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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."

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Venge stares at Willow, beady eyes squinting as she watches the wolf closely. They know that's more than just a mere animal looking back at them but they don't seem interested in informing Maul of that just yet. They merely go up to the wolf, sniff them from head to tail, and then nod as if satisfied with the result.

"Is this a way out?" Maul asks Willow, not that he expects the beast has any way of being able to answer him. He knows the odds of finding anything helpful versus something horrifying are fifty-fifty at best but it isn't like they have a whole lot of other options at this point. He shrugs, tenses his body to prepare for suddenly needing to move fast, and opens the door.

Willow stills briefly as Venge checks her over. She does not want to start a fight with Maul or his Omen, and even if they do reveal who she is to him... Well, he was going to find out sooner or later anyway. She's still relieved when they apparently don't, and quickly resumes pawing at the door frantically with both front paws.

As soon as Maul opens the door, they're both hit with the strong smell of warm milk in the air.

Willow's human body hangs there, suspended from the ceiling by her ankles with a couple other Palebloods who look like they've already bled out. All of them are still dressed in the horrible orange jumpers that seem to be common here. She's still bleeding, though, a steady drip, drip into buckets set up beneath her from the ends of her fingers as the blood runs from several deep cuts on her arms.

The wolf barks frantically to try to get Maul to free her, hoping he won't make the connection and decide to just leave her there.

Maul coughs for a moment as the smell overwhelms him. It's not exactly what one would call a comforting scent in large quantities like it is right now. He looks up and takes a step back involuntarily when he sees what's going on, not wanting to get splattered by the blood dripping from the victims strung up there.

Maul pauses and considers the situation. On the one hand, Willow has been nothing but a pain to him, and he desperately wants to leave her there to suffer. What's it to him if she bleeds out there and the cultists harvest her blood? On the other, he's sure this will somehow come back to reflect negatively on him even if there's no one else around to witness his cold decision.

Venge helps him made the decision by giving him a headbutt and glaring up at him. They block the door and refuse to let him leave. Between them and the wolf, it's clear what Maul is supposed to be doing. Alright, looks like he was stuck here until he'd listened to his outer conscience. Maul sighs and looks up towards the ceiling. With his Force powers, he reaches out a clawed hand, and breaks the chains that are holding her up on the ceiling. He's tempted just to let her fall on the floor but he's sure Venge would bite him for that, so Willow's unconscious form hovers there for a moment before Maul lets her gently settle onto the floor.

"There. It's done," Maul says to Venge. "May I leave now?"

Willow glances at Venge, and lets her shoulders sag in relief as they back her up, hoping the gratitude is clear. She fully expected Maul wouldn't want to help, and aside from kicking up a bunch of noise and hoping he would help in an effort to keep her from drawing attention to them, she had no other plan.

She circles her body as Maul lowers it to the ground and glances at him anxiously, with her ears set back. She does not want him knowing that she leaves her body when she's asleep or unconscious, given how vulnerable it leaves her. There doesn't seem to be much choice, though.

A golden glow envelopes the wolf as it moves from a physical being to a spiritual one, and flows back into the human body laid out on the floor. She takes a deep breath as she opens her eyes, looking up at Maul, and gives him a tired nod. "Thanks. We've got to get out of here."

Maul watches as the wolf approaches Willow. Up until now he's assumed the beast was either her pet or Omen but that idea flies out of the window as he sees the wolf be absorbed back into Willow's body in a golden glow. It's very similar to when Venge merges with him but he's noted that all the Omens he's met seem to be made out of some smoke-like substance. This doesn't seem quite the same thing.

Wha--How--Why--? There's so many questions running through Maul's mind right now as he absorbs what he just witness. He finally fins his voice as they leave the room and manages to ask: "What just happened?" He's still on the fence of whether or not Willow just has an Omen that's far different from what he's seen thus far.

How much can she afford to lie to Maul? She doubts she can get away with calling the wolf her Omen; even if he doesn't remember her Omen is a fox, Savage absolutely does know and can verify.

She feels weak from the blood loss, and the wounds on her arms are painful, but they need to get out of here, so she forces herself to follow after him. Under the circumstances, she suspects a bit of a pause before she answers will probably be easily dismissible.

"It's a blood magic thing," she answers wearily. "Long story. Now's probably not the time."

