[OPEN] The Lore Of The Highlands

[plate_builder]

WHO: Reeve Tuesti, Open
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Shadow Hauntings
WHEN: During The Storm
WARNINGS: CW: Big, predatory dog, eyes in the darkness

I. The Cat-sìth | Early Storm Days

There wasn't much to account for the first time let himself go outside into the fog. It was actually a strange thing for him, where he hadn't noticed it the first day at all. He'd been inside, and his unique forms of magic didn't really seem to linger in his mind or awareness except when he was actively using it to reach for and control Mini. Given he'd been so busy with working on getting logs into the storage room he'd taken for himself in the Ampitheater, he'd gotten tired and just settled into a cot by the door and slept. So passed the first day of the storm. And so it was that Reeve didn't end up finding out their problem until he walked outside on the second day.

Even then it had taken a moment for him to process. Fog wasn't, in and of itself, a problem after all. Weather could be like that. It wasn't until there was a strike of crimson lightning that Reeve realized something was wrong. Even then it was mostly because the flash of lightning cast a new shadow from Reeve's body, and it was behaving weirdly.

Mostly because it was behaving. The shadow swirled and swirled until brilliant crimson eyes were staring out at him from the fog. Cat eyes. Cat eyes at the level of a dog's head. The form stepped forward, hissing, bearing teeth that were as stunningly white as the spot on its chest.

"Cat-sìth," Reeve said in shock. How could he not understand what this was with a single sight? It was a story that had shaped him as a child, what had led him to making the original Cait Sith. A fairy-cat, one that stole the souls of the dead. Which, of course, meant Reeve should be safe, provided he didn't die.

That wasn't good though. Okay, how to deal with this... Reeve was frozen in place as he thought and the shadow continued to grow. To split. To spread. And soon Reeve was being surrounded by scores of felien eyes.

"A man goes out in heavy rain with nothing to protect him from it. His hair doesn’t get wet. How does he do that?" Reeve asks. The feline creatures pause in their advance on him, instead looking at each other.

They couldn't resist riddles after all. And, with them distracted, Reeve turned and fled. Maybe he wasn't dead, maybe no one was particularly weak to the soul stealing (he hoped), but Reeve rememebered what his power was. Inspire, after all, was a soul magic. He was perhaps at too great a risk.

II. The Cù-sìth | Late Storm Days

Fairy-Cats were hardly the most threatening of the fae that stories were told of when Reeve was a child. They were so easily held back, so easily driven aside with riddles and attention and even cold temperatures. So Reeve had come to be prepared for the cats, and was more willing to go into the thick fog. It's not easy, of course, but he has the maps memorized so with carefully counted paces, he can more easily find his way in the fog. Sure, it wasn't perfect, you couldn't walk in a straight line for any distance without points of reference, but he could try.

The flash of lightning wasn't enough to make him jump, he was used to the ghostly felines arriving. The growling made him stop though. Made him freeze and look back over his shoulder. What he found made his blood go cold.

A massive, shaggy creature like a dog, but the size of a small cow. Its coat was a dark shade of green, and its bared teeth yellow against the color. The creature's eyes were a bloody crimson and shining, and as it snarled those eyes were narrowed.

The terror was too much. This creature was one Reeve knew, and was as dangerous to the living as the cat-sìth were to souls. Reeve knew the stories said the creature had a bark that was low and menacing and carried impossible distances. One bark could reach miles, even over the waters of the sea. And to hear three of them would be to die from terror of the sound alone.

"Fuck," Reeve said, and he started running. Even though there was silence behind him, that didn't keep him from running. He was too terrified to stop. the hounds were said to be silent hunters, and all he could do was run. He needed shelter and to find a way to plug his ears, and he needed it now.

Comments

[crystalmaster]

2.

Radley saw Reeve running in terror and ran over to him. "Hey, what's wrong?"

