theshimmer | WEEK TWO

WEEK TWO

SECOND WEEK

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A new day dawns bright as you leave the town behind you; the map you've found is simple, easy to follow, and perhaps most importantly it's the only lead you have.

And besides, it takes you closer to the source of the Shimmer's influence; that alone may make it worthwhile.

The through the woods leading up the mountain is one that seems to have been taken before, though it's difficult to tell how long ago; the long grass seems to have been tamed in some ways, tamped down and trod upon, and the presence of odd flowers remains constant. They seem to obey no season, growing out among the grass and the trees high overhead.

Though it's worth noting that you don't seem to be alone here; occasionally there's a silence that sweeps over the area, the sort of dead quiet that accompanied your initial approach to the Shimmer. The sort of silence that implies a predator in the area.

Checking will reveal exactly that.

It seems as though something has been stalking you - cougars from the woods have come down toward the group, and while they keep their distance for now, that may not hold true for the rest of the week...

You hear things in the night.

It sounds like humans screaming.

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to the second week of The Shimmer! Unlike the deer and the other wildlife you've seen so far, the cougars that are tracking you are hostile - you are free to interact with them in any way you see fit, but they will react as a cougar would and they are entirely willing to try to attack the group. While we will not be NPCing these encounters, you are welcome to do as you like with regards to their presence, including fighting them off.]

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[...she is definitely willing to indulge her desire to set the creepy trees on fire, under the guise of charity. Gotta use that napalm somewhere.]

So you think this is just the beginning of our woes, then?

[That makes her sigh; it's not quite defeated, just...tired.]

I'm inclined to agree. It's one thing to hear about all this nonsense in the training facility, but it's certainly another to live it. I just hope we don't lose any members of the group.

I need you to not do anything stupid.

[Harsh, but she can apologise later; right now the priority is keeping this horrible thing from doing the damage it so clearly wants to do to Jean - it's not moving toward them just yet, but it certainly isn't backing away, either.]

Draw that handgun, if you know how to use it. We don't know if that stun gun will be strong enough to work, and there's no sense in wasting flares when bullets will do.

[Because boy does she want to empty some bullets into this thing.]

If you don't know how to use the handgun, keep it holstered and back away. I'll teach you later, once I've dealt with this.

It's tough, yeah. But I think it's only going to get worse from here on. They didn't think to supply us with anything for sleep, did they? Even just some earplugs?

[Blocking out those horrible noises in the night would be a big help.]

It's a pessimistic point of view, but...

[He thinks back to the beginning of last week.]

We've already lost something to this place. It's already gotten to us, whether we like it or not.

[He'd mentioned the possibility of this being a warning. They can take a week's worth of memories, take control of your senses to write and speak in nonsense...and then give it back. As if whatever this Shimmer is could do that at any time it pleased.]

I...wonder. [What Paige said...it got him thinking about what they'd seen in the town.] That place...

At this point, I am not too optimistic.

[ All of that looked... dead. Very dead. And though there are people unaccounted for, he has a hard time thinking that they could have escaped their very plantlike fate. ]

And if we do, we'll likely have to kill them, if what Page said about the last group is anything to go by. Studying a fresh body might be the best we get out of it.

[Perhaps unsurprising for a man who has made it clear his combat skill is limited— and who has told anyone who listens he's not even wild about hunting, he's been staying well within the camp, by fire or anything else he thinks will keep the cougars at bay.]

The plant life around here really doesn't make much sense, does it?

[Not that it stops him from looking around at it anyway. He might not be the botanist of the group, but that doesn't mean the fact that the plants not making sense isn't noticeable.

Later on, at night, he can be found by the fire, looking over his notes from the first week. They're completely unreadable, of course, but he seems to be studying them intently just the same.]

[Gabriel is many things, but a fighter he is not. That doesn't mean he's not curious about the cougars, but getting near them, especially at night, is a little... much.

Still, he's going to schmooze with the night watch, because that's just the sort of person he is.]

Every once in a while, I'd hear about mountain lions gettin' close to civilization growin' up. But I'd never seen one, let alone heard one.

It's eerie.

You have a point there; it's possible that whatever changes happened to the corpses left behind there are a result of having been dead for a long time.

[But... Hmm.]

If it comes down to that - that we'll need to kill them, that is - then I'm sure some of us will be able to handle it.

[Most of them won't, in his esteemed opinion. But he can definitely pick out a few who will when push comes to shove.]

Try not to worry about it too much now, ja? There's no telling what will happen until we get there.

[Yeager isn't even bothering to keep his weapon in briefcase form at night; he's got that ridiculously large rifle resting against his shoulder as he approaches and glances over what little he can see of Gabriel's notes from this angle.]

Any progress yet, or are they still just as baffling as before?

Well, that depends on what you did, doesn't it?

No objections.

[ And he's got his throwing knives, so there will soon be a lot of sharp metal objects flying through the air around here, which can only end well. ]

We can consider it a joint target practice.

[ Not that he really needs practice, but these aren't his usual knives either, so hey. ]

[ Hey, pal. ]

I think the moss and human topiaries kind of solidified that.

