In the nightmares of the mind here comes something horrid to find

[element_wizard]

It may have been noticed that very few things - if anything - fazed Alec. He went through the situation with a bright, often manic, smile on his face gleefully poking anything that required to be poked and things that didn't.

Which is why his behavior was remarkably strange when it came to a forest that suddenly showed up overnight. Admittedly it wasn't the nicest looking of forests. It called to mind every nightmarish forest that has existed. The branches were all skeletal and bare and they reached up towards the sky as if clawing for help. Despite the lack of wind they creaked and groaned. Things whispered constantly offering promises of anything, release, power, a merry good time.

Just barely visible through the branches were seven, bleached white skeletons -skeletons that should have long fallen apart- with nooses around their necks and just the shreds of clothing.

As for Alec, he stood near the edges of the woods, just out of the reach of its shadows, looking like he'd just seen the scariest fucking thing in his life and wasn't going to move least it attack him.



((Ooc note: The forest is, in Alec's world, where the seven eldest children of the first fey were murdered for no known reason. Haunted it now seeks more souls to join it in its misery. Going into it is a bad idea.))

Comments

[element_wizard]

He takes a deep breath.

"Long time ago. Ages before ages when the fair folk were still new, someone killed the eldest children of the first fey. Killed them with iron and then hung them in that grove there. While you can kill the fey by various means, iron is perhaps the cruelest and most hideous way of doing it. Those seven children were the first fey ever to die," Alec says with a far away look on his face, recounting the story he's heard as a child.

"And they didn't take it to well. The grove became haunted by their spirits and they seek revenge for what happened to them and the seek others to join their misery. So they try and lure others into it to join in their misery."

He gives a bark of laughter. "Misery loves company, after all."

[lawbender]

She shakes her head. Whether or not the story was true, that was one of the things that she hated most about human nature. It probably caused more crime than anyone could ever credit.

"The people who killed them must be long dead themselves," she says. "But that never seems to matter to someone with a real grudge. But what could a ghost do? They are generally insubstantial, or so I've heard."

[element_wizard]

"Oh. No. He... or she... is still alive. Death would be too good for them. Death would end their suffering. The parents are still alive and the Grove is still there to remind them of their loss." Alec holds up his hand and a bit of fire appears in it. "Fire is insubstantial and yet it still can burn."

[lawbender]

She shifts her weight, just a little, surprised at the sudden movement. He does not move like a firebender does, does not use the same techniques or way of carrying himself, and she knows he simply meant it as a meaningful demonstration. So she relaxes again, or at least, as much as one did when standing on the edge of this quite possibly dangerous forest.

"It sounds like a good fire would only improve this place," she remarked dryly.

[element_wizard]

The forest creaks at her words and the shadows seem to lengthen stretching for her. Whispers form rustling like leaves in the wind threateningly. Alec takes a quick step back, definitely jittery and extinguishing the fire quickly.

"I don't think it liked that idea at all."

[lawbender]

Lin also takes a step backwards, narrowing her eyes at the forest. Did it really just threaten her? She crossed her arms and lifted her head, not backing down.

"It doesn't like anything, from what you've told me. Could probably do with a good pruning."

[element_wizard]

Yes. The Forest did just threaten her. The pruning comment seems to make things upset. The shadows reach forward again and this time start to take on indistinct shapes of seven shadowy forms.

A voice that sounds like a pebble rattling down hill scratches out, "Come... come join us under the Hanging Tree earth speaker." A clawed hand reaches out for her.

Alec makes a squeeking noise.

[lawbender]

Lin takes a few steps backward. She's not sure what the Forest can honestly do to her, but she doesn't like the talking. She wonders how it knows that she can command the earth.

"It may be a good idea to continue this discussion elsewhere," she says to Alec.

[element_wizard]

The trees rattle and scratch.

"Yeah. Very good idea."

[lawbender]

She turns her back on it and starts walking away -- not in any particular rush, so as not to seem intimidated. But it certainly was an organized retreat. She's quiet for a moment, lost in thought.

"We should probably warn people about that."

[element_wizard]

"I should make a sign. Or something." Alec doesn't mind looking like he's intimidated.

Because he is.

The Grove is evil and maliciousness stuck together into one hateful mess. It scares him a lot.

Which, considering who and what Alec is, says a lot.

[lawbender]

"That's a good idea. I'll announce something on the network," she answers easily. She has a tendency to consider the safety of the town as her primary responsibility.