(no subject)

[frogfear]

Who: Willow Rosenberg (frogfear) and you!
What: November Catch-All
When: November
Where: Around Trench and Sleeper Farm

Content Warnings: Standard event warnings



Sleeper Farm A (Wolfwalker Option)

She's the wolf when she wakes up on the floor of the stall, chained to the wall by the muzzle on her face, but she's getting more and more accustomed to this happening when she's asleep. It hits her after a few seconds that she has no idea where her human body is, and the realization drives her to her feet in a moment of sheer panic. The last thing she remembers is heading back to the house after leaving the Archives, which means whatever happened, probably happened on the way home. She has to get out of here.

Willow plants her feet and pulls back against the chain, whipping her head back and forth to try to forcibly pull herself free. It doesn't even budge a little, though, in spite of her efforts, and she feels weaker than normal, like she's been recovering from a bad bout of the flu. She flops to the ground in frustration and exhaustion, sides heaving.

She can smell the oil, blood, and strange fermented odor in the air she can't quite identify. And... another Sleeper? She turns her head, as though realizing suddenly that she's not alone. Maybe they can get each other out. Little help, please?

Sleeper Farm B (Human Option)

It's a stroke of sheer luck that Willow's managed to free herself unassisted, and is now free to try to find a way out. It's probably a blessing in disguise that her powers are barely accessible. She's been working to gain control over her ability to pick up on the emotions of those around her, and somewhere like this, full of pain and terror, she'd much rather not to be hit full force with it anyway. Still. There's enough getting through that she's aware that there's someone else trapped down here too. This place seems particularly ominous, and of course she can't leave someone else abandoned down here if there's any chance she can help.

She's a little nervous of calling attention to herself, though, as she creeps along the corridor, peering into the stalls to try to find someone else, so she stays quiet. She's spotted a couple of the Zealots creeping around, but she's been fortunate enough to be able to avoid them so far. Finally, she spots a figure in a corner of one of the stalls and lets out a relieved sigh.

"Hey. Hey, can you hear me?" She whispers.

Blood Crazed Zealots

Willow could feel the strange sensation of being watched as she left the school, then of being followed. A couple times she glances around, and finds herself seemingly alone on the streets. It feels oddly deserted, though - she's used to seeing more people out and about, even if it is beginning to get dark.

Another glance behind her, and she spots a hooded figure who seems to radiate a particularly malevolent presence. She's reminded a little bit of the first time she spotted Maul on the streets of Deerington, but she's already well aware it's not him. It's definitely something else. It feels like something out of a bad dream.

She picks up the pace, and tries to add some twists and turns into her usual route to try to lose them, but each time she glances back, they're still there, and still following. Puck appears as well, called forth unconsciously by her nervousness, and the fox trots alongside her with his ears pinned back against his head. He doesn't like it either.

She takes another look behind her as she turns a corner and crashes straight into another Sleeper, with a startled cry, and she immediately backs up and looks contrite. "Oh! Um. Sorry - Sorry. I - uh, thought you were something else."

Comments

[imaglyphwitch]

It makes sense she would mistake Luz for a zealot: she had a hood up much like one, and was holding onto her staff as if she were ready to clobber someone with it. She'd had a long enough stint in the farm that she was now looking for any zealots attempting to spirit away an unsuspecting Sleeper. This was before she would be captured again and properly have that resolve broken: for right now, she was feeling pretty sure she wanted to stop them at any cost.

"It's just me Willow," she said, lowering her staff. "Who were you looking for?"

[frogfear]

It's Luz. Of course it is. Because why wouldn't an actual child be out at night, looking for all the world like she's going to try to fight those things. What could possibly go wrong. Even if she does have magic on her side.

"Luz! Go home. One of those things are out here. I think it's messing with the area," or her mind. Or something. She's not sure which, just that the whole area doesn't feel right somehow.

[imaglyphwitch]

"Can't."

She took a long, hard breath. "I was already a coward at that place. Anxiety was at its worse, and when I was supposed to be helpful? I was scared. You know how horrible that is, that you have to accept you froze up at a point where you could be actually helpful? So I have something to make up for."

See Luz balling up her fists? Yes, that might be an indication that there's a tiny bit of vendetta entangled in those feelings.

[frogfear]

This is a bad idea, and she knows it. She may have seen Luz fight with magic at the gate, but this is an altogether different situation, and potentially a far more dangerous one if they're dealing with a creature that can mess with their minds, or reality itself. "What do you mean you were a coward? Look - it's okay, and totally understandable to be scared when you're in danger. That doesn't mean you get reckless next time."

Sleeper Farm A (late Nov)

[kingofsarcasm]

He shouldn't be here again, but he is. The last time he remembers being here, he was tortured in ways he… doesn't even know how to put words to. It makes him shake with a sick feeling to think about and now he's back and it's his own fault.

