wildestmods: (kodama)
wildestmods ([personal profile] wildestmods) wrote in [community profile] wildestlogs2021-10-31 08:54 pm

INTO THE WOODS ※ GAME EVENT


INTO THE WOODS


The faerie faire goes on into the evening, the faire filled with the sounds of revelry. For those who've spent the day there, the cool evening air is welcome respite from the bright sun that's shined all day. Those who still have some faerie gold might even want to invest in a cloak if they haven't gotten one yet, because it may get chillier as night falls.

As evening descends and various floating flowers start to glow to provide light, the spring faeries start to bring out night-time merchandise and amusements, like brightly-colored phosphorescent flower jewelry. Fireflies are charmed to blink in different colors and magical fireworks paint the sky in vibrant light. They're quieter than normal fireworks, but there are still satisfying snaps and hisses.

It seems like it'll be a pleasant night at the fair and those only just arriving in the evening will find a charming scene opening up before them.

But one thing that isn't noticed as evening begins to fall is the way the winter faeries suddenly slink away into the rising dark. Or at least it isn't noticed until it's too late. Some of the summer faeries start to react to it with alarm.

"Where did they go? The winter faeries are supposed to provide security, they signed an agreement. Go tell Ponto and get some faeries with warding magic to shore up the wards." Faeries start flying with purpose to speak to others that need to be put on security. "We can handle it ourselves but we need to get enough people out to the borders."

"Should we disperse the faire?"

"No, there's no sign of any threats and if we re-ward it, they'll be safer here than people scattering in the woods at night. Even if we had the bad luck to be attacked before the wards are re-done we can defend them with our magic - and we're contracted to."

Unfortunately that bad luck hits too soon. While the faeries scramble to re-do the defense wards, an unearthly fog rolls in. Terrible screeches start to rend the air, sounding similar to the screams of foxes. Warning bells ring from warning wards placed in certain areas of the woods.

"Nightrenders!" someone calls out and people in the crowd start screaming, gathering their loved ones closer. Horrifying beings start to pour into the faire and the hand stamps of all the people who bought tickets ahead of time start to glow. Faeries rally around those people, casting powerful defensive spells. Due to the panic, several stalls start to go up in flames due to knocked over cooking fires. Fortunately the stalls are small enough for people to escape them easily and spread far enough apart that they can be avoided, but smoke joins the fog in the air.

If a faerie sees one of the squad of otherworlders, and their lack of glowing hand stamp they're quick to offer a warning. "You have to run! The people who bought tickets ahead of time entered into a magical agreement of protection. The warding takes time to charge. We can do nothing for you, without slow-charge wards we're not powerful enough to protect you. The Nightrenders will devour your brain, or your soul."

Apparently that little disclaimer about not being fully protected that some of them read while coming in (for those that had arrived earlier in the day) was more important than it seemed.

The faeries always point the same way, still trying to help the people without tickets. "To the north! There's a place in a canyon with a large, glowing crystal. It looks like an abandoned market and dwellings. You'll be safe there, the magic of the Heartstone will protect you."

USEFUL LINKS

Setting Background/FAQ | Major NPCs


NIGHTRENDERS

The beings known as Nightrenders start amassing on the faire. Their movements are quick but clumsy, as if every one of their movements is made up of a hundred janky, smaller fits and starts, like they're made of clockwork. The faerie magic summer faeries use seems to do no more than stagger them back or temporarily knock them over, but at least makes it clear to the squad that they at least can be knocked over and slowed down. At the very least it seems to take them some time to get off the ground and back to their feet.

Attacks

They attack anyone they see in different ways. Some they wound with massive claws. Or they squeeze someone's torso and nearly suffocate them to give them a chance at possibly chomping into the heads of their victims to get at the brains. Most dangerously of all, they breathe in with a loud sucking noise, clawed hands guiding the magic that lets them drawn out someone's soul to devour it. It looks like a small delicate thing, sometimes in the form of a glittering star or a flower, as its drawn out of the victim's mouth.

This process can fortunately be interrupted if the Nightrender is attacked. As long as the soul hasn't been sucked into their mouths, it goes back into the victim.

