deercountry | ★ OCT. (CATCH ALL); open your eyes -- don't let them feed you with their lies.

Ding Dong!

come on, take me closer to the edge now.

(click box for more fancy words.)

(comment here to visit jinx @ her home.)

Edited 2022-10-09 02:31 (UTC)

( EMPTY SPACE BE EMPTY FOR SPACING. )

❝You're uninvited❞

❝An unfortunate slight❞

(click box for more fancy words.)

People like us
Know how to survive
There's no point in living
If you can't feel alive

We know when to kiss
And we know when to kill
If we can't have it all
Then nobody will

The world is not enough
But it is such a perfect place to start, my love
And if you're strong enough
Together we can take the world apart, my love

(yes, waking up when you were already sleeping, and having twigs in your hair is definitely annoying. and when jinx sits up, there's a big puzzling look over her face. did she somehow fell out of her treehouse and landed on the ground? if that were the case, she would had felt or at least be bruised up a bit. exhausted already, jinx climbs up to her feet then dusts off any dirt from her pajamas.

right, okay. so it shouldn't take too long to get back except when she looks around, the woods are not familiar to her. she is still new to trench but the rookery is the one spot she has a photograph memory on. and these woods and trees? definitely not rookery. shit. jinx runs her slender fingers through her bangs, but then notices something shiny by her feet. she kneels down to pick up the object, turning over to inspect it, then back again. what the hell is this? and when she takes a step, the piece sparkles then settles back to nothing.

tilting her head back and groaning in sheer frustration, it makes sense to her now what she has to do. and that's to move -- the most dreading thing in all existence. but she can do this, right?

...

well, she walks on for about two minutes and then decides that was enough. this is just way too exhausting to do. sighing in defeat, jinx settles back down on the grass to curl in a fetal position. she'll just sleep here until the morning. she'll handle this later.)

Edited 2022-10-09 02:30 (UTC)

( Strange things wander at night.

The thing that moves is quiet, tall and thin. It looks like a young man on the surface, with its tangle of dark curls and wide stare. A sleepwalker, maybe, in nighttime clothing: flannel pyjama bottoms and a simple white teeshirt. Feet bare. Perhaps he just slipped out of bed, stole away in the night.

But this is no sleepwalker, and something that only wears the visage of a young man.

The demon king Paimon is often drawn out in the night, when things are quiet. He moves through the city, out towards the dark wood. Sometimes he collects things: shiny items, stones, things that fall from trees. Sometimes he finds places to sit and watch the stillness of the night, dark eyes unblinking. Sometimes he just wanders, tipping into a strange lost place, like a child unsure where it is.

Tonight, he sees something up ahead and it calls to him. There's a soft glow through small windows, high up and tucked amongst the darkness around it. Something within the demon exhales softly, eyes widening further, and he moves closer with a strange obedience. There was a place once, a place that he (or maybe a past life) loved. Safe and secure and his alone. His treehouse.

It's here, he thinks, it's appeared here too, and he finds his way to it, up and in with an inhuman capability. He crawls, long-limbed and too agile, and he's slipping through an opening, he's silently uncurling himself to stand. For a moment, but then.... there's some strange awareness that comes seeping in. Something is off, wrong. The inside looks different, feels and smells different. It isn't his, but it should be his. He doesn't understand.

He's afraid in his confusion, and then he's upset by it. The demon's eyes flash and up he goes, silently crawling against a wall, up to the ceiling where he tucks himself into a corner and stares down, elbows and knees bent like a spider's as he attaches himself there. He doesn't breathe, just stares down with eyes swollen black and wide, pupils practically bursting. Is someone here already? Or will they return? He waits — tense. )

(so this was what they meant by every month, something strange happens. because since this new month started, jinx's been exhausted day in and day out. no matter how much she slept, relaxed, or try to wind down, she just couldn't seem to get any sort of energy flowing. something as simple as getting out of bed, bathing, brushing hair and teeth, was just too much for her. luckily, her spider monkey omen had been some assistance. and honestly, if it wasn't for him, she probably would had killed over on the third day of this. and a night such as this is no different than any other.

jinx exits her bathroom after face washing and teeth all brushed -- yawning with a hand rubbing over her eye. under different circumstances, jinx would had notice something about her home is amiss. after all living in a city like zaun, you had to always be attentive to your surroundings in every given second. in her sleepwear and her long blue locks trailing behind, she bumbles lightly in her footing.

all she needs to do is make it to the couch and then she'll just be done with all the other stupid tasks of the day. the plan is to just eat a little, check any messages, and then off to bed. and thank goodness her omen made those crabmeat sandwiches for the two of them (she made double sure he washed those monkey hands of his).

(she plops onto the couch with an exasperating sigh with an arm over her eyes. when will this crap end? she asks herself. being exhausted was becoming exhausting. but with little strength she has left in her, jinx forces herself to sit up and reach for the sandwich. just a few bites, messages, then bed. she can do this. it's a small list.)

