Encounterlogs
Seratuls Odd Encounter Sr Legion 240328
The peaceful setting of an average apartment in Elm Street is suddenly interrupted by a worried knock from Martha Amos, Seratul's neighbor, who is seeking her young son, Rider, that has inexplicably disappeared. The day, already darkened by stormy weather and an ongoing local fair with its eerie happenings, sets the stage for a curious adventure. Seratul, having barely settled in, finds herself drawn into a quest far beyond the ordinary. Her decision to help Martha leads her to a peculiarly oversized mailbox in the apartment's mailroom, which, upon closer inspection, reveals itself as a portal into an uncanny realm far removed from the mundanity of her new apartment life.
Emerging from a cramped passage into a fantastical club populated by anthropomorphic animals and oddities, Seratul finds herself navigating through a scene that feels ripped from a storybook. With the help of a dapper antelope butler and the invitation of Duke Flopsy, a rabbit of noble bearing, Seratul endeavors to reunite Martha with her son. Amidst the surreal surroundings and the peculiar patrons of this otherworldly club, she discovers Rider unharmed, enjoying a peculiar soda and in the company of the very british Duke Flopsy. The encounter with these unusual beings and the experience of traversing between worlds underscores the adventure with a sense of wonder and unease. Assured of Rider's safety and their path back to Haven, Seratul takes leave of this strange encounter with a newfound appreciation for the mysteries lurking just beyond the mundane—an adventure concluded but marked by an unsettling discovery, a mysterious red splotch on the back of Rider's neck, hinting at untold stories yet to unfold.
(Seratul's odd encounter(SRLegion):SRLegion)
[Wed Mar 27 2024]
In your average Elm Street Apartment living room
Warm hues paint the walls of this quaint living room are, where a large, lumpy sofa dominates the space. Adjacent to the seating area, a compact kitchenette stands, carrying an array of culinary indulgences that reflect the occupant's penchant for unhealthy treats. The countertops showcase a collection of sugary snacks and processed foods, while the fridge holds an assortment of high-calorie beverages and the rare fruit.
It is afternoon, about 46F(7C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. It's raining outside.
(The local Haven town fair is in full swing when your target and their allies notice odd occurrences: people disappearing, strange lights in the sky, and a weird vibe in the air. They soon realize that a group of malevolent fairies are using the fair as a cover to abduct humans. The group must uncover the fairies' portal to their realm and close it, while also rescuing the captured townsfolk.)
Mostly just idling on her sofa while tapping away on her phone, Seratul has her left leg tucked beneath herself and is rather inattentive for the moment.
There is a hammering on Seratul's door, and the sound of someone panicked outside. "Hello?" comes the voice, feminine, worried. It's a next-door neighbor, a woman in her forties named Martha Amos. Seratul met her yesterday when moving in, and she seemed friendly, chasing after two boys in their early teens who she was able to marshal into carrying boxes on move-in day.
Startled by the sudden noise, Seratul snaps her focus towards the door. Hearing the voice she gets up to go answer it while slipping her phone away.
"Ms. Amos?" she calls out as she flips the deadbolt, "Everything ok?" After a moment, she moves to open the door enough the look out it.
She's standing outside, and the look on her face is genuine panic. "Have you seen Rider?" she asks. Yes, she named a child Rider -- one of the boys. "He said he was going to check the mail, but he hasn't come back. It's been like an hour, and just..." There's a look of concern. "Something -feels- wrong," she whispers. "I can't put my finger on it, but you ever get that feeling, like when it's really foggy in town?" Martha Amos may not know what is going in Haven, but if you live in the town and survive you understand when things are going wrong.
Seratul gives a slow shake of her head as she reaches a hand out to gently place on the panicked woman's should, reassuringly, or her best attempt at it, she offers, "I haven't, but maybe he met up with some friends and got distracted?" The attempt was made, "I know where you're coming from, though. If you want I can head down towards the box and see if he's nearby while you wait at home? Just incase he comes back."
"I went down to the mailboxes," Martha tells Seratul. "But -- I don't want to go too far. Maybe if you look upstairs and I'll stay down here?" she says. "Just. I'm sorry to ask, just I don't want to get too far from home. Finn is still in the apartment," she says. Finn and Rider. This modern age.
