into the woods

[do_what_thou_wilt]

Auryn takes a few days to settle in. To get a roof, however fleeting, over his head; unpack, cast some basic wards over the space he's claimed as his own. To soak up the feel and the history in even the timber and architecture of this town. But it's been an intent road that led him here, unlike some of the other places he's visited in his life.

It doesn't take him a long time to start hearing names he recognizes, to start hearing the way they're said by one or another person. It doesn't take much effort to inquire -- tourist-like and all naivete and wide eyes -- as to the rumors about this town, to drop names he's had pressed into his mind by witches that sent him on his way here. Names like Coombs and Grimhilde, to say things like "curses" and "evil" and to see what people say when they're asked about the truth. It takes even less effort to let them talk, wind stories and tales and histories that build on each other. A question here, an encouragement there. There isn't a trick to it except saying very little about himself.

Some tense at the question, or blow the whole thing off, and he notes that too.

The truth is, as usual, what you make of it. But there are overlaps, and directions that repeat themselves. And it's that, and needing some solitude, that finds Auryn wandering purposefully into the woods north by northeast.

It's been unseasonably warm, grey and damp these last few days, and the gabardine jacket he's wearing over a hoodie, dark jeans tucked into boots is almost too warm as he carefully traces his way up following the trace of trees. He lets himself adjust as the lack of town noise gives in to dense, more subtle cues: birds taking off from trees, the whisper of bare branches against a gray sky, or the shuffle of evergreen: the subtle presence of a fox or stray dog alerting itself in the back of his mind and the dense feel of the magic in the air around here.

He's wandering without thinking, intentionally putting thought out of his head, so much so that when he realizes it's gotten colder, darker, he can't tell how quickly that happened. He raises his head at the sudden distinct silence and stills himself for a moment. A murder of crows -- or ravens? -- takes off from a far off tree and circles, and he turns toward their watching place, holding his right hand open and passive to them before following curiously.

[Open! Auryn's in search of Grimhilde Manor, but choose your own adventure. Does he find it? Does someone else find him first? Feel free to bump into him in the woods, or maybe he get s turned around in a giant circle by the ravens and ends up back in town. A great time to meet him.]

Comments

[lesparker]

Well shit.

There's a man inside the chapel when Les enters it, and that's all he thinks to himself. Riley would be so proud of him tonight. In the bag he had brought with him, he had remembered a flashlight and a rope. He didn't know where he was going when he left the house, but he realized he had been coming here the moment he stepped out the door. There was no true reason why except that there are mysteries locked in this place, and he needs something to take his mind off of his life. He has the flashlight pointed directly in the man's face when he rounds the corner and finds him standing there. It is probably the absolute last thing Les expects, and he is momentarily surprised.

Les isn't supposed to be here. The man isn't either. He drops his light when it's obvious the man is real because where Les is blinding him with the flashlight he sees him squinting against it. "If this is a secret cult meeting, there better be snacks," Les tells him, checking out the man what little he can in such dark conditions. He's never seen him before which makes his presence here all the more strange.

[do_what_thou_wilt]

When Auryn rounds the corner, he walks directly into a flashlight beam, and startled, his own light blinks out and he squints for a second until the other man drops it, apparently as confused as he is to find someone else here.

He laughs, though, at the comment. "Just me, no cult. Though I can start one right now if you're really desperate for one to join." He summons back the little ball of illumination to be able to see him better. "I'm afraid I'm low on snacks, though."

[lesparker]

"Who's me?" Les asks, eyebrows raised, standing his ground a couple paces away. Though now he feels silly standing there with his cheap plastic flashlight while the man has his glowing orb of magical light flowing. His eyes flick to the illuminated ball hanging in the air between them, and the presence of magic is always enough to get his interests peeked. Especially because this dude doesn't know anything about Les for him to just use his magic in front of him so freely.

[do_what_thou_wilt]

"Auryn," he says, "Connor." He offers a hand across the no man's land between them. The man across from him looks intrigued, maybe a little bemused by the glow, but not afraid or upset. It's a little unnecessary use of energy with a flashlight, though, and he pulls it back.

