Encounterlogs
Tabithas Odd Encounter Sr Caim
In the eerie Sherrin Woods, a group of Brown and MIT students face off against the corruption that they each seek to control - a void-touched tree. Amidst the chaos, the Brown students plan to use fire against the menacing flora, and their resident vampire, Caelum, eagerly partakes in the fiery assault. Despite the dangers, Tabitha follows the group, her curiosity piqued by the changing environment. Aristotle, Alexandrea, and Avi, each grappling with the unsettling changes, move deeper into the woods, their situation escalating as they encounter the abomination.
The void tree, malevolent and animate, thrashes violently with sentient roots and inky, barbed vines, asserting its presence. As the students attempt to fight back, the situation becomes dire. Caelum's aggressive pyrokinetics meets with resistance as the tree attempts to thwart his fiery barrage. Avi and Aristotle struggle to save Tabitha and Alexandrea from the gripping vines, hastened by the hallucinatory gas enveloping them. Meanwhile, two groups from Brown and MIT clash over the right to harness the tree's dark magic, their conflict inadvertently nourishing it.
With the increasing danger, Caelum's ferocity mounts as he unleashes a relentless inferno upon the tree. Avi strikes at the tendrils with sharpened stakes, while Aristotle, snapping out of his trance, aids the group. Alexandrea manages to break free from the clutches of a vine, and Tabitha, recovering from the tree's influence, begins to concoct a new plan. The void tree, finally succumbing to the elemental onslaught, engulfs in flames, its corrupted life extinguished. In the aftermath, the MIT students, unfazed and organized, slink away with a dark satisfaction, leaving the Brown students to lament and recover from the traumatic encounter.
(Tabitha's odd encounter(SRCaim):SRCaim)
[Fri Jan 12 2024]
At Sherrin Woods - Outskirts
It is night, about 18F(-7C) degrees, There is a waxing crescent moon.
"We should have let Caelum eat him. Sam's not here to get mad," Alexandrea suggests, though relief is in her face as Aristotle returns unscathed and with fire equipment. "Okay. Let's burn down trees."
Total pyromaniac, Caelum is ready to follow along, his stack of stakes, and fire supplies at the ready. "I fucking love playing with fire," Caelum muses anyways, grinning almost ear to ear. But he does shoot a look at Alexandrea, with a bit of a frown, "No way, I wasn't actually going to eat him, he probably tasted disgusting."
Tabitha takes up the rear, soft and mushy and human as she is. But she's not without a certain level of reckless curiousness and confidence. She's just more willing to see that Caelum is out in front with his sticks and fire.
Armed with fire and stakes, the group move deeper into the woods, and looking around themselves, their surroundings slowly begin to change.
Aristotle follows along with the group, still looking a little grumpy at that extended alone time with Dane, but he doesn't bitch about it, vocally anyway. As the scenery changes, it proves to be a distraction from his thoughts, and he's voicing, "You guys are noticing this, right?" He asks, his free hand gesturing towards their surroundings. "It's feeling a little different."
Like Tabitha, Alexandrea falls into the rear of the group. She checks her nails at first, nonchalant, until the eerie nature of the forest sinks in. She pauses before crushing a flower underfoot. "...ugh."
"I should get one of those flowers for Sienna, she's into horticulture now, right?" Avi asks.
"Is Sam up ahead?" Aristotle asks, glancing towards the group. "You guys said she texted, right? She's still alright?"
"Sam's fine," Avi confirms. "Sam is always fine. Let's worry about us, pretty sure Caelum is about to get us hentai'd."
"Not really. Just a forest?" Caelum wonders, oblivious, brows knitting thoughtfully at the strangeness of the forest that appeared abruptly as if they passed a threshold. Yet, he does begin to take the hints. The quiet corruption spreading underfoot beneath the wavering mist and the disturbing looking flowers that he avoids every step occasional step. "You, maybe. I'll be safely far away chucking these." A beat of a pause, and he adds, without looking over his shoulder. "It was your plan to do it from afar, I was all too happy running up close and personal on my own."
As the students venture deeper into the Sherrin Woods, the void-touched tree materializes before them like a nightmarish vision. Its bark, once vibrant, is now a mottled canvas of twisted patterns, and the roots, akin to sinuous whips, writhe and lash out with an unnerving sentience. The forest floor bears the scars of these appendages, the earth torn asunder by the tree's insatiable reach.
Above, the branches extend like inky tentacles, each one adorned with barbed vines that pulse with an unnatural glow. The leaves, or what's left of them, hang like spectral memories, casting eerie shadows that dance independently in the dim light. The air is thick with hallucinatory gas emitted by the tree, distorting the surroundings and playing tricks on the senses.
Tabitha scratches at the back of her neck, like the hairs there are raised and tingling. The corruption is palbable once they've crossed a certain threshhold, open to those types of suggestions. The tree, a vision of demon-twisted flora, does not go unnoticed, and she stops, dead. Right there in her tracks. "I don't think from a distance is an option..." It's whispered out.
The sweater vest Alexandrea wears gets drawn up over her nose, her brows furrowing as she tries to take in her surroundings. She flinches, something she sees causing alarm in her. "...fuck..."
Not that it would do much good, but Aristotle unlatches his holster to rest his hand on his gun. "...Okay." He says, looking up at the tree as they draw nearer enough to see it. He doesn't get too close, though, recalling the gases that Dane warned them of earlier. "So... You got this, right Caelum?" He asks, glancing to Caelum.
The clearing in Sherrin Woods echoes with the tense exchange between the Brown students, who initially summoned the void magic, and the MIT students, who seek to seize control of the volatile energies.
Jordan calls out, dodging a tentacle, "You have no idea what you're dealing with! We summoned this, we control it!"
An MIT student, Claire, scoffs breathlessly, hacking at a reaching root. "Your control is slipping, evident in the chaos you've unleashed. Step aside!"
Craig grunts, on one knee, wearily, "We can fix this, we know the ritual. You're only making it worse!"
David, another MIT student, says coldly, "Your incompetence is not our concern. We have the means to harness this power properly."
As they argue, the void-touched tree pulses with an ominous glow, reacting to the clashing energies surrounding it. The air crackles with tension as both groups struggle for dominance over the uncontrollable force they unleashed.
