awashlogs | [ CLOSED ] dying is an art,

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[ CLOSED ] dying is an art,

WHO: dextera and damian!
WHERE: the forest, deep within.
WHEN: the first half of may.
WHAT: looking for the man, the myth, the legend…
WARNINGS: nothing really!

[ dextera is not really in any shape for adventuring, which is definitely, albeit guiltily, a contributing factor to taking damian along. the other reason is perhaps the more sensible one, considering their past conversations about uncovering the mystery of the town and the hen’s feathers. after seeing the latest update on the forums, and accounting for the dark turn of the previous month’s quests, it was hard not to worry.

to grow curious.

so it seemed wise, and is wise, to bring damian into the forest to keep him grounded and keep them both safe from whatever it might throw at them. as dextera’s friends dwindle, damian is nearly the one person that he’s sure he can rely on for anything. (ryo is complicated.)

thus, here they are at the edge of the forest, and dextera looks awkward about something until he just addresses it directly. ]

…I brought the watch.

[ just so damian knows, if dextera acts particularly strange. ]

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[A lot of it can't really be seen, but Damian comes strapped to the nines, as usual. It isn't quite as bad as it could be if he had the arsenal from home, but--he is just paranoid. No, not paranoid, that implies fear, and Damian isn't afraid of anything like this.

Cautious. Suspicious.

Every since the trees started encroaching before, Damian hasn't exactly held the forest in good light. It's why he has a lot of his gear squirreled away on him, and it's why, even if he gives Dextera a Look, he doesn't resort to chastising. Pot calling the kettle black.]

Fine. [Not the best, but maybe not the worst.] Don't allow it to become a problem. Are you ready?

Yes.

[ even if dextera has seen plenty of damian when he’s not one hundred percent on guard, this kind of professional reaction isn’t too surprising. it makes dextera feel better about wandering into the woods after the last incident he experienced.

so, into the forest they go, if nothing else because lingering will make them sick. the forest’s malice has been growing more and more, but dextera knows there’s some kind of peace waiting within.

he saw it. ]

…do you think we’ll have to fight?

I won't discount the possibility.

[Damian doesn't have a contingency plan for almost everything for nothing.] If this excursion follows the usual exchange, we'll have three [He holds up three fingers as he follows Dextera inside.] trials. The first two seem to be related to mental or emotional fortitude, at least from what I've gathered.

The last one, however, could potentially be a battle. This was the case when Kisa and I went into the forest together. At the end, I had to fight tigers.

[He glances up.]

Just be prepared. If you see anything, tell me. With the forest especially. Have you been in since the trees started encroaching on the town?

[ tigers.

dextera has already used his rifle on one of the guardians of the forest, and his sword is only good for a trick. if they run into some great beast like that, then he’ll have to leave it to damian. it doesn’t feel good. ]

…

[ dextera nods. ]

It was… bad. I never told the rest of the town about it…

[Damian just!! stares!! DEXTERA!]

You idiot. [But it sounds more soft than Damian would ever have liked it to sound.] What happened? Did you go with someone else, or did you go alone? [Since, uh, Damian knows all about going alone! Ha ha!

Guess who also never told anyone about going into the forest alone! This guy.]

What were you looking for?

[ don’t go into the forest alone DAMIAN ]

I went with Ryo… and Akira.

[ if it was with ryo, which akira is probably obvious, so he doesn’t clarify—but he’s also not sure how much of this he should be saying, considering what happened in the aftermath. he doesn’t think pyra told anyone, and surely neither did ryo or akira. ]

It was to find that creature Ryo ran into some time ago… we were able to destroy it.

I see. [The tip of a lecture is bubbling at his lips, Dextera can probably tell, but none comes in the end. There'd be no point, not when it's over and done.

Besides, Dextera wasn't alone is the bigger relief.] Wait--[back up]--you destroyed it? [His watchful, wandering eyes return again to Dextera, brows pulled together. Nothing is happening yet. That's okay.]

And this was after the forest started moving into the edge of town?

[ dextera nods again, quicker this time. he’s still expecting to be lectured even if damian has backed off, and so he seems eager to continue talking—to explain himself. ]

The monster was guarding another part of the forest. It was so quiet… so peaceful.

[ not even unusually so, as if something was wrong. it was just not a part of the forest dextera had ever seen, going that deep, and it felt like a strange respite for defeating something so big and powerful that it was able to kill akira where he stood. ]

I don’t know what that means.

[Quiet and... peaceful? Damian makes a bit of a face, though it's not as sour as usual.]

A piece of the forest before it had been tainted...? Or... the clearing for the hen? Kisa and I found an unblemished clearing as well, when we found the feather and the note.

Did you find anything in the piece of the forest it was guarding?

[ oh—dextera hadn’t considered that at the time, covered in akira’s blood and suffering any number of battle wounds, but they had encountered a clearing. they laid akira’s body there, before escaping to immediately find a way to revive him. ]

No. Nothing. We kept going for a long time, but both… [ oops ] Um. We were all injured.

[ maybe they’d missed something, in their haste to simply find a place to rest. ]

[Again, Damian gives Dextera a Look. "We were all injured"!! While he doesn't exasperatedly rub his face, the expression implies he'd do as much.]

I'd prefer to say I'm shocked, but I'm not.

[His attention turns back to the forest. As creepy as everything seems, it's... strange not to have anything happen yet? Not even a noise? But Damian thinks they've only been walking maybe ten minutes. Too early.] So you missed something vital, or there wasn't anything to be found.

Nevermind. A group can always search again. When any of us enter the forest to search, there could always be a clearing for some reason or another, similar to the forum story. My educated guess has always been the clearing has something to do with the hen at least partially.