"It's fine. I'll go look about and see if I can't find Rider, ok?" Seratul agrees as she moves to step out into the hallway while gently moving to guide Ms. Amos. The sudden lightning gives the red head a start, however, as she visibly jumps only to exhale a sharp breath, muttering something in Hindi.
"Just head on home, I'll go see if I can't find him. Do give a shout if he turns up while I'm looking though, ok?"
Martha does exactly that -- she steps away, hurrying back to her apartment with a thankful smile to Seratul. It's easy enough for Seratul, in turn, to head towards the mailboxes, the last place Rider was seen. Like many apartment buildings, the mailroom is a small room just off of the lobby, lines with dozens of small, individual mail boxes for the residents. A few larger boxes have room for packages.
Seratul has only been here once before, so it's hard to know how much attention she paid on her move-in tour, but one of the 'package boxes' has the door swung open. It seems... unusually large, a little disturbingly so, and at least from Seratul's angle when she walks in the inside of the package box is dark and shadowed. There's no way someone could have crawled in there, right?
"Rider?" Seratul calls out as pauses briefly to look at her own mailbox and quickly dismisses the thought. "Rider, where are you?" she calls again with her focus drifting about the mailroom only to settle on the unusually large box.
Hesitating for a brief moment, she peeks down towards the gigantic box, asking again, "Rider?"
The back of the box should be gray metal -- that's what the back of post office boxes look like, after all. Right? Right? Except, of course, that it isn't: instead, it's darkness all the way down. Seratul could fit in it, if she tried. Why isn't there a back? Now that same back-of-the-neck feeling that Martha reported is rising in the ginger, the hair on her neck standing straight up.
Ignoring her rising hackles, best idea ever, Seratul puffs out her cheeks briefly before trying to fit into the post office box. "I am asking her for more than a cup of sugar for this." she mutters only to call out again, "Rider, I swear to Shiva, if you're in here I am going to drag you out by your ears. Pah!"
Seratul fits -- barely. Squeezing into the box is... uncomfortable, tight, wriggling like a worm, and the blackness at the back of it seems to keep going. Whatever this is? It's not right. It's not natural, and that sense of wrongness is rising. As the woman shimmies, it seems suddenly as if there is no mail room behind her, just some endless tunnel.
"Pah!" Seratul grumbles to herself as she wriggles through the tunnel, "Boy will learn not to run off. Just go get the mail. Go back home. Simple. Easy.. doesn't have me crawling through a.. this." she continues to grouse as she tries to continue her inchworm sojourn.
"Rider!" Seratul barks out again, speaking English once again, "Damnit, not a fan of cramped spaces."
That is exactly what this is: an awful, terrible, cramped space, and now without light behind her it seems as if the space Seratul is crawling into just seems tighter and tighter. She can't -tell- where it is getting more compact, but it is, as she goes from being able to crawl on her hands and knees to starting to have to slither, snake-like.
Indeed, there's a whole vocabulary that cave explorers have for tight spaces, and perhaps unbidden the worst of them rises to Seratul's mind: the narrowest crevice a human can navigate is one called a 'letterbox squeeze.' This isn't that. Not yet.
Foregoing talking as the space becomes more and more cramped, Seratul continues to wriggle her way through the space with her eyes narrowing the further in she has to go.
Tighter, tighter, tighter... and then some exit. Seratul's head breaks the far end of the tunnel, and it is not -- well. It's not clear where it should end up, but it seems as if she is ground-level in a cloak room. There's the smell of mothballs, paneled wood, and feet moving around beneath the rows of heavy coats she has popped out behind.
"What in Narnia?" blurts out of the red head as she wriggles free only to dust herself off, "I swear if there's some pretentious lion waiting for me--" Seratul lets that though trail off as she focuses on the task at hand: Finding Rider. Slowly, cautiously, she moves to shift some things out of the way to get a better view of her surroundings.