The thickness of the air is the first thing that signals Caelum to their proximity to their target. It is what makes him quiet - sharply so, as he stops breathing alltogether. Others may not be as lucky as he is in that regard, but the downside is, Caelum is now mute. He sidesteps a few more flowers, some more dead branches and whip-marks across the forest floor. He glances over his shoulder, first at Aristotle, then at Avi. It's not exactly clear what he means when he shrugs his shoulders - both arms full. Still, he turns away once again. From where his group stopped, he begins to march closer - closer at the voices ringing out, closer at that decadent energy filling the air.
"...fucking Hell," Alexandrea breathes out, trying to filter the hallucinogens through her sweater during her breathing. It doesn't function very well. "Those idiots -- they're fighting over something that's probably going to eat them."
Tabitha pulls the turtleneck of her sweater up over her chin and nose. Her blue eyed gaze sweeps from person to person. "I think they are feeding it with their bickering..." She can't be sure, but it does seem to be thriving from it.
"They're not trying to destroy it, they're trying to keep it," Avi draws his shirt up over his nose to keep out the worst of the miasma. "This is fucking insanity." He looks to Caelum. "What do we do?" he asks.
It isn't long before Aristotle's attention is turned towards the shouting and arguing that occurs, and he sighs. "Shoot Void monsters, not people, Ari." He says, to himself, his irritation likely getting the better of him. He then moves his hand away from his pistol, latching the holster once more in some semblance of responsible gun-ownership. "If they're trying to keep it, then we destroy everything." He says. "You guys said something like this can't be controlled. So, we burn it. If we want to be really, really reckless, we can start the fire here, and watch it spread. But... that's very extreme. Though..." He points to the tree. "That's also probably very extreme."
In relative nonchalance, the vampire starts to set up on a corner of his own, away from Avi, Alexandrea, Tabitha and Aristotle. Piled up stakes, in separate piles, primed and ready for what Caelum intends to do. He's still within earshot of his group, of course - enough to take note of their words.. Even if he doesn't reply. Lighter fluids is the first catalyst, and he spreads it liberally on each pile, followed by the lighter so graciously bestowed by their Prometheus, he sets it all ablaze. A ray of light, in the darkness.
"The only way to stop them is to .... stop them. You got enough bullets to do it?" Tabitha asks, trying to gauge how many other students are there. "You don't have to kill them. Just .... what's a little bullet to the knee?" She covers her mouth and nose again, though now with her forearm. "I wish..." She then starts to scream as she tries to back away, her ankle caught by a tentacle. "Burn it! Burn it! Burn it!!!!!!" It's a frantic request, finding the knife in her tote with scrambling fingers.
"I think Caelum is sacrificing himself for us," Avi notes, quite readily moving away from Caelum and his grand plan, but then Tabitha is screaming. "Fuck, they're everywhere!" he shouts in warning.
Something catches Aristotle's eye, and he's darting a glance over. His eyes are on the ground towards Tabitha, and in what he spots he states in a yelled whisper, "Tabi!" He reaches out to grab her just as she starts to scream and back away. And then, he's going, "Shhh! Don't panic!" He whispers out in a yell. He's then approaching, that holster getting unlatched in the process as he pulls out a knife to try and free her.
Alexandrea jerks her head to the side, her body moving before her mouth does as she darts to a point behind Caelum. "Caelum -- hurry up," she encourages, stumbling over herself as she settles near him.
The tentacle Tabitha hacks at withdraws, writhing as if in pain, and more of that sweetly noxious gas emits from the wound she causes, the gas surrounding her and Aristotle both as they knife at it.
Half-empty pack of lighter fluid is set inside a pocket on Caelum 's side. His surrounding, blazing inferno is likely to alert anyone and everyone in this darkness and mist- but Caelum seels like the last person to care about such things. There is a glance over his shoulder again - watching his Tabitha get attacked. There is consideration there, for a moment, as if he's intending to help, but a shake of his head sets his attention forward. It looks like he trusts them, because he stares dead ahead now, at the tree, at the collective struggling for its power. A stretch of his arms, at his sides, and the a large pile begins to float. It forms an arch above his head - guided by a single motion of his hand, and a vehement glare of his eyes. Alexandrea doesn't need to encourage him for it, but she sparks him into action like spark to tinder, and he shoots! Several flaming stakes, spinning straight at the tree, while more rise to take their place in the half-halo of fire hovering overhead.
Half-empty pack of lighter fluid is set inside a pocket on Caelum 's side. His surrounding, blazing inferno is likely to alert anyone and everyone in this darkness and mist- but Caelum seems like the last person to care about such things. There is a glance over his shoulder again - watching his friends, and Tabitha get attacked. There is consideration there, for a moment, as if he's intending to help, but a shake of his head sets his attention forward. It looks like he trusts them, because he stares dead ahead now, at the tree, at the collective struggling for its power. A stretch of his arms, at his sides, and the a large pile begins to float. It forms an arch above his head - guided by a single motion of his hand, and a vehement glare of his eyes. Alexandrea doesn't need to encourage him for it, but she sparks him into action like spark to tinder, and he shoots! Several flaming stakes, spinning straight at the tree, while more rise to take their place in the half-halo of fire hovering overhead. (Fix)
There's something that causes Aristotle's actions to slow as he hacks at the tentacle-like branches, and he's starting to breath in a bit deeply as his mouth curls into a little smile. Inadvertently, he takes in more of those gases in that inhale as a result as his hacking slows - like it's too much work, or effort to continue.
Tabitha clings to Aristotle, while also frantically stabbing the tip of her blade into the tentacle that has elegantly wrapped around her ankle. She's not the least bit protected from the gaseous fumes, and in her not-so-calm attempt at hacking at the thing, she's breathed in quite a bit. She's suddenly a little giggly, a little -stoned- one could say. She is now -calm-. Eerily so. She sits down on the ground, her tote placed in between her legs.
As the first of those flaming stakes from Caelum approaches the tree, dead on target, one of those whip-like roots rises from the ground, lashing out to dash it to the side and off-course. The root is burned, but not destroyed, and another takes its place to bat another of the projectiles off course, but the third and fourth hit, and flames begin to lick at the massive base of the void-touched tree.