Cursed Aura

But the whole thing is complicated by the magical aura caused by the Nightrenders. When they draw close, everyone around them is choked with fear, grief, and dread. Some succumb to visions of their worse memories playing out in their heads over and over. Some might be able to still stagger away in this state, trying to see through the visions, especially if someone helps them along, but others will find it nearly impossible to do anything other than curl on the ground. It is unknown why some don't have the flashbacks or can power through them more than others, though it's thought that those that repress their bad memories or negative emotions struggle more.

Anyone that helps someone who's having visions may get a glimpse of their memories - and empathically feel a flash of the pain, fear, rage, or grief they felt during the memory. If two people try to help each other move forward when both are having visions, they may transmit glimpses back and forth.

Weaknesses

The Nightrenders cannot be destroyed, only knocked down, or slowed down. However, those with "holy" weapons, spells, or powers, or those who have weapons, spells, or powers that can hurt "ethereal" beings or evil spirits will find they can cause them enough pain that sometimes they run away. Spells and abilities that create magical manifestations of good will and happiness, as well as spells of light, or purification can also harm them and drive them away.

THE SISTERS

The Nightrenders don't speak, but some have the misfortune of hearing two voices echo out of the fog. The come in stereo, only just slightly out of sync.

"Chosen Ones, you must be so confused. You've become lost in the forest, and the Dark Lord's nightmares already pursue you. Fortunately for you, our mistress desires your company. You'll adore obeying her will. Don't run, embrace a better destiny."

Two woman in white masks and straw hats, with cloaks made from the feathers of ravens, come out of the fog, body language almost identical. No eyes can be seen through the eyeholes of their masks, just darkness.

They start attacking, and when they beset their victims they stop speaking, refusing to talk or answer questions, instead filling the air with wild, mocking laughter. One wields twin katanas, the other a kusarigama with a painful claw at the end of the chain that closes down when it hits something.

Nets

While they're extremely willing to injure the squad they seem to be trying to capture them instead of killing (albeit capturing them after they're maimed), occasionally tossing out nets of glowing silver of moonlight. Being caught in the nets renders someone paralyzed and weak, a deep cold settling into the marrow of their bones. Some may even hear the shrieks of dying loved ones, whether they've actually died in reality or not. The Sisters apparently have the strength to carry even the largest of the squad in the air and will attempt to fly away when someone is ensnared.

The nets are difficult to destroy, but can be with great force of some kind. It has to be aimed at the part closest to the Sisters' hands, because the force required to break the nets would also injure those trapped inside them. The cold and paralysis fades when the victims are free, but some of the rescued may feel weak and need help staying on their feet. Unfortunately, even when they're broken, the nets of moonlight seem to be something they can recreate within several minutes.

Smoke Monsters

For some, they don't attack directly. Instead, one of the sisters pulls out a pipe and smoke monsters pour out of it. They try to drag their victims closer to the sisters so they can be caught in their nets. Fortunately, they can be destroyed with enough force.

While the Sisters seem impossible to injure, they can at least be caused pain with extreme enough attacks, something that makes them teleport away before risking any further injury.

PROMPTS


a) RENT
Uh oh, a Nightrender has you. Either it's squeezing you so hard you're suffocating and about to chomp into some juicy brains, or it's in the process of sucking your soul out through your mouth. In either case, you're likely broadcasting visions of your worst memories in small flashes to whoever is near. You're in desperate need of rescue and the summer faeries can't help - their magic is all but useless on the Nightrenders if it didn't have time to build by a covenant. Only others that fell into the Wilderlands like you did can save you.

(Feel free to provide multiple memory options ala a memshare, but keep in mind they'd only be flashes instead of a full memory!)

b) NABBED
The Sisters have got you, their smoke monsters are trying to drag you away, or you're still trying to fight them to avoid being caught. It'll be a lot easier if you have help - otherwise you're outnumbered and possibly outclassed. The only way to stop them is fight back hard enough that they feel you're not worth the effort and teleport off.

c) RESCUE
Perhaps you're not affected by the Nightrenders or are just good at powering through the haze of painful magic they're inflicting on the area. Either way, you're out to help the people around you. Perhaps you run into another member of the otherworlder squad that needs saving - or maybe they join you to protect a third otherworlder, or a denizen of the Wilderlands that also forewent a ticket and is therefore at risk. Unlike many of the people from other universes, many of the denizens of the Wilderlands are powerless and thought they were in for a day and night of safe fun.

