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gooseberryhigh2018-05-31 08:00 pm
A DANGEROUS ENCOUNTER
The latest drama at Gooseberry seems simple compared to what it could be. The hysterical sobbing of a freshman in the Atrium is unmissable, and soon everyone knows about her lost kitten. No one’s seen any signs of it since last night, and with all the wildlife around campus, it’s looking as though this story won’t have a happy ending.
Jade Otterwell is well aware of the news. Maybe that’s why she keeps glancing off the path, just in case. It’s almost unbelievable when she spots the tiny, clumsy ball of orange fur toppling over a fallen log, about 500 feet into the forest. She makes a quick note of where the path is, then dashes into the woods to retrieve the lost kitten before it disappears.
The only real warning is when her feet hit the ground after jumping over some brush. An unnatural thunk, like she’s landed on plywood and not soft soil, then a loud crack. She’s falling, landing so hard the breath is knocked out of her lungs. Searing pain spreads from her leg. It’s several moments before it’s entirely clear what happened. She’s at the bottom of a pit… no, a mine shaft. Debris broke her fall, but her ankle is broken and she’s covered in cuts and bruises. Her bag hangs high above her, snagged on a jagged piece of wood at the edge of the hole.
She calls for help, and soon hears the sound of footsteps and mewing. Someone is standing at the edge of the hole. It’s Jade herself, pale face and long black hair. She’s holding a squirming kitten in her arms and smiling serenely, as though she doesn’t notice it trying to escape. When Jade fires a spell at her copy, the wand sparks and dims. It must have been damaged in the fall. The mimic looks like she might laugh.
“You don’t need to pretend to be tough around me. I know it’s a lie. I know you.” It’s strange, hearing her own voice turned against her. “You and Ms. Lilywhite think you’re so smart, but we’ve been watching you and your friends,” she boasts. “Are you hoping they will come to save you again? You and I both know you’re running out of good will. Can’t you tell that they’re getting tired of it? Your whole act, how much you take, take, take? You should be good at noticing by now. It’s happened enough times.”
She ignores any of Jade’s curses, merely rolling her eyes like she’s trying to reason with a tantruming child. “You don’t even love them, I don’t get why you’re so afraid of losing them. You don’t love anyone. Once they’re gone, you’ll just find new people to leech off of. That’s what you’re good at. Burdening people and then leaving them when you’re done.”
A strange expression comes over the mimic’s face. A soft smile, one Jade has rarely seen herself make in the mirror. A kind smile. “Not like me. I’m going to be a good friend, starting today.”
The mimic starts to pace, as though thinking. The kitten still squirms in her grasp. “First off, I think I need to grow up and stop playing pretend with all these little murder jokes. No one believes them anyway. It makes me sound like such a child. I used to think that if I stopped, they’d all see I was just a stupid, weak girl. You know, like you are. But I think I can be genuine now. I think I can actually be strong if I tried and stopped being such a coward.”
She grabs Jade’s bag, with Jade’s journal and all her things, and pushes the kitten inside of it. All the while, she keeps talking to herself, oblivious to her captive audience. “I love Ari. I’m going to give her all the love she needs from now on. She’ll never leave me, and she’ll never be disappointed by what an empty shell I am again. I can’t wait to make it on my own. I can rely on myself and my friends, because they’re going to start actually liking me when I know how to treat them better. Maybe my parents will love me again, when I’m not such a disappointing, difficult daughter anymore.”
Finally, she looks back down at Jade, as though finally remembering she’s here. “And you’re going to stay down there and die, and no one will miss you.”
Jade-who-is-not-Jade turns and walks away calmly. The sound of her shoes in the underbrush fades, and Jade is left alone.
It takes twenty minutes to fashion a splint for her leg, and another ten for Jade to pull herself up and drag herself through the mine shaft. The light from her broken wand keeps going out, but Jade persists. The only way out is to go deeper into the mines.
Suddenly, the air grows warmer. Fresher. Jade smells pine and woodsmoke, and takes another step. The wand sputters and then goes brighter and brighter. Jade holds it up, watching how the light refracts oddly in the air, throwing soft colors around her. She’s in a cavern and she’s not alone: a tall dark figure stands before her, his features unspeakably beautiful but unfathomable. Nearby, a bright white albino moose sleeps. She’s found Brother and Anon.
Brother listens to Jade’s explanation of what happened, and reaches out to touch her wand with cold fingers, binding the wood back together. Stay here, he orders. Destroy anything that would seek to hurt my brother. He vanishes.
At around 8 PM, a massive, night-black moose walks up to the lodge, in plain view of everyone. Ms. Vector is the first teacher to run out to meet Brother, who transforms into his humanoid form when he sees her. He tells her, in a voice like wind rattling through old branches, that Jade Otterwell is fine and he’ll return her in the morning. He warns them to be wary of imposters. When Ms. Vector tries to demand why Jade can’t be returned now, Brother only says that he can’t leave “them” unprotected, and disappears. Several students express that they hadn’t even known that Jade was missing—like, they just saw her a few minutes ago? Regardless, the gossip is all over the school within an hour.
Later, Ariadne Flint hears a plaintive meowing coming from in front of her cabin. She finds Jade’s bag, abandoned on the grass, and a distressed kitten trapped inside of it.
Brother reappears in the mine, coming out of the darkness like a shadow. Although he’s imposing and radiates incomprehensible power, Jade feels calm. Brother tells her that he’ll escort her back to school in the morning, but he’s afraid to leave his brother. He kneels beside Anon, putting a dark hand on the white moose’s flank. Anon doesn’t even stir.