Grim in his stare, Caelum watches, but remains undeterred at the way the whip-like roots redirect his assault. Another flick of a wrist, and several more shoot once again, in succession. Fire is a constant around him now, and by extension Alexandrea who rushed to his side. It drips from above, and spreads at their sides from the flaming stakes, consuming the dead foliage beneath their feet. His teeth remain gritted, adamant at not taking a single breath.
"Fuck, it's working," Avi exclaims as Caelum's efforts aren't in vain, and he immediately starts helping to sharpen more of those stakes for his reserves, his shirt still up over his nose.
A tentacle finds Alexandrea, the branch-like thing wrapping around her thigh as she tries to claw at it. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she hisses out, doing her best to dig her manicure into the thing. "Get off me!"
Hacking slashes on the branches soon, Aristotle's knife slides back in its holster as he's opting instead to tend to the branch with his bare hands. He doesn't wear an expression on his face that seeks to break the branch off of Tabitha - it seems instead he's wanting to touch it, feel the sensation along his palms and skin. As he takes in a another breath, Tabitha, Alexandrea, someone, Avi, and even the fires go all but forgotten.
Hacking slashes on the branches soon, Aristotle's knife slides back in its holster as he's opting instead to tend to the branch with his bare hands. He doesn't wear an expression on his face that seeks to break the branch off of Tabitha - it seems instead he's wanting to touch it, feel the sensation along his palms and skin. As he takes in a another breath, Tabitha, Alexandrea, someone, Avi, and even the fires go all but forgotten.
Hacking slashes on the branches soon, Aristotle's knife slides back in its holster as he's opting instead to tend to the branch with his bare hands. He doesn't wear an expression on his face that seeks to break the branch off of Tabitha - it seems instead he's wanting to touch it, feel the sensation along his palms and skin. As he takes in a another breath, Tabitha, Alexandrea, Caelum, Avi, and even the fires go all but forgotten.
Tabitha snaps out of this fog of hers, when the tree begins to flame at the root, it's own self-preservation letting her come out of some of the fog that has settled in her brain. But only for so long. Nice a long deep breaths fill her lungs again and she's slowly getting up to her feet, slinking along Aristotle for a moment, touching him, a caress of his arm given. "Aaaaaaaaaavi!" she calls out in her haze, sweet and stoned. "It is a tree, but it's alive in some respect....." She might be high and the suggestion -silly-. "We could combine our magic and make the tree illllllllllllll."
As Alexandrea attempts to grapple with the tentacle around her thigh, it turns out that no matter how much a mani slays in this moment, it's no match for the tough, slippery surface of the void-touched branch, and it begins to wind its way higher, up under the hem of her mini-skirt, if not halted.
"OH MY GOD, GET IT OFF ME!" Alexandrea shrieks as the tentacle-branch climbs higher on her leg, now kicking and still trying in futile determination to dig at it and yank at it and get it off.
Down to one pile, Caelum is distracted by what happens to Alexandrea. Thankfully, Avi is sharpening more - and he doesn't expend all of his ammunition at once, leaving the pile burning for Avi to toss whatever he sharpens into. Instead of wasting time with that, Caelum reaches for a struggling Alexandrea. A single smoldering stake is grabbed barehanded, and he stomps his boot on the part of the branch at the ground, with the intention to cut the fire's path while he drives his flaming stake through it, to cut its connection from the tree.
As Caelum launches more of those flaming projectiles at the tree, more of the branches and roots take notice of the threat he poses, and begin snaking over the ground in his direction, some of them burned and seeking vengeance, others fresh and ready for the fight, but they pause as they see Caelum use fire to sever one of the branches, the cauterized stump unable to leak more of the gas into the air.
Once the branch is severed, Alexandrea briskly works to detangle it from her leg and push it off of herself, trembling visibly. Her eyes stay wide, horrified. "So gross. So... So gross."
There's a look of studious intrigue on Aristotle's face as he holds onto the tentacle-like branch, and he's certainly stopped trying to hack away at it now. He's following the length of it with his eyes towards the tree, glancing over only in brief distraction as flaming projectiles hit the tree. He no longer notices the gas he breathes in freely, looking up at the tree as that branch is firmly held.
Glancing over at Aristotle, Avi frowns, abandoning the growing pile of stakes to grab Aristotle and drag him - not away from the tree, but away from Tabitha. "Mine," he tells her, slapping Aristotle's cheek harshly. "Wake up!" Grabbing one of the flaming stakes at the not-burning end, he attempts to stab it into the tentacle Aristotle is holding.
Fire is fun to play with, less so to play with bare-handed. Those leather gloves on Caelum 's hands are barely much protection, and what's left in one hand is seared flesh because of the smoldering stake. Alexandrea gets a look in her horrified expression, even if he remains nonverbal. Caelum still tries to reach out, give her a light tug of her sleeve as if to make sure she remains close - and he turns again. His singular stake, now licking fire up to his wrist, climbing a fine line across the leather of his forearm - Who knew undead was easily combustable. A step, and another - he chucks it over the shoulder at the tree - yet it is still not with just his own strength - that is only an addition to the telekinetic force he imbues to send it straight at the centre of the tree.
Alexandrea doesn't leave the vicinity of Caelum, though her fingers continue to dig at her skin long after the branch is gone. "Gross," she hisses out, as if whatever residue left behind is causing her some internal bother.
Tabitha clearly is not in her right frame of mind, as is Aristotle, her hands seeking to caress the very same branch even as Aristotle is tugged away from her. She shakes her head, trying to clear the fog that plaques the other as well. That Avi says 'Mine," goes either unheard or listened to."
Watching the interplay of the White Oak students and the tree, it isn't long before Jordan is calling out, "Torches! Grab anything that burns!"
Aristotle is startled as he's grabbed at, and moved away from Tabitha it sees him clenching the branch tighter. Not by choice, but by confusion and surprise. And then, he's struck across the cheek. "...Ow," he quietly, and pathetically murmurs. And then the branch is stabbed out of his hands. "Why did you hit me?" He asks, a bit of quiet bitching as he's looking to Avi as he rubs his jaw. And rubs, and then he glances down at the branches and the sights around him of branches and fire and his friends and lover. "...Oh, shit," he says, coming back a bit to his senses. And that rub to his jaw turns to a palm over his face. "...Shit, thank you..."
