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
I'm so torn between which version now
The gears in the con artist's head turn and click and he derives the most logical conclusion that can explain everything his senses are telling him right now.]
I. Haven't. Dropped acid in years. I'll go easy on meself next time. Just-... I need a few minutes.
Alec is just happy to have his ...partner in crime.
He doesn't know him. His hands freeze and he wracks his brain. The green is quiet. It's not it's fault. Is it? Don't lie to me!? Don't you dare- Don't-
No time to argue with this green. Instead he takes a step back. The creature's voice sounds like rocks running over wood, deep, earthy.]
If you think it's acid. I can help.
[The red eyes narrow]
Though I can assure you it's probably not. I mistook you for someone else.
[We've just never met.
This man has tried to kill me. Why does it hurt so much to see him not remember me?
Because he's your friend dumbass.]
...still. If...you want...I can help. If you're...disoriented.
They can get to know each other (again)
...I don't owe you money, do I? [God if he's at home in his underpants talking to a lampshade it-... would not be the most ridiculous thing he's done, but it'd be pretty high up on the list.]
Brilliant. BRILLIANT. Esp. if Alec is under the impression Abby is here somewhere.
While trying to do battle with this...disconnect that makes him feel more human. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
There's an almost fatherly tone in his voice as he rises, scanning the green around them quickly.]
No. Not that I'm aware.
[He pauses and his tone is surprisingly gentle.] ...Did you get a bag when you came? One that looks like this?
[He reaches into his chest and pulls out the sachel he was given, holding it up to him before stuffing it back inside the compost and leaves that make up his body.]
They're just on another adventure to rescue her, no big deal
This next level alien bursting out of the chest thing does have John backing away a couple of steps though. He looks mildly horrified but mostly fascinated at this... nature elemental?]
Yeah. Took the smokes, left the bag. Somewhere there. Why? Was there something important in there? [Constantine's got plenty of survival instincts - he's made it this far after all - but they just don't involve baggage.]
Say, are you a bloke in a tree or a tree in a bloke?
;_; abby no.
(Well the notes are pointless, he's been dead, he's seen his own head explode that scars you. Wedding ring - it's scary as hell but Linda has been resting peacefully hasn't she? She has. She must have. and Abby-)]
There were in mine. Personal effects.
[Ah. A root wraps around it and lifts it toward him. So. He knows what he is...but not who he is. Somehow...this is a John who's never met him.
Oh how the tables have turned.
The root carries itself closer before offering it to John.]
A man in a tree. The Green's Avatar. Except that I'm cut off from it here, this is a different green that holds no answers to me and the rest of it...
[He shakes his head] You don't know me at all?
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Thanks. [He says. To the root. His brows furrow and he looks back at Alec. And then the root, which is gone now.]
I'm thinking I did a lot of green last night mate. But uh... [After slapping Alec's chest with the back of his hand because his joke is so funny, he plucks a stray leaf from Alec's shoulder and flicks it aside.] I think I'd remember if I know you. Especially if your name is Green Avatar.
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Who helped him learn who he is.
The man is a drunken reprobate who probably needs to be in a hospital for the myriad collection of issues he's grown in his mental garden but this...Hrm.
Alec hesitates before he extends a hand.]
Avatar of the Green is a job description. My name...[Is this why he's so close to his human self? To remember what it's like to be confronted with this far beyond his understanding? The green again gives no answers and he hrrms]
is Alec. I'm an earth elemental.
That's the short version. [He straightens.] I can explain the longer version but it'll go easier if you read the cliff notes before you watch the movie.
[It hits him halfway through when he says it that might be rude. Constantine reads books right? Sure he does.]
Let's keep moving. ...oOe way or another.
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Alright. [The part of him that's thinking he might still be in his bedroom slowly wanes away as he slings his backpack over his shoulder and starts walking. He doesn't fully trust Alec - any number of people know his name and most of the time it's not for a good reason - but he knows he's better off sticking with tree-daddy than he is wandering around alone. The fact that Alec's sticking by his side instead of accusing him of lying, cheating, stealing or sending him to Hell with a one-way ticket can't be a bad thing right now.]