There were two Zealots who'd been apart of his torment that he couldn't get out of his head, there was something about them that stuck in his head. Like they were once people he might have known, it was in the eyes. When he saw them walking in the streets of Trench, the need to know overpowered the sick fear. He followed, went through the black hole they stepped into to return here…

And the smell hit him. He started having a panic attack and immediately on instinct found the first stall he could to curl up into a ball to try and breathe. He's still in the throes of it when he spots the animal on the other side of the stall struggling and then falling to its side.

It give him something to focus on. Upon closer inspection, it's a wolf, a wolf that's looking at him in an intelligent way he's familiar with. He swallows down the bile and starts to get up, but he's still recovering from the injuries sustained the last time he was here and fumbles. One of the wounds on his side opens up and he cusses but gets up again anyway.

Carefully, he limps over to the wolf, she'll notice he's not in the jumpsuit, but in a flannel shirt and blue jeans, "H-hey… by the way you're looking at me, I'm guessing you're not an ordinary wolf, huh."

His voice is shaking and his breathing is irregular, his hands are shaking too as he cautiously brings them down to her restraints to try and test where they can be broken somehow. Or if there's a lock to pick. It's truly all he can do to keep himself from dissolving into another full on panic attack, it helps to have someone to help.

[frogfear]

It's a relief when she realizes it's the boy from Beacon Hills who already knows about werewolves, and that he's already well aware she's not a regular wolf. He's clearly terrified, but he's still trying to help. She lets out a sigh and thumps her tail against the floor to show she doesn't mean him any harm. She doesn't have a way of talking to him like this, even outside the farm where their powers are lost to them, but she's still trying to communicate the best she can.

She shifts carefully onto her stomach as he checks out the muzzle, keeping her movements slow. She's trying her best not to startle, or frighten him any more than he already is. There's a small padlock securing the clasp at the back of her head that looks like it could be picked, or even just pried open with the right amount of pressure in the right spot.

[kingofsarcasm]

The tail thumping startles him slightly, but he relaxes significantly when he sees what it is. Without even thinking about it, he pets her ears with a trembling hand like she's a real dog and not a person in a wolf form. Even if it's kind of silly, the action calms him a bit so he does it a couple more times before moving in to work on the muzzle's padlock. Which really seems like overkill, she doesn't have hands.

"These guys're really serious about their bondage, huh." He tries for a bit of humor, voice still unsteady and the joke falling a bit flat. He lets out a slow breath and tries to break the lock at what looks like a weak point, but his physical strength isn't gonna cut it but then he remembers that this time he isn't in the jumpsuit, but his regular clothes… which have lockpicking tools in the pockets. Hastily and with fumbling hands, he pulls them out and gets to work. Within a couple minutes he manages to pop the lock, "Bingo."

[frogfear]

It's not the first time she's been treated like an animal in this form, so it's not much of a surprise when Stiles pets her. It seems to steady him too, so it's fine - she doesn't mind it so much, especially if it helps someone else.

The attempt at a joke gets a mildly amused huff out of her as he works on getting the muzzle off. Lucky for her while he might not be able to physically snap the lock, he's a reasonably skilled lockpick. She gets to her feet and shakes her head, letting the muzzle drop off her face as soon as the lock pops open, and opens and closes her mouth a couple times to work out the stiffness in her jaw from having it pinned shut.

She still feels weak and a little woozy, but she stretches and turns to leave the stall, pausing for a moment to nose at Stiles' hand reassuringly. Come on. They've got this.

sleeper farm b

[catchatting]

"Whoo'zat?" Zari had been out cold, but Willow's voice has her stirring from the shackled lump she'd been on the ground a moment ago.

The floor is hard and Zari isn't exactly a floor sleeper, so as soon as she registers the hard surface below her she bolts up into a seated position.

"Oh my god. Where are we?!"

Willow. They met when she first arrived here. At least it's a familiar face and some of the immediate fear leaves Zari's face on recognition, but she's still shackled and she has a feeling they're not exactly in a cushy hotel here.

[frogfear]

Willow shushes Zari quickly, and whips her head around to make sure they haven't drawn any unwanted attention to themselves. "Shhh! Keep your voice down."

She's still for a moment, listening to hear if there's any footsteps heading their way and lets out a sigh of relief when she hears nothing. She keeps her voice down to a whisper as she goes to check out Zari's shackles, unsure if she'll need a key or if there will be a way to force them open, or just a release on them somewhere. "I dunno what this place is, but it can't be anything good. We're gonna get out of here, though."

