\ Haven:Mist and Shadow Plotlogs/Ravenfall Sr Caim
Plotlogs

Ravenfall Sr Caim

In the dense woods near Rockport, a group from White Oak Institute encountered a bound and gagged Brown University student named Dane, who confessed that he and his peers had attempted to tap into the Void and summon a powerful eidolon for their school. Unfortunately, things spiraled out of control as the entity began infecting the woods. Now, both Brown and MIT students were at risk from the creature, which manifested through a central tree with dangerous, tentacle-like branches.

After a tense negotiation, Dane divulged the names of the operation's ringleaders, Jordan Hashmi and Craig Blayney, and the location of the heart of the problem—a sinister tree in the woods. The group debated on how to handle the situation. Aristotle, serving as law enforcement, managed to secure lighter fluid and a lighter from the police under the pretense of burning away shrubbery to uncover evidence.

The rest of the group, including Caelum, Tabitha, Avi, and Alexandrea, worked together to create a plan to set the malevolent tree ablaze and thwart the Void's encroachment into their world. With Caelum's supernatural abilities, they fashioned makeshift stakes, while Avi coordinated information from Samantha who scouted ahead to assess the enemy's actions.

The group decided to untie Dane, who found his bravado deflated in the face of the group's own ruthless resolve. Even though they severely doubted his integrity and were irritated by his initial stubbornness, they considered escorting him back to safety.

Their plan of action took shape as they prepared to confront the tree under the guidance of Aristotle, who had newly arrived with the needed fire-making equipment. With the makeshift weaponry and a means to start the fire, they braced themselves to face the Void entity, the tentacle tree, and to disrupt the chaotic ritual that threatened to tear apart the fabric of reality.
(Ravenfall(SRCaim):SRCaim)

[Fri Jan 12 2024]

On a White Oak Institute chartered bus
`#000.
The interior of this well-appointed chartered bus is a luxurious haven, combining comfort and sophistication. Plush leather seats in White Oak colors line the aisle, equipped with reading lights, power outlets, and USB ports for modern convenience.

Large tinted windows offer both panoramic views and privacy. Elegant curtains can be drawn for a more intimate atmosphere. Soft ambient lighting and personal multimedia screens embedded in each seat ensure an enjoyable journey.

The carpeted floor adds a touch of refinement, complementing the overall opulence of the bus. Climate control maintains comfort, while overhead storage compartments and cup holders provide convenience. The Institute's Wildcats mascot is subtly woven into the design, reinforcing a sense of pride and identity.

It is afternoon, about 72F(22C) degrees,

"Everyone aboard, no smoking or I don't get the deposit back," Avi warns as the group heads out to the parking lot where the bus waits.

Once they're out on the lot with a bus waiting for them, Aristotle approaches, but doesn't enter - opting first to let Tabitha, Samantha, and Alexandrea on first.

Alexandrea flashes a dimpled smile at Aristotle as she boards the bus, not waiting for anyone else to get on first. "Ooh, very nice," she decides, finding a comfortable window seat.

Tabitha board the bus, with a gracious smile to Aristotle for allowing her to go before him. She takes a seat, scooting toward the window to look out of it, but is startled when she rests her head against the thick pane, when a corvid flies right into the glass, it's beak causing it to spider ever so slightly.

"Oh, thank you," Avi says as Aristotle stands aside, stepping up into the bus and claiming a seat all the way at the back. "Was that bird made of cement?" Avi asks as the window inexplicably breaks under the impact. "There goes my fucking deposit," he bitches.

Samantha hurries to catch up to the group and then clambers onto the bus with the others, heading down to find an unoccupied seat and settling down, half turning her back to the window as she settles in.

Just as Aristotle does, Caelum waits until others board first - and then waits a little further - for when Avi slips in. Then with a smile at Aristotle, he hops right on, slithering to find a seat of his own - and its of course in a shaded seat by Alexandrea.

"I don't think a crack in one of the winows back here will affect the driver," Avi figures as he settles in. "But these companies are always looking for a way to take your desposit." He looks over the group, asking, "So, we've gone over what we know so far, but let me ask - have any of you had any run-ins with the Brown Owls? First hand, or just anything you've heard?"

Caelum has his arms folded on his chest, not at all minding the conversation about birds being a self-harming menace in their effort to get in. Or the birds thesmelves, really - his head is tilted back to the plush leather, eyes closed, in that zone to enjoy the ride.

"Rude little shits," Alexandrea mutters as Avi brings up the Brown Owls.

"No, I mean like, they'll probably blame the bus driver." Aristotle says, shaking his head as he clarifies. "Besides, unless a bird apocalypse contractually falls under, 'Acts of God,' then you should be fine for your deposit." He says. He's letting himself fall silent then when Avi's addressing the others, and at the question he's shaking his head. "Not that I can recall."

Samantha turns her head to watch Haven disappear behind them. "The town in the distance looks wild with all the birds around it." She claims, looking back to the others and shaking her head a little. "Not really, I've heard they suck, but don't remember any specifics."

"Never met any." Caelum chimes in his piece, without breaking his relaxed posture. That extra leg room is a welcome thing, because his legs are extended and crossed at the ankles. Some buzzing has him pasue in his pocket, though, and he begrudgringly reaches for his phone to thumb a text.

"A rock flew up, if we have to say something," Tabitha says to Avi, over the possible loss of desposit. She lifts her shoulders, "I don't really know of them. I went there for a little, but I was trying to be a good little student, and wasn't quite involving myself in these kinds of matters."

Caelum knits his brows when he gets no connection to send that text. But then that leads to a smirk, and he seems happy about it - because his phone goes right back in his pocket.

Alexandrea gives a little sigh. "Very Hitchcock," she muses, her head dropping onto Caelum's shoulder.

Caelum folds his arms and adjusts almost instictively to Alexandrea resting her head on his shoulder, a perfect pillow - albeit clad in uncomfortable leather and a little cold.

Tabitha nods a few times to Alexandrea, "I was telling Deacon last night that I had to duck into Black Rose quick because I didn't have a phone booth, instead."

"Two years back," the middle-aged White Oak bus driver pipes up to share his story, "We had ourselves a peculiar encounter on this very highway. The Brown Owls thought it'd be real funny to pull a prank on the Quill & Talon students. Late one night, driving back from Boston, I felt a sudden jolt, and next thing you know, all my tires went flat. There they were, cloaked in shadows, laughing like hyenas in the moonlight. Now, we got the tires fixed, but that night left me with a grudge - beware them Brown students, their mischief knows no bounds."

Samantha plays with her phone a bit but puts it down to listen to the bus driver's story. "Trust fund kids are the truest form of evil." She agrees with what she takes is the point of the story.

