deercountry | Are we not brave enough? [Closed]

[A horrible chill runs through her. This feels worse than the wounds on her shoulders. Corruption was her own problem last month, and they didn't realize it until she sprouted fangs through her old braces. A mushroom was found to fix it -- a mushroom they lost Ford, for a while, in the process of finding. But the effects didn't last long, and the fangs are already back in her mouth.]

...when...when it gets bad, it turns you into...a real monster...?

[Unconsciously, she brings one of her hands to cover her own mouth, heedless of the blood, as though she can keep her teeth contained.]

[Oscar took his eyes off of his surroundings for a split second to regard Mabel's growing horror. His hands shook around his weapon, and his heart was pounding so loudly he was certain that the beast that once was Dipper could probably hear it, but he knew what he had to do.

He had to be strong.]

Not always, but that's only what someone wrote about. You Pines are crazy lucky and crazy capable. If there was anyone who could find a way to beat this? I'm sure it's someone in your family.

[What Oscar is getting wrong here is that the Pines do not work independently. They are crazy lucky and crazy capable -- when they act together. Mabel, too, is absolutely confident that if this were a grunkle problem, or perhaps even an Oscar problem or one of their other friends, she and her brother could figure something out together. But as it stands, Mabel's other half is the immediate problem, and she has no idea how to help Dipper without Dipper when the tried and true method of bashing him in the face did not work and he isn't actually around in the flesh for her to exploit any of his other known weaknesses.

With this realization, the last of her earlier bravery leaks out of her.]

Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford aren't here! How do we help Dipper now?!

[With the landscape so twisted, he's certainly still around, probably waiting to do something beasthood-class petty out of spite for the strike to his eyes. They don't have time.]

[He is still around, hiding beneath the illusion like a shithead.]

[That's fine, they don't need to find him. Instead, for their wait, the illusion will move, finally, and out of seemingly no where, a huge imposing figure rushes up to them, screaming and swinging his huge fists right at Oscar.]

[It's and illusion of course, but under it is the Beast, who has taken the opportunity to slam it's whip-like tail into the boy while focused on the illusion. Hazel "Strikes" from above, while the beast strikes below, aiming to take out Oscar's prosthetic.]

Edited 2021-12-27 06:33 (UTC)

[Any words Oscar had to give Mabel about trust and faith in the people he chose to surround himself with and call 'family' died on his lips the fraction of a second he registered the unrelenting behemoth that was Hazel Rainhart. With Mabel behind him, he didn't dare try to dodge-- not that he could.

He was frozen, ensnared in his own abject terror memories of painful beatdowns that not even Ozpin seizing control of his body could fully match. The lessons Ford had learned the hard way were lessons Oscar had learned by the same method, for both good and ill.

There was no Ozpin in the back of his mind to jolt him into action this time.

Instead, it was Mabel's terror.]

Run!

[He bit out through gritted teeth, already preparing for the worst as he reached out to strike the image of the rampaging berserker above them. He moved into an active stance--

And fell into the dirt. His prosthetic leg, ripped asunder at the joint, arced in the air above them as the very breath was knocked from his chest by the collision.

He couldn't fall. Not yet. He needed to buy more time...]

[At this third order to run, Mabel almost, almost obeys. Oscar falls in the corner of her eye before she makes any real distance, though, and she's certainly not going to leave him. Dipper has to be responsible for this, and her brother will never forgive himself for hurting his boyfriend, no more than he'll forgive himself for the wounds still bleeding sluggishly at Mabel's shoulders.

Anyway, Oscar's her friend these days, too.

The illusion of Hazel bears down on them, ready to smash Oscar again, and properly this time. Mabel's trusty grappling hook flies out to meet him, beaning him -- and thus the beast hiding within -- smack in the face. She smashes the button to draw the hook back to its gun immediately after, looking around for convenient trees or branches or anything else she can fire at.

If she can get an arm around Oscar and get the grappling hook wrapped around something sturdy, she can use it to pull the both of them away. It's supported both herself and her brother in the past and it might buy them a little time. What they really need, though, is help.]

