deercountry | november catch-all

[ perle tries her best! though she has to stop in between to give a huff and indignant ruffle of her feathers; a hammer wasn't a sparrow, lizard or insect— it's much bigger than what her frame is used to, but it didn't mean that with the right amount of effort, she couldn't.

and she try and peck and drag this thing with her little feet as hard as she could! there are ups and downs, but falco is always silently rooting for her.

luca's omen, on the other hand— is the cutest thing. it's a hermit crab— those things that kids definitely get the urge to collect on the beach, no matter the age. falco never had that childhood but seeing it did make him want to pick it up and cup it in his hands. ]

Yours looks nice. [ genuinely said; like the "cute and friendly" type of nice. ] Have you been here long with her, Luca?

[ something to talk about— perle's halfway to her destination! ]

Thanks. She just appeared when I got here back in September. I didn't have her before I got here, if that's what you're wondering. Although my family did raise crabs.

[Chatting helps keep his mind off the sheer terror of being trapped in a strange place. It also helps pass the time while waiting for the bird to get the hammer to them. Of course, it's still faster than they'd likely have been, trying to walk over to the hammer with their legs chained like this.]

[ september— one or so months, maybe two? was that the same for everyone? it's all falco really needed to know to gather some sort of pattern he'll probably spend ages figuring out.

perle's almost there. falco opens the door to their stable and reaches his arm out to its limit— can't go too far without yanking the other end, with the connection between his other arm and luca, so he's quite gentle about going to his limit at most. stretch. ]

So you lived— By the ocean? Did you raise crabs, too?

Yeah, we lived really close to the ocean. And my dad took care of the crabs. I didn't do much with that. I helped take care of our fish, though!

It sounds nice.

[ falco hadn’t much to add about what his parents did, or what he did in general— it wasn’t so pleasant, overall, but it feels like a little crack of light in all of this bloody pollution.

perle hops the tip of the hammer over close enough for falco to finally reach to it with the very tips of his fingers. grappling and dragging it over earns a successful and relieved exhale, now with the tool in his hands. ]

Thanks, Perle.

[ you kids better be!!!! she just pulled off the workout of her life! with an indignant but proud ruffle of her feathers, falco calls her back to him— and all that’s left are a few feathers and misty magic. ]

Right . . . [ falco inhales, but looks resolute. ] Try and spread your legs as far apart as you can.

[Finally the hammer makes it to them, and Luca is incredibly relieved. It was nice distracting himself from the situation by talking about his home life, but it's so much nicer to actually be a step closer to...well, being able to make an unencumbered step.]

Thank you so much!

[Perle was a huge help already. Luca spreads his legs as far as he can with the chains before watching and waiting, hoping the other kid will be able to break the chain.]

[ they’re in the hands of the rng gods now

so— here goes. falco gives the other boy a readying look of assurance and brings the hammer close to the level of his head, looking for any visible weak looking spots, brings it up high, then whacks the chain once. it jumps against dirt and floorboard and, to their utmost luck, doesn’t look as durable as before. the shape has dented slightly, but strangely. ]

Ah—!

[ that’s a sign to go all out, then. measuring his hits, falco is sure to hit a second, third, fourth time, each with a sharp clank! by the fifth, luca’s legs should be free of the pressure connecting them, right as the chains snap. ]

It worked! Now let me get yours.

[Luca holds his hand out to take the hammer from Falco.]

[ here you go, little buddy: the blessed hammer. ]

Here goes . . .

[ sitting back and legs apart, he puts as much tension on the chain as possible to help luca out with his turn. ]

[Luca takes the hammer and, kneeling down, hammer gripped in both hands, swings it as hard as he can. And, somehow, misses the chain entirely, hitting the ground. He tries again, focusing on actually hitting the chain. Which he does, even though it doesn't have much impact. He tries again, and again. In the end, it seems like Luca's done about thirty swings with varying levels of success before he finally manages to break through the chain.]

I did it! Sorry I took so long.

That's fine! It's perfect— [ never mind the time and misses— falco had to do way too much weapons training for his own mobility to come in handy when it had been his turn. he shakes his head and brings his legs freely apart, before he puts a hand on luca's shoulder. ] Our legs are free— thanks for your help.

[ they had perle to get it for them, but it would've been harder if he were alone— something tells him he wouldn't be so easy an escapee if it were only him. now it was time to move, though. ]

Let's get out of here.

[ or try. when they fully open the stable door, they're met with as much moving machinery as they've heard from within their enclosure. augh, it stinks— but of blood. falco knew that smell. ]

"I'm just glad I could help."