"Well, yeah, that's just irritating." Aristotle says of the driver's story, nose crinkling as he regards the story. "And what's even the point of that? Oooh, you vandalized a bus, you're -so- hard." He's then snorting afterwards.

When Samantha mentions trust fund kids, Alexandrea turns her head to peer.

"That does sound like them," Avi says of the bus driver's story. "Hashtag not all rich kids," Avi protests Samantha's comment, but then he admits, "That definitely sounds like something I'd do if their bus rolled past." Aristotle's commentary has him ducking his head, laughing. "The point is to inconvenience assholes who cheat," he claims. "They cheat at academic competitions, they cheat at football, they're sneaky little shits, you'll see - being in the Quill & Talon will mean plenty of run-ins with them this year."

"We'll give them a solid right hook for you." Caelum adds to the story, tilting his head the other way to look ahead across the bus to the driver. Just a brief glance, while Alexandrea is busy peering at Samantha. He's back as he was before long, for her to keep leaning against him or not.

As the conversation about the misdeeds of the White Oak rivals goes on, the bus winds closer and closer to Rockport, Massachusetts, the smell of salt on the air as the small fishing village comes into view on the horizon. Unlike Haven, there are no great ominous clouds of ravens and crows, but rather the lazily wheeling wings of seagulls outstretched on the winter breeze.

"...I hate seagulls," Alexandrea admits, hearing the screech of the sea birds more than seeing them. She shakes her head, making herself more comfortable in her seat.

"They are so aggravating," Tabitha agrees with Alexandrea, still peering out the window. "I bet that they say the same things about White Oak, Avi," someone suggest to Avi with a light laugh for Samantha's and Aristotle's thoughts. "But maybe I have a little itty bitty bias because I was attending Brown for a while." She ticks her eyes upward to watch the gulls, expecting a dive bomb, likely.

"They are so aggravating," Tabitha agrees with Alexandrea, still peering out the window. "I bet that they say the same things about White Oak, Avi," she suggest to Avi with a light laugh for Samantha's and Aristotle's thoughts. "But maybe I have a little itty bitty bias because I was attending Brown for a while." She ticks her eyes upward to watch the gulls, expecting a dive bomb, likely.

"Do you think the seagulls are also all evil?" Samantha wonders.

"They always are." Tabitha points out.

"Well. I guess I'm looking forward to it?" Aristotle asks, chuckling a bit as he leans against Avi. He's quiet for a bit later, eyes looking out the window towards the change in scenery as they leave haven and draw closer towards Rockport. When Tabitha speaks, he's glancing over at her, "Oh? You were at Brown for a bit? D'you still have your old school ID?" He wonders. "That'll probably come in handy for something in the future."

"What bird isn't?" Caelum suggests, with a little shrug of his shoulders. His attention is otherwise outside, peering out the window past Alexandrea.

"Plenty of birds aren't evil," Alexandrea insists to Caelum.

"Might want to keep that down." Samantha suggests to Caelum wryly, "You're on a bus with most of the White oak Avian appreciation society after all."

"They're definitely not my favorites, but they're actually hilarious when they go into diveboming food-thief mode," Avi admits as the seagulls come into view. "I'll bet they say worse," he grouses in response to Tabitha. "Because they're assholes," he reminds her helpfully. Avi points at Aristotle at his question. "You're a genius," he decides. "Okay, so what's our plan when we get to Rockport?" he asks, steering the subject back to the task at hand. "How should we find someone who knows about what's going on in the woods?"

Alexandrea wiggles her fingers. "Seagulls are more likely to eat food that's been touched by someone than they are to scavenge untouched food," she reveals, "...making them vile, germy little rats."

"To each their own," Caelum replies with a little amused chuckle. "I'm not saying anything about appreciating them." His legs cross in idle fashion thereafter, with a tilted head slumped against the back of his chair, just taking in the leathered cushion under his head. Avi's question about their game plan after they get to rockport is met with a slightly clueless look, even if he suggests; "Think we can find any lumberjacks? Who else would be at the forest more than one."

"I think I do!" Tabitha says to Aristotle. "I'll have to look through my stuff to make sure." She winks, then peels eyes from him to Avi. She looks around to Alexandrea, Caelum and Samantha for their input as well. "They are going to need to have someone who can keep charging up whatever mystical thing they've got in their possession. I mean, if it is a thing. It has to be a thing..." She seems to self-doubt just a little. "Why wouldn't we just head out to the woods?"

"There's supposed to be some kind of shaman in this town." Samantha mentions, "We could ask around town for them or like, look for a new agey shop? Or yeah just head into the woods, make a diviner's rod or something and follow the direction of the woo woo."

"Avi is our woo woo expert, isn't he?" Alexandrea suggests, "Or is Tabitha good at it too? I'm not, magic is not my forte."

"Oh, well, wait, you guys are witche--ritualists, right?" Aristotle asks, looking over towards Avi and then Tabitha, though the latter is with an uncertain glance, as though he's more an assumption of her than fact. "I remember when Sister Natalia was doing a thing where she was able to find out who cursed her." He recalls. "Is that something you guys can do to maybe pinpoint where it happened? And then we go there and... throw sand at them or something?"

"If you give me the name of the Owls leader, I can probably scry him and see where he... or she, I guess..." Tabitha says to Avi, nodding to Alexandrea, giving both a nonverbal and verbal reply as to if she knows a thing or two about woo-woo.

"You go, woo-woo experts." Caelum teases with a fanged grin, but otherwise? Tracking doesn't seem to be his forte at all, and he wiselys defers to the judgement of the more experienced on the topic.

Tabitha maybe choked a little on air or spittle or something when she missed saying 'is' before 'I guess'.

"I would need a specific person or place to be scrying for, I don't actually know who - or even what - we're looking for," Avi tells Aristotle. "I know the leader's name is Jordan, if that helps you?" Avi tells Tabitha hopefully. "I couldn't really tell you what he looks like or anything like that."

"Oh... I don't know any Jordans." Tabitha says to Avi with a little pout. "I was hoping that maybe it would have been someone that I knew from my time at school. And I'd really need to know both first and surname." She chuckles, "Sorry. But there are a ton of Jordans in the world. It'd be useless."

As the bus rolls into Rockport, there's immediately a scene that draws attention, namely a group of police vehicles, a fire truck, and an SUV on the side of the road in front of a diner, lights flashing.

"...huh. Wonder what happened at the diner," Alexandrea murmurs, leaning closer to the window to peer out at the scene.

"Maybe they're stocking up on donuts." Caelum suggests to Alexandrea, leaning towards her for a bit so he can look over her shoulder, out the window. "It's a small town, maybe one of them even knowns about Jordan."