No lion, never fear -- but there is an antelope, or some complicated facsimile of one. The antelope appears to be checking coats, wearing a very proper Edwardian butler's outfit, and it seems extremely surprised to see Seratul. "Excuse me!" the antelope man says. "What are you doing crawling around in the cloakroom!?"
"Apologies." Seratul offers meekly before clearing her throat, "Seems I have lost a companion of mine and this seemed to be about the only way he might have gone." She gives in explanation while keeping her hands mostly by her sides, "You haven't seen him, have you? Young human boy about this high." she gesticulates, giving the rough height of Rider. "I didn't mean to trespass, I assure you, I'm just trying to find him and bring him back to his mother. She's sick with worry, you see."
The antelope man tut-tuts, adjusting his top hat. Top hats do not sit, all things considered, very well on top of antlers, and so it's a rather awkward affair. "Oh!" says the antelope man. "Is it young Master Riley you are looking for?" The antelope has a very British accent, to match its very British attire. "He is having tea," the antelope shares with Seratul. "If you'll just follow me?"
"Of course. Thank you." Seratul returns to the antelope man after he settles his hat, "And might I say that is a rather fine outfit. I must know your tailor." she offers as small talk while she traipses along, oddly at ease for some reason now that things are moving apace.
"Thank you," the antelope says to Seratul, and then there's a look -- critical, really -- at the woman before he leads her through what appears to be the sort of cavernous paneled club that seems like nothing more than the kind of fashionable London gentleman's club of an earlier era -- save that it is not all men, with a few women. They're in some kind of mutli-era pastiche of Victorian-Edwardian clothes, though none of it seems to quite line up. Also, many of them are animal people, and they are staring at Seratul.
Eyes widening briefly, Seratul clears her throat while giving a curt nod as she follows alongside the antelope. She keeps close to the butler while avoiding staring openly at the animal people, though she really really wants to. She tries to keep her features smoothed to something neutral as if to seem she's seen it all before.
In the end, it's a small table with a white rabbit in a fine suit. He's talking to a thirteen-year-old boy -- Rider, clearly -- who is drinking a soda out of a classic, hourglass-shaped Coke bottle. If there's anything odd, it's that all of the lettering on the coke bottle are in runes Seratul cannot read. The boy looks up, surprised to see Seratul, and then the rabbit asks, "Ah! Are you hear to bring Master Rider home?"
Again, fighting the urge to blatantly stare at the animal person that is addressing her, Seratul gives a dip of her head while taking a moment to fully take in the surroundings. "I am. His mother is worried with him suddenly going missing. It would seem, though, that he has been well tended to and I thank you for that." She shifts her focus, between the rabbit, the antelope until finally settling on the boy, offering, "I'm Sera, by the way. I was a bit taken by surprise earlier and my manners seem to have failed me.. but this is a rather lovely place." she pauses briefly only to offer a ghost of a smile, "And I'm sure Master Rider would be more than able to return, provided he lets his mother know when he's running off."
"Well then," the rabbit tells Seratul. "Let's get you back home, shall we, Master Rider? Miss Sera?" He rises, his ears floppy. "You can take the soda," the rabbit tells Rider. "I'm Duke Flopsy," the rabbit shares. "I think there's a path back to -- are you from Haven? Or Sanctuary? Or Oasis?" asks the rabbit. "I get the..." A look at Rider. "...names confused."
"A pleasure, Duke Flopsy." Seratul returns with a faint smile, "We are from Haven, yes." she offers, "Though Oasis sounds like a nice vacation spot."
"Oh, no," Duke Flopsy tells Seratul. "It isn't at all." A thin smile, but there is horror in rabbit eyes. "The path home is just this way." Slowly, the rabbit leads Seratul and Rider out of the club, to the edge of a forest, where some path seems to lead slowly away. "Just down here," the rabbit says. "It will get you home." Probably. "It was delightful meeting you both."
"Oh. I see." comes sounding a bit abashed from the red head as Seratul follows along with the others. She glances back towards the way they came before giving a polite dip of her head towards the Duke, "Likewise, Duke Flopsy. I thank you for your hospitality and showing us the way home. Hopefully we can visit again sometime."
