get within tentacle reach if she can help it; she pauses and throws carefully instead, one handful at a time, watching to see if there's any reaction or flinching away.

Jareth puts a hand on Raphael's scruff to stay together with the raptor wolf and heads for the direction of his mate's yelling.

Raphael bounds unerringly in the direction of Mikal's yell, although he slows enough to keep Jareth at his side.

Mikal is on her metaphorical toes, ready to dart away if the tulpa lunges directly at her. She roughly calculates in the darkness that the tentacles look about 12' to 15' long, since they're curving and the thing hangs about a half torso higher than she stands. She stays prudently out at about 20', as a consequence.

The Slender Man, in the light of the torch, is a sight to behold. It is tall, yes, and at first blush looks like it is wearing an ill-fitting suit and tie. But in the light that is where all similarity to something human ends, The suit does not appear to actually be a suit, but some sort of flaps of skin. The fingers are abnormally long and have a few extra joints. The tentacles extending from the creature's shoulders keep it standing, such that the actual legs are probably not even used except when the tentacles are not. And the face... The face looks like it is cheesecloth or muslin, taut against whatever is underneath. And in the shadows the impression of a face could be seen; but now, it is clear that it is not entirely human, and whatever musculature moves beneath that mouthless, eyeless, noseless face, jaws open in that sound of rage, is most assuredly not human.

And it is pissed.

The tentacles are surprisingly long, and the ones that are not caught in the trap flail madly about the Slender Man. When they strike a tree, they flay the bark off in slim strips. Mikal finds that she's just barely out of reach of the flailing appendages; they stretch out longer than they look.

The clumps of loamy dirt smeck into the Slender Man, but they seem to have no deleterious effect; on the other hand, as the clods strike it, it does seem to be more present, more solid. Which is not necessarily a good thing, as one of the tentacles then takes down a heavy tree branch behind the creature where it was only flaying bark before.

Jareth keeps a tight hold on one torch and swings the other toward the trapped creature, mouth pressed into a thin white line of worry.

Mikal frowns worriedly, and hastily pulls out some salt, although she does not stop yelling until she spots her approaching packmates. Salt is a precious commodity in a world where it's one of the few things that can stop an angel, so Mikal is quite careful as she throws it, waiting to make sure she hits a tentacle -- and also that her companions are there as well, to try fire if salt strengthens the nasty thing.

It does not seem to like fire, or rather the light. It shies from the glare of the torch, attempting to back out of the circle of illumination. even the salt seems to 'ground' it more, make it more real. Then as it seems the most solid... it falls to the ground, no longer ghosting ethereally upon its tentacles but now a pile of flailing appendages as it thrums it's rage and fury, scrambling back though the leaves from the illumination, kicking them up in a veritable storm of leaves. It tries to get away, but the trap keeps it from going far.

Mikal grabs the torch from Raphael and runs in a slow circle around the horrible creature, carrying the torch low so some of the leaves light as well

Jareth holds both the torches he's holding out from his body, trying to drive the creature back toward the raptor wolf and his fierce warrior beloved.

Mikal yells over the noise, "The dirt makes it more solid! We can burn it when it's solid!" Whenever the thing seems to be getting more ethereal or wispy, Raphael turns his back on it and scratches dirt over it with a few powerful kicks of his paws. Mikal tries to set the leaves and tentacles on fire if she can, and Jareth keeps it pinned in place.

Bit by bit, the Slender Man is made more 'real,' more present and physical. And shortly, the flailing tentacles that come too close to the torch begin to smoulder, and it isn't long at all before the Slender Man is caught in a pool of flaming leaves and underbrush, that odd, bone-shaking hum bit by mid ululating and fading, and slowly, the tentacles stop their flailing within the greasy, foul-smelling fire.

Mikal sighs in relief some time later, pausing in her determined short rushes at the thing as she attempts to light yet more leaves around it. She's dusty and dirty, soot-smudged, and got leaves in her hair from hastily tumbling backwards more than once as she stayed out of tentacle-reach... but she grins delightedly over the flames at Jareth and Raphael, her eyes and teeth flashing in the leaping firelight as she raises the torch and shakes it proudly, "Yay! We stopped a bad tulpa -- all by ourselves! We did good!"

It really isn't long before the Slender Man's remains are completely consumed by the fire. It seems like there is no skeleton left over, at least one that she can tell from the ash.

With the fading of the embers of the pyre for the Slender Man, the mist begins to lift, and through the canopy of the forest, the stars can once again be seen.

Mikal grins tiredly and whews as the last bits of the nasty thing are consumed and fall into ash. She's still careful, though: she walks through the smoldering ash, kicking it apart and stomping it down into the ground to make sure it has been completely absorbed and healed by the earth.

Jareth helps Mikal to return most of the ashes directly to the earth, but he pauses, "Beloved, I think I'd ike to have some of these ashes looked at by someone that knows the tulpas... maybe even have the bail analyze them..."

Mikal glances up at Jareth, pushing her sweaty hair out of her face -- and unwittingly leaving yet another smudge, "Oh, good idea. Let me get something to tie up some of the ash in... maybe a bandanna or something?"

Jareth smiles a bit and resists reach to wipe the smudge off with his thumb, since that would likely only make it worse, "Maybe something like a jug..."

Mikal blinks, "A jug? Hmm... moment..." She trots off for their campsite, pondering as she goes... do they have a jug? Maybe one with a stopper?

Mikal finds a small jug in the pack of one of the horses -- currently it's being used to carry some dried fruit and trail mix. She carefully shakes that out into a bandanna, knots the bandanna closed, then returns to Jareth with the jug. She holds it out in tired triumph, "Found one, lover!"

Jareth kisses Mikal's nose and takes the jug, "Smart thinking." He goes to gather the ashes up, trying not to touch them too much.

Mikal's eyes almost cross in startlement at the kiss! She blinks... then beams almost goofily at Jareth's back as he bends to his work.

The ashes are gathered in fairly short order -- despite being just ash, they still seem... unwholesome, somehow.

Mikal carefully pours water for Jareth once he's done, so he can wash his hands.

Jareth washes his hands and then uses the cloth to wipe Mikal's face clean.

Mikal blinks at that, then giggles, turning her face up to make it easier. A bit muffledly she splutters through the damp cloth, "Haven't had this since Da said I wasn't a babbie any more!"

Jareth smirks and kisses Mikal's nose again, "Still not a babbie."

Mikal grins delightedly up at Jareth, her eyes shining. When he's done she gives him a quick hug, resting her cheek against his chest as she murmurs, "Thank you, mon beau chat." A moment later she squeaks, "Oh, phew! We stink of smoke -- bath tomorrow for sure!"

Jareth chuckles and hugs Mikal tightly, shaking a little from anxiety and tiredness, "yes. Tomorrow."

Mikal smiles and hugs Jareth again, although this time her voice is more comforting, "I think we're safe now, sweet packmate. Want to cuddle up and snooze some together?"

Jareth presses his face against Mikal's hair. "yes. Please."

Once they're back safe at their fire, Jareth lays out his and Mikal's bedrolls, turning them into one big pallet and pulling his lover down to sleep beside him. He spoons up against her back, arm over her waist. No sooner have they settled into stillness than the gryphkittens join them, nestling into various little nooks and hollows of the two bodies and making contented chirping sounds.

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Last modified: 2008-Oct-04 19:17:18

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