A police officer steps into the road, flagging down the White Oak bus and motioning for it to pull over. The bus driver, muttering to himself, complies, and soon the bus is parked on the side of the road near the commotion, the door opening. "Everybody out, now," the deputy with an impressive handlebar moustache sticks his head in to say in an authoritative tone. "Not one more group of troublemakers today, no sir, not on my watch."

Ah. Authority. It's as if the deputy's frustration melts Alexandrea's attitude, and she widens her eyes a bit. "Sir? What do you mean, troublemakers? Has something happened?" she asks, her tone sweet in her needling.

"Nice mustache." Samantha murmurs and stretches when they're pulled over, hopping out of her seat and heading off the bus with the others when she's told, she follows up Alexandrea, "Yeah, we don't want any trouble, won't you just -tell us what happened-" She asks, lacing those last four words with a hint of magic.

"Huh." Aristotle says. He's watching the scene, and even moreso when a deputy is motioning for them to step out. He's rising from his seat as instructed, hand resting on the badge clipped to his waist. Though, he's in the rear, so the liklihood that it would be seen immediately is probably pretty low. "What's going on?" He asks, voice carrying over towards the deputy a beat after Samantha started her own line of persuasive questioning.

Hands in his pockets, Caelum appears content to keep a low profile here. Nothing but compliance offered to the police officer, none at all. What Samantha does, though, has him glance her way, smile in faint amusement, then look back at the officer.

Tabitha starts to comply, like the (possible) goodie-two-shoes she is, saying lowly, before leaving the bus confines, "I'm sure that you all have more ... persuasiveness than I do, I'd need a few minutes to kick anything off... But maybe..." Then Samantha is speaking, and she shuts up, happily just following along, with her tote held by its strap, near her shoulder.

"Don't act like you don't know," the deputy demands as the students start filing off the bus. "What's the odds of three buses full of over-dressed young people rolling through town in as many evenings?" The question is clearly rhetorical, as the deputy - his badge reads 'Brown' - doesn't wait for an answer before continuing. "I ain't good at math, so I don't know the odds, but I know suspicious when I see it." He points at Caelum the tallest in the group. "What brings you to Rockport, and what'll see you gone the quickest?" Perhaps 'inspired' by Samantha he shares, "A family just came out of the woods from camping with all sorts of suspicious injuries, just after a bunch of students conducting so-called research went in there! You're all up to no good!"

Alexandrea's mouth turns down at the corners. "I'm not over-dressed," she insists softly, seeming like she might get a little teary-eyed. "I just wanted to come see some unique birds, and I'm getting told I'm over-dressed..."

"Cop face off?" Avi wonders under his breath as Aristotle reaches for his badge. "Careful, we're on his turf," Avi says, but he sticks close to Aristotle's side anyway, for whatever protection that might afford possibly, though the sight of Alexandrea threatening the waterworks on demand has him looking impressed.

"What? You didn't want to see Sam push a cop?" Aristotle asks, voice lowered as he's then glancing over at Avi. A moment later sees his eyes turn over towards the other Deputy. He's lifting a hand to wave to him in greeting, but it's short. "Deputy." He says, taking his attention away from Caelum. "Deputy Wilson. We're not here to cause any trouble. Actually the opposite, trying to find the source of it. My department apprehended arrested a student for vandalism and when questioned they mentioned something they set up in the woods around here, which... considering you're saying there's a family with injuries because it leads me to believe there's some illegal things happening affecting a few areas outside of just here. You or your supervisor willing to share information? Might make all this settle faster."

Did Aristotle make his voice a bit deeper when he approached the other officer? He sure did. He sure the fuck did.

"Don't worry." Samantha chimes up after Aristotle to the officer, "We will definitely wait here while you /go and find your supervisor/" She says with a sweet smile, lacing her words with suggestion as runes glimmer along her rings as she deactivates the officer's radio so he can't just call his supervisor.


Caelum simply tilts his head - staring between the pointed finger, the cop it belongs to - then his look travels, with brows lifted at others. He wisely, very wisely, lets other defuse thee situation.

Tabitha begins to rifle through her tote for something, a moment of time in which she's chewing lightly on her cheek.

At Aristotle's claim of deputy-hood, Officer Brown pauses, looking over the group he'd already labeled one way in his head, and looking as if he might reassess - but then Samantha's suggestion has him reaching for his radio as if in a daze. "You, keep your hands where I can see them," he tells Tabitha but it's a bit half-hearted now, as he knocks his radio against his hand after pressing the button doesn't do anything. "What in tarnation?" he mutters. "You then," he turns back to Aristotle "You know what they're up to in the woods?"

Alexandrea looks impressed as Samantha confounds the original intention of the deputy, nodding her approval and wiping the faux-bullied look off her face.

Not privy to what Samantha was doing to the radio, Aristotle seems a bit disappointed when the radio fails to provide any sort of compliance. He gives a glance to Tabitha, noting her poking through her bag but likely that deputy's order would see her halting. "I was hoping you would." He says to the deputy at his question, shaking his head. "I imagine since a few people have been injured already that your office has been doing some sort of investigation, right?" He asks. "Did that family say where specifically in the woods they were injured?"

Tabitha pulls her hand from her tote, empty handed. She shows that she's not grabbed anything, palm up and open. "Yes, Sir. Sorry." She drops her hand to her side, tugging her sweater down over her wrists and fingers.

Thankfully, the officer is distracted. Caelum had that whole cautiously clueless, innocent look passing about- but the way a subtle gaze narrows on the man after his attention falls aside, coupled with how stock still he stood, paused - it promised a different kind of solution that most likely no one here would've approved. So, he merely sidles up to Alexandrea, keeping out of eye sight as much as possible for the more diplomatic side of things.

Opting to make himself look quiet and innocent rather than get involved, Avi sidles away from Aristotle's side when he draws the officer's attention, moving toward Alexandrea's side and making a show of 'comforting' her and her crocodile tears.

Samantha sidles a little towards the end of the bus closest to the woods, seeing if the officer is distracted enough that she could slip off or if he'll notice her moving.

"Of course we've been investigating," Officer Brown says, sounding offended. "The family's just been loaded into the ambulance to head for the nearest hospital, but we found this in their car." He motions another officer over, and she brings a crumpled tourist map forward, with a red circle on it. "This is one of the camp grounds of the woods, not too deep in. I assume this must've been where they were staying. We wanted to send some men to look, but we're a little short of hands at the moment. We had to send all auxilliary officers to help keep the peace in Haven, they're having some sort of bird flu incident," he confides. "But since you're volunteering," he says, looking over the group with some doubts, but then seemingly reassured by @Ari's badge, "This is where we think those delinquents must be."