Brown students rally, fashioning makeshift torches from nearby branches and clothing. They strategically aim the flames at the writhing tentacles, finally at the advantage, and start beating the branches back toward the base of the tree.
As if fueled by rage, Caelum erupts a singular growl from his throat. Lips drawn enough to bare fangs. What Jordan screams, it ends him in Caelum' sights, and another flick of his hand, almost dismissive, flicks the Brown student with distaste and invisible force, propelling him straight at the tree as well.
"You okay now?" Avi asks Aristotle, concerned, but there's no time, and he's soon saying, "Grab Tabitha and snap her out of it - but she's a girl, so don't slap her," Avi adds.
"Yeah." Aristotle says, exhaling, but his next inhale is shallow for fear of taking more of that gas again. He's looking towards the tree, brow furrowing as he grimaces. "...Fuck that's wild." Then, back to Avi. "I'm okay. I'll get Tabitha." He promises. A hand is placed briefly to Avi's waist in reassurance, before he's heading towards Tabitha, holding his breath in the process.
Mouths agape, several Brown Owls watch helplessly as Caelum flings the leader of the Brown Owls, a Brown University student named Jordan Hashmi, a student obsessed with power, obsessed with the pursuit of ritualism, but also a son, an older sister's little brother, a dog-lover, a medical student, a living being, into the grasp of the Void-touched tree - watch as that bark splits and opens up, dragging Jordan, screaming and howling and writhing desperately, into the trunk, the bark growing rapidly over his skin and clothing.
Since slapping her isn't an option, Aristotle goes for the next best thing. He's reaching for that fiery red hair of hers, and giving it an awful yank. It's not at all gentle with it, nor is his grip loose, because after that yank, he's stepping back and attempting to pull her with him. "Wake up!" He yells out.
By the time Alexandrea has finished digging at herself, her thigh is red and scratched. She breathes a bit heavily, coming out of her stress-induced skin-picking in time to watch the terrified Jordan be dragged into the trunk of the Void-touched tree. Her eyes blink slowly. "...finish burning it already," she insists to Avi and Caelum, not entirely phased.
A glare passes by while Caelum lifts his fire-clad arm once again. It pins on every Brown Owl - then at the MIT students on the opposing side. The rest of his burning stakes lift with his gesture. From afar, this pain-addled vampire is threatening for them to keep attacking, or else... Then strike, he uses every single ammunition left, assaulting the tree!
There's a pause, as Jordan gets presumably past-tensed by a tree, but then Avi swallows thickly, nodding at Alexandrea's order. He's grabbing one of those stakes, lighting the end of it, and swinging at one of the lashing roots, burning through it.
The only thing that stalls Aristotle's movements is the sight of Jordan being flung towards the tree and dragged into it. He doesn't register it was caused by Caelum, that flick of his wrist and telekinetic prowess much too subtle for his eyes or awareness to notice. But a body flinging through the air certainly catches his eye. He's gasping, arm going back to tug Tabitha's hair as he watches - humanity on display as he watches in horror. "Oh no," he says, quietly. But, priority returns to Tabitha, and her hair receives another yank, "Wake. Up!"
Tabitha begins to follow the length of the tentacle toward the tree itself, her own breathing slow and steady, fumes, and smoke both inhaled as she slinks her way toward that demonic tree-maw. She is stopped, however, by Aristotle grabbing a fistful of her hair, and giving it such a yank that she actually stumbles backward. There comes another scream, this not of pleasure but of pain. Her hand flies up to her hair where he had forcefully pulled. "Owwwww!" Her eyes, blue as the sea, fill with water, making them much more crystalline. Through the tear that slips she says, in a whisper, "Thanks." She rubs her scalp. Aristotle certainly has a few of her fiery strands about his fingers. But there is no time to continue to thank the man, despite the how her salvation came, and she is soon slicing through a once-again shortened lifeline on her palm.
With students on all sides fighting off the branches, the void tree is left open to attack, and it's in that moment that Caelum sends his entire stock of ammunition, flaming and crackling with heat, into the trunk of the tree, split open and vulnerable as it made itself in consuming Jordan. With a loud whoosh, the flames shoot up the tree, engulfing it on one side, but that quickly spreads around the base, flames hot as they grow, licking at the tree eagerly. The tentacle branches writhe desperately, no longer attacking the students, but soon they still - and the tree is silent, no longer consumed with Void magic.
"You're wel--" Aristotle starts to say, but then the tree goes ablaze and the fire becomes too much to ignore. He's releasing his grip on Tabitha's hair, reaching for her bicep to pull her back by a step before releasing her to leave her to her slicing, "Woah," he says, move steps back occurring. When the writhing tentacles stop and the tree is left still and ablaze, he pauses to watch for several beats. Then, his eyes seek out Avi's, and then Alexandrea. "Are you guys okay?" He asks them, himself not having done much to contribute given his easily manipulated nature and hallucinogenics. Eyes glance to the reddened thighs of Alexandrea with a little grimace, and then he's looking over Caelum's way.
As the tree's magic dies, as the miasma starts to filter away, Alexandrea stares blank-faced at where the tree burns. "...I'm going back to the bus," she relays to Avi and Aristotle, "I want to be left alone on the trip back."
That's the third catalyst. Caelum collapses, just as the tree does. Down on a single knee, staring with an impassive, angry expression that has folded his features into steel. Then it falls, and his expression contorts in pain and exhaustion so far withheld. The jacket is shrugged off of his shoulders, one sleeve just about ruined, and he pats it down against the ground to extinguish. Thankfully, he's only scaled up to the beginning of his forearms, and in his palm. A disturbing, charred black that has consumed his appendage in lines. Nothing red, nothing cooked, as what's dead can't really die a second time. "Fuck." The growl is sharp, as if he's about to shoot another person into that burning tree, for a much slower death.
Claire, an MIT student, smiles darkly. "We're done here," she tells her fellow students, and they fall back into formation immediately, organized in a way the Brown Owls are not, scattered as they are in the aftermath, some of the younger students openly sobbing as they look to where their leader was last seen. Claire's eyes glow briefly an inhuman shade of green, and then she and her classmates disappear into the trees, and one might get the sensation that they did not leave alone.
