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Post by Francis Bonnefoy on Mar 16, 2010 8:27:16 GMT -5
Life was made up of moments, be they special, romantic, plain, normal, day-to-day or what-have-you, they were just moments. Sometimes the moments were bad, sometimes they were good. Then sometimes... they were moments in the forest. At others they were moments in dungeons and castles, in plains and over skies. This particular moment... was a moment in the forest.
Or a particular forest. It was almost... magical in its being, Francis mused as he walked along the empty paths. The silence of an hour far too early for waking with the chirp-chirp-chirping of the little birds in the trees. The sounds of the woodland creatures as they woke from burrow and took to scurrying about along branches and grass.
"You can get lost in this place..." he murmured, pushing aside a low-hanging branch before it cut his skin. It was such a magical forest, really... you could lose yourself between the trunks, beneath the covers of the branches tangled together into a canopy that blocked out the suns' rays.
The more he travelled deeper, the more he seemingly lost track of it. Time and people and all his sense, ensnared by the woods until this was finally understood as he...
THUMP!
"Ouch!" He muttered, pushing himself up from the ground, glancing about the place for the cause. And yet, there was nothing in the pathway. Utterly nothing could have tripped him and yet... he had fallen. He was not a klutz! That was not beseeming of an elegant person such as himself!
Standing once more, he brushed the filth from his clothes, looking suspiciously around for the cause of the faulty. He had not tripped himself! He knew this!
So he was right, standing perfectly still, yet gravity overtook him, his palm meeting the ground again as something yanked his ankles. Turning around, blue eyes spotted something that they most certainly did not like...
A plant. Was moving all on its own. Well, this was... extremely unpleasant. Clutching onto a branch, he muttered something and managed to transform the branch into a dagger. Reaching behind, he cut the vine holding him down and scrambled away.
"Mon dieu..." he muttered as he moved back, seeing the giant mass of vines and plants parts that were unlikely to be completely innocent. "Well... I guess anything can happen in these forests..." he muttered to himself, sincerely hoping someone would come along to help out, it was like fighting an octopus! Drawing the sword he carried, one that he was not particularly skilled in using, although adept at it, he prepared for the next attack.
How foolish it felt to fight a plant of all things.
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Mar 16, 2010 14:17:12 GMT -5
This forest had fascinated Arthur ever since he had been a small child; they had been exactly how he had imagined the magical forests were like in the fairytales he had been told. Whenever he passed nearby, he would always stop by and take a wander amongst the trees until he emerged again, and prided himself on knowing the forest like the back of his hand. So then – why the hell was he lost?
Arthur cursed under his breath, scowling. He had travelled through this forest so many times. Hell, he could even recall that very tree he had just passed (for the fifth time so far); its bark was scorched lightly from where Arthur’s cooking had accidently exploded once, though he still had no clue as to why it had done that. At first, he had been relieved to find the sight, confident he could now find his way out. One hour later, however, and he found himself passing the same tree again. He tried again, but no matter how many times he did, he seemed to be going around in circles.
Perhaps all Arthur needed was a bit of sleep. Judging by the heavy silence in the air, it was the early hours of the morning. Gods, how long had he been in here, wandering? If only he could find a small glade, he could set up a fire, cook some food, and get a little rest before carrying on. Yes, that sounded like a good idea.
However, a sudden shuffling noise, somewhere to his right, caught his attention. Arthur whipped around to face the sound, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow, just in case. A loud ‘thump’ followed, along with an ‘ouch’ which Arthur barely managed to pick up on.
Perhaps someone was hurt. Perhaps it was a trap.
Either way, maybe they would know the way out of this forest?
Keeping his bow and arrow at the ready - not wanting to use magic until he knew what he might be fighting - he made his way, cautiously, over to where he had heard the sound. Arthur’s eyes widened at the sight. There was a man, and he appeared to be waving his sword around... at a plant? Arthur scoffed, putting away his weapon and stepping out from behind the tree.
“What the hell are you do—” his sentence was cut off sharply as something slithered around his ankles, pulling his feet out from under him. Arthur fell, face first, into the dirt. He cursed violently as the plant – who knew plants could move? Maybe that man hadn’t been mad after all – started to pull him towards itself. He twisted his body to get a better look at his attacker, and then muttered a low spell under his breath. The vine that had grabbed him flared and then burnt away with a shrill screech, leaving Arthur to scramble away quickly.
He stood up, panting, and turned to face the blonde-haired man. “What the bloody hell have you done to that thing?!”
((Hope you don't mind me invading your thread~))
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Post by Francis Bonnefoy on Mar 17, 2010 3:48:58 GMT -5
Francis was surprised when another man emerged from the confines of the brush behind him. Well, how fortunate. It seemed that his wish had been answered for help in the form of another lost person in this forest. About to warn him that the plant was not just a plant, he lost that chance when a vine slithered around his ankles. Followed by a various assortment of curse words which made the Frenchman chuckle a little at the usage of such blatant swearing.
However, it seemed getting caught and ensnared by a plant was not the only thing the man could do, when the vine suddenly caught fire. All the better... magic, Francis mused as he watched the man scramble back to his feet and then accuse him of having done something to the plant.
"I didn't do anything," He retorted to the mans accusation with a roll of his eyes, "I do not make it a sport to charm plants into attacking people," although it was a peculiar idea to use, he did not do that. He had no use for a carnivorous plant... that was just... not very useful.
Dodging another incoming vine he managed to cut it in half and then looked back at the other man, "It's just a magical, moving plant that is pretty damned determined to turn us into le dîner," he stated and moved back when it appeared the plant was going to attack again.