"If you're short of hands then it's a good thing we showed up." Aristotle says, motioning a hand behind him towards his comrades despite not actually glancing back to see them. Assuming they're all still there, that is, if a few having successfully snuck off. He's turning his eyes towards the map, and starts to tug out his phone. "I don't want to physically take that. You're alright if I take a photo of the map?" He asks, already turning the app for his camera on and lining up for a photo. "About Haven's... bird flu." He then prefaces. "Nothing like what's happening there has happened here recently, has it? In case they're migrating, another town in the path might wanna know about it."

Tabitha focuses her attention on the officer, awaiting a reply from him to Aristotle while Samantha seeks to move from the man's line of sight. She's staring, really. She purses her lips briefly, but then that blossoms to a smile. "Sir, any information you can give Officer Wilson here would be greatly appreciated." The details are given, and when the man looks her way, she says, sweetly, "It must be very frustrating, a real headache, with such delinquents. Good thing we are here to help you."

Samantha freezes when the officer starts pointing to maps and calling them volunteers and things and then slinks a little closer to the group to look like she was never trying to slink off at all, instead trying her best to look all professional and competent, straightening her beret slightly.

Alexandrea peeks around Avi to look in the direction of the deputy before pitching her voice lower. "...he talks a lot, he should just let us go in."

The deputy's quiet minion who delivered the map, and who looks much more calm and competent than him by far, even if she doesn't say anything, narrows her eyes suspiciously at Samantha, but doesn't mention her slinking.

"No harm in it," Caelum chimes quieter back at Alexandrea - though his attention, his gaze, that remain dutifully on the deputy and his quiet companion eyeing them. "Better than the alternative." What alternative? He doesn't elaborate on the obvious, but simply bides his time while Aristotle gets the job done!

"No, nothing like that here, but the gulls have the town locked down pretty tightly," Officer Brown says as Aristotle takes his photograph. "If y'all want to just head straight down this road," he points north, "You'll come to the edge of the woods pretty sharp-ish. I need to get back to filing the paperwork for this incident here, but good luck to you. If you need help - don't. The radio is playing up for some reason, so you're on your own." And with that, he turns back to his work, taking the other officer with him.

Samantha falls in behind Aristotle to head north to where the officer said they had to go to, staying quiet for a little while until they're out of earshot. "I guess you don't need magic when you've got a badge." She complains.

"That could have gone worse," Avi says, an agreement with Caelum of sorts. "Now we know where we're going, better than trampling around through the woods guessing," he adds, heading back for the bus. "Though if you'd made a dash for it, we'd have followed you of course," he tells Samantha loyaly. "You're not allowed to flirt with any Brown brats we run into," he tells Tabitha. "No smiling or anything, you're a Wildcat now, got it?"

Aristotle taps a bit on his phone, sending the photo of the map he'd taken to everyone present, except for Caelum because he doesn't have his number. "Thank you, Officer," He says towards the officer, and when his back is turned towards them, he's turning around and looking towards his comrades. "Alright, well. That worked out."

The White Oak bus driver starts up the bus, having not been questioned or made to leave the vehicle, despite being the oldest and thus most responsible-looking member of the party. Almost like he was invisible to the cop, somehow.

"Asking me not to smile is like asking the sun not to shine!" Tabitha complains to Avi.

"I'll be hiding behind Alexandrea from now on whenever we run into a cop." Caelum affirms firmly - not at all minding, apparently, being excluded from the map photo. Then he passes an impressive nod towards Aristotle, while falling after Avi, back to the bus.

"...I forgot the bus was here," Alexandrea reveals, giving a final look at the diner before turning to follow the others back to the bus.

"We ask the sun not to shine every night," Avi points out to Tabitha. "No smiling at Brown assholes tonight!" he insists.

It isn't a long drive at all to the outskirts of the woods, and provided with a view of the map, the bus driver gets them to the campground there in short order, driving up a dusty, well-worn trail. Once again, the bus stops and the doors are opening, and the driver notes, "You can't trust those Brown students, keep an eye out for each other," in parting.

Samantha hurries down the steps of the bus and squints at the map on her phone before pulling up google maps and dropping a pin where she thinks the red circle is, then confidently strides off into the forest, staring at her phone to make sure she's going in the right direction, or at least the direction google thinks is right. "Maybe we should just burn the woods down, that might be easier."

A passing wave towards the driver, and Caelum follows anyone else who may go out ahead, "Thanks for the warning." A beat, one last glance, "Scream really loud if you need help." And off he goes, his last offered to the driver. Even then, he keeps his hands in his jacket pockets, taking the scenery of the forest with a critical eye looking high and low.

"That would be bad for the birds who live here," Alexandrea relays to Samantha, "Though I otherwise support fire."

"Conservation," Avi rushes to keep up with Samantha after giving the driver a wave at his warning. "Burning down the birds' habitat is the opposite of conservation, Sam," Avi chastises in a quiet hiss. "And quit stomping through the woods, we want to sneak up on them, don't we?"

Samantha stomps quietly.

Caelum cannot be quiet if his life depended on it.

"That's much better," Avi says as Samantha ninja-stomps through the woods instead.

Tabitha crosses her arms, "It is natural for the sun to set." She shrugs though. "That's a terrible idea!" she exclaims to Samantha. Shaking her head a little, at this. Her steps are light, but she's not trying to hide herself from view, nor would she be able to conceal herself very well even should she want.

Tabitha peers to her right, and she is soon scurrying a little closer to Aristotle and Avi for their combined protection. She whispers, "Something's there..." There is, however, nothing there. On an immediately glance.

Caelum is possibly the furthest person from their stealthy activity. While he keeps looking - takes note of a rustle in the bushes particularly, just like Tabitha, it doesn't look like he's noticed anything other than a disturbing sensation of being watched. "..I should've brought the damn swords."

Aristotle kept himself silent as he followed along with the group, moving as quietly as he's able to. When Tabitha's mentioning something is off to the right of them, he's turning his attention there, ceasing his walk just for a moment as he peers. "I don't... see anything." He admits to Tabitha. He's reaching for a flashlight, which naturally he carries with him, but doesn't turn it on just yet. "Do we need a light, or would that get in the way?"

When she hears there might be something in the forest, Samantha slows down and reaches for something in her jacket, peering around for a moment before continuing on.

"You're all freaking me out," Avi whispers. "I don't see anything." He doesn't hide exactly, but he reaches into his backpack, drawing a blade he then wears at his hip, instead.

Alexandrea turns her head to peer into the darkness, scooting closer to Caelum.

Tabitha points a beam of light toward the shadowy bushes where said rustling was heard, but -not- seen. She's got some pretty subpar eyes, in relation to supernatural. She sways the light back and forth. "Wait!" she calls to Samantha and Avi as they brandish more than just flashlights. "I guess, better to be prepared." She takes a step away from the to men, different like night and day, and toward the possible danger, "Hello?" She clearly doesn't think that it is some animal. Though, people can be animals to. "You might as well come out. We all know you're here..." There's no name she speaks, a feeling, fleeting.