The tree no longer a threat, Tabitha stands there, woke with her palm bleeding for little reason. She makes a fist to let the crimson drip down along her wrist. "I did not get to test my theory, if we'd been able to see it wither from illness." She watches as the students begin to scatter.
The void tree, malevolent and animate, thrashes violently with sentient roots and inky, barbed vines, asserting its presence. As the students attempt to fight back, the situation becomes dire. Caelum's aggressive pyrokinetics meets with resistance as the tree attempts to thwart his fiery barrage. Avi and Aristotle struggle to save Tabitha and Alexandrea from the gripping vines, hastened by the hallucinatory gas enveloping them. Meanwhile, two groups from Brown and MIT clash over the right to harness the tree's dark magic, their conflict inadvertently nourishing it.
With the increasing danger, Caelum's ferocity mounts as he unleashes a relentless inferno upon the tree. Avi strikes at the tendrils with sharpened stakes, while Aristotle, snapping out of his trance, aids the group. Alexandrea manages to break free from the clutches of a vine, and Tabitha, recovering from the tree's influence, begins to concoct a new plan. The void tree, finally succumbing to the elemental onslaught, engulfs in flames, its corrupted life extinguished. In the aftermath, the MIT students, unfazed and organized, slink away with a dark satisfaction, leaving the Brown students to lament and recover from the traumatic encounter.
(Tabitha's odd encounter(SRCaim):SRCaim)
[Fri Jan 12 2024]
At Sherrin Woods - Outskirts
It is night, about 18F(-7C) degrees, There is a waxing crescent moon.
"We should have let Caelum eat him. Sam's not here to get mad," Alexandrea suggests, though relief is in her face as Aristotle returns unscathed and with fire equipment. "Okay. Let's burn down trees."
Total pyromaniac, Caelum is ready to follow along, his stack of stakes, and fire supplies at the ready. "I fucking love playing with fire," Caelum muses anyways, grinning almost ear to ear. But he does shoot a look at Alexandrea, with a bit of a frown, "No way, I wasn't actually going to eat him, he probably tasted disgusting."
Tabitha takes up the rear, soft and mushy and human as she is. But she's not without a certain level of reckless curiousness and confidence. She's just more willing to see that Caelum is out in front with his sticks and fire.
Armed with fire and stakes, the group move deeper into the woods, and looking around themselves, their surroundings slowly begin to change.
Aristotle follows along with the group, still looking a little grumpy at that extended alone time with Dane, but he doesn't bitch about it, vocally anyway. As the scenery changes, it proves to be a distraction from his thoughts, and he's voicing, "You guys are noticing this, right?" He asks, his free hand gesturing towards their surroundings. "It's feeling a little different."
Like Tabitha, Alexandrea falls into the rear of the group. She checks her nails at first, nonchalant, until the eerie nature of the forest sinks in. She pauses before crushing a flower underfoot. "...ugh."
"I should get one of those flowers for Sienna, she's into horticulture now, right?" Avi asks.
"Is Sam up ahead?" Aristotle asks, glancing towards the group. "You guys said she texted, right? She's still alright?"
"Sam's fine," Avi confirms. "Sam is always fine. Let's worry about us, pretty sure Caelum is about to get us hentai'd."
"Not really. Just a forest?" Caelum wonders, oblivious, brows knitting thoughtfully at the strangeness of the forest that appeared abruptly as if they passed a threshold. Yet, he does begin to take the hints. The quiet corruption spreading underfoot beneath the wavering mist and the disturbing looking flowers that he avoids every step occasional step. "You, maybe. I'll be safely far away chucking these." A beat of a pause, and he adds, without looking over his shoulder. "It was your plan to do it from afar, I was all too happy running up close and personal on my own."
As the students venture deeper into the Sherrin Woods, the void-touched tree materializes before them like a nightmarish vision. Its bark, once vibrant, is now a mottled canvas of twisted patterns, and the roots, akin to sinuous whips, writhe and lash out with an unnerving sentience. The forest floor bears the scars of these appendages, the earth torn asunder by the tree's insatiable reach.
Above, the branches extend like inky tentacles, each one adorned with barbed vines that pulse with an unnatural glow. The leaves, or what's left of them, hang like spectral memories, casting eerie shadows that dance independently in the dim light. The air is thick with hallucinatory gas emitted by the tree, distorting the surroundings and playing tricks on the senses.
Tabitha scratches at the back of her neck, like the hairs there are raised and tingling. The corruption is palbable once they've crossed a certain threshhold, open to those types of suggestions. The tree, a vision of demon-twisted flora, does not go unnoticed, and she stops, dead. Right there in her tracks. "I don't think from a distance is an option..." It's whispered out.
The sweater vest Alexandrea wears gets drawn up over her nose, her brows furrowing as she tries to take in her surroundings. She flinches, something she sees causing alarm in her. "...fuck..."
Not that it would do much good, but Aristotle unlatches his holster to rest his hand on his gun. "...Okay." He says, looking up at the tree as they draw nearer enough to see it. He doesn't get too close, though, recalling the gases that Dane warned them of earlier. "So... You got this, right Caelum?" He asks, glancing to Caelum.
The clearing in Sherrin Woods echoes with the tense exchange between the Brown students, who initially summoned the void magic, and the MIT students, who seek to seize control of the volatile energies.
Jordan calls out, dodging a tentacle, "You have no idea what you're dealing with! We summoned this, we control it!"
An MIT student, Claire, scoffs breathlessly, hacking at a reaching root. "Your control is slipping, evident in the chaos you've unleashed. Step aside!"
Craig grunts, on one knee, wearily, "We can fix this, we know the ritual. You're only making it worse!"
David, another MIT student, says coldly, "Your incompetence is not our concern. We have the means to harness this power properly."
As they argue, the void-touched tree pulses with an ominous glow, reacting to the clashing energies surrounding it. The air crackles with tension as both groups struggle for dominance over the uncontrollable force they unleashed.