You don't owe me any explanations. [Which is not to say that he won't sit through the movie, or read the cliff notes, but he doesn't want his new friend to feel like he needs to tell John everything. Not right now, anyway. They can work their way through it as they go.]
Unless you're from these parts. In which case I have a few questions about beaming me back home.
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Whoever did is extremely powerful. I should be able to travel via the green out of here.
[He keeps the you could too out of his thoughts before he walks. The plants part before his feet. Reaching down to the dirt, his fingers extend into the soil again and he pulls them out quickly.]
I can't get a sense of the size of this place either. You have magic - do you have any...sense of anything? Any connection to anything?
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It doesn't come back. Not for the length of time it takes for two blokes standing around to start to feel awkward.]
...let's keep moving. It'll come back. I don't like the feel of this place. [They're close to the lake now. They'll be able to see it soon.]
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I would like to present an idea to you that you might not find pleasant.
[he frowns, starting to walk to follow the wizard.] this green is entirely different then our green. We may have passed into another dimension. Some alternate pocket reality.
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So I've noticed. [The sky's a really strange colour. As is the ground. And if an earth elemental isn't on the same 'wavelength' as the fucking earth then, yeah, they've got a wee bit of a problem haven't they?]
I don't know what you think you know about me, but you seem to think I'm not an almighty prick so I don't want you getting your hopes up, love. I'd take us both home if I could but I don't have the ingredients I need to open a door out. [Said ingredients probably don't even exist in this place.]
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It's simply unusual to have you not remember me. We have a considerable amount of history.
[he looks ahead, voice rumbling.] if you need any plant based ingredients I can provide them. This...soil is different. It tastes different but it still obeys me. Willingly.
[passing over a patch of grass he peers across to-]
Lake?
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Maybe I'm from your other pants' pocket. [He's clearly not taking this dimension reality thing seriously.] That's good to know, ta, but I'm going to need a wee bit more than rosemary and thyme.
[He lifts his head at the mention of a lake, but he's momentarily distracted with the return of his mirror. He lets it rest flat in his palm so that they can both have a look at the surface. It's captured some images on its whizz around, some of the lake, some sort of well? Mountain ranges, trees and more trees.
And then there's a glimpse of something that has John tilting his head. A big, black, shadowy monstrous figure. It's like one of those blurry Loch Ness Monster or Yeti sightings where you couldn't really be sure what you were looking at.] ...the fuck is that? Some sort of bear?
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Lazy. He'd gotten lazy.
When he mentions a bear Alec peers over and the first thing he thinks is Arcane.
Except no. That's foolish. Beyond foolish. It's not Arcane. Arcane is dead. He's killed him multiple times. Except that lock of hair. Abby might be here. If Abby is that thing? If that's Abby?]
...I don't know.
[If he can go to the green, then the red - there has to be a red avatar right? Or an avatar of the rot in this pocket dimension?-
Unless this is a trick. Unless this is some game of Arcane's. Again.
John might notice he looks tired. World weary. It's so obvious it shows on a big green monster creature.]
You can't perform a spell to find out? If you can't I might have...an idea.
[Go fully into the green and look for the red and it's avatar. Get a clearer lay of the land.]
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It's probably not that important mate. Don't wear yourself out. [Vegetable thing looks a little sullen.] Look, this could be fun. Like a camping trip. A bit of Bear Grylls action to distract from the mundane demonic warfare. You need to lighten up.
[John abruptly laughs at his own stick up the arse joke but he doesn't say it aloud as he keeps on walking towards the water. He's saving that for later.]
So how do you know me, anyway?
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He stares at him.] I have burdens. I don't...lighten up well.
[Can he root himself in this green? He's a little...concerned. Who knows what would happen?]
...That and my whole life is camping.
[The latter is a bit easier to deal with.] You were the one who told me what I was. After what happened to me, you...opened the green to me in your own way. We've fought multiple demons.
You've regularly observed the kingdoms. Everyone...knows you.