There are also other hazards to rescue people from. Maybe a small child has been separated from their parents and is disoriented by smoke, in need of rescued from some flaming tents. Or maybe an elderly person has fallen and is at risk of being trampled. There are lots of reasons people might need help, due to fires, panicked horses, collapsing tents, and panicking crowds.


d) RUN
It's time to run! Perhaps, after some screaming and confusion - and teleportation - you finally grab a buddy and bolt through the woods. You better run fast because the Nightrenders and the Sisters may give up chase at some point but it may take time and moving through difficult terrain in the fog to lose them. Perhaps you and a partner have to help a third, injured otherworlder because they're having trouble walking.

Better head north like the faeries said. The faeries were right that this Heartstone to the north may be your only hope - and you'll have to reach it despite the fading evening light, skies overcast with dark clouds, and fog.

It may be easier navigating in the dark with a partner or two.


e) WILDCARD
Maybe you decide to do none of the above. Go nuts!


OOC DETAILS

Quest magic: Players can handwave that the quest bond magic is tugging the group northward to the safe place, with the mysterious Heartstone. They can also use the quest magic as an excuse for many different threads. As the group tries to run, their scattering movements will affect the magic and cause people to teleport at random, allowing for many different encounters with many other characters. This can explain why two characters that might otherwise stay together through the whole thing might get separated.

Network: The network can now be used. Mirrors can and do float if someone is trying to talk through one and running, and can follow someone as they move, allowing people to communicate on the go or during action. Feel free to start using the network in parallel with the log events.

NPCing: The mods won't be npcing but players are free to npc the actions of bystanders, the Nightrenders, and the Sisters. The Sisters won't speak, just continue laughing, and players can npc their specific attacks, capture attempts, and teleportation. Please just don't have them talk or godmode them dying - they're currently a little too sturdy for that. If you have a question about whether/how something will affect them feel free to ask the mods in the first comment below.

Environment: Feel free to manipulate the environment. There are things left over from the faire people can work with like bow and arrow sets from the competition, horses (which can be temporarily stolen, though we'd like to limit any that are permanently stolen to the (1) horse another player already requested), and even explosive faerie fireworks (they're quieter than the normal thing but still create a big bang). Abandoned stalls also have weapons and supplies to grab as people run for it. If they didn't think to steal or buy useful things during the day, please limit this to only grabbing one or two items as they run, like a cloak or sword. They won't have time to loot for more.

Experimentation: We'd like to encourage people to experiment! Obviously ask other players if they're down first, but it could be fun to do something other than 2 person threads, like maybe 2 PCs banding to rescuing a 3rd. Players are also encouraged to set limitations if they think it'd be more interesting, like locking their final escape prompt from the faire grounds to a single thread partner and playing out the drama of a full escape.

[OOC: Plot is visible so people can see and start plotting together but not open until Nov. 1. The mods will enable comments then.]
millenyal_pink: (Default)

Re: d

[personal profile] millenyal_pink 2021-11-02 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
Most have already fled, but Elle is looking for stragglers when she catches a newly familiar scent. She sees someone she doesn't recognize pulling Little Cato away from the attackers and into the woods. They're being chased by the Nightrenders.

They're running as quickly as they can, but it doesn't look like it'll be quick enough.

She bounds towards them and the memories hits her like a slap in the face.

The betrayal is all too familiar. The drowning is all too familiar.

Elle wakes up to her father and mother standing over her. She's covered in blood. Her brother is dead.

No-- not again. She won't let the memories take hold.

She still in her war-form when she leaps in front of them.

"It's me, Elle! Get on my back, I can get us out of here!" she pleads ​before shifting into a giant, dire-puma and bows her head. She makes eye contact with the girl holding Cato.

Please, she begs them silently. I don't want anyone else to get hurt. We don't have much time.
furtitude: (095)

Re: d

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-11-02 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
Drowning. Her memory of drowning is appropriate to the moment. He feels like his bad memories are pouring down his throat into his lungs. He's suffocating. He's had time to deal with this, but he's been pushed backwards into that moment, standing there in front of the oppressive presence of Invictus.