"I'd ask what you're doing here this time of night, but. Well."

[lesparker]

Bad break-up, Les thinks. That's what he's doing here. It's only been a few hours since everything exploded in his face. He's lost people he's cared about. It's his own doing, but there was no way he could keep April and Caden. So, they hate him now, and he's here trying to actually forget about it. Or maybe he's trying to get lost down in those tunnels. Who the fuck knows? He didn't expect to run into this dude Auryn to have to explain it, and he is actually ticked off about it.

This is the last place in the world he thought he'd see anyone, and that's what he'd wanted. Stupid and melodramatic as it is. He'd wanted to be alone.

He holds out his hand anyway to shake Auryn's. "I'm Les," he says. "You're new to town. Just stopping through or setting up shop?" he asks, finding himself curious about this man despite himself.

[do_what_thou_wilt]

A flicker of mixed feelings leaning toward annoyance crosses the other's face, which only really makes Auryn more determined to stay here if he wants to. He hasn't done anything but get misled by a bunch of ravens. Or led differently.

But when the man - Les - speaks, it's with no disrespect. "Good to meet you, Les," Auryn says. "And you say that certainly. I'm not sure, to tell you the truth. I was set in this direction by a friend and it'd be nice to find a place to stay. But who knows what the future holds."

[lesparker]

"It's easy to spot the newbies. They wander out in these woods. Late at night. Alone," he says, smirking. There were enough things hanging around in town where one didn't need to go looking for more. Out in the woods, out near this old church and not too far off from Grimhilde Manor, there were secrets you didn't want to dig up. He isn't sure what that says about him since he too is out here alone.

Les can take care of himself though. Or, he's dumb enough to think he can. He has always lacked that instinct that tells him to turn back. He's also never been one to beat around the bush.

"So you're a witch? I can see why you were set in this direction then. Interesting trick you had going there," he says, meaning the ball of light from before.

[do_what_thou_wilt]

"Does that make you a newbie?" Auryn asks, though the question lacks malice, just humor. He wasn't actively looking for this place, but now that he's here, he'll let it pull him in.

"I am," he answers honestly. "But this wasn't the place I was looking for, exactly. And yourself?" He raises an eyebrow.

"It's handy. I have an ease with luminescence and fire," he says, and asks gently, carefully to summon light back. The easiest way to do it is to change the speed of the atoms around him: it produces harmless radiation and it's that that hovers, glowing. It's easiest for Auryn to control things he can understand, though if he let go and trusted the result he's sure it would be the same. The little light, starting slowly from the tips of his fingers, coalesces into a ball, and he tosses it forward.

[lesparker]

"No," Les answers in an honest tone and a shrug of shoulders. "Just bored." But he watches carefully as Auryn summons back the light between his hands. It really is brilliant, and on the inside, Les is more than a little delighted by the ease at which the man allows the light to grow between his fingers. He may be a witch himself, but maybe that's why he can appreciate a good display when he sees one.

It's why he reaches his hand out and lets his powers flow outward to catch the light when Auryn tosses it into the space between them. He can't control the light nearly as well as Auryn can, but the energy is already there and it's a simple twist and a spark of magic to mold the light into a ball of flames.

He smirks when he's finished as he holds the spell in his hand. "Well, that makes two of us. I'm calling it meant to be," he says, letting the flame burn even brighter before flinging it back to Auryn. "What place were you looking for exactly?"

[do_what_thou_wilt]

Auryn shrugs in an easy that's-fair sort of movement. He might have been looking for the Grimhilde place, but he likes that Les' idea of solving boredom is wandering into a creepy chapel just about soaked with power in the middle of the woods in pitch blackness.

His eyes light up, though, when Les not only catches the ball with a tangible extension of powers, but the whole thing goes up into flames: it's a twist of excitement to find someone who knows. "Apparently so," he says with a raised eyebrow, and takes a step closer to reach for it when Les flings it in his direction: he catches it, suspending the ball of flames over both their heads and casting weird shadows over both of them.