[And for the second time tonight help would arrive. Except this time it wasn't the beating wings of a owl but the crack of gunfire as an icy bullet rips through the air to strike at "Hazel's" foot. If it makes contact with the creature it'll coat the area in ice and pin it to the ground temporarily. Ruby may not know what's actually attacking her friends but she knows Hazel can take a pounding and that disabling him was probably the best way to get them to safety. Even if it wouldn't last long.]

Leave them alone.

[And she keeps Crescent Rose raised as she quickly tries to place herself between Mabel, Oscar and the illusion. Continuing to fire to hopefully give Mabel time to grapple them out of danger.]

[What Ruby gets is a horrible screech that does not sound like Hazel. The shot hits its mark, and the illusion shutters and flickers, giving way to the woods again.]

[Hazel vanishes, too, leaving the beast in it's place. It's leg is trapped in ice while it beats is wings to try and get free. It's angry and frantic, but doesn't seem strong enough to immediately break the ice.]

[He didn't have time to think, just react.

Oscar gladly accepted Mabel's assistance with the grappling hook, already familiar with it's weight capacity from previous adventures with Dipper, and heaved a sigh of relief when Ruby swept onto the scene.]

Ruby, that's Dipper!

[Oscar called, raising his voice above the chaos to be heard.]

Something happened to him-- Mabel doesn't even know what!

He told me to run! Before this happened!

[It's all she has to contribute here -- her brother was scared enough to tell her to run away, before he turned into whatever he's become. Mabel obviously didn't listen, and she isn't sorry about that, and won't be sorry about it later, either. But there isn't time to think about all the implications. Spotting a good target at last, she gets her arm around Oscar and fires off the grappling hook again, letting it wrap around a tree that is probably actually a lamppost and hauling them both away.

It is not a pleasant ride. Regardless of Dipper's illusions, they are still in Gaze, and they wind up bouncing all over the pavement. The pull of Oscar's weight on the one arm and the grappling hook on the other agitates Mabel's wounds enough that she cries out, and hopefully Oscar manages to avoid coming into direct contact with any of her blood, because it'll sting like hell if he does. They also end up leaving the fallen prosthetic behind, unfortunately. But they do get away, far enough to be out of range of any direct attacks, safe enough to catch their breath.

Ruby is now Dipper's primary problem.]

[Ruby has a bit of time to take in what Oscar and Mabel's words as she skids to a stop between them and the corrupted Dipper. She feels a pit in her stomach form as she realizes just who she's up against and that she doesn't know if it's even possible to take bring him back from this state.

She a glance back for just a second to Oscar and Mabel.]

It's okay. Just stay clear. I've got this.

[She keeps her voice calm and collected despite the fact she doesn't exactly know what she's going to do. She only got a passing glance at their injuries but they had looked serious enough to know that this thing wasn't playing around. She briefly thinks back to her time as The Hound and the pain she had caused. Glitch's death, Oscar's leg. She knew Dipper would never forgive himself if he caused pain like she had. And she wasn't about to let him do that.

She takes aim with Crescent Rose once again and tries to fire off another blast of ice to trap it further.]

[You know, it's annoying as heck when the prey you were playing with actually gets away. It's even more so when the thing that enabled this also has your trapped in ice. Yes, Ruby has successfully gotten the Beasts attention. It seems while it is sly, it is also enough a grudge holder to shift its attention to the new immediate problem.]

[That said, it will not come as easily as Ruby probably hopes, and just before the second shot, the beast uses it's tail to break the ice trapping it's leg and manages to shoot into the air just shy of being hit again. It lands with an aggressive thud on it's feet, and regards Ruby threateningly, tail lashing.]

[It begins to circle Ruby. Waiting.]

[He was grateful for Mabel's assist. Her wounds would be tended to as soon as they had a little space-- but, more importantly was Ruby in that instant. Oscar trusted her with everything, and keenly understood how hard this was going to be for everyone involved.]

Do what you've gotta, Ruby.

[He called, holding onto Mabel so that they could support each other.]

Don't let him do anything that you would hate to do in that position.

Are we not brave enough? [Closed]

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