[plate_builder]

Terror was the only proper way to run in this moment. Another approaching him almost made Reeve want to drag the man on.

"Cu-Sith," he explains, panting. "We must hide. They are hunters, and we must get away from them. Need to remember what the stories say about driving them off."

[crystalmaster]

"Cu-Sith?!" Radley stares. "Isn't that a Scottish legend?" Was this guy from Earth, or did other places have the same story?

[plate_builder]

"What's Scottish?" Reeve asked. "They are stories told in the highland moors near where my family farm was."

At least, if the man had an idea of what Reeve was talking about, he might know to fear the massive, dangerous hound. The predator that was no doubt stalking them even now, meaning to bring them to their end.

"If it takes us down, the Cat-Sith might come to collect our souls. Better to be safe."

[crystalmaster]

"Scotland is a land in my world that also has highlands and the legends about Cu-Sith and Cat-Sith," Radley says. Maybe Reeve's world is another Earth with different country names, he wonders.

He looks around. "What are those things doing here?!"

[plate_builder]

Yes, he's had that discussion with Cayde and Tony both, and very surely proven that Gaia was not the same world. But he could happily have it again, when he was not so afraid for their lives.

"I've no clue. But they've been stalking me through the days of the storm. Though today is the first time the hound has come."

[crystalmaster]

"That's not good. Are the storms always like this?" Radley frowned.

[plate_builder]

"I am given to understand they vary," Reeve says, his voice a whisper. Then he stumbled, right over a stone. A strangely shaped one. One he knew. He oriented himself on it, turned, and then strode off. Soon enough he came upon the wall of a building. Now to circle it to a door.

"I try to avoid them. They... make Mini sleep in a way that is upsetting to us both."

[crystalmaster]

Radley continues following him. "... Mini?"

II

[quark_assassin]

Dustin is, like he has been for a lot of the storm, lost. At this point he can't even blame his lack of powers; he's tried getting around them by drawing maps, leaving markers at street corners and in the middle of roads, sticking to treeline or sidewalk and only taking left turns. And yet, every time, the fog manages to turn him around. Dustin hasn't seen his shop in nearly a week, and he's starting to worry that it won't be in one piece by the time he finds it again.

It's another one of those desperate attempts to stumble upon his house that has the boy wandering the fog again today. Unsurprisingly, he's managed to stray far off his plotted course and he suspects that he's nowhere near either his shop or city center. Dustin is moments away from just picking a direction and walking until he finds either a building or trees when, suddenly, Reeve finds him first. The man plunges out of the fog ahead and nearly bowls Dustin over.

"--What the fuck man?!" he snaps, stumbling on the foot that Reeve's trampled. "Watch it!"

[plate_builder]

Shit. Reeve cursed deeply, with an impressively Scottish-brogue-like accent, when he pulled away from the person he had run right into.

"Hard to watch in the fog, young man. But it doesn't matter right now. We need to find shelter. Quickly. Have you seen any buildings?"

[quark_assassin]

Dustin glances Reeve over with a quick glare, gingerly testing his weight on his foot. He recognizes the face and knows simply through exposure that this man is on the same ship as him, but the name isn't something he payed attention to much and is, therefore, annoyingly elusive. Rhys? Reggie? Definitely an 'R' name of some sort...

Whatever, not important. "What--why?"

[plate_builder]

Not just on a ship together, but of course Reeve remembered the... rough young man from their disagreements about the wood a month prior, but that doesn't matter now.

"Cu-Sith coming. It will fell us if we let it find us."

[quark_assassin]

Dustin feels like he should know that name. He should know a lot of stuff right now. But like so many other things, it sits annoyingly at the tip of his tongue.

At least the consequences for ignoring the creature are much easier to interpret. "Fuck--okay, buildings," Dustin stammers, swinging his head around. Obviously he can't see anything through the fog, but he's hoping for - expecting to get that twinge of muscle memory that tells him how to mirror his steps back. That never comes. Dustin snarls in irritation and stamps a foot. "--I don't know. I don't know! I haven't seen one in fucking--"

This would be where he gives an exact count of the minutes, but he can't remember that, either. Instead, Dustin flails his hands around his head in a wild, exasperated shrug.