"Since I've gotten to Siren Cove I've heard nothing but rumors about the old witch families," he admits. "The Coombs curse, the Grimhildes trying to take over. I wanted to see what the truth of it was." He looks around. "Not at midnight, but I got off track, thanks to a bunch of ravens." He raises an eyebrow and brings the fire back in, forms it into the shape of a flock of birds and flies it over toward Les, circling in firey wingspans. "This place --" He looks around. "It's dripping in energy. What is it?"

[lesparker]

"A flock of ravens, huh?" Les just snorts. He imagines Nerium Grimhilde huddled over her wall of stalking fun watching Auryn wandering through the woods as she led him on a merry chase to nowhere. She had a weird way of making friends. Though how many times had Les himself gone pillaging through these woods looking for a way into Grimhilde Manor. Half the reason was the effort it took.

He glances up at the flock of birds Auryn creates from the flames. He's impressed. "This---" Les raises an eyebrow back. "---is cursed land. Legend goes that at Jonatan Thornton's wedding his jilted ex lover showed up and torched the place. Never date a witch I guess. But it makes for a good story."

[do_what_thou_wilt]

Auryn grins and shrugs. "Makes a more interesting story than some other times I've gotten lost in the woods," he says, and leans on the wall casually. He's hard to dissuade: ending up here seems like it must have almost been intended, and if not, he'll try again later.

He looks around as Les explains. The other has a bit of a knack for "More like, never betray one," he points out thoughtfully -- not too serious. "This is where the wedding was? I've heard the story, a bit, but it doesn't exactly come with a tourist map. Siren Cove tourism board should get on that, it'd make a fortune." But he's more curious than anything else, runs his hand over the wall and presses it to the wood. "Do you believe the story as it's told?"

[lesparker]

"Do I believe this town is cursed because of some wedding a hundred years ago?" Les rephrases the question because if this chapel was on some tourist map that would be the explanation given by the tour guides. They'd tell people that Viviana Coomb's broken heart brought chaos to this town, and it just never left. It's a romantic thing to want to believe. Like Les said, it makes for a good story.

However, he shakes his head watching Auryn press his hands to the burned out walls. "No, I don't," he says. "I mean she probably cursed this church. But as for the town, weird things happen but mainly because there are a lot people around here that do a lot of dumb shit." He doesn't elaborate. If this guy decides to stay, it won't be long before he understands.

Things happen here. Bad things. But it's not because of some dumb curse.

[do_what_thou_wilt]

Auryn nods with a wry smile. There's something about Les' cynicism that he relates to instinctively, though there's a part of him that keeps a candle lit for romantic stories. About magic, anyway.

"Fair enough," he says. "It's human nature, isn't it? Doing a lot of dumb stuff?"

He looks up at him. "What about you? What brings you to a cursed chapel in the middle of the night?"

[lesparker]

"Yeah....." He draws out because then Auryn asks him what he's doing here, and he knows the answer is going to make him sound like one of those dumb shit people. The difference is he doesn't care, and his dumb shit usually just hurts him (all issues with his romantic life aside). He looks Auryn down with a smirk.

"There's a tunnel system under the church. I was just gonna poke around," he says. "Or you know...I can stay up here with you and we can summon an evil spirit."

[do_what_thou_wilt]

That smirk's a little cocky, a little mischievous in a way that has always appealed to Auryn's rebellious side, and he meets it.

"Admittedly, I missed out a little on the Bloody Mary part of childhood," he deadpans, "but I have to say, those tunnels sound a lot more interesting and less likely to end us up as the backstory for a horror movie."

[lesparker]

"Possibly. I've been down there before, and there's a dead body," Les says, holding the flashlight up to his face as if he's telling a scary story. He chuckles after pulling the light back away. "Hey, what better way to kill an hour though right?" He heads over to the area of the main room where he and Riley had found the entrance.