[catchatting]

"Okay okay." Zari whispers back, but it's more a self-soothing action than anything for Willows benefit, because she is definitely a whole hot second from freaking the hell out about this. She's been in some pretty bad situations, but the shackles are pushing it to a new level for her and she's not exactly a woman of small reactions.

"Girls kicking ass together, right?"

She wiggles one of her hands. The shackles are clearly a one-size situation and her hands are pretty narrow. Maybe she can slide out of them if she forces it. With a huff, she shifts so that she can push her weight down on the cuff and starts trying to tuck her thumb in enough to get it free. It's tight. She can feel where her knuckle doesn't quite want to go through the metal and she clenches her jaw. This is going to suck.

One deep breath and she yanks, trying her best to stifle a whimper as the metal scrapes her hand up along her knuckles. It hurts like hell, but she knows it's better than sticking around to see what they want with her here. A couple of scrapes can be dealt with once they're safe.

She's just going to need a second before she does the other hand because ouch.

[frogfear]

Willow nods encouragingly. "Yeah, that's right. Girls kicking ass together. We'll get out of here."

She winces sympathetically as Zari forces her hand out of the shackles, and immediately starts searching for a key, but there doesn't seem to be one nearby at all, and she certainly doesn't want to leave her alone again.

"Okay, okay, I guess they don't leave the keys laying around anywhere close by... Can you get your other wrist out too? The only other option is, I go looking for it for you?"

Blood Crazed Zealots

[obeir]

After witnessing one of the hooded figures snatching someone away with preternatural speed before he could even hope to intervene, K's convinced he wants absolutely no part of any of that. And there's more out there. He likewise forgoes his usual routes and instead takes a very convoluted, winding path through the city in an effort to avoid being caught himself, all the while keeping an eye out for any unwary Sleepers so he can warn them. When he suddenly collides with someone he instinctively makes a grab for their shoulders in preparation — to push them away, to employ his elemental abilities, maybe both. Except it turns out neither are needed.

"You've seen them too?" he asks, helping to steady the other Sleeper before letting her go. "The things in cloaks. They're taking Sleepers."

[frogfear]

Willow grabs his arms to catch her balance as his hands land on her shoulders. She releases him as soon as she's able to steady herself, and looks around. She can practically feel the zealot closing in on them, and whatever it has in mind, it doesn't seem pleasant.

"Yeah - one of them started following me from the school. We gotta go," she says urgently. "Maybe we can lose it."

[obeir]

The way the figure had manifested hooks from out of thin air to snare its victim is an image he wishes he could scrub from his mind, and he doesn't need to be told twice to get going. Those things — whatever they are, because he isn't sure if they're even people — are definitely bad news.

"Another back there," he says with a nod in the direction he came from, "so not that way." Luckily there's an alleyway that looks like it leads out, and he figures that's their best means of escape right now. "This way might be clear," he says as he hurries toward it, glancing back to make sure she's coming too. He has no intention of abandoning another Sleeper to face those things alone.

[frogfear]

It feels like being hunted, and it's terrifying, and she hates it. Willow pauses and looks around. So they can't go back in the direction she came from, there's no sense in going back the direction he had been coming from either. So the alley it is.

"Let's go," she says with a nod.

She follows after him, hoping they'll be able to lose their pursuers, but she can't shake this nagging feeling that there's still something not right, even if she can't quite place her finger on what it is, exactly.

"Take another turn as soon as you see one," she suggests.

Sleeper Farm A

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul wakes up after closing his eyes a moment before to meditate. His yellow eyes burn with an intensity as he realizes he's been chained up, the chains running all the way up to the ceiling, holding his arms in place above him. There's a moment of panic, flashbacks to his master chaining him up after murdering his brother and torturing him for near on a month with everything imaginable, trying to make his former apprentice break. But he hadn't broken then and he doesn't plan to do so now.

He tests the strength of the chains, eyeing them and where they are bolted into the ceiling. Hmmm, they look weaker up there. What he plans to do is stupid and reckless but it might get him out of his restraints. He tenses his legs and then jumps, grabbing the slack of the chain with his hands. He hangs there for a moment like a gymnast holding onto rings before he begins to climb upwards, pulling himself up using the very thing that was designed to hold him. He makes it look effortless though it is anything but, even for someone as strong and skilled as Maul at pushing his body to its very limits. When he reaches the top, he examines where the chains are bolted in. He begins to pull with hard, sharp jerks, using his own body weight to weaken the points on the ceiling. Suddenly, there's a loud creaking sound, and the whole chunk of ceiling comes tumbling down.

Well, he had already known it was a reckless idea. But at least now he wasn't hanging there anymore. In the collapse, the restraints open up, and he pulls his wrists out of them, rubbing them vigorously to return circulation. That's when he notices the wolf in the room with him. He sees them chained up by a muzzle and approaches, eyeing them warily. He could just leave them there but Maul's got a soft spot for animals. "If you bite me, I will bite you back," he warns as he pulls the muzzle off of Willow's face.