There's a slight rustling at the sound of Tabitha's voice from the bushes to the right of the group, and what sounds like a low moan.

"...Harriet?" Alexandrea hisses out.

"I heard it that time," Avi hisses, freezing, and he looks wary, until Alexandrea's guess has him unsuccessfully smothering a laugh with the back of his hand.

Samantha tilts her head to the side slightly as if trying to decide if the moan is familiar to her but then gives a little shake of her head and dives into the bushes, trying to tackle whatever is in there.

That low moan, after the rustling, has Aristotle narrowing his eyes, and the first thing he asks of his group is, "Is someone hurt?" He asks. It's a beat later that he's turning on the light of his flashlight.

Instant laughter, Caelum can't help the chuckle because Alexandrea just threw that out there -- and Caelum blows all of their supposed cover out the window, if there ever was one in the first place. Without any tension remaining, he starts to stalk-- But a little too late, Samantha jumped the gun quicker and already went and did that. "It better not actually BE Harriet.." He murmurs at least, intending to stick close to Alexandrea. Tabitha's low-toned explanation, however, gets a longer, quiet look.

"Oomph!" The sound that comes from beneath Samantha when she dives into the bushes is one of surprise and pain. "Mmphenmemneeemnemnph!" is a much longer, more eloquent sound made as a pair of dark brown eyes are illuminated in the flashlights, and beneath Samantha is a student in a Brown University hoodie, bound hand and foot, as well as gagged with what appears to be a burgundy scarf.

"...it's a defining feature," Alexandrea murmurs, tucking herself behind Caelum once more. She peers out around him, warily observing.

Samantha dives on top of a bound up student apparently and has the wind driven out of her a bit. "Oh... Sorry." She admits when she realizes and picks herself up off the student, working the gag out of their mouth. "We're here to rescue you, please reward us with vital exposition." She requests as she starts trying to work at their bindings. "Someone with a knife want to help me out here?"

Tabitha treks a little more recklessly toward the bushes, shining her flashlight beam into the dark recesses of them, the beam bouncing off of Samantha and the student, bound as he is. "Me!" she says, after her exposition given, she might be a little more than happy to use a knife on him. To cut his bindings, of course.

Samantha shifts a little to the side to make space for Tabitha to get knife happy on the bound student.

Caelum remains skeptically narrow-eyed, watching Samantha and Tabitha work to free the bound student that is revealed before their eyes now, thanks to Tabitha's valiantly beaming flashlight.

"Not her!" The bound student shrinks back at the sight of Tabitha. "She's a witch!" he immediately denounces her when he's ungagged - but then looking at the other students and spotting a symbol some of them have in common, he deflates. "Look, I'll tell you everything, just untie me, okay?" he implores, warily acquiescing to Tabitha's knifing, but only of his bindings.

"She's a witch!" Alexandrea mocks in full falsetto, before soberly declaring, "No shit, of course she's a witch. That's the point."

"That's exactly the deal I just offered you." Samantha tells the student flatly. "How's this dude get into an Ivy League college?" She complains, "See this is what I'm telling you, it's all about rich parents, fancy schools are just a fig leaf draped over generational inequality." She rants as she crouches next to the bound college student with her handgun held casually in one hand.

"She's a witch?" Avi asks, apparently not as in the know as Alexandrea or the bound Brown student. He looks over at Tabitha appraisingly.

"I'm proud of my generational inequality," Alexandrea relays to Samantha, before giving Avi a soft 'I'unno.' noise. "She's into magic, that's basically a witch."

Aristotle shines his flashlight on the bound Brown student after he's declaring Tabitha a witch, and he snorts a bit in amusement. Of his imploring, though, he instead suggests, "Information first. Then we'll untie you."

"I just got beaten up, robbed, and left for dead, cut me some slack," the bound student whines in response to Samantha.

"You never did really believe me just---" Tabitha says and -accidentally- cuts the student rather than his ties. "Ooopsies!" She seeks out something in her bag to swipe the bit of his blood away, some which evidently was already there. "So, anyway, before we just use that scarf to find out who and we find them and tell them that you led us to him, why don't you tell us, and we'll let you go scott free."

Tabitha glance up at Alexandrea, "How did you know? I thought I was keeping it all under wraps?"

"...didn't you say so on the bus?" Alexandrea asks, tilting her head. "Or maybe you just looked like you agreed when I said Avi was our expert unless you knew. I dunno."

"In her defense, you were asking for... ingredients... and stuff, in the recreation hall." Aristotle says, looking to Tabitha. "You also mentioned on the bus that--" But then Alexandrea beats him to it, and he nods. "That."

"No." Samantha refuses the student the requested slack. "Now hurry up and spill before we let our witch eat your eye balls."

"It's alright," Caelum assures the rest of the gang when the student begs for some slack, with a nod towards Aristotle first, then to Tabitha and Samantha. "What's the harm in cutting him free? Not like he can run away." The way he says that, with a tilt of his head, and narrowed eyes pinning on the student, its uncanny, and he even shows a glint of a faint smirk that doesn't reach his eyes at all.

"Oh right. I guess I didn't keep it much under wraps." Tabitha says. She wrinkles her nose at Samantha and there is a low, shuddering, "Eww."

"The moment you cut people free before they give you what you want, the moment they walk all over you," Alexandrea explains to Caelum, "And while I'm willing to let you eat him, Sam might object..."

"Information first. Then we'll let you go." Aristotle says towards the student, shaking his head. "Otherwise, she'll do witch stuff to you," he says with a point to Tabitha. "I'll handcuff your right ankle to your left wrist and throw the key in the woods," he adds, and then points to Caelum. "And he'll probably eat you. So... just spill and then you can go home."

"Ow!" the student complains when he's 'accidentally' nicked with the knife. "Fine. Okay. So. We were trying to tap into the Void, you know?" the student explains, his words tumbling out one after another anxiously. "Seeking forbidden knowledge, power beyond what anyone else could comprehend, yadda yadda. Void magic," he whispers. "It's like an addiction. We performed a ritual deeper in Sherrin Woods, not too far from here really. Thought we could control it, but it spiraled out of hand." He takes a deep breath, then continues. "We were summoning a Void eidolon for our school, thought we had it under control, but it went rogue, started...infecting the woods, the trees. The stupid crows were unintended casualties. We never meant for this to happen."

"I'm only saying cut him free," Caelum suggests, that keenly predatorial expression all but gone while he smiles to Alexandrea, all too sweet in his half-grin. "Nothing about letting him go."