Then he sees the vision of another parent, hands bloody.

"I can't," he sobs. "My dad! I got separated from my dad. I can't leave yet. I have to find him!"

He tries to fight Catra's grip.
heterochrocatic: (122 » I'm always in this twilight)

Re: d

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-11-02 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
There's no time to argue with him. Even as he sobs and claws at her, her own memories rise--her own tiny kitten-self, sobbing, alone and hurting.

"We'll find him, I promise--!" Catra says and heaves with her one hand to hurl him up towards Elle. Whether he lands on her back or gets carried along in her jaws, she isn't picky. Shape-changing can be remarked on later when they're away from these things.

With both hands free and lunges, slashes at one of the Nightrenders to force it back, then turns to spring up onto Elle's back herself.

"Go!"
millenyal_pink: (cat)

Re: d

[personal profile] millenyal_pink 2021-11-02 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Elle catches Little Cato's scruff with her teeth. She hopes he can forgive her for this.

Catra's memories melt into her own: a child crying in her room, alone--

--Elle standing between a crying child and a man with a gun.


She feels Catra land on her back and hears her say "Go!"

Elle bolts.

She's moving as fast as she can without throwing Catra off. The forest becomes a near-blur as they sprint through. She doesn't bother to try to figure which way North is, it's far easier to track the scents of those who have already run away.

Cato is managing to scratch the hell out of her but the wounds are healing almost as quickly as he makes them. At this point, the pain barely registers through the adrenaline.
furtitude: (095)

Re: d

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-11-03 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
There is a lot of hissing and scratching and fighting, but he can't break free. She's far too strong and while he's a bit stronger than a human child his size, he's still...well, his size.

"Put me down! Put me own, I need to find my dad!"

He eventually stops fighting and covers his face with his hands as she carries him.

A memory flash: He's about a year younger than he is now, visibly so, because he's put on some height since then. This memory is earlier than the other one they saw. The docking door of his crew's ship closes on a rainstorm. Avocato and Little Cato's fur is still wet as they hug. It's clearly a very emotional reunion of some kind.

"As excited as I am about today, I'm even more excited for tomorrow," says Avocato, tears trickling from his eyes.

"Yeah," says Little Cato.

The tender moment is ruined by ominous beeping, that quickly increases in speed and pitch. Avocato reaches and gasps as he finds something stuck to Little Cato's back - something that blinks ominously, too.

"No," Avocato breathes out, breath hitched.

"No," gasps Gary, the blonde man who was in the other memory, standing nearby.

Avocato looks at the other man plaintively. His last words are, "Take care of my boy."

And then he sprints across the length of the ship's hold to the other end.

"No, daaaad!" Little Cato screams, but Gary reaches out and grabs him, holding him back. Avocato dives bodily on the grenade and it explodes, blowing out the bulkhead at the back of the hold. It starts venting atmosphere and Gary immediately does what Avocato asked and looks out for his boy, grabbing him bodily, wrapping an arm around a ladder, and clinging as hard as he can to keep him from getting sucked out. Little Cato's screams are drowned on by the rush of air but tears pour so hard down his face that they're visible before getting sucked away, as he reaches desperately for his father.

Avocato's bloody, mauled form fades into the distance as it falls, and when the emergency forcefields slip into place and he can finally stand again, when Gary finally lets go, he stands there, staring blankly, tears rolling down his face.

In reality, tears start pouring out from under Little Cato's hands.

"I can't do it. I can't do it again," he says to Catra and Elle, voice trembling.
Edited 2021-11-03 06:16 (UTC)
heterochrocatic: (195 » everything to me)

Re: d

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-11-03 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"Cato--"

Catra is looking back over her shoulder as they charge through the trees, one hand still gripping her weapon and the other buried in Elle's fur, clinging tight so she doesn't get thrown off by the motion of the huge cat. She releases that grip to reach down, offering to haul Cato back up to be with her now that he doesn't seem as if he's about to go launching himself back into mortal peril.

"Cato, we'll find him! I promise!"

Her own words echo in her head, memories spilling out, cracking and flickering around the three of them. Not images, so much as echoes. A girl speaking to Catra--offering assurance that Catra fears cannot be real.

"You look out for me, and I look out for you. Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other."

"You promise?"