[frogfear]

It's Maul. Of course it's Maul. Never mind that aside from Mebh and her housemates, she hasn't made any mention of her condition to anyone else. He's probably one of the last people she would have told, too. But he's also capable, and she knows if anyone is going to survive this place, it's going to be him.

She lifts her head and watches he climbs the chains, and seeing what he's about to do, clambers to her feet in case she needs to dodge the falling ceiling chunks. It's loud, because everything is loud when she's the wolf, but it's effective, and she counts them lucky that neither seem to have been injured in the attempt.

Her wariness mirrors his, and she crouches as he approaches her, unsure of his intentions. She relaxes as soon as she's free, though, and shakes herself off, and stares at him for a long moment, trying to decide what to do. She has to find where they're keeping her human body, but does she really want him with her for that? Well, maybe it's best to let him decide what he's going to do.

She spends a few moments sniffing around the ground, trying to pick up the scent of the creatures who left her here, and as soon as she picks up the trail, she heads out of the stall, pausing to look back at him to see if he's going to follow or not.

[survivalthroughhate]

He follows the wolf out of the cell, looking around cautiously. He doesn’t have his lightsaber with him right now and Maul would be lying if that doesn’t make him feel just a little bit naked not having his main weapon with him. He follows along after the wolf, rubbing part of his back that he’d fallen down on. Really, he’s getting a little too old for all this reckless behavior.

As they walk along the hallway, Maul feels something hot and sticky drip onto his face. He reaches up and wipes it off with his fingers. When he looks at it, he realizes that it’s blood. Looking up, he can see what looks like it might have at one point been a body but is now little more than a hunk of meat, just dripping the little blood left that hasn’t already been exsanguinated from it.

A shiver runs through Maul’s spine and he tears his gaze away from the sight. Focus. He has to focus if he wants to survive this hellish place. He follows the wolf, wondering where she is going.

BCZ

[opress]

Savage growled when someone walked around the corner and slammed into him, but he was basically an immovable object to hit. He looked down at the human in question then recognized Willow - and also Puck - as she spoke. He tilted his head as he decided that she looked unnerved, maybe even frightened by something.

He stepped forward to fill the space that she had just left when backing up, and he looked down the street where she had just come from. His nostrils flared as it attempting to pick up a scent, golden eyes moving back and forth. There were plenty of strange people around lately he had noticed.

Brutal appeared quite suddenly, stamping feet and hollering a challenge down the street. With a gesture of his hand, Brute snorted and trotted down the street in search of whoever had been bothering Willow. A fight? Both he and Brute would welcome one.

"You were being followed. What did they look like?"

[frogfear]

"Savage!" The relief is evident in Willow's voice - she's very glad to see him, and Brute too.

She stays close, looking up and down the street, but there's no further sign of her pursuer. She still has that same uncomfortable feeling that there's something particularly evil close by. Likewise, Puck's ears are still pinned, and he's looking back and forth as well.

"I didn't really get a good look at them - they followed me from the school. Tall, dark cloak, but I didn't see their face. There's definitely something really not right about them, though."

[opress]

While his fingers flexed at his sides, he could see no one there in the vicinity which might be suspicious. He growled low in his throat, his senses still warning him of danger no matter what his eyes failed to see. He had been inundated with the sense of being watched or ripples in the flow of the Force.

Brute checked down the street and any alcoves and alleys before snorting and trotting back, looming like a giant protective force of nature.

"I've been seeing a few cloaked people. More than usual and never stays too long." He turned and nudged her with an arm. "Where were you going?"

zealots

[luckystriker]

Herc at least takes the crash in stride and spots the zealot following the young woman. Setting his jaw, he takes Willow's arm and pulls her after him into an alley, aiming to help lose her pursuer, and mutters as he gets her to jog with him to put some distance behind them, "How long has it been after you?"

[frogfear]

Willow follows after Herc quickly, glancing behind them to see if the zealot is still behind them. "Um. A couple blocks or so, I think?"

[luckystriker]

"Have they caught you before? They seem to get your scent faster if you've been taken at least once," Herc explains, not stopping as he keeps grip of Willow's arm.

As they're rounding a corner, he abruptly releases her and sends her ahead of him while he gets a pocketknife and rolls his sleeve up, slashing a wrist open, vileblood welling up and spilling over to drip all over the ground. "Keep going!" he barks over his shoulder, making sure to let the blood pool thick and heavy all over the ground, smearing some deliberately at the sides of the alley, and then turns to chase after willow, keeping the wound closed with his hand, now. "Might slow the bastard down."

Hopefully.