When the student starts to mention the Void, Alexandrea looks baffled, and a bit alarmed. "...absolute idiots..."

Caelum loses his smile rather quickly at what the student reveals, and an impassive expression turns to watch him - brows knit as if he doesn't know what at all he's talking about, only that its bad, and sounds even worse.

Alexandrea pinches the bridge of her nose between two fingers. "You can't control the Void, the Void just consumes, it's like trying to control a nuclear bomb," she breathes out, "...can we let Caelum eat him anyways?"

Samantha stands up from her crouch and frowns. "Well, we can't kill an Eidolon." She claims, "Maybe can shoo it on or something though? You think it's like, possessing the woods like they can possess people? Maybe we can do some kind of banishing ritual in that case and it'll like all, pop back home?" She wonders, not really paying the student any attention at all at this point.

"What is Caelum?" the student whips his head around, as if looking for some sort of carnivorous animal. "Wait!" he pleads pathetically. "There's more! But I'm not saying anything else if you don't untie me first," he adds, still stubborn.

Avi snickers. "What," he echoes.

"I am gonna kick you in the nuts if you don't tell us and then leave you tied up for your Void thing to eat you," Alexandrea sweetly declares to the student, putting her hands on her knees. "'kay? You want untied, you tell us things."

Taking a deep, determined breath, and sort of curling around his groin protectively, the Brown student remains steadfastly silent.

Alexandrea taps one of her Mary Janes against the ground, dropping the toe rapidly as the student withdraws.

When the Brown student turns stubborn, Aristotle approaches, and he withdraws a pair of handcuffs from his pocket, brandishing them with his free hand. "These are gonna be much harder to remove than what you're bound in. And probably gave us enough information already that we could probably run with to fix -your- mistake." He says. "Also, you're not really in a position to make demands here, so..."

Hands in his pockets, Caelum starts to walk. Alexandrea is left to her lonesome, for the moment, while he starts to circle from the opposite side. He goes around Samantha, Tabitha, and settles behind their captive - who is busy with Alexandrea's threat. Then he sinks, down on a single knee, and hands out to fold over it while he stares down at the steafast, silent student. For now, he bides his time, while others interrogate -- but there is no mistaking the half-lidded stare watching the bound man, nor the viciously fanged smirk that regards him as a convenient snack.

"Jesus Dane," Tabitha says, of course it would be a 'Dane'. She puffs her cheeks out, instead of loosening his binds, she tightens them. "I'd ask what you were thinking, but you weren't. You don't..." She gestures to Alexandrea as she explains exactly what she was thinking. "You're such a creep." She starts to rummage through her tote again, finding a bag. The man, having no sanctuary, is victim of his hair being sawed at with a bone athame knife.

"You need what I know more than I need you," the student says ominously, unaware of what Caelum is doing behind him. "Untie me, I can't run, my knee is busted," he reveals. "But no way am I going to spill, just for you to leave me here for those tentacles to get me, next."

"...oh, there are tentacles. Of course there are," Alexandrea murmurs, rubbing her hand against her face. "Untie him. Someone hold onto him once he's untied, though -- I'm getting cold and annoyed."

"I'm gonna go try and scout ahead and find these tentacles." Samantha decides after a moment, stealthing off deeper into the forest.

"...Tentacles...?" Aristotle asks, blinking at the student. He's nodding his head at him. "Okay..."

When someone moves on to scout, Aristotle turns to glance over to Alexandrea. "Do you want us to untie him? I mean, if he can't run, then how's he going to escape the tentacles anyway? It sounds like either which way he's fucked, so..."

When Sam moves on to scout, Aristotle turns to glance over to Alexandrea. "Do you want us to untie him? I mean, if he can't run, then how's he going to escape the tentacles anyway? It sounds like either which way he's fucked, so..."

Alexandrea folds her arms across her chest. "I don't care if he escapes them, I want the information he has," she explains to Aristotle, using a gentle voice that she wasn't using for the student. "I'll be fine, I'm sure people here can outrun him if he tries."


"Hey." Caelum calls out, almost quietly. One of his hands extend, snap his fingers for the student's attention. "I'll carry you to safety, don't you worry." Another grin, more fanged. "I like to keep food close at hand. But if that food isn't talkative, I'm liable to just.." He leans closer, just a tad - "Have a snack and throw it away."

"You bitch!" Dane gasps as Tabitha takes a blade to his hair, which is starting to thin prematurely in the middle. "I hope they take you," he curses her, but then Caelum is offering to carry him to safety, and he nods quickly. "Untie me, and get me out of here, and I'll buy you whatever food you want," he vows, oblivious.

That snapped finger, after Tabitha has taken her fair share of hair, curls around what's left of the student's scalp. He tugs a little roughly, "You're the food." Then slowly, he pulls the man into a seated position, uncaring of however much pain it might cause him to sit like that. Over his shoulder, Caelum points, between Tabitha and Alexandrea. "You're going to tell them anything you're holding out. You have until you pass out - if I think you've kept anything.." He forces the student's head this time, to bare his neck. There is a great amount of distaste as he stares down at it, like he doesn't want to feed from him. "You'll wish the tentacles got you." His other hand is held out towards Tabitha, "Tabs, can I borrow your knife?"

"Please don't accidentally kill him, I'd like to walk into tentacle horror land with intel if possible," Avi points out from the sidelines.

Aristotle yields to Alexandrea's request, though given they're just two voices in a group, he doesn't go to untie the student yet. Instead, he pockets those cuffs, stepping away to give both Tabitha and Caelum room to take over, and he moves to stand near Alexandrea and Avi. His eyes start to search for Sam, but he didn't track where she left. "She's not back yet." He notes.

"Sam can handle herself, don't worry about her," Alexandrea assures Aristotle, beginning to pace. "Al-ons-y," she draws out, "It's cold out here, I want to wake up to no birds tomorrow morning."

"I hate that word. I should take it from your mouth." Tabitha says, pouting at Dane. "On the same hand, my friend here," Tabitha says, eyeing up to Avi, "And I have both your saliva and your hair to make you talk, anyway, if we wanted." She sighs though, a healthy side of empathy pouring from her. "I'm sorry that you were tied up and left as a meal..." She hands over the knife to Caelum. "It's unfortunate that it probably has your scent and taste already... But if you tell us, at least you'll only be a little snack for Cael." She does lay her hand on his shoulder, to give it a squeeze of sympathy. "I'd much only prefer the latter. Please talk." She nods to Alexandrea.