The same girl, now a young woman, stretching a hand towards Catra as Catra struggles with pain and fear and desperation, her mind not entirely her own.

"I'm going to take you home."

"...Promise?"

"I promise!"

"We'll find your dad, but if we stay here, you'll be hurt or worse and then how's your dad going to feel if he can't find you?" Catra asks in the present, her voice heavy and pinched with stress. She's never had a father. Or really a mother. But she knows what it is to want so desperately for that one person you can rely on to be there for you. Or you for them.
Edited 2021-11-03 17:35 (UTC)
millenyal_pink: (cat)

Re: d

[personal profile] millenyal_pink 2021-11-03 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Elle lets Catra take Cato from her jaws, slowing down momentarily so he can safely move onto her back.

"No one else is dying for her today."
"Then we don't do it for her. After all she's done, after all you've done, you don't owe her shit. We're going to survive this and we're going to do it together. I promise."


The memories are beginning to fade as they get further and further away from the Nightrenders, which Elle is grateful for. She is refusing to think about what it means to have seen all these other people's memories, or what it means for them to have seen hers.

"Do it. It's the only way."
"I can't. I won't."
"It's okay-- I promise that it'll be okay."


Elle could probably keep up this speed for a while longer, but she wants to pace herself where she can. She doesn't know the next time she's going to get to truly rest, so once they seem to be in the clear she plans on slowing down from a sprint into a fast trot. It'll still be faster than all of them trying to move on foot, but she can at least conserve some energy that way.
furtitude: (057)

Re: d

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-11-05 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
He reluctantly moves onto her back, only because he doesn't want to keep being scruffed and because he knows his dad would want him to get away, to get somewhere safer and the magic keeps clouding his vision, keeps yanking bad memories free.

"I'm going to take you home..."

"We're going to survive this and we're going to do it together."

Together.

There's a flash of him as an even smaller child, only eleven, but looking younger due to his size, in a prison cell with clear walls, laying on a cot, waiting for someone to come for him.

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting...

He'd wait three years of his childhood before someone came.

"Dad'll come," he whispers to himself, looking up at the ceiling with a blank expression. "He'll come. He'll come..."

He'd never let himself be upset when Lord Commander was around, and over time he'd grown more and more insulting and daring. But in the beginning at his most scared, he'd had to work hard to reassure himself. Eventually, as the years wore on, he'd had to cling harder and harder to being sure his father would come. Just to survive.

In the real world, Little Cato winces, and then the second Elle slows down he throws himself off her again.

"We're far enough, I need to try to find my dad!" His expression is plaintive. "I've seen some of your memories, too. You should understand."

His shoulders hunch.

"He's always come for me. Before he even met me, he helped my other dad save me. And Gary's never let me down the way my other dad has." His tail sticks out straight and fluffed up, agitated. "I'm not leaving these woods until I at least know he made it into them. When I got teleported away or whatever that was, we were running from those creepy mask ladies."

At the very least, the memory effect isn't so strong he can barely move anymore.
heterochrocatic: (154 » But every time I am with you)

Re: d

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-11-05 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Catra drops down from Elle's back, spear across her shoulders, and alights next to Cato. Her face is grim, determined.

"I'm staying with you, Cato. You're not gonna be alone while I'm around, okay?" SHe says it fiercely because all of the anger and hurt of being a lonely little girl who no one cared about is boiling up in her chest. This kid deserves to have his family, damn it.

"Your dad was at the faire, right?"
millenyal_pink: (intense)

Re: d

[personal profile] millenyal_pink 2021-11-06 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
When Elle feels Cato and Catra get off her back, she turns around and shifts back to Homid. She can hear the emotion in his voice. She feels it in her chest, all too familiar. It's the emotion she's been suppressing since she arrived here-- panic at being separated from the only family he has anymore.

"I'm not going anywhere either," her tone is gentler than Catra's, but no less determined.

She makes eye contact with Catra, trying to make her understand that Elle can't leave Cato, either. Neither of them were going to let him to this alone.

"We said we were gonna watch each other's backs, remember?"