"Perhaps!" the rabbit tells Seratul and Rider -- and then they are off, down the road. It's from there to the woods on the outskirts of Haven. Seratul's Haven, right? Rider is already getting a little fuzzy about the trip by the time they arrive, but it's hard for Seratul not to notice something -- just a little bit of a mark, a red splotch on the back of his neck like a birthmark. It definitely wasn't there yesterday. No biggie... right?
Emerging from a cramped passage into a fantastical club populated by anthropomorphic animals and oddities, Seratul finds herself navigating through a scene that feels ripped from a storybook. With the help of a dapper antelope butler and the invitation of Duke Flopsy, a rabbit of noble bearing, Seratul endeavors to reunite Martha with her son. Amidst the surreal surroundings and the peculiar patrons of this otherworldly club, she discovers Rider unharmed, enjoying a peculiar soda and in the company of the very british Duke Flopsy. The encounter with these unusual beings and the experience of traversing between worlds underscores the adventure with a sense of wonder and unease. Assured of Rider's safety and their path back to Haven, Seratul takes leave of this strange encounter with a newfound appreciation for the mysteries lurking just beyond the mundane—an adventure concluded but marked by an unsettling discovery, a mysterious red splotch on the back of Rider's neck, hinting at untold stories yet to unfold.
(Seratul's odd encounter(SRLegion):SRLegion)
[Wed Mar 27 2024]
In your average Elm Street Apartment living room
Warm hues paint the walls of this quaint living room are, where a large, lumpy sofa dominates the space. Adjacent to the seating area, a compact kitchenette stands, carrying an array of culinary indulgences that reflect the occupant's penchant for unhealthy treats. The countertops showcase a collection of sugary snacks and processed foods, while the fridge holds an assortment of high-calorie beverages and the rare fruit.
It is afternoon, about 46F(7C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. It's raining outside.
(The local Haven town fair is in full swing when your target and their allies notice odd occurrences: people disappearing, strange lights in the sky, and a weird vibe in the air. They soon realize that a group of malevolent fairies are using the fair as a cover to abduct humans. The group must uncover the fairies' portal to their realm and close it, while also rescuing the captured townsfolk.)
Mostly just idling on her sofa while tapping away on her phone, Seratul has her left leg tucked beneath herself and is rather inattentive for the moment.
There is a hammering on Seratul's door, and the sound of someone panicked outside. "Hello?" comes the voice, feminine, worried. It's a next-door neighbor, a woman in her forties named Martha Amos. Seratul met her yesterday when moving in, and she seemed friendly, chasing after two boys in their early teens who she was able to marshal into carrying boxes on move-in day.
Startled by the sudden noise, Seratul snaps her focus towards the door. Hearing the voice she gets up to go answer it while slipping her phone away.
"Ms. Amos?" she calls out as she flips the deadbolt, "Everything ok?" After a moment, she moves to open the door enough the look out it.
She's standing outside, and the look on her face is genuine panic. "Have you seen Rider?" she asks. Yes, she named a child Rider -- one of the boys. "He said he was going to check the mail, but he hasn't come back. It's been like an hour, and just..." There's a look of concern. "Something -feels- wrong," she whispers. "I can't put my finger on it, but you ever get that feeling, like when it's really foggy in town?" Martha Amos may not know what is going in Haven, but if you live in the town and survive you understand when things are going wrong.
Seratul gives a slow shake of her head as she reaches a hand out to gently place on the panicked woman's should, reassuringly, or her best attempt at it, she offers, "I haven't, but maybe he met up with some friends and got distracted?" The attempt was made, "I know where you're coming from, though. If you want I can head down towards the box and see if he's nearby while you wait at home? Just incase he comes back."
"I went down to the mailboxes," Martha tells Seratul. "But -- I don't want to go too far. Maybe if you look upstairs and I'll stay down here?" she says. "Just. I'm sorry to ask, just I don't want to get too far from home. Finn is still in the apartment," she says. Finn and Rider. This modern age.
"It's fine. I'll go look about and see if I can't find Rider, ok?" Seratul agrees as she moves to step out into the hallway while gently moving to guide Ms. Amos. The sudden lightning gives the red head a start, however, as she visibly jumps only to exhale a sharp breath, muttering something in Hindi.