Still, even with speculation, we don't know how to reverse the curse. Finding the hen and performing the ritual the correct way? Returning the hen to the forest? Simply filling the town with color?

[ dextera has been in the forest enough times to trust his feet and the shape of the trees to take him where he needs to go. there’s no way to map the forest or the way out, when it responds to their whims and its own power, so the only thing any of them can do is walk. the watch in his pocket lies undisturbed, unused, at least until they find something of not. ]

I think this place lost its color… because people forgot how to treasure each other.

[ that might be obvious, but it’s his addition to the guessing. ]

But is the hen enough to change that, when they’ve all passed on?

I can't say.

The feather we found had color within the forest, but the closer we traversed to town, the more the color faded. It could be because the feather hadn't "come willingly" so to speak. Or... it could be it wouldn't matter.

[He doesn't sigh, but the thinning of his lips is about as much of one.] I'd rather assume the hen would assist us at least. Though I, too, think removing the curse will fall more on us and our own bonds. [He pauses, thoughtful.]

Have you considered the fact we may be required to reunite the two men to break the curse? Depending on what we find in here.

[ the hen, the talk of bonds, the mention of reuniting… for a moment, dextera worries the amethyst ring on his finger, still thankfully and kindly full of color. it’s his closest connection to guren, the other possessions that guren unintentionally bequeathed to him notwithstanding. ]

I wonder… what happened to the man from Ruga.

[ though they should find the first man, as they intended, before making any further moves. ]

There’s no cemetery in town. Did they all go into the woods? But even before that…

If the story is anything to go on, they likely went into the woods. Perhaps they were immortal. Perhaps... Who knows? They vanish. They're "erased."

[Speaking of woods... Damian pauses for just a moment, twisting some to look back in the direction they came. It's odd. He seems as if he's listening, but probably worse than hearing who knows what stalking them, hearing a noise, he hears... nothing?

When he turns back, he keeps going.]

The animals in the forest. [The ones they haven't seen much of right now--strange.] You told me once you could hear them speak, correct? But it was garbled?

...What do you think of the hypothesis the townspeople could have been transformed into the forest creatures?

[Aside from the fact a lot of them have, uh, been killing a great deal of the creatures...]

Huh? I…

[ dextera doesn’t like that thought, along the same lines as damian. a lot of those animals have been killed and eaten, which isn’t such an upsetting concept for dextera personally, but he knows his friends would struggle with it. he frowns. ]

I could try to purify one of them. Not like what we did before… if it was ever human, I might be able to read its essence.

It'd at least be confirmation for or against the theory. If they aren't, we don't have anything to concern ourselves over aside from a curse twisting them together. We can focus on searching other places for what happened to the townspeople.

Like perhaps returning here to look for their remains as well.

[He glances up at Dextera, away, and then back to Dextera again.]

Are you positive you're fine with trying something like that? With knowing the truth, if it happens to be the case?

…I would.

[ there’s only a small pause before he commits to it—not enough to be hesitation, just thought. he clenches his fingers, however, debating with himself on whether or not to explain why he would be so fine with the potential.

he decides he might as well reveal it. ]

That’s what happened in my world. The people became distorted, and those distorted bodies became the means of survival for the rest of us. I would be okay with knowing it. Everyone else…

[ hopefully this is all merely hypothetical. ]

[As much as they’ve shared, this doesn’t seem to surprise Damian at all. Maybe he is simply use to as much on his end as he is knowing the darker parts of Dextera.

His lips thin, but he’s quiet for a bit. Not judgementally so. Finally:]

I won’t tell anyone, if you’re worried. You can try, and if the findings are the creatures were once townspeople, you can decide whether you tell the rest. You aren’t required to explain how you know unless someone asks. I assume someone will; however.

It could be we persuade them to not harm the creatures another way.

[ this might all be for naught, and the animals may be just animals, but dextera appreciates damian’s support and silence anyway. after he spread his own guilt to half the town last month in some strange and desperate bid to feel pain again, he’s not eager to admit openly that he’s engaged in regular cannibalism. ]

…thank you.

[ he exhales. ]

The journal that Guren and I found… I think the shepherd’s sheep were normal, then. The animals used to be normal. If that’s evidence for the creatures, I don’t know…

They're probably only cursed like the town.

[At least, Damian is hoping. Not because he ever eats meat really, but the fact other people could be eating... townspeople... turned animal... Yeah, yikes.] It doesn't explain the lack of formal burial grounds, I'm aware. Perhaps they buried people in the forest? [Maybe a cemetary doesn't even matter.] In any case, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

The better question is: why have we been walking this long without anything happening?

…?

[ once damian points it out, dextera realizes it is odd. even if it’s quiet, there surely should be some indication of progress. instead, their surroundings seem just as unremarkable as when the two of them entered. he frowns. ]

Is this a test…?

[Damian mirrors Dextera's frown, but... he doesn't?? stop walking? No point.] Possibly. [Nothing is more frustrating to Damian Wayne than not having solid answers for anything.]

The probability is high. Going by all past experiences, running into the first of the trials happens relatively soon once people have entered the forest.

[Actually, now that he's thinking more about it, planning, considering, he slows to a momentary stop.] The location changes to accommodate, and continuing forward leads in the correct direction.

But we've been wandering almost in a loop.

[ dextera stops when damian does, though he’d already been slowing down in the hopes that he could urge damian wayne, of all people, to take a break while they sort it out. luckily, he gets his time. ]

Is there nothing to find?

[ or is the forest hiding it from them? ]

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[ CLOSED ] dying is an art,

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