The thickness of the air is the first thing that signals Caelum to their proximity to their target. It is what makes him quiet - sharply so, as he stops breathing alltogether. Others may not be as lucky as he is in that regard, but the downside is, Caelum is now mute. He sidesteps a few more flowers, some more dead branches and whip-marks across the forest floor. He glances over his shoulder, first at Aristotle, then at Avi. It's not exactly clear what he means when he shrugs his shoulders - both arms full. Still, he turns away once again. From where his group stopped, he begins to march closer - closer at the voices ringing out, closer at that decadent energy filling the air.
"...fucking Hell," Alexandrea breathes out, trying to filter the hallucinogens through her sweater during her breathing. It doesn't function very well. "Those idiots -- they're fighting over something that's probably going to eat them."
Tabitha pulls the turtleneck of her sweater up over her chin and nose. Her blue eyed gaze sweeps from person to person. "I think they are feeding it with their bickering..." She can't be sure, but it does seem to be thriving from it.
"They're not trying to destroy it, they're trying to keep it," Avi draws his shirt up over his nose to keep out the worst of the miasma. "This is fucking insanity." He looks to Caelum. "What do we do?" he asks.
It isn't long before Aristotle's attention is turned towards the shouting and arguing that occurs, and he sighs. "Shoot Void monsters, not people, Ari." He says, to himself, his irritation likely getting the better of him. He then moves his hand away from his pistol, latching the holster once more in some semblance of responsible gun-ownership. "If they're trying to keep it, then we destroy everything." He says. "You guys said something like this can't be controlled. So, we burn it. If we want to be really, really reckless, we can start the fire here, and watch it spread. But... that's very extreme. Though..." He points to the tree. "That's also probably very extreme."
In relative nonchalance, the vampire starts to set up on a corner of his own, away from Avi, Alexandrea, Tabitha and Aristotle. Piled up stakes, in separate piles, primed and ready for what Caelum intends to do. He's still within earshot of his group, of course - enough to take note of their words.. Even if he doesn't reply. Lighter fluids is the first catalyst, and he spreads it liberally on each pile, followed by the lighter so graciously bestowed by their Prometheus, he sets it all ablaze. A ray of light, in the darkness.
"The only way to stop them is to .... stop them. You got enough bullets to do it?" Tabitha asks, trying to gauge how many other students are there. "You don't have to kill them. Just .... what's a little bullet to the knee?" She covers her mouth and nose again, though now with her forearm. "I wish..." She then starts to scream as she tries to back away, her ankle caught by a tentacle. "Burn it! Burn it! Burn it!!!!!!" It's a frantic request, finding the knife in her tote with scrambling fingers.
"I think Caelum is sacrificing himself for us," Avi notes, quite readily moving away from Caelum and his grand plan, but then Tabitha is screaming. "Fuck, they're everywhere!" he shouts in warning.
Something catches Aristotle's eye, and he's darting a glance over. His eyes are on the ground towards Tabitha, and in what he spots he states in a yelled whisper, "Tabi!" He reaches out to grab her just as she starts to scream and back away. And then, he's going, "Shhh! Don't panic!" He whispers out in a yell. He's then approaching, that holster getting unlatched in the process as he pulls out a knife to try and free her.
Alexandrea jerks her head to the side, her body moving before her mouth does as she darts to a point behind Caelum. "Caelum -- hurry up," she encourages, stumbling over herself as she settles near him.
The tentacle Tabitha hacks at withdraws, writhing as if in pain, and more of that sweetly noxious gas emits from the wound she causes, the gas surrounding her and Aristotle both as they knife at it.
Half-empty pack of lighter fluid is set inside a pocket on Caelum 's side. His surrounding, blazing inferno is likely to alert anyone and everyone in this darkness and mist- but Caelum seels like the last person to care about such things. There is a glance over his shoulder again - watching his Tabitha get attacked. There is consideration there, for a moment, as if he's intending to help, but a shake of his head sets his attention forward. It looks like he trusts them, because he stares dead ahead now, at the tree, at the collective struggling for its power. A stretch of his arms, at his sides, and the a large pile begins to float. It forms an arch above his head - guided by a single motion of his hand, and a vehement glare of his eyes. Alexandrea doesn't need to encourage him for it, but she sparks him into action like spark to tinder, and he shoots! Several flaming stakes, spinning straight at the tree, while more rise to take their place in the half-halo of fire hovering overhead.
Half-empty pack of lighter fluid is set inside a pocket on Caelum 's side. His surrounding, blazing inferno is likely to alert anyone and everyone in this darkness and mist- but Caelum seems like the last person to care about such things. There is a glance over his shoulder again - watching his friends, and Tabitha get attacked. There is consideration there, for a moment, as if he's intending to help, but a shake of his head sets his attention forward. It looks like he trusts them, because he stares dead ahead now, at the tree, at the collective struggling for its power. A stretch of his arms, at his sides, and the a large pile begins to float. It forms an arch above his head - guided by a single motion of his hand, and a vehement glare of his eyes. Alexandrea doesn't need to encourage him for it, but she sparks him into action like spark to tinder, and he shoots! Several flaming stakes, spinning straight at the tree, while more rise to take their place in the half-halo of fire hovering overhead. (Fix)
There's something that causes Aristotle's actions to slow as he hacks at the tentacle-like branches, and he's starting to breath in a bit deeply as his mouth curls into a little smile. Inadvertently, he takes in more of those gases in that inhale as a result as his hacking slows - like it's too much work, or effort to continue.
Tabitha clings to Aristotle, while also frantically stabbing the tip of her blade into the tentacle that has elegantly wrapped around her ankle. She's not the least bit protected from the gaseous fumes, and in her not-so-calm attempt at hacking at the thing, she's breathed in quite a bit. She's suddenly a little giggly, a little -stoned- one could say. She is now -calm-. Eerily so. She sits down on the ground, her tote placed in between her legs.
As the first of those flaming stakes from Caelum approaches the tree, dead on target, one of those whip-like roots rises from the ground, lashing out to dash it to the side and off-course. The root is burned, but not destroyed, and another takes its place to bat another of the projectiles off course, but the third and fourth hit, and flames begin to lick at the massive base of the void-touched tree.
Grim in his stare, Caelum watches, but remains undeterred at the way the whip-like roots redirect his assault. Another flick of a wrist, and several more shoot once again, in succession. Fire is a constant around him now, and by extension Alexandrea who rushed to his side. It drips from above, and spreads at their sides from the flaming stakes, consuming the dead foliage beneath their feet. His teeth remain gritted, adamant at not taking a single breath.