Luca's not exactly the strongest sleeper around and after taking that many tries to break the chain, part of him had been worried he wouldn't be able to at all. He's just a kid, after all, but then Falco is even younger than he is. Still, while Luca has no idea what kind of world Falco is from, he has gathered that a lot of the worlds people are pulled from require a lot more physical combat ability from a much younger age than his own.

"Right, we can figure out our arms once we look around. Maybe we'll find someone else to help us."

Luca looks around. He hears the clang of machines, sees various equipment, and something drips from the ceiling, but he's not sure what it is. After a few seconds, he spots some stairs.

"Well, do you want to head upstairs and see what's there?"

Yeah, [ he nods, but sticks quite close to luca; he needs to make sure he can grab him or shove him out of the way, if need be. ] height might be a good idea.

[ they won’t be able to fly unless they’re free of the chains, but maybe perle can help there, too. falco keeps his steps cautious and his ears pricked— it’s hard to hear anything other than clanging, but looking above them . . . the liquid is too viscous to be water. oil? by the smell, falco’s stomach sinks to what felt like his feet. ]

There might be more people there, too.

Right. And if there's more people, I'm sure they could help us get out of these.

[He holds onto that hope as they go up the stairs, but as soon as they get to the next floor, that hope begins to waver as he soon finds himself staring right at a strung up, drained and mutilated human corpse. Luca stares in shock and horror for a moment.]

I...um...on the other hand, I'm not sure if the people up here can help us.

[And if there's anyone alive up here, he's not sure if he wants to approach them in case they're the ones who did this.]

Edited 2021-11-24 02:56 (UTC)

[ falco had continued to hope it was oil and iron, but the more they went up the flight of spindly stairs to the second floor of the sleeper farm, the more he couldn’t ignore his nose and memory— this was blood. the fact is made more than apparent when the cross-like figure hanging by chain, wire and wounds was pale and dead rather than the desired metallic decoration. falco gasps as well, his heart pounding loudly in his ears as he bounds up to the corpse with luca in tow. they’re this close to a corpse that suffered, and for an inkling of a moment does falco rush to help, to look at the chains and put his fingertips to the hanging legs he could reach.

it’s stone cold. there’s nothing he could do. the boy’s eyes begin to shine with an empathetic glaze, blinking the tears away and gripping his panic with the constrains that trained him to stay calm. he’s as calm as he can be, but he’s not okay. ]

M— [ his breathing shivers, escalates, ] maybe someone’s alive, maybe they need help, like us— worse than us . . .

[ and who did this? there were plenty of twisted minds across the universe that could; falco was once on the receiving end of a mutilation, but he came out alive, baring no physical scar of the happening. ]

Let’s— stay sharp. And close, Luca.

[ he pulls the boy closer. they weren’t alone, and the corpse wasn’t the only thing waiting for them. the smell of blood only piled into something vile, of buckets and mounds of waste, of guts, of organs scattered in pulsing places or suspicious, sacrificial squares. ]

[Luca doesn't really want to get closer to the body. He doesn't really want to get a better look at the horror in front of them, but Falco goes right up to it, so Luca does as well. He stares at the blank, dead eyes of the corpse in horror.]

Y-yeah. Maybe someone's alive. We should go look. Find them.

[Because if someone is alive, they probably need help as soon as possible. Getting a chance to move away from this corpse, which Luca suspects is a clear indicator of what their captors have in mind for them, is an added bonus. Stay sharp and stay close?]

I will.

[Even if Falco hadn't pulled him closer, Luca would have stayed as close to the other boy as possible. He's terrified, and he's going to stay as close to the other person who seems to be a lot more confident than he himself is...despite them seeming to be about the same age.]

[ it’s an ugly thought, that falco can withstand the sight of a mangled body— he’s even been prone to pick them up and run if the dragging weight allowed it. he long lost his urge to lose his meals to a churning stomach by a single digit age, the same time he was drilling to hold a rifle twice his size— and that in itself is highly wrong, but not easily questionable considering the dire need to get out of here.

it all manages to become much, much worse when they turn an echoing corner that smells of slaughter. falco stops in his tracks and grabs for the other boy’s wrist when he sees piles that shine too much to be dirt. they pulse sometimes, they’re pooling with blood both fresh and coagulated. there are entrails and hearts, there’re livers and spleens.

they are all over the place, and under his own gasp does falco cover his nose. ]

Luca . . .