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His brows furrow as they get to the waterfront. He'd remember this conversation if he had it. While he doesn't think of himself as unhelpful, often if it's not a life or death situation or if he doesn't see much personal gain to be wrung out of it, he doesn't get involved. Constantine tries to do the right thing, sure. When it's convenient or when he sees it as a long-term investment. Maybe he thought Alec would be of some use to him.]
'Everyone''s a wee bit of a stretch, love. [He knows he's made a bit of a name for himself in Hell but it's a big place full of wankers that spout all sorts of gobshite.] So am I your sidekick? [Or just some sort of Delphic Oracle that Alec consults with vague magic eight ball style answers?]
I'll be honest. I'm sure I'd remember you, and I don't, but you know a lot more about me than you should be able to tell on a cold read. Either there's two of me running around or you're a really good conman. [Contree?]
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Alec stops walking and stares. Two of them. There's always a chance it's some sort of magical doppleganger or...If there's one reality, then there might be two realities.
More information is required. He begins walking again.]
We've been partners. I give you information about the green, which is the kingdom of living things-plant life.
[Pause.]
Not Cannabis.
[He's going to be honest with this man, looking down at him before looking ahead.]
I was a man. Obviously. I was a...scientist. Who died in an explosion. My consciousness merged with the plant life first. It created the first Swamp Thing. He was the first avatar of the green.
[There's a lot more. A lot more. He's not going to go into it now though because the guy might have a point. If there are two Johns. Pocket dimensions. That means there's an Alec Holland in his reality.
The thought is...troubling.]
I was brought back by the parliament of trees when he died to become the next Swamp Thing. So the first avatar was...a plant who thought he was a man. And I'm a man...who is a plant.
You taught my predecessor about his abilities as an elemental. We've - my John and I perhaps - been...colleagues since then.
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The swamp thing? [They're going to have to work on a better name than 'the next swamp thing', nevermind this confusing tree-man cum man-tree business.]
I'm just going to call you Alec, alright? And we can still work together here. [He's not sure how much use he'll be without access to his library in the millhouse, but it's just his good luck running into someone who's willing to work with him straightaway and Constantine's not going to stare a gift horse in the mouth.]
We should follow this lake around. People like to live close to the water. Maybe we'll find a house. [With a local whom they can bully, manipulate and extort for information.]
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...If you do call me Alec, I'd appreciate you not sharing that name with others. Without my permission.
[One of his arms transforms into a very large spiked club, a twisted massive root covered in spikes before glancing to his new partner.]
Until you're feeling better I'll...defend you.
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Put your big cock away, love. There's no one else here yet. [Weapons out of one hand and a beetroot and corn salad out the other? That's pretty bloody handy.]
You miss it? Being flesh and bone.
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It's...not something I want to deal with here. For the moment.
[His eyes narrow and the club recedes. Hngh. He needs time to root, to dissect this, to try and speak to the green of this pocket dimension.
Being flesh and bone? It's a loaded question.]
...No.
[Lying. He's lying.]
I used to. [Then the machine queen raised his body from the dead. Truth be told he doesn't have an answer but he's not going to get into that. Not until he has more of a lay of the land.
Better to be the monster in this case.]
I have a duty I must perform now. That makes it easier.
[He considers this] So if you aren't the John Constantine I know...
You don't know about the league? Zatanna?
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It's a no that sounds an awful lot like a yes, but John doesn't push. Maybe calling him Alec is making it worse. The Swamp Thing looks like he needs time. Figure all this shite out. They'll probably have a lot of time here.]
Only league I know of is football. [As in, 'soccer', not that American game where the ball barely touches anyone's foot.] So, enlighten me. What's a Zatanna league?
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Damn it now I want a Zatanna.
She's so rare though xO I've only seen one around in memes
I think I know her...
I don't think I've ever threaded with her
Hmm.
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I googled SO MANY THINGS to make this tag accurate.
A+ but doesn't sound very appetising raw...
...Making fires is gonna be fun. I just realized this.
burn them all.gif
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