[Finding oneself suddenly not where one was moments ago was not an unusual experience in Deerington, and it has not been so in Trench, either. Waking up in the forest doesn't really unsettle Qrow, and at first he aims to fly up into the sky to get a better look at the way out, but as usual, Trench punishes him his hubris -- he gets disoriented and panicked, and before he knows it he flies right into a tree, the shock of the impact changing him back into a man who hits the ground with a thump right next to where Jinx was napping.

Good morning???]

...Of course.

Edited 2022-10-10 01:58 (UTC)

(whoa! jinx barely had time to react to sense something falling from overhead. she manages to scoot a tiny bit as this stranger plops right next to her.)

Hey, watch it! Some people are tryin' to sleep around here, y'know.

(and who can sleep at a time like this? well... a sleeper who is a coldblood, apparently.)

[Well, at least he managed not to land on her. That's something, he supposes. He lets out an exasperated sigh as he pulls himself upright, brushing the dirt off his pants.]

This isn't exactly an ideal place for a nap, kid.

[ Thankfully Chizuru is doing her best here.

Which is to say - she's mostly just trying really hard to not freak out. It feels like the natural reaction to suddenly waking up in the middle of the woods and not knowing how you got there in the first place, after all. And not knowing how to get out.

But she's just doing what she can. Even if that just means following this glowing.. little.. thingy she found. Whatever it is. Chizuru is used to encountering things she just doesn't understand in this place, so she just names it a thingy in her head and does her best to follow where its glow leads her.

.. apparently it's over to another person. Chizuru gasps when she spots someone lying there on the ground like that, and her footsteps quicken as she rushes over to be by the person's side. It's not like she recognizes Jinx, given that she was entirely blind during their previous conversation, but Chizuru would be this worried about any random stranger. ]

A-Are you okay? [ She's hesitant to reach out and touch the other, just in case she's hurt, but Chizuru's voice may be loud enough to startle the other out of whatever beginnings of sleep Jinx was about to have. ] Are you hurt?!

(if this was anyone else, she'll groan, shout to them to beat it and let her sleep more. but it's the voice that refrains her to act so aggressively. and instead, jinx goes to the teasing route and simply rolls over on her back; peering up at chizuru with a lazy look and smile.)

Perfectly fine, Cutie voice. Wanna join me? I could use a cuddle buddy.

(SHE IS SUCH A MESS! but how can she pass up an opportunity to rag on her for assuming she was hurt?)

Well, I dunno where my treehouse is and I'm tired. Lemme sleep.

(she makes no effort to roll over to look over the stranger, but nuzzles herself more in this fetal position for some warmth.)

[Well. That's concerning, actually.]

Yeah, look, not knowing where you are and being mysteriously tired is one of the worst combinations in this place.

[god, is that the deal with this stupid forest. is it gonna drain his energy to make it harder and harder to leave? Ugh. UGH.]

Come on, up and at 'em. Unless you wanna die here, I guess. I dunno about you, but I'm not in a huge hurry to be a squid again.

Now you're just exaggerating. I've been lyin' here for awhile and nothin's gobbled me up yet. This is probably the safest place in the whole forest.

(and if he wants her to get up, he'll literally have to pull her up because she isn't moving in the slightest.)

Just... Just gimme about two more minutes.

( There's movement — and the demon's eyes snap that way, saucer-wide and staring down. A woman emerges, hair a unique colour, the kind of hue he likes painting with (bright and blue, like candy). She is young, perhaps around his vessel's age. She is sleepy, yawning. All of these are facts he takes in and absorbs without breathing, without moving at all.

He doesn't know her. He doesn't know this. The interior is wrong, the sights and smells are wrong, she is wrong. Paimon bristles, barely shifting as he stares down at her, watches every motion. For awhile, he just observes like that, frozen in stun: watching her eat, check her Omni Device.

Very slowly, he crawls a bit closer. Not pressed into the corner of the ceiling, but beginning to move across it. He's a dark shadow that blends into the shadows themselves, difficult to see.

But his vessel's body is still that of a human's, not some slippery otherworldly thing the way he might be underneath. It moves awkwardly, at times. His arm shifts, and weight pushes upwards, and the wood of the ceiling gives a soft sound, a creak of movement.

The demon, almost directly above where the young woman sits, freezes again— staring right down at her. )

( EMPTY SPACE BE EMPTY FOR SPACING. )

W-What? [ Chizuru squeaks out.

At least the voice and the addition of that 'cutie voice' in there make Chizuru realise that she does know who this person is, even though she can only now fully place a face to the voice.

.. even if she's a little distracted by what the voice is saying here. Jinx's tease immediately has its intended effect, making Chizuru's face glow with a blush.

The fluster stuns her for a moment, but then she shakes her head. Rather than moving to lie down too, she holds out her hands, reaching towards Jinx, like she's offering to help the other up. ]

N, no, that's.. [ She shakes her head. ] It's not a good idea to lie down here! Things could be dangerous here..