Fear flashes in Dane's eyes as he stares wide-eyed at the group, realizing what Caelum actually means thanks to Tabitha's clarification, and seeing no real empathy even from those on the sidelines. "You're all monsters. You might not be from the Void, but you're all soulless monsters in your own way," he intones, defeated. "But here's the real mess, bigger than your lack of humanity. You know our mutual rivals?" He looks specifically to Aristotle, Alexandrea, and Avi at this point. "They got wind of our plans and ambushed us. They're after the Void Eidolon now, aiming to steal the power we unleashed, but the Eidolon isn't fully in our world, yet. There's still hope. You've got to stop them and fix this. We've unleashed something we can't control, and now it's all on the line."

"...how do you stop a runaway train?" Alexandrea demands of Dane, continuing her pacing. Her eyes narrow a bit. "Of course it'd be those fuckers, though..."

Alexandrea gives a stressed out noise, rubbing her fingers against her forehead. "Fucking MIT."

"You unleashed something from the Void and -we're- the soulless monsters?" Aristotle asks, snickering in incredulity at the boy's claim. "You're delusional and stubborn, and you're upset you met a group that is equally as stubborn, given the fucking stakes. Ew." He says to him. "Get off your fucking high horse, you ignorant. high falutin chode." He spits out, apparently insulted by what Dane stated. And, of both Tabitha and Caelum, he's gesturing towards the pair. "I think we got what we wanted from him, so you can untie him."

Tabitha looks hurt by Dane's claim that she's a monster. "I am not a monster! I want to stop this from hurting others. Something -you- unleashed." She requests: "How did you do it? What is the catalyst?"

The ritual knife, thankfully, lacks blood to drink, so far. Caelum quietly spins it, and spins it, occasionally keeping it distractly close and dragging it across their captive's bared neck that he still keeps shown with a hand tugging at his scalp. There are a few nicks there, some thin cuts welling in blood, but none deep, none threatening beyond the level of a paper cut annoyance.. "Tsk." Is he truly dissatisfied? Maybe. Most likely not. The knife drags across the man's bindings, freeing him at Aristotle's request. "You're glad the badge's keeping me in check." And the knife? It spins to land hilt-out, and sharp-end palmed, so he can offer it back to Tabitha safely.

For whatever reason, Tabitha balls her hand into a fist, and for a moment, she looks like she might just deck Dane once and for all.

"I don't know!" Dane shouts at Tabitha, stressed, wincing as he's injured time and again with that knife in Caelum's hands. "Do I look like the brains of the operation? We've been coming back every night for the past three days, offering blood, chanting Latin, we even sacrificed a goat," he reveals. "The woods started changing, they got more beautiful, but scarier too. But the guys in charge? Jordan and Craig? They've been getting super weird," Dane warns. "Ignoring people's warnings. As more and more people left, we lost control. And then when the MITs showed up, the eidolon started edging into our world physically. There's a tree at the heart of it all, with roots like whips and branches like tentacles with barbs, and the whole thing belching out gas that makes you hallucinate. That's the center of it all. You've got to destroy that tree," he insists.

When Dane mentions sacrificing the goat, Alexandrea gives a look at Avi and rolls her eyes.

"Jordan and Craig." Aristotle says, motioning a hand towards Dane. "Their last name. What is it?" He asks, a brief glance given over towards Tabitha for a moment.

"What the fuck," Avi says, and it's not a sound of horror, it's a sound of unimpressed disbelief, and he shares that eyerolling moment with Alexandrea.

"So, we burn down the tree and go home, happy happy, joy joy," Alexandrea suggests, brushing her palms together as if this is a done deal already. "And we shank anyone from MIT that we see."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Caelum ruffles the student's hair. Roughly. Enough to bob his head from one side to the other before letting go and risig to his feet.

"Jordan Hashmi amd Craig Blayney," Dane supplies the surnames readily for Aristotle "Wait!" he inches, like an out of shape worm, toward Caelum's feet. "You promised!"

Tabitha's fist relaxes when Caelum returns her knife to her, hilt side first. She stores it away, along with particles of the man's hair, for safe keeping. "MIT?" she asks Alexandrea. "You'd think they'd be smarter than trying to control something from the Void... I have sought some questionable things... but this?" She shakes her head. "Something else must have been sacrificed. A single goat would not be near enough..." But, she's not an expert by any means. "Give us their full names, and you are free to hobble off. But if I hear one word that you've warned them?" She doesn't say what she might do, but there is a threat in her soft voice, regardless.

"Sounds like a plan," Avi nods to Alexandrea. "Anyone bring a lighter?"

"Yeah, I did." Caelum nods, strictly towards the student. "We have a little business with a tree, first, though - so stick around, and I'll carry you back when we're on our way back." He's already ignoring the poor, injured captive - moving to stand with Aristotle, Alexandrea and Avi.

As Caelum returns to them, Aristotle is lowering his voice as he motions towards someone.

As Caelum returns to them, Aristotle is lowering his voice as he motions towards Dane.

"The Void consumes, but it's powerful and MIT have their heads up their asses and probably think they know how to Ghostbuster their way into power," Alexandrea explains to Tabitha, "They're rude little shits. Entitled, rude... Shits." She inches closer to the group, ready to talk shop. "I don't smoke, I don't carry a lighter."

"No idea," Avi then tells Tabitha. "We inherited Caim and the Quill and Talon from Blake Wilson and his wife Faerydae before they graduated this month, and the only thing sacrificed was..." He looks around guiltily. "Well like, half the freshman class' blood, and then some seniors as well," he admits. "But no goats," he defends his honor.

"All blood has power," Tabitha reminds Avi. "I have a lighter. I keep one for smudge sticks..." she tells Aristotle. She paces back and forth, glancing down at Dane, though she had just threatened him some sort of vengeance, unspoken, and she softens. "We can't just leave him here. Can we take him back to the bus? The ambulance might still be there, and he can get to the hospital."

Tabitha adds, "Its just a crappy BIC, and not near enough fluid to light up a tentacle tree..."

"Alright." Aristotle says, nodding at Caelum, and then when Tabitha speaks, he's stepping away from the group towards Dane. "Yeah, I'll take him back." He says, "And then I'll come back and meet you guys at the tree, just drop a pin for me if it's not where the map photo is."

"Great. It's all coming together then." Caelum nods to all of them, then starts to crack his neck, followed by a stretch of his arms up over his head to get those arms limbered. "Ah, shit. I already feel like this is going to hurt."

"Not goat blood," Avi insists to Tabitha despite everything else going on right now. "I need you to understand that. Nothing good comes of using goat blood in serious magic. Say it, live it," he tells her.

Dane inches pathetically toward his savior, Aristotle, now.

"Focus," Alexandrea demands, rather than simply encouraging, "We have a tree to set on fire and panties to twist."