[ All these flowers seem pretty tame in comparison... not that he's familiar enough with plants to really recognize them as being particularly odd anyway. ]

[ He really hasn't been doing too well at conducting himself in an appropriate manner if there are this many people worrying about him or at least acting like they do... Garma pushes his hair back a little, in what is hopefully a haughty movement. ]

I'm not worried. I am on the combat team, you know? If push comes to shove, I'll be one of the people dealing with it.

[Gabriel's noticed, but honestly, with the cougars out and about, he can't complain.]

None whatsoever. I'm tryin' to see if there's some kinda pattern to it. Repeated symbols and the like. Just to get an idea. But I can't make anything out at all.

Whatever it is, it's not some one-to-one code.

[...well. He looks cheerful!]

I can't say it was, unless you count sittin' in camp doin' nothing in particular exciting.

What were you doing out there, anyway? You were gone a long time.

Of course you will. Make sure not to let me down, ja~? ☆

[garma's so cute........ look at him go..........]

That's what I thought. If it was some sort of one-to-one code, then one of you should have been able to break it by now.

[That's what researchers are for, right!!]

If there is some way to figure out exactly how it works, someone will stumble on it eventually. But I'm starting to think that there may be nothing that can be figured out - at least right now.

I hate leapin' to the magical option immediately.

[Says the man who spent two months as a werewolf.]

But I'm startin' to think that our writings were manipulated just like the plants. All scrambled up randomly.

I prefer to avoid it as well. Usually there's some much more reasonable explanation.

[Usually.]

Unfortunately, the Shimmer is very different from anything I've seen, so making assumptions won't do us any good.

Thing is, I could believe somethin' is capable of turning people into plants. Turn their blood into moss and all that.

[He says, without further clarification.]

Scary as hell, but I've seen a lot of weird shit.

But there's no rhyme nor reason to these plants. It ain't just affectin' people.

[Garma will find Heinwald in his tent, resting after another long day of hiking. He still lagged behind a fair bit, but not as much as before. He can at least keep up with the group now.

He's jotting down his notes for the day, and occasionally going over the unreadable notes from earlier on like they're suddenly going to make complete sense to him. Alas, they are not.

He allows Garma access to step in if he'd like.]

I am fine, all things considered. [The more unsettling aspects of the expedition so far haven't fazed Heinwald as much as the others.] Yusei has been assisting me in carrying supplies, so the treks haven't been as arduous.

[Heinwald doesn't have his own notes with him right now- he's out with his binoculars, occasionally checking with the heat-seeking function turned on. The cougars don't seem to be prowling around the perimeter tonight, which is good...

He catches what Gabriel's up to though, and takes a seat nearby.]

I would very much like to discover a key to this language sooner rather than later.

[If he hasn't figured it out, he's pretty sure Gabriel hasn't. An arrogant assumption, but that's Heinwald for you.]

[Well, we are now several days into "someone please make the screaming shut the fuck up", and naturally, the screaming has not shut the fuck up. Kimbley isn't unaccustomed to that sort of thing - if he's honest, he kind of likes it in moderation - but it's been a while since it was such a constant at night; either way, it's Bad, and this entire place is likewise Bad, and he is bound and determined to...not be shitty about this entire thing, actually, because letting it affect his mood that much feels like letting it win. Or something.

Of course, that mostly just means keeping himself as busy as possible so he doesn't have time to think about anything, because man, what a hellhole. So he's working on keeping his chemicals organized in the mornings, and making sure everything is stable and nothing's going to go off unexpectedly, and maintaining his guns before everyone leaves for the day and goes elsewhere. He'd taken one of the shotguns from the gun shop - nothing fancy, just one of the simple things for defensive purposes, though he imagines it would hurt pretty bad if it went off in the vicinity of someone's head.

If anyone else is awake at stupid o'clock in the morning (seriously, Kimbley, when do you sleep) he's not above conversation, even if he's not looking up from what he's doing.]

You regretting coming out here yet, or is it still worth whatever they offered you?

[...That's happy.

That said, though, he'll be staying fairly close to the group during today's advancing on whatever target we're currently aiming for; that night, however, he can be found off somewhere closer to the perimeter. He'll be out there pretty late (seriously, Kimbley, when do you sleep), so he's either keeping watch or thinking about...something.

What he says when joined isn't exactly comforting, but so it goes.]

So do you do think any of the other stuff out there used to be people, or are they just regular not-horrible plants? ...Less-horrible plants, I guess, they're still messed up.

I wouldn't say there's anyone specific I'm worried about.

[Though that may just be because he doesn't worry about anything...]

I do think some of them weren't prepared for just how difficult this would be. You've noticed how quiet most people are now, ja?

["Subdued" is probably a better word to describe it. Not even Yeager's immune to it after seeing what that town had to offer.]

[It's probably not surprising that Yeager's also up this late; he's another who never seems to sleep because he too is an enigma. Yeager barely manages to hold up a hand in greeting before Kimbley just jumps right into it.]

...Well, that's certainly the most creative greeting I've received.

[ty kimbley]

I'd certainly hope the plants out there aren't people, but I suppose that's entirely possible given what we've already seen.

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WEEK TWO

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