"Just head on home, I'll go see if I can't find him. Do give a shout if he turns up while I'm looking though, ok?"
Martha does exactly that -- she steps away, hurrying back to her apartment with a thankful smile to Seratul. It's easy enough for Seratul, in turn, to head towards the mailboxes, the last place Rider was seen. Like many apartment buildings, the mailroom is a small room just off of the lobby, lines with dozens of small, individual mail boxes for the residents. A few larger boxes have room for packages.
Seratul has only been here once before, so it's hard to know how much attention she paid on her move-in tour, but one of the 'package boxes' has the door swung open. It seems... unusually large, a little disturbingly so, and at least from Seratul's angle when she walks in the inside of the package box is dark and shadowed. There's no way someone could have crawled in there, right?
"Rider?" Seratul calls out as pauses briefly to look at her own mailbox and quickly dismisses the thought. "Rider, where are you?" she calls again with her focus drifting about the mailroom only to settle on the unusually large box.
Hesitating for a brief moment, she peeks down towards the gigantic box, asking again, "Rider?"
The back of the box should be gray metal -- that's what the back of post office boxes look like, after all. Right? Right? Except, of course, that it isn't: instead, it's darkness all the way down. Seratul could fit in it, if she tried. Why isn't there a back? Now that same back-of-the-neck feeling that Martha reported is rising in the ginger, the hair on her neck standing straight up.
Ignoring her rising hackles, best idea ever, Seratul puffs out her cheeks briefly before trying to fit into the post office box. "I am asking her for more than a cup of sugar for this." she mutters only to call out again, "Rider, I swear to Shiva, if you're in here I am going to drag you out by your ears. Pah!"
Seratul fits -- barely. Squeezing into the box is... uncomfortable, tight, wriggling like a worm, and the blackness at the back of it seems to keep going. Whatever this is? It's not right. It's not natural, and that sense of wrongness is rising. As the woman shimmies, it seems suddenly as if there is no mail room behind her, just some endless tunnel.
"Pah!" Seratul grumbles to herself as she wriggles through the tunnel, "Boy will learn not to run off. Just go get the mail. Go back home. Simple. Easy.. doesn't have me crawling through a.. this." she continues to grouse as she tries to continue her inchworm sojourn.
"Rider!" Seratul barks out again, speaking English once again, "Damnit, not a fan of cramped spaces."
That is exactly what this is: an awful, terrible, cramped space, and now without light behind her it seems as if the space Seratul is crawling into just seems tighter and tighter. She can't -tell- where it is getting more compact, but it is, as she goes from being able to crawl on her hands and knees to starting to have to slither, snake-like.
Indeed, there's a whole vocabulary that cave explorers have for tight spaces, and perhaps unbidden the worst of them rises to Seratul's mind: the narrowest crevice a human can navigate is one called a 'letterbox squeeze.' This isn't that. Not yet.
Foregoing talking as the space becomes more and more cramped, Seratul continues to wriggle her way through the space with her eyes narrowing the further in she has to go.
Tighter, tighter, tighter... and then some exit. Seratul's head breaks the far end of the tunnel, and it is not -- well. It's not clear where it should end up, but it seems as if she is ground-level in a cloak room. There's the smell of mothballs, paneled wood, and feet moving around beneath the rows of heavy coats she has popped out behind.
"What in Narnia?" blurts out of the red head as she wriggles free only to dust herself off, "I swear if there's some pretentious lion waiting for me--" Seratul lets that though trail off as she focuses on the task at hand: Finding Rider. Slowly, cautiously, she moves to shift some things out of the way to get a better view of her surroundings.
No lion, never fear -- but there is an antelope, or some complicated facsimile of one. The antelope appears to be checking coats, wearing a very proper Edwardian butler's outfit, and it seems extremely surprised to see Seratul. "Excuse me!" the antelope man says. "What are you doing crawling around in the cloakroom!?"