"Fuck, it's working," Avi exclaims as Caelum's efforts aren't in vain, and he immediately starts helping to sharpen more of those stakes for his reserves, his shirt still up over his nose.
A tentacle finds Alexandrea, the branch-like thing wrapping around her thigh as she tries to claw at it. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she hisses out, doing her best to dig her manicure into the thing. "Get off me!"
Hacking slashes on the branches soon, Aristotle's knife slides back in its holster as he's opting instead to tend to the branch with his bare hands. He doesn't wear an expression on his face that seeks to break the branch off of Tabitha - it seems instead he's wanting to touch it, feel the sensation along his palms and skin. As he takes in a another breath, Tabitha, Alexandrea, someone, Avi, and even the fires go all but forgotten.
Hacking slashes on the branches soon, Aristotle's knife slides back in its holster as he's opting instead to tend to the branch with his bare hands. He doesn't wear an expression on his face that seeks to break the branch off of Tabitha - it seems instead he's wanting to touch it, feel the sensation along his palms and skin. As he takes in a another breath, Tabitha, Alexandrea, someone, Avi, and even the fires go all but forgotten.
Hacking slashes on the branches soon, Aristotle's knife slides back in its holster as he's opting instead to tend to the branch with his bare hands. He doesn't wear an expression on his face that seeks to break the branch off of Tabitha - it seems instead he's wanting to touch it, feel the sensation along his palms and skin. As he takes in a another breath, Tabitha, Alexandrea, Caelum, Avi, and even the fires go all but forgotten.
Tabitha snaps out of this fog of hers, when the tree begins to flame at the root, it's own self-preservation letting her come out of some of the fog that has settled in her brain. But only for so long. Nice a long deep breaths fill her lungs again and she's slowly getting up to her feet, slinking along Aristotle for a moment, touching him, a caress of his arm given. "Aaaaaaaaaavi!" she calls out in her haze, sweet and stoned. "It is a tree, but it's alive in some respect....." She might be high and the suggestion -silly-. "We could combine our magic and make the tree illllllllllllll."
As Alexandrea attempts to grapple with the tentacle around her thigh, it turns out that no matter how much a mani slays in this moment, it's no match for the tough, slippery surface of the void-touched branch, and it begins to wind its way higher, up under the hem of her mini-skirt, if not halted.
"OH MY GOD, GET IT OFF ME!" Alexandrea shrieks as the tentacle-branch climbs higher on her leg, now kicking and still trying in futile determination to dig at it and yank at it and get it off.
Down to one pile, Caelum is distracted by what happens to Alexandrea. Thankfully, Avi is sharpening more - and he doesn't expend all of his ammunition at once, leaving the pile burning for Avi to toss whatever he sharpens into. Instead of wasting time with that, Caelum reaches for a struggling Alexandrea. A single smoldering stake is grabbed barehanded, and he stomps his boot on the part of the branch at the ground, with the intention to cut the fire's path while he drives his flaming stake through it, to cut its connection from the tree.
As Caelum launches more of those flaming projectiles at the tree, more of the branches and roots take notice of the threat he poses, and begin snaking over the ground in his direction, some of them burned and seeking vengeance, others fresh and ready for the fight, but they pause as they see Caelum use fire to sever one of the branches, the cauterized stump unable to leak more of the gas into the air.
Once the branch is severed, Alexandrea briskly works to detangle it from her leg and push it off of herself, trembling visibly. Her eyes stay wide, horrified. "So gross. So... So gross."
There's a look of studious intrigue on Aristotle's face as he holds onto the tentacle-like branch, and he's certainly stopped trying to hack away at it now. He's following the length of it with his eyes towards the tree, glancing over only in brief distraction as flaming projectiles hit the tree. He no longer notices the gas he breathes in freely, looking up at the tree as that branch is firmly held.
Glancing over at Aristotle, Avi frowns, abandoning the growing pile of stakes to grab Aristotle and drag him - not away from the tree, but away from Tabitha. "Mine," he tells her, slapping Aristotle's cheek harshly. "Wake up!" Grabbing one of the flaming stakes at the not-burning end, he attempts to stab it into the tentacle Aristotle is holding.
Fire is fun to play with, less so to play with bare-handed. Those leather gloves on Caelum 's hands are barely much protection, and what's left in one hand is seared flesh because of the smoldering stake. Alexandrea gets a look in her horrified expression, even if he remains nonverbal. Caelum still tries to reach out, give her a light tug of her sleeve as if to make sure she remains close - and he turns again. His singular stake, now licking fire up to his wrist, climbing a fine line across the leather of his forearm - Who knew undead was easily combustable. A step, and another - he chucks it over the shoulder at the tree - yet it is still not with just his own strength - that is only an addition to the telekinetic force he imbues to send it straight at the centre of the tree.
Alexandrea doesn't leave the vicinity of Caelum, though her fingers continue to dig at her skin long after the branch is gone. "Gross," she hisses out, as if whatever residue left behind is causing her some internal bother.
Tabitha clearly is not in her right frame of mind, as is Aristotle, her hands seeking to caress the very same branch even as Aristotle is tugged away from her. She shakes her head, trying to clear the fog that plaques the other as well. That Avi says 'Mine," goes either unheard or listened to."
Watching the interplay of the White Oak students and the tree, it isn't long before Jordan is calling out, "Torches! Grab anything that burns!"
Aristotle is startled as he's grabbed at, and moved away from Tabitha it sees him clenching the branch tighter. Not by choice, but by confusion and surprise. And then, he's struck across the cheek. "...Ow," he quietly, and pathetically murmurs. And then the branch is stabbed out of his hands. "Why did you hit me?" He asks, a bit of quiet bitching as he's looking to Avi as he rubs his jaw. And rubs, and then he glances down at the branches and the sights around him of branches and fire and his friends and lover. "...Oh, shit," he says, coming back a bit to his senses. And that rub to his jaw turns to a palm over his face. "...Shit, thank you..."
Brown students rally, fashioning makeshift torches from nearby branches and clothing. They strategically aim the flames at the writhing tentacles, finally at the advantage, and start beating the branches back toward the base of the tree.
