Log

[coimiceoir]

WHO: Pretty Magical Girl Aisling and The Once-ler (Others can have their own threads, but may not interfere with those two.)
WHEN: Mid-afternoon to evening of Nov, 29
WHERE: A blighted clearing in the middle of the forest
WHAT: A showdown between enemies to decide the fate of the forest
WARNINGS: Violence, deforestation, self-sacrifice, language?? That's enough to be going on with. More may be added.


Generally, the forest is a quiet, enigmatic place South of the city - easy to get to, pretty to look at, but nothing really special. But over the last few days, large chunks have been bitten out of the forest edge, leaving black, scarred territory full of tree stumps, barren ground and dead grass. The creatures that can sometimes be seen frolicking and minding their own business have seemingly vanished. Nor is the edge the only place that these sickening patches show up. If a person can get high enough in the air, one can spot unnatural clearings, dark with rot, scattered throughout the forest as far as the mountain slopes. Occasionally clouds of choking exhaust rise from the trees, heralding the spread of another blighted clearing.

During the middle of the afternoon of November 29th, something even stranger happens. A thick, tangled hedge of thorns grows rapidly along the edge of the forest, encompassing it entirely, even the cancerous sections along the outside. The thorns glow faintly green, shimmering in the sunlight, and anyone attempted to penetrate or damage them will find that they are impervious to any attack while the sun is out. Small explosions rock the woods: flashes of green light and swirls of black... something competing and slowly retreating toward the mountains.

When at last the sunlight fails, the glow of the thorns dims,and they seem to dry, losing vitality and thinning. It's now possible to break through them with energy blast or weapon, though the thorns are still more than sharp enough to tear flesh.





Running, running, always running, and never fast enough, it seemed... Aisling vaulted onto the falling tree trunk, her heart breaking at its cries as it died. A brief speed boost and she slid to a halt at the end of the trunk. There -- there was the elusive culprit - the one who had been destroying her home, her people, her ward.

She drew herself up to the maximum height that her slight build would allow, shouting over the terrible noise of the evil machine.

"Once-ler! Stop this at once! You have no right to do this! Release my friends and remove yourself and your filthy creations from this place. Be warned, the forest is under my protection. Continue your present course of action, and in the name of life, I will stop you!"

Comments

[coimiceoir]

That hurt... But she didn't have the time or patience to waste. She shook her head one last time to clear it, and straightened to glare at him. "I don't need to impress you. And I don't want to hurt you. I just want you to leave my forest and my friends alone." A cautious step sideways took her a little further away from the machine and the uncomfortable sterile feeling of it. She began to circle him like a wary wolf, keeping enough distance that he'd have to charge with the axe. She didn't have time for slow and steady. The longer she spent in the dark, the more drained she felt, and with the sun going down, that would accelerate drastically. Particularly once the thorny hedge had to draw on her entirely.

[thneed]

"You don't always get what you want." He answers, leaning his head back and looking up, noting the time of day. It wouldn't be long now. He makes a note of it in his head and starts looking down at his hands and calmly pulling his gloves to straighten them out. After he's fixing his tie, dusting his shoulders off, tilting his hat the right way. Putting anything that fell out of place back. A pause and he's looking at a singed bit of fabric her light seemed to have made -- can't fix that right now. looking at his shoes with a slight look of panic and starts dragging his foot back and forth in the dirt to get the blood he's been tracking along with him off.

"You're the one that started picking fights, you know."

[coimiceoir]

Watching him tidy himself, she became suddenly aware of the dirt and blood smeared on her legs, the smudges across her once-white leotard, tears in her skirt, and the smeared runnels of poisonous black blood from the slash on her arm. Everything hurt and nothing was good. She looked much worse than he did, even having hit him a few times. The dead buck's body accused her from where it lay in its own gore. There was so much of it... That whole area was boggy and slippery with blood.

Something stirred in the pit of her stomach. Something she had been cramming down as tightly as she could - especially in situations like this. Despair was transmuting to rage. Pure and simple. No one had the right to come into her forest and do what they wished, and no one - no one - was going to get away will so much killing. He wouldn't back down? So be it. Neither would she. And she was not going to pull punches anymore.

"Enough." Her voice was low, with a growl behind it. "I didn't choose this. You did when you chose to press your unwanted destruction instead of resolving this peacefully. Anyone has a right to defend their home." The growl was deepening, the volume increasing, coming from all directions at once. It wasn't her, it was the wolf pack! Occasionally a slim, furred shape, hackles raised and fangs bared, slipped through the trees within sight, circling the area without pause. "This will end, one way or another." Her balance had slowly shifted onto her toes, her finger spread like claws, a shadow darker than the Once-ler's smoke falling across that sunburst broach. The bright green of her leaves darkens into a writhing, twisting knot of sharp-edged snake-like forms in a deep teal color, wrapping themselves around her hands.

She leaps into the air, using the smoke as a screen, and wolves dart in from the edges - all snarling fangs and claws and agility - to worry at him and cause a distraction.

this is like a month later reply but i love this thread too much

[thneed]

He had been playing around. He thought of it like a sick sick twisted game that he was getting a ridiculous amount of enjoyment out of and he couldn't figure out why. Complain all she wants 'cause he was never ever ever going to stop. This was fun. This made him happy. This.... really hurt.