"Apologies." Seratul offers meekly before clearing her throat, "Seems I have lost a companion of mine and this seemed to be about the only way he might have gone." She gives in explanation while keeping her hands mostly by her sides, "You haven't seen him, have you? Young human boy about this high." she gesticulates, giving the rough height of Rider. "I didn't mean to trespass, I assure you, I'm just trying to find him and bring him back to his mother. She's sick with worry, you see."
The antelope man tut-tuts, adjusting his top hat. Top hats do not sit, all things considered, very well on top of antlers, and so it's a rather awkward affair. "Oh!" says the antelope man. "Is it young Master Riley you are looking for?" The antelope has a very British accent, to match its very British attire. "He is having tea," the antelope shares with Seratul. "If you'll just follow me?"
"Of course. Thank you." Seratul returns to the antelope man after he settles his hat, "And might I say that is a rather fine outfit. I must know your tailor." she offers as small talk while she traipses along, oddly at ease for some reason now that things are moving apace.
"Thank you," the antelope says to Seratul, and then there's a look -- critical, really -- at the woman before he leads her through what appears to be the sort of cavernous paneled club that seems like nothing more than the kind of fashionable London gentleman's club of an earlier era -- save that it is not all men, with a few women. They're in some kind of mutli-era pastiche of Victorian-Edwardian clothes, though none of it seems to quite line up. Also, many of them are animal people, and they are staring at Seratul.
Eyes widening briefly, Seratul clears her throat while giving a curt nod as she follows alongside the antelope. She keeps close to the butler while avoiding staring openly at the animal people, though she really really wants to. She tries to keep her features smoothed to something neutral as if to seem she's seen it all before.
In the end, it's a small table with a white rabbit in a fine suit. He's talking to a thirteen-year-old boy -- Rider, clearly -- who is drinking a soda out of a classic, hourglass-shaped Coke bottle. If there's anything odd, it's that all of the lettering on the coke bottle are in runes Seratul cannot read. The boy looks up, surprised to see Seratul, and then the rabbit asks, "Ah! Are you hear to bring Master Rider home?"
Again, fighting the urge to blatantly stare at the animal person that is addressing her, Seratul gives a dip of her head while taking a moment to fully take in the surroundings. "I am. His mother is worried with him suddenly going missing. It would seem, though, that he has been well tended to and I thank you for that." She shifts her focus, between the rabbit, the antelope until finally settling on the boy, offering, "I'm Sera, by the way. I was a bit taken by surprise earlier and my manners seem to have failed me.. but this is a rather lovely place." she pauses briefly only to offer a ghost of a smile, "And I'm sure Master Rider would be more than able to return, provided he lets his mother know when he's running off."
"Well then," the rabbit tells Seratul. "Let's get you back home, shall we, Master Rider? Miss Sera?" He rises, his ears floppy. "You can take the soda," the rabbit tells Rider. "I'm Duke Flopsy," the rabbit shares. "I think there's a path back to -- are you from Haven? Or Sanctuary? Or Oasis?" asks the rabbit. "I get the..." A look at Rider. "...names confused."
"A pleasure, Duke Flopsy." Seratul returns with a faint smile, "We are from Haven, yes." she offers, "Though Oasis sounds like a nice vacation spot."
"Oh, no," Duke Flopsy tells Seratul. "It isn't at all." A thin smile, but there is horror in rabbit eyes. "The path home is just this way." Slowly, the rabbit leads Seratul and Rider out of the club, to the edge of a forest, where some path seems to lead slowly away. "Just down here," the rabbit says. "It will get you home." Probably. "It was delightful meeting you both."
"Oh. I see." comes sounding a bit abashed from the red head as Seratul follows along with the others. She glances back towards the way they came before giving a polite dip of her head towards the Duke, "Likewise, Duke Flopsy. I thank you for your hospitality and showing us the way home. Hopefully we can visit again sometime."
"Perhaps!" the rabbit tells Seratul and Rider -- and then they are off, down the road. It's from there to the woods on the outskirts of Haven. Seratul's Haven, right? Rider is already getting a little fuzzy about the trip by the time they arrive, but it's hard for Seratul not to notice something -- just a little bit of a mark, a red splotch on the back of his neck like a birthmark. It definitely wasn't there yesterday. No biggie... right?