"Your human dad, right?" Elle remembers him talking about his two dads back at the Faire, and it seems like only one of them was worth the loyalty he is giving them. "Do you have anything of his? I can track him. Even if you don't I probably still could, it would just be a bit harder."
furtitude: (042)

Re: d

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-11-06 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, my human dad." He thinks. "Me and my dad switched cloaks at one point. I thought his was cooler and he thought mine was cooler. I didn't wear it much yet so it probably still smells like him."

He pulls it out of his little leather satchel and holds it out.

It does smell human.

It also inexplicably smells like dad and cookies. Somehow. As if dadness and cookies have oozed through his pores.
heterochrocatic: (046 » I hope it stays dark forever)

Re: d

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-11-07 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Catra leans forward to sniff at it. She has a keen sense of smell, but isn't much of a tracker. Mostly because she's lazy.

"...Okay that's pretty unique." She nods at Elle.

"Think you can find him?"
millenyal_pink: (talk1)

Re: d

[personal profile] millenyal_pink 2021-11-08 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
Elle really wants to meet the person who smells like this. She's never scented anything that just straight up smells like dad.

"Yeah, I can find him. I'll have to shift, so we won't be able to talk. Do you know-"

She cuts herself of, trying to think of how to explain Kheuar to non-Bastets.

"Do you know how to understand me when I'm a cat? The... instinctual communication through sounds and body language."

It's a somewhat shit description, but it'll have to do for now.
furtitude: (005)

Re: d

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-11-08 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
"Uh." A pause. "I didn't even know what a cat was until I met my dad. He calls me spider-cat."

A pause. "I actually don't know what a spider is, but I assume it's something fast and he's mushing two animals together."

He shrugs one shoulder.

"Ventrexians don't have any ties to Earth. My species just evolved to be really, really similar to an Earth animal, I guess."

Really, really similar, down to even liking milk, pouncing, and landing on all fours after a fall.

"Just lead the way. We can just follow you."
Edited 2021-11-08 08:56 (UTC)
heterochrocatic: (093 » I look around and)

Re: d

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-11-08 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I mean... the name is Catra and I am very cattish but... not actually a cat," Catra adds along with Cato.

"So I'm all felinid but not exactly like whatever you turn into, sorry Elle. I'm from Etheria."
millenyal_pink: (cat)

Re: d

[personal profile] millenyal_pink 2021-11-08 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Elle understands that they're not cats, but she does not have time to frame her question in a more nuanced way.

Also, apparently they're both aliens and Elle does not have the time or energy to unpack that right now.

"Ok, I just wanted to ask because it seems like we all have some similar instincts," and she leaves it at that.

She shifts to her feline form and familiarizes herself with Cato's dad's scent. For a moment she's overwhelmed because Cato is covered in it, but she steps away from him opens up her senses and uses her padaa to try to catch the trail.

There. Cookies and Dad and metal.

She turns to makes sure Cato and Catra will follow, and starts moving. She tries not to go so quickly as to leave them behind while still moving with a sense of urgency. The sooner they find this guy, the sooner they can get to safety.
cookiehusband: (I'm wondering how I'm not dead)

[personal profile] cookiehusband 2021-11-09 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
It's not long before the screaming starts.

"Little Cato! LITTLE CATO!"

It's the sort of distant but voice-breaking screaming that pitches Gary into high notes he can't quite reach, his shouts cracking in his panic.

"Has anybody seen my son? About yea tall, orange, just a little guy of the universe? Extremely soft ears, very adorable face, claws and teeth like knives! Really fierce knives!!"

He sounds like he might cry if he doesn't hear a "yeah I seent 'im" soon.
furtitude: (gary - yet more hugs)

maybe Gary again, then Catra and Elle?

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-11-09 08:08 am (UTC)(link)
These deep, dark scary woods are the kind of place that creepy dopplegangers might call to you from in the dark. But no monster could imitate his dad that well. He's just too weird for a monster to nail it so completely.

"Dad! Dad, I'm here!" he calls out. "Also I'm not alone, my friend is a giant cat...thing, don't freak out!"

Because he has no idea if it's normal for Earth cats to be freakishly huge like Elle, because he's never actually seen one. He doesn't want his dad to go aaah because he thinks she'll eat him.

Little Cato darts through some bushes ahead of his companions and sees his dad, running into a glade at the same time. It's getting dark but his blonde hair is pretty visible in the moonlight.

"Dad!"