[ he doesn’t want him to see to begin with, but it might be too late to usher his vision the other way. ]

[Luca lets out a whimper in response to his name. This is...it's too much. It's all too much. He'd hoped if they hurried past the first body they'd escape the gore, but it turns out it's even worse. He covers his face and stares in shock. And, he idly notices, there's still dripping from this ceiling as well.

Deciding it's too much and desperate to find some way out of this place, Luca decides to bolt, attempting to take off and tug Falco along with him.]

Luca—!

[ god, he can’t blame him for even a second. if falco already felt like bolting, he can imagine luca, who’s acting on it. everything about this place was wrong, and with the chain’s thorough tugging falco is right behind him, keeping up.

though he can’t just let him run, and raising his voice just loud enough to be heard, he extends his hand to the boy’s shoulder to get a grip of him. ]

Luca, wait—!

[ they don’t know where they’re going. it could be a lucky trail toward the way out, it could lead them deeper in, or it could lead them to something worse. ]

[Falco is able to grab Luca's shoulder, and Luca tugs, trying to get out of his grip.]

No, we can't stay here. We have to get out of here!

[He's full on panicking now. No thought, no reason, just a desperate need to go and flee and it doesn't help that there's still blood dripping from the ceiling which means there's at least one more floor of horrors and butchered people.]

I know— I know, we will! [ it’s a baseless promise— but it’s what he believed he could do. what they could do. ] We need to try and stay calm. I know that’s hard to say!

[ he can feel luca trying to wiggle out of his hold, so falco adjusts it: close to the middle of his arms. ]

But If we want to get out of here . . . We need to go up. [ there weren’t any side hallways, and going down would be like digging deeper. falco’s hands drop and grips his wrists and fingers. ] I’ll be with you.

[Falco's words help calm him. He's still terrified, of course, but being able to convince himself that Falco, at least, has some sort of plan is enough to get him to stop struggling. When Falco takes his hand, Luca squeezes back, both to reassure Falco that he's okay now (even though he really isn't, but he's at least better than he was a few moments ago) and to reassure himself.]

Okay...okay. I guess...lead the way.

[He decides to focus on just walking with Falco and going up the stairs.]

I don't know how you're staying so calm.

Edited 2021-12-10 00:53 (UTC)

[ it was a step up even if they’ve taken a couple back at first (and may tumble back more the more they see), and falco, with a nod, takes the reassurance from the boy and brings his hand back to his side. he was feeling uneasy, but . . . the other flight of states was dark and looming above their heads as they crept closer to the first step.

why was he so calm? the truth was as ugly as the result. falco wasn’t exactly flatlined into tranquil or insensitive, of course— but he was maintaining a certain amount of levelheadedness to make decisions under pressure. the same kind of pressure to expect when bombs are flying, dirt and metal is flinging all over the place and what he has to do if he’s got a rifle in his hands. ]

I’m scared, [ he confesses, even if he may not look it completely, ] but I’m from a place where you learn how to think— even if you’re scared.

Where I'm from, I was taught if there was something dangerous to just run and hide until the danger passed.

[Something he can't really do here, because if he did that, he'd be trapped forever. Swimming away and hiding in a cave only works if he's already somewhere he's supposed to be, somewhere that will return to being safe. At least now, though, he's managing, walking beside Falco, taking his lead.]

That’s not wrong.

[ mostly. it was more a matter of falco being forced to act, because generally— he was rather passive of violence or danger. always taking the safer way out of he was thinking straight (and when he wasn’t, fueled by loved and adrenaline, he acted too quickly).

up the stairs, the odor of iron and worse was stronger. heavy. ugly. falco could guess what else was past the hall’s leading frame, and to be sure they could proceed, perle materializes from a cloud of dark smoke from falco’s chest. the little falcon glides ahead and returns moments after, speaking to them through a telepathic and feminine voice:

sacrifice.

falco’s steps are slow and cautious, but he gives luca a glance before proceeding. they’ve got this together, so together, they were in this.

it’s too bad, much too bad, that the pollution on this floor was unbearable. there were sleepers hanging from the ceilings left and right, chest cavities open wide, while some bodies were stretched on tables— open and hollowed of organs. there were buckets of blood of all kinds, buckets of squids, jars, vials: all of blood or some kind of part. they were either put away or set upon sacrificial tables. ]

Don’t look—

[ falco warns, but it’s too late for him, too. he can feel the cold sweats waving down his body in a crash, his skin tingling, burning—

and underneath it, he felt it crawl, suffering corruption that was inevitable in the place they’ve come to. ]

november catch-all

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CW: Gore

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cw for self harm (also in icon)