Once upon a time, in a land not so far away...
You wake to the feeling of being watched. Of a set of unfamiliar eyes, of warm breath on the back of your neck. A jolt back to the land of the living, and it's gone. No matter how quick you are, how sneaky, the source of the disruption has long since disappeared, so you have no choice but to try and ignore it. To continue on with your day and try to set that moment of strangeness aside.
You eat, drink, speak with others. Perhaps you explore a little. Whatever it is you choose to do for the day, that feeling from the morning won't return. And by the time the sun sets and the moon glows brightly above, you've likely set those moments of strangeness aside. It's not like it's anything new, after all.
It's the same again for the next few days. No better, no worse. Something best ignored, right?
A speck of blood on the doorframe. That wasn't there before, was it?
A snap of twigs in the distance. A crunch of leaves.
Claw marks gouged deeply into the door.
Into the wall above your bed.
Scraps of red fabric, turned darker with blood. Pieces of fur. Of flesh.
Do you run and hide? Do you fight? Whatever you choose, it's definitely time to make sure your body parts aren't scattered next...
...what a horribly big mouth you have.
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Since first waking up on the island, characters have been stuck with that feeling of being watched. It isn't a constant. Isn't more than a few seconds at a time, dotted throughout the day. Investigation has never turned up much, and there's never been any sightings of the cause of it all.
Until now.
Throughout the first half of the week, characters will find themselves suffering from that feeling of being watched on a far more constant basis. Rather than it being a one-off, few seconds occurrence each day, that feeling will last for minutes at a time, and on multiple occasions.
However, it isn't until the fifth day that they'll start stumbling across physical signs of their monitoring. There are claw marks on doors. Spots of blood on the paths outside. A crack of twigs in the forests, or the imprint of bloodied paws in the snow.
Ten days in and those signs start finding their way indoors. Wet footprints, tinged with red. Claw marks in the walls, the floor. Torn sheets and the smell of wet...something. Whatever it is that's been watching you, its finally decided to come and say hello.
Two weeks in and characters will begin to have sightings of the creature, its fur dark and its eyes a glowing yellow. At times it looks like a wolf, prowling in the distance. At other times, it's walking on its hind legs, almost human were it not for the muzzle full of gleaming sharp teeth. Get too close, and it slips away like a shadow, gone between one blink and the next. It decides when to reach out to characters, not the other way round.
It's after characters finally get a good look at the creature that it starts leaving...gifts. Characters will start to find familiar items from their home worlds amidst the mess. The remains of a childhood pet, perhaps. Photographs of loved ones, faces torn almost beyond recognition. It's only once it delivers its final gift that the creature retreats to the trees again: a blood-splattered item of clothing that clearly belongs to the person the character misses the most at the time, alive or dead.
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fablelands2018-08-27 11:34 pm
no subject
Whew.
Today's turning out to be a lot for one little groot to handle.
As everything stops spinning, Peter's words register with him, and he sadly shakes his head.]
Groot. [No Rocket.] I am Groot. [Just Groot and Peter.
And because he's so glad to see Peter, he scurries on in to cling hold as tight as he can. Because he's missed his dad in the hours they were apart, okay.]
no subject
It's okay, we'll find him. We'll find everyone. Remember, no matter what happens, we'll always be together again. That's 'cause we're family, right?
no subject
Groot.
[Right. He gives a firm nod of his head before tapping Peter's cheek and pointing forward. They should get looking for their family before something bad happens to them.]
no subject
Gamora is here, she's safe, Groot. And now, so are you.
[ peter picks up the tiny backpack and hands it up to groot before stooping to pick up his own and shouldering it, careful not to displace his tiny ridealong. ]
There's this guy here you gotta meet, too. He's like a tree monster, kinda like you. You're way cuter, don't tell him I said so.
no subject
I am Groot? Groot. [You think I'm a monster? Rude.
Actually, there's a choice word or two somewhere in there about what he thinks of the comparison. But he's smiling and his tone is amused. It's obvious he's just being a little shit for the sake of it.]
no subject
He's cool, I think you'll like him. He was helpin' me look for you. I wonder if... [ huh. it's weird because alec couldn't sense groot before, but now he's here. peter doesn't feel like breaking his brain over it right now though. ] Did you get anything cool in your backpack?
no subject
While he talks he grows bored with riding on Peter's shoulder, so he starts to dance in place to the music he can hear coming out of the headphones around his neck. This ends with his dancing and falling right off of Peter's shoulder and into his hand. There's barely a pause before he resumes the conversation like there wasn't just a lapse in talking.]
Groot? [What about you?]
no subject
The same stuff as you, plus my walkman. Plus - this. [ he pulls the crystal frog out of his pocket that had been buried with yondu and holds it in his opposite hand so groot can see it while they walk. ] It doesn't make any sense. Just like the rest of this place.