Unless otherwise stopped, Aristotle approaches Dane, lowering himself and offering his arm to make it easier for him to grab onto him for support. Though, in the process, he latches his holster closed, and positions his weaponry to where it's furthest out of reach from Dane as he offers his body for walking support.

"Panties to twist?" Caelum spares Alexandrea a glance, grinning, despite the grimness of the situation. She's distracting him, contrary to how she tells them to focus.

"I'm not saying that it is quality." Tabitha says to Avi in soft argument. It is Alexandrea's demand that resets her focus, again, as, well, demanded. She rolls her eyes at Caelum them, reminding -him- now to "Focus."

"I've got a ping from Sam," Avi says as he looks down at his phone while Aristotle heads off to do a Prometheus and bring them fire. "Holy shit," he breathes. "Okay, she says there's Brown students and MIT students, and they're working together to send the Void entity back through the rift, but it's using the tree to fuck them up if they get too close." He looks over the group. "Fire - and maybe a way to launch said fire from a distance. Any ideas?"

"...I don't carry firethrowers," Alexandrea admits to Avi, her tongue poking out a bit. "A car? Set a car on fire, let it drive into the tree..."

Once Aristotle has a good grip of Dane, he begins to make his way back towards the path out of the woods.

Alexandrea says, almost more reasonably, almost, "A pyrokinetic."
"Alright, alright." Caelum murmurs after being chastised by Tabitha. Attention once again set at the topic. "Sure. Let's sharpen a bunch of wooden sticks, set them on fire, and I'll barrage it from afar." Caelum offers to Avi, then adds, "My initial plan was to just rush in and pour it all over before setting it all ablaze, but if it works.."

"Rushing in sounds like a bad idea - there are tentacles," Avi reminds Caelum. "Not exactly the porn I want to be making."

"...I'd watch it," Alexandrea decides, after a long pause.

Caelum glances at Avi, which in turn becomes a long, lingering look while he smirks. A wag of his fingers, and from within the underbrush a bunch of fallen branches begin to hover, spinning idly as they begin to trail close, and start following him like an entourage. "Trust me a little." He holds out his hand, "Let me borrow that knife? I'll sharpen while we walk."

"Gross..." Tabitha says, not exactly yucking someone's yum, since she's chuckling about it.

Tabitha pulls her knife out of her tote once more so she may hand it over to Caelum. "Careful with it, it's all I have."

"It'll survive even if I don't," Caelum assures Tabitha, firmly, while he takes the knife and collects his branches as well. The stack set under his arms, with one grasped in his off-hand, he starts to cut off the bends, smooth it out, and begin fashioning stakes. What is it with vampires and stakes, anyway?

"You want to stake a tree," Avi checks with Caelum.

"I want to stake a tree with burning sticks, yes." Caelum confirms with Avi.

"I'm cold and want to go home," Alexandrea reminds, "So let's hurry up."

"Waiting on Prometheus," Avi reminds Alexandrea apologetically.

"Can you just rub the sticks together real fast and create fire?" Tabitha asks Caelum. "Don't you have super speed? Weren't you ever a boyscout?"

"He does give Boyscout vibes, doesn't he?" Avi asks Tabitha.

"If we have about an hour, I'm sure any one of us could start a fire." Caelum smirks at Tabitha and Avi, "I was -not- a boyscout."

"We don't have an hour, so hurry up," Alexandrea demands, looking towards the deeper parts of the forest. "I swear to God..."

"Do you want to explain to me how me turning you over to the police will lead to having a conversation with them about Void monsters and ritual magic?" Aristotle asks, glancing over at Dane when he's scoffed at. "You were beaten up, tied up, and robbed, or did you forget that's the kind of information cops would like to know? Not to mention, you smooth-brained student, you were assault by MIT students, which would mean your report would get them in trouble, and make our rivalry a couple instead of a throuple." And then, after explaining that, he's letting out a little, "Ugh. No wonder you were sweet talked into Void magic. You don't think." He decides. He doesn't press the issue, and once he's back towards the buses, he's still offering him a gentle drop off before moving towards the deputies. He explains running into a student who claimed they were beaten up and robbed by Jordan Hashmi and Craig Blyayney, but ran off before coming to give a statement, and then requests lighter and lighter fluid, claiming shrubbery that needs to be burned away as if to get to evidence.

"I'm not sure what's worse - looking like a Boyscout, or looking like a Boyscout without having ever been a Boyscout," Avi tells Caelum. "Eagle scout, then?"

"I'm never leaving home without a lighter again." Caelum shakes his head, musing at the two of them. "I was -not- a scout of any kind, they don't teach us how to make fire at church." He tries to defend himself, but still smiles anyway - as if they're not on the precipice of a dangerous outing deeper into the forest. "Next time, let me get my swords. At least they spark."

"Don't you have to be a boyscout before you're an Eagle scout?" Tabitha asks Avi. She looks northward, squinting with some anxiousness setting in, or it is just Alexandrea's own urgency rubbing off on her. "I was a Brownie. But that's about it."

"Do you think you can get the tree to stay very still with a bunch of cookies?" Caelum shoots at Tabitha, smirking all the same.

"You don't know what I would do for some thin mints..." Tabitha says.

"That's the thing, Dane." Aristotle states, a bit haughtily when Dane feigns being unconscious, but he makes sure that statement is pointedly sent - "I don't have to pretend." It's something for him to chew on as he avoids questioning. Once he's given those materials, and offering a pleasant thanks to the officers, before making his way back to the woods to return to the group.

"I don't know, never had any thin mints." Caelum stabs a bunch of stakes on the ground. "Junk food wasn't allowed." He moves yet again, making use of their time to prepare his improvised weaponry. More branches, brought back - more mundanely this time as he goes to collect some, and break a few from the nearby trees. Only to return, and start slicing and dicing all the same.

"Hey! Guys," Aristotle whisper-yells as he approaches, his flashlight revealing him before his voice and footsteps do. "I got the stuff." He says, holding materials for a reckless fire if they're not careful. "Sorry that took so long." He says, apologizing, before adding, "Also, we should've left him here. That guy's an asshole."

By the time Aristotle arrived, Caelum has a decent pile of wooden stakes. Best make sure they don't fall in the enemy hands, though. The athame is wiped clean against his sleeve, getting rid of wood dust, and he twists just as before, before offering it back to Tabitha. "Sounds like we're ready. Let's head out?" He calls over to Aristotle when he's close enough to hold out the stuff - which he takes, most gratefully.

There's no resistance given when Caelum moves to claim the materials, Aristotle offers them freely.

OOC: Someone run the scheme thwart command.

"I tried to tell you!" Tabitha says to Aristotle with and eye roll, storing away her knife into the pocket designed for it. "But then I felt bad just leaving him to be food. Though... we could have." She sucks in a cheek to bite and gnaw on it, some.