As if fueled by rage, Caelum erupts a singular growl from his throat. Lips drawn enough to bare fangs. What Jordan screams, it ends him in Caelum' sights, and another flick of his hand, almost dismissive, flicks the Brown student with distaste and invisible force, propelling him straight at the tree as well.
"You okay now?" Avi asks Aristotle, concerned, but there's no time, and he's soon saying, "Grab Tabitha and snap her out of it - but she's a girl, so don't slap her," Avi adds.
"Yeah." Aristotle says, exhaling, but his next inhale is shallow for fear of taking more of that gas again. He's looking towards the tree, brow furrowing as he grimaces. "...Fuck that's wild." Then, back to Avi. "I'm okay. I'll get Tabitha." He promises. A hand is placed briefly to Avi's waist in reassurance, before he's heading towards Tabitha, holding his breath in the process.
Mouths agape, several Brown Owls watch helplessly as Caelum flings the leader of the Brown Owls, a Brown University student named Jordan Hashmi, a student obsessed with power, obsessed with the pursuit of ritualism, but also a son, an older sister's little brother, a dog-lover, a medical student, a living being, into the grasp of the Void-touched tree - watch as that bark splits and opens up, dragging Jordan, screaming and howling and writhing desperately, into the trunk, the bark growing rapidly over his skin and clothing.
Since slapping her isn't an option, Aristotle goes for the next best thing. He's reaching for that fiery red hair of hers, and giving it an awful yank. It's not at all gentle with it, nor is his grip loose, because after that yank, he's stepping back and attempting to pull her with him. "Wake up!" He yells out.
By the time Alexandrea has finished digging at herself, her thigh is red and scratched. She breathes a bit heavily, coming out of her stress-induced skin-picking in time to watch the terrified Jordan be dragged into the trunk of the Void-touched tree. Her eyes blink slowly. "...finish burning it already," she insists to Avi and Caelum, not entirely phased.
A glare passes by while Caelum lifts his fire-clad arm once again. It pins on every Brown Owl - then at the MIT students on the opposing side. The rest of his burning stakes lift with his gesture. From afar, this pain-addled vampire is threatening for them to keep attacking, or else... Then strike, he uses every single ammunition left, assaulting the tree!
There's a pause, as Jordan gets presumably past-tensed by a tree, but then Avi swallows thickly, nodding at Alexandrea's order. He's grabbing one of those stakes, lighting the end of it, and swinging at one of the lashing roots, burning through it.
The only thing that stalls Aristotle's movements is the sight of Jordan being flung towards the tree and dragged into it. He doesn't register it was caused by Caelum, that flick of his wrist and telekinetic prowess much too subtle for his eyes or awareness to notice. But a body flinging through the air certainly catches his eye. He's gasping, arm going back to tug Tabitha's hair as he watches - humanity on display as he watches in horror. "Oh no," he says, quietly. But, priority returns to Tabitha, and her hair receives another yank, "Wake. Up!"
Tabitha begins to follow the length of the tentacle toward the tree itself, her own breathing slow and steady, fumes, and smoke both inhaled as she slinks her way toward that demonic tree-maw. She is stopped, however, by Aristotle grabbing a fistful of her hair, and giving it such a yank that she actually stumbles backward. There comes another scream, this not of pleasure but of pain. Her hand flies up to her hair where he had forcefully pulled. "Owwwww!" Her eyes, blue as the sea, fill with water, making them much more crystalline. Through the tear that slips she says, in a whisper, "Thanks." She rubs her scalp. Aristotle certainly has a few of her fiery strands about his fingers. But there is no time to continue to thank the man, despite the how her salvation came, and she is soon slicing through a once-again shortened lifeline on her palm.
With students on all sides fighting off the branches, the void tree is left open to attack, and it's in that moment that Caelum sends his entire stock of ammunition, flaming and crackling with heat, into the trunk of the tree, split open and vulnerable as it made itself in consuming Jordan. With a loud whoosh, the flames shoot up the tree, engulfing it on one side, but that quickly spreads around the base, flames hot as they grow, licking at the tree eagerly. The tentacle branches writhe desperately, no longer attacking the students, but soon they still - and the tree is silent, no longer consumed with Void magic.
"You're wel--" Aristotle starts to say, but then the tree goes ablaze and the fire becomes too much to ignore. He's releasing his grip on Tabitha's hair, reaching for her bicep to pull her back by a step before releasing her to leave her to her slicing, "Woah," he says, move steps back occurring. When the writhing tentacles stop and the tree is left still and ablaze, he pauses to watch for several beats. Then, his eyes seek out Avi's, and then Alexandrea. "Are you guys okay?" He asks them, himself not having done much to contribute given his easily manipulated nature and hallucinogenics. Eyes glance to the reddened thighs of Alexandrea with a little grimace, and then he's looking over Caelum's way.
As the tree's magic dies, as the miasma starts to filter away, Alexandrea stares blank-faced at where the tree burns. "...I'm going back to the bus," she relays to Avi and Aristotle, "I want to be left alone on the trip back."
That's the third catalyst. Caelum collapses, just as the tree does. Down on a single knee, staring with an impassive, angry expression that has folded his features into steel. Then it falls, and his expression contorts in pain and exhaustion so far withheld. The jacket is shrugged off of his shoulders, one sleeve just about ruined, and he pats it down against the ground to extinguish. Thankfully, he's only scaled up to the beginning of his forearms, and in his palm. A disturbing, charred black that has consumed his appendage in lines. Nothing red, nothing cooked, as what's dead can't really die a second time. "Fuck." The growl is sharp, as if he's about to shoot another person into that burning tree, for a much slower death.
Claire, an MIT student, smiles darkly. "We're done here," she tells her fellow students, and they fall back into formation immediately, organized in a way the Brown Owls are not, scattered as they are in the aftermath, some of the younger students openly sobbing as they look to where their leader was last seen. Claire's eyes glow briefly an inhuman shade of green, and then she and her classmates disappear into the trees, and one might get the sensation that they did not leave alone.
The tree no longer a threat, Tabitha stands there, woke with her palm bleeding for little reason. She makes a fist to let the crimson drip down along her wrist. "I did not get to test my theory, if we'd been able to see it wither from illness." She watches as the students begin to scatter.