"I've never seen the magic here do something quite like that," Maul observes. Then again, how much about their abilities did any of them really know? Perhaps this was just a natural thing for Palebloods the same way that being able to heal through drinking blood was for Vilebloods. It wasn't like Maul had a yardstick he could measure against what he thought was right versus what seemed suspicious to him.

But Willow was right. Now was not the time for him to asking questions that could lead to a long, drawn out discussion which left them vulnerable to any of the zealots that could still be wandering around here. "Let us see if we can find a way out of here."

Maul lets his Omen take point as they go down the wandering corridors so that Venge can inform them right away if they run into something or someone dangerous. Alternatively, the Omen will also be able to tell them both if they are able to find an exit.

Technically, she tells herself it's not a lie. It's old magic from a world not her own, and is passed just like the lycanthropy she's used to - by being bitten by someone already cursed. Technically, blood and magic. Blood magic.

It's a probably a weak explanation, but at least he seems to accept it, at least for now. Hopefully by the time they're out of here all together, he'll lose all interest in the query.

She lags behind him as she follows the pair down the hall, occasionally glancing back to make sure no one's sneaking up behind them. "Yeah. Definitely not the kind of place we want to hang around.

"Yeah... Oh, and thanks. For the help. I know you didn't have to."

Maul follows Venge but no matter where they go, it seems like there is no exit to this place. As Willow well knows, Maul's patience isn't all that great, and a dark look starts to cross his face. "Is there no way out of here? Do they just expect us to go around and around until we lose our minds?" He grouses, not talking to either of his two companions directly.

Hearing Willow's thanks, he waves it off with a hand. "Hmph. Don't thank me. Thank them," Maul says gruffly, gesturing towards his Omen. "If it had been up to me, I would have left you up there for the creatures of this place to do with as they see fit." Maybe. Maybe not. The sight of Wesker being turned into a living corpse kept alive only for study was still seared into Maul's brain and the idea of leaving someone else to become something like that isn't a pleasant one for him to dwell on.

It always hits her as strange how things go with Maul. She wants to think he's capable of becoming a better person, and there have been times where she really believes he can. Then there are times where he seems like the exact same person who had every intention of killing her, and who destroyed her home in a fit of rage because Salem got to her first.

Omens are supposed to be a reflection of their Sleepers, though, which means if Venge doesn't really want to leave her to suffer and die, Maul doesn't either, regardless of his exterior. That's a relief, at least, and she nods her thanks to the creature.

The halls seem to be getting more and more narrow, and the smell of the mix of Sleeper blood in the air feels like it's getting stronger. Willow is genuinely not sure if they're on the route out, or just going deeper in. She stops to lean against a wall, weak from the blood loss, and feeling discouraged by the lack of progress.

"There's a way in, there has to be a way out." It's mostly said because she does not want to escape dying here only to... Well. Die here, but the situation looks grim, and she doesn't think she's going to be able to go a lot further.

There's a little buzz in the back of her mind, and for a moment, she's worried that it's a sign she's going to pass out. It turns to something that feels more like pulling, and that's a feeling she recognizes from the lamps and her own teleportation spell back in Deerington. She's not sure if Maul feels the same thing, so she lunges for him and grabs onto his arm to make sure he's pulled along too. She will not leave her rescuer behind.

Willow had said once he was very predictable in some ways and unpredictable in others. It's very true. Darkness isn't just always anger and negative emotions. Darkness also encompasses chaos, the ever-changing nature of life, and that's Maul's personality in a nutshell. One never really knows where they stand with him or how he'll react, even from one conversation to the next.

He's about to turn to Willow and answer her when he feels her grab him. He's about to yank his arm away and ask her what the hell she's thinking when he feels something, a strange feeling that he's unsure of and can't remember where he's felt before but which doesn't feel unpleasant.

Venge immediately turns to smoke and gets absorbed back into Maul just before they disappear. There's the whirl of feeling that comes with being transported through the lamps. When it stops, he looks around and finds himself in the front living room of his large home. He looks out the nearest window and sees Moon Presence starting to float away back towards the sky. Maul gives her a respectful bow. "Thank you, my lady," he murmurs. She looks back towards him and her tentacles flick towards him in acknowledgment before she floats off into the air, back to what Maul assumes will be saving the Sleepers at the farm.

Willow is nowhere to be seen. He can only assume she's ended up back at her own home considering she'd grabbed onto him before they'd been yanked out of the farm but he's not going to worry too much about what happened. As it stands right now, Maul is going to get some food to eat, take a shower, and then go take a very long nap to recover from his experience.

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