In the meantime, Brother summons a warm bed of moss for Jade to sleep in, and passes his hand over her leg, easing the pain in her broken ankle. I’ll protect you, he promises.
While Jade is in the company of Brother, she may ask him three questions.
- Jade may ask Brother three questions. (Technically, Jade can ask as many questions as she wants, but we'll only be answering three of them.)
- Although the description says that anyone can have witnessed and overheard Brother's conversation with Ms. Vector, we'd prefer that Lyss and the players of Jade's friends determine exactly how they want to handle this plot.
- We will hopefully put up another post tomorrow dealing with the aftermath of this event, but we're also really busy tonight. So generally, you can assume that Brother will lead Jade back to school first thing in the morning, Healer Mufferaw will fix up her leg and Jade can get her journal back. If you have any questions, please ask!
» THE MINES: Jade encounters her mimic, and spends the evening with Brother and a sleeping Anon.
» THE SCHOOL: Jade's classmates and teachers react to her unexpected disappearance.
» OOC - Discussion/Questions
THE MINES
Jade Cuddles Some Moosemen; this is too long
Before she can finish her thought, her wand blinks on and she recoils, just a little. The entity sleeping was still not in Jade's good graces. Last year, he'd taken her and left. If the world was fair, she'd leave him too. If she really wanted justice, she'd just kill him in his sleep. A flash of cold cruelty crosses Jade's face, but there's no place for it there. Not tonight. She sinks down by his side instead, a small hand on his shoulder for comfort. Minutes pass like hours, as she searches for threats, breath shallow to not attract any more attention. Alone with her thoughts, she only comes back to her own voice. You're going to die and no one will miss you. It rings in her head, on and on. Maybe it's right. Maybe she shouldn't bother to come back. (But she should check on the kitten...the mimic wouldn't really hurt the kitten?) The only thing that cuts through the fog is Brother's footsteps. She releases the breath that she'd been holding for a long time. She doesn't try to yell at him, for leaving her here. Jade just smiles,grateful.
Then she remembers that she's not the only one in danger, here. She tries to remember what her friends would most like her to ask. Her questions are posed respectfully, quietly. Jade tonight is stripped of all bravado. She asks as many questions as he has time for, as he'll tolerate, but the three she presses are:
When sleep comes, and it does soon enough, she curls in toward the younger mooseman, her fingers outstretched like she's trying to touch the black one, a child keeping track of the only people who will protect her.
Jade Cuddles Some Moosemen
Jade feels a hum of consideration, laced with frustration. They say this place is unique. I do not know if that's true. I was told they want to learn more about our home. He goes silent, and the only sound is water dripping off rocks, somewhere far off in the cave. Some of them believe that. Others are lying. He turns to Jade, with eyes like burn like distant stars. Some minds are harder to know. Like a frozen lake, their thoughts buried under layers of ice. Like yours.
2. Why do the strangers seem to be growing stronger?
I am seeking the source of them. But they are like shadows. They move, and disappear when light finds them. Brother's anger is deep and rumbling. It makes Jade think of earthquakes and forest fires, but it's not directed at her, and soon washes away from her awareness. They are unnatural. Brought here by your kind long ago. I don't understand them. But just as they come from your kind, they are drawn to your kind. Maybe the secret is there.
3. What can we do to protect ourselves?
You? He sits back to think, like an old crooked tree. When he settles, he's uncannily still. He doesn't have a clear answer, but some things seep into her head. Sadness, concern, and... inadequacy? It's alien, even to him. He hasn't been unsure of anything for a long time, and he isn't sure how to stop them once and for all. Brother moves again, and Jade realizes she was holding her breath. Although it's hard to make out anything about him, she knows he reaches into his own chest, and pulls out something small, clutched in his fingers.
He holds out his dark hand, offering a round stone to her. This is all I can offer you now. The stone is an opal, about two inches in diameter, which glows like sunrise when Jade moves her wand's light to it.
[If a mimic makes physical contact with someone holding Brother's opal, the opal will glow orange and the mimic will feel like their hand (or whatever part is making contact) is burning. The effects of the opal are not reproducible; attempts to study it will reveal that its magic is alien and unintelligible to wizards. This opal is a small piece of Brother himself.]
Jade Cuddles Some Moosemen
Jade accepts the little stone and puts it in her pocket, a comforting warm weight. “Thank you.”
There’s probably not a reason to whisper, but it feels better.
THE SCHOOL
Ari & open
She had walked to the Lodge with Jade - or she thought she had, but now she realizes it must have been a doppelganger. That means she's stranded here without a buddy, and more to the point, without Jade. She's been trying to be braver, this year. But the darkness still scares her, and the sun is setting rapidly. And now that she's alone, she can't pretend she's brave.
She knows she should say something to Ms. Vector, but others have mentioned that they saw Jade just moments ago. And she seems... busy. Too busy to offer small reassurances to Ari, anyway.
So instead, she hangs back by the entrance to the Lodge as the crowd of students begins to disperse, arms crossed over her chest, looking more than a little lost. The walk back to Ebonhide seems too daunting to take on right now.
Ari & Lucas
He seeks Ari out and leans against the wall nearby, expression locked, almost stricken. Lucas is quiet for a long moment, eyes searching nothing as he thinks and worries. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, he says the only thing he can think to say: "She's okay."
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(and also thank you this is so wonderful I gotta think of good responses and questions so like enjoy critical role I'm gonna be so slow ♥)
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But also I love this.
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i'm about to pass out but essie is available if you want her for whatever jade friend things
AND I AM VERY GLAD THE KITTEN IS SAFE
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