[ Sure, so far Chizuru hasn't seen any monsters. But they're out in the woods, and the woods in Trench have been said to be really dangerous, so-- ]

Y-You could get hurt.

[ And Chizuru doesn't want that to happen. Not for either of them. ]

Mmm... if you want me up, I guess I'll get up.

(will chizuru survive her constant tease and flirting? it appears this adventure will be the test on that. anyhow, jinx takes her hands then lifts herself up -- giving herself a stretch.)

So, what are you doin' out here in the middle of the woods?

(it's at that sound that instantly travels to her ears. and even if it didn't on its own, her voices are hissing at her harshly to grab her attention.

'something is here. something is here. did you hear it? above. it's up above.'

there's a trance-like look upon her face as she listens to their warnings (even though, they are overlapping), but a sharp little head twitch to snap her back to her reality. so someone or something has a death wish. that's perfectly fine. she hadn't killed anything since she got to trench, and honestly it's way overdue. and although she doesn't move her head to rise any suspicions, jinx still tries to gaze up to the ceiling despite not really able to see anything clear.

one.

in her mind, she begins to count as she gradually curls and uncurls her fingers.

two.

jinx sits more upright in her attempt to pull out any cracks she may have lingers on her shoulders and back.

three!)

(and just like that, she activates her shimmer ability. her eyes violently glow pink as she zips off to the dresser nearby where her pistol rests. and when she moves, her body is like a blur to the naked eye, but a trail of her pinks from the glow to indicate where she moved off to. so with the pistol in hand now, she aims it up at the ceiling where the intruder is lingering. one shot, two shots, three. the bullets are souring through with rapid speed and the demon better be quick if it wants to avoid any body damage. so that's the question for the night: is it fast enough?)

[ After helping Jinx up and hearing that question, Chizuru is quiet for a moment.

Not too long, but just enough to blink at the other. First once, then twice, and then-- ]

You mean you.. didn't just wake up here?

[ Chizuru was kind of assuming they'd be in the same situation, but maybe it only happened to her? After all, Jinx seems.. well, cooler and more confident than her, so maybe she just wandered out into the forest without worrying much about it. ]

That's what happened to me. Honestly, I'm not really sure how I got here at all. [ Worry sneaks into her voice as she says that.

She can't help it. It's quite an overwhelming situation, after all. ]

.. or how to get back out of the woods either..

[ Which may be an even bigger problem. ]

Oh no, I did. Just decided to go back to sleep. (it's not like she is a stranger of sleeping outdoors. although, jinx picks up the nerves in chizuru's voice and decides to make a better attempt to... keep herself more alert.)

Hey, it's alright. You're not alone now and I'll keep you safe. Stick with me and we'll be fine.

(a smile and then something jogs her memory.)

— Oh! I also got this glow-y thingie. Dunno what I'm suppose to do with it but it glows whenever we move.

(in fact, she pulls out the object out of her pajama pants pocket to show her.)

Ah, that's..

[ Before Chizuru can remark something about how nice it is on Jinx's end to want to help her out and keep her safe, there's the remark about the glowy thing that distracts her entirely. It feels like something important, after all.

Which means that Chizuru holds out the one she found on her as well, and when the two of them are close enough together, they suddenly jump up at each other, fusing back together into one whole compass.

It makes the girl let out a tiny yelp. ]

W-Wait, what was that? Did you see that too?! It's like they moved on their own..!

(somehow feeling the object wiggling in her own hands of its need to combine with chizuru, jinx's first thought was they fit together and needed to fuse. so the surprise didn't sneak up on her as much it did with chizuru.)

Yyyep, I did. And it makes sense now. — It was glowing 'cuz it needed the other.

(yawning and trying to stay awake, she politely takes the device out of the girl's hands to inspect it further.)

Hm, okay... So, we gotta go this way. Maybe it'll take us outta the woods if we follow it.

Edited 2022-10-16 13:45 (UTC)

I'd love to be exaggerating, but it's not always the monsters you have to worry about.

[The temptation to bird out and irritate her into getting up is so strong, but surely they can be reasonable about this, right. Surely if he explains how things are around here she'll get the picture.]

Lots of other bullshit happens too, like the place might be draining your energy, making it harder and harder to leave until you can't get up and do it anymore.

[He nudges her thigh with a foot. C'mon, kiddo. Please. Don't make this more troublesome than it needs to be!]

I can take whatever gets thrown at me. — And quit pokin' me or I'll bite you. I told you gimme two minutes.

(she shifts around at least so that's an improvement. but she only did so, so she can narrow her gaze up to him. what an annoying guy.)

[After a long moment, he sighs.]

Fine. Two minutes.

[He will be COUNTING.]

★ OCT. (CATCH ALL); open your eyes -- don't let them feed you with their lies.

➤ JINX'S TREEHOUSE.

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10.8 ➜ event ➜ lost in the woods @ 10:18p

(cw: demonic possession)

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