He runs over and jumps at him, in what would be a tackling hug if he wasn't so pint-sized. He clings.

"After I got teleported away, I couldn't find you," he says and he's not quite crying, but his voice is trembling and his eyes are watering.

Normally, he'd be less scared and more confident about being reunited but...

But things have been bad. Back home before now. And here, in this place, with these monsters dredging up raw memories. After finding out what Avocato did, he's officially down to one parent right now, and definitely has only one person he loves from back home here - they hadn't found any of the other crew in this place. Not that there were many of them left.

The memory thingy flashes again but the view is sort of...faded. Residual. The monsters are pretty far off now.

It's a very simple image, of Little Cato looking at Avocato's helmet in his hands - the one he started wearing after his father died, that his father let him keep wearing when he came back. He places it on tube-like medical pod. It's Gary that's inside the pod, beaten, shot, bandaged, bloody. Barely alive, tubes helping him breathe.

In one fell swoop, he's lost one father (as far as he knows), because he had to shoot the (possessed) man who raised him, and the other father figure is close to death. Little Cato falls to his knees in front of the pod, tears streaming from his eyes, head hanging.

The memory makes it clear what fears have been running in his thoughts since the ruckus started and he got teleported away. He has many reasons to fear losing a father. Again.

The memory fades and he squeezes his father harder.

"I was scared," he admits. "I thought that creepy lady maybe got you."
cookiehusband: (You're miles ahead)

Re: maybe Gary again, then Catra and Elle?

[personal profile] cookiehusband 2021-11-09 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Little Ca-OH that is a LARGE CAT!"

Gary stops for only half a second before running forward anyway, to meet Little Cato mid-leap and catch him easily midair. Little Cato is so wee.

The outside view of himself in the medical chamber makes his heart skip a beat, but also makes him cuddle Little Cato closer. "Hey, hey buddy, it's okay, I told that lady I already have a deadly girlfriend, remember? She totally left me alone."

She didn't. She chased him a mile into the woods before he lost her, huddling terrified and exhausted and in pain in the shelter of some tree roots. But that's not important for Little Cato to know.

"I am so, so glad you found me."

He rubs his forehead against Little Cato's scalp, one final all-encompassing hug before he lets Little Cato back down to the ground and looks back to his companions. "And you - you made friends?"

One girl looks almost Ventrexian, the other - well the other is a mountain lion. Well. Little Cato could make stranger friends.

"First day in a brand new hellscape and you're already making friends! I'm so proud!"
heterochrocatic: (161 » Love its you none like you)

Re: maybe Gary again, then Catra and Elle?

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-11-10 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Catra pauses, leaning against her spear as she watches Cato reunite with the human guy who she guesses is his dad. She gives a him a little nod, almost a wry smile.

"Before you ask, I'm not Ventrexian," she says. "Cato and I had that chat already."
millenyal_pink: (cat)

Re: maybe Gary again, then Catra and Elle?

[personal profile] millenyal_pink 2021-11-11 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Elle's heart warms at the sight of the father-son reunion.

She lets the two talk interrupted for a minute, but the fade vision from Cato is a stark reminder that they're not out of the woods yet, metaphorically. And literally.

She makes a huffing noise and impatiently swishes her tail. They need to get out of here.
furtitude: (030)

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-11-12 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
Little Cato actually smiles, even despite having been scared for his dad and having been hit

He kind of did already make friends, didn't he? That's kind of new and weird - he hasn't really been around many other people his age - and the only two since he was busted out of captivity are gone now.

It feels kind of nice, even with how bad their situation is.

He turns to the two of them.

"Thank you. For helping me out of there and helping me find my dad."

He grabs his dad's hand.

"But I think that was Elle for 'we need to book it.' C'mon, dad, we need to go. We're safer making our way there in a group."
cookiehusband: (Time stands still)

[personal profile] cookiehusband 2021-11-12 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
With a little friendly wave to both Catra and Elle, repeating their names so they stick in the old Mind Palace, Gary nods. "Good call. Let's get out of here before one of those dangerous ladies realizes she wants a piece of all this." He gestures an appropriately silly amount to his dad bod, then grabs little Cato's hand to run through the deep dark forest.
Edited 2021-11-12 05:40 (UTC)