[plate_builder]

And what a sharp tongue that the things sit upon. They could easily grow heart with carelessness. But for now, it was what it was, and a bit of not remembering was not a bad thing.

"This way," Reeve suggests, gesturing for the young man to follow him. It would be easier than letting the boy beat himself up.

[quark_assassin]

In spite of his lack of memory and general processing, Dustin still retains his usual habits built from spending his whole remembered life with free access to his powers. Habits like, questioning everything, even when they're being actively pursued by something that wants to kill them.

"Where are we going?" the boy asks sharply, pausing in his turn towards Reeve. "You don't know where any buildings are, either."

[plate_builder]

"I have made more maps of this city than you can imagine. I know where we are now, and with care and luck, I can get us where we need be," Reeve countered.

It just... depended on luck really. It was hard to walk in a straight line when you had no visual references.

I

[tsundullahan]

Somewhere in the distance was the sound of ...hoofbeats? The fog made it difficult to see anything, but it was becoming quite clear that whatever it was, was approaching and fast. Eventually a black form burst through the swirling mist, threatening to trample the cat creatures underfoot. It was undoubtedly the form of a horse.

...but this one had no head.

As it got closer to Reeve, the man could make out a figure on its back, clad in black, with a flash of yellow.

[plate_builder]

A horse. With no head. Listen, Reeve's people didn't have traditions to speak of dullahans, and didn't even have horses. Yet that didn't stop him from being truly fearful of the newly arrived creature.

Who wouldn't scream with horror at the arrival? Reeve was not that strong.

[tsundullahan]

It was an expected response, and sadly a common one. It was also however at this moment a startling one. Celty hadn't realized someone was out here. She'd glimpsed the cats first, found it strange. A memory tickled at the back of her mind, and while it didn't completely manifest, she felt that their presence was bad news.

And then she saw a man running.

Shooter diverted his course just enough to not run Reeve over, and Celty reached out to sweep him up and pull in front of her. It wasn't going to be the most graceful thing, but even with her natural strength, it would be too awkward to get the man properly seated.

[plate_builder]

See, there was no good to be had from the man in being caught up by the stranger. In fact, in his mind it was no different from being captured by a monster of his own world, and he wanted to shout in fear.

In fact, he just let himself do so, trying to push against the creature that was kidnapping him. He'd sooner try his luck on the Cait Sith, so he tried to beat it about the shoulders, to win free.

[tsundullahan]

Internally, Celty heaved an exasperated sigh. No, she couldn't blame him for panicking. She absolutely hated taking the hits for it though, but falling off a moving horse would be worse for him. Until she got a fair enough distance from the felines, she'd just have to endure it.

If she could just tell him that she was a friend, this wouldn't be a problem. She'd learned the hard way from the last storm that it left her without her normal means of communication. At least she was prepared- both with a real motorcycle suit and a pad of paper and a pen. No powers would have made her clothing situation awkward otherwise.

[plate_builder]

The horrid creature would not let him free, an wordless screaming was abandoned.

"Release me," he demanded, continuing to try and push her away. He'd rather fall, but he's a fool like that.

[tsundullahan]

Her sigh this time was full-bodied, but she kept a firm grip on his arm as she cast a look back to make sure no cat-sìth had followed them.

Rounding a ruined building, her mount finally slowed before she let go of Reeve. Celty turned her cat-helmeted head towards him, but she did nothing else, certain any more movements from her would just be seen as threatening.

[plate_builder]

He fell with the release, and he stumbled away, ready to flee. Except... Except still the rider is there, watching him.

"I... I have magic! I will use it on you if you approach," he says.

Too bad the magic isn't working.