His previously big round optimistic eyes were narrowed into slits with bubbling hatred in there covering up anything else as he looked around him and readied his weapon. She's not playing with him anymore. She's scaring him but he's proud to let it show. Her leaves are knots and her hands seem like shadowy claws-- bigger than him.

And then the wolves move in and he's trying to keep track of where she went but they're clawing and tearing and he can't get both hands to swing the weapon to stop them. They distracted alright. One of them broke all the strings on the instrument when it swiped at his hand, ripping through the fabric and skin. Animals are terrifying when you can't control them. When they're not your friends. He recoils for a second then yanks the rest of it off frantically and reaches out to grab one of the beasts by the throat and try to drain it for everything it had. Like the trees. It would heal the gashes the pack is making.

[coimiceoir]

The canine snarls, thrashing, trying to fling itself away or at least find purchase with its claws and teeth, but no luck. As if in answer, Aisling falls out of the smoke, a silent spectre, teeth bared and hand already descending to try and tear into his shoulders. She is every inch the predator: cold, remorseless, and just as cruel as her adversary. If she can get her teeth into his neck, she can snap it or puncture his jugular. And she will.

Banríon, the alpha female, launched herself for his arm, ready to tear it to shreds in defense of her oldest boy. The others fell back, snapping at the surrounding, brainwashed creatures, forcing them back away from the main battle. The Once-ler would have no help from his toys.

[thneed]

His grip on the canine is strong and he takes a deep breath-- and loses it completely. His grip. His breath. The life that didn't belong to him he was about to take. The opening was there. He wasn't ready for her. Aisling's teeth and hands are there-- in his shoulder, and the alpha's on his arm. Nobody's coming to help him. He cried out in pain and agony and something else he can't comprehend right now then could only make small gasping sounds. If she didn't think they looked equally hurt now they might. Or worse. He's never seen this much. There's rips and tears and the blood he's got on him is his own now-- seeping out from cuts and scratches and bites.

Oh god the bites. It's all over and he can't breathe. Is he dying? She surely would kill him. She should have already. Don't go down. Don't stop. If she moves something will snap and she hit something she shouldn't hit. It made him drop to his knees rather quickly. Part of him feeling numb and limp.

A hand's on her now. He had reached up and placed it on her cheek when she bit into him. Draining. He's being drained himself and he's trying to take it from her. He's leeching off while bleeding out. One of them will have to let go or it could kill them both.

[coimiceoir]

She snarls, shredding through the back of his coat and actively chewing on his shoulder. Her blood-lust is up and she can't even think to let go right now, even to realign for a better bite. But he's dropped Airdeallach, who hops back, shaking his head, hackles raised, and his mother releases the arm trying to heal around her teeth. They call for Aisling, whines and yips and barks, but nothing is getting through. His blood is in her mouth, on her hands, her magic feeding into his. The sun touches the horizon outside.

His magic is taking its toll. Her spell is fading, even with the rage fueling it unabated, and she, too, is starting to have a hard time breathing. Finally she pulls free and tumbles backward, gasping, crimson staining her arms to the elbow and all down her front. She scrambles to all fours to regain her balance, foam at the corner of her mouth where a black patch lingers from his touch. Her eyes glint with golden light. There is no sense of recognition or intelligence left there anymore - it's all hatred and cruel cunning. She begins to circle, panting, looking for another opening.

[thneed]

He's on his hands and knees when she lets go, lopsided and leaning on the arm the arm Airedallach's mother wasn't tearing at. He's trembling in pain. And soaked. Soaked in blood. There's so much of it and he couldn't begin to try and find which cuts were feeding into it more besides the shoulder. Scrambling to get himself up.

He finally sits up on his knees after falling once-- twice. His hands running along the ground beside him trying to find some life to latch on to. Something to take and fix this. And he's laughing. Laughing and crying in a state of hysterics that only gets interrupted by him coughing and wheezing. Look what she turned into. Look what happened. She's an animal.

"...H-hey...haha... guess..guess what?" He shifted to get on one knee, putting a hand over where she dug her hands into and pushed himself up-- then staggered sideways before regaining balance. "I have... I have another match. See?"

And he lit it. "Let's play fetch." Then he threw it.

[coimiceoir]

Those mad eyes widen, she lunges, but wounded as she is she just isn't fast enough. The match tumbles. End over end. Just out of reach. Into the dry grass soaked with oil.

It ignites with a huff of air and she recoils with a yelp. Flame licks quickly over the patch of ground and finds the trails into the deeper underbrush. She wails, trying to pat it out, but it's already caught. Already spread too far. Hissing with pain, she pulls back scorched fingers, standing, turning, panting as fire climbs the boles around them, nearly a complete ring of flame. She can't stop it. It's already too far gone.

Her rage flickers and fades, overwhelmed by a tide of fear and despair. She has failed. She fought so hard, she endangered her friends, she gave up the path she knew was right... and she still failed. It was all for naught. She collapses to her knees, oblivious to the black patch spreading across her face, feeding on her anguish.

Around them, trapped by the flames, the animals run in a panic, trying to find a way out. Deer scream and gallop wildly off trailed by a stream of smaller creatures taking advantage of the last few openings before the circle closes. Wolves whine and yip, scattering here and there, any attack forgotten in their all-consuming fear.

And she hears none of it.