"So unless you want to become plant food, I suggest you help me rid the world of this abomination," he stated, pointing his sword at the plant. Whether the plant had become charmed, if this was all a trap or what-have-you, all he knew was... this plant wanted to eat him and the other man, and he most certainly did not want to be eaten.
[[Invasions are always welcome~]]
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Post by Matthew Williams on Mar 17, 2010 16:00:34 GMT -5
((May I join in? :3))
Matthew smiled. Today's walk in the forest was fabulous - no, more than fabulous. The forest was recognisable as usual - Williams had been to this forest so many times through all these years that he remembered every corner of it. He knew every plant in it, all the birds and the animals, the trees' positions. Also, Matthew could feel this forest's smell. This was one of the things he loved here best. He even told the difference between all the forests he had seen by its smell. But it wasn't the main point though. The thing that made Matthew love the forests was all the nature. Without it, a forest would never be a forest. And Williams loved it even more.
He looked down to check if Kumajirou was beside him. And there he was - slowly stepping on the earth and looking for something interesting. The other animals still couldn't be seen - Matthew thought he hadn't got deep in the forest yet. But anyway, he was free now and had a lot of time, so he could walk in the forest for any time he wanted and where he wanted. Matthew had learned all the places in this forest through all these years, so he couldn't simply get lost. And if Williams had got lost occasionally, he would have gone to where he thought his home would be. Besides, Matthew could easily spend all the night in the forest - he had been living there before and could stand the natural conditions. However, Williams found out somehow that that night was going to be extremly cold, so he decided to go home at certain time. But everything was still alright that time and Matthew continued to walk and enjoy the day.
While looking at the big old tree for a long time, the young man suddenly heard some loud noises near him and turned his head to the place where the noises came immediately. Matthew could hear clearly two men talking to each other. One of them said something about some kind plant, a magical plant. The next thing Matthew heard was the news that it was dangerous and could attack the people. But even then, he couldn't think of such a plant. And so, Williams became interested in that talk. "I'll watch them for a while", - he said to himself. "They won't notice me anyway and I'll be able to find out about that strange kind of plant. And I'm really bored now anyway".
He quickly went to a big maple tree where he could see those people, stopped there and started looking at the men attentively.
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Mar 17, 2010 16:27:00 GMT -5
“Yes, well, plants don’t just come to life by themselves...” Arthur paused in his retort, thinking. “...Do they?” Perhaps someone who had passed through had cast a spell on the plant; he was pretty sure he could find a spell that did that somewhere in his spell book. Or perhaps it was, simply, a carnivorous plant. He’d never come across one in these forests before, but he had never been utterly lost in them, either. Geez, this day was just getting better and better, wasn’t it? And it was still only the morning, he reminded himself. He groaned quietly at the thought.
Arthur’s melancholy was short lasted, however, as he was forced to hop out of the way of a vine that came shooting towards them, only for it to be cut into two by the other man. The plant was susceptible to normal weapons as well as magic, it seemed.
“Fine, fine, I’ll help you. But only because I don’t particularly want to be eaten either!” The Englishman explained, not taking his eyes off the plant, which seemed as if it was about to launch another attack on them.
“I think we need to find the source of it. If we just keep, ah–” He paused in his speech, having to dodge yet another vine which made a grab for his ankles. “–cutting off the vines or what-have-you, it’ll probably just regenerate itself.”
Unfortunately, finding the source seemed to be easier said than done. The plant’s main ‘form’ seemed to be hidden within the darkness of the brush; all Arthur saw were rustling leaves and its writhing appendages. He frowned slightly, drawing his bow once again. He nocked an arrow, aiming it around the middle of where the vines seemed to stem from. Arthur muttered a spell under his breath – one that would hopefully illuminate the plant long enough for them see it and its source. He released the spell at the same time as the arrow, infusing the two weapons. The arrow flew into the darkness, erupting into a flash of light just moments after disappearing. The arrow seemed to have hit the plant in some region as well, for it screeched in pain. And, for the briefest of seconds, it was lit up.
Arthur couldn’t help but gawk at the sight. It was much bigger than he had imagined, and looked much more like a monster than any plant he’d ever seen.
He cursed under his breath. “I do not like the look of that,” he muttered, not knowing whether it was to himself or his companion.
However, the plant wasn't the only thing that had Arthur on the edge. There seemed to be a rather... eerie feeling hanging in the air - only now did he noticed it. It was almost as if they were being watched by someone... or something. He gulped, silently, and attempted to repress the urge to shiver.
This was too much, way too much.... Gods, did he need a drink.
((Matthew~!))
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Post by Francis Bonnefoy on Mar 18, 2010 6:13:26 GMT -5
Shifting uncomfortably under the gaze of something he couldn't see, Francis sighed as he looked about wearily. Please, for the love of all that was good and right in the world, let there not be another creature waiting to eat him out there in the brush. Although it was fun to adventure around, it seemed today was a very bad day to do so. A plant creature that was alive and now something lurking in the shadows? Watching him? It made his skin crawl uncomfortably...
Only vaguely hearing the other mans words, he was focused on trying to pin-point wherever the odd feeling of being watched was coming from. However, when the other man cast a spell that caused light to blind the Frenchman in the side of his eyes, he couldn't help but turn around, "What are you do--" he paused in his words, blue eyes going wide in surprise.
No, it couldn't just be a charmed plant wanting to devour them. It had to be a rather huge plant monster that looked very angry and very hungry and currently its two best choice of food was the two blondes attacking it.
"Mon dieu..." Francis squeaked under his breath. Really, what the hell was wrong with today of all days? He wondered to himself, but the thought only lingered in his mind briefly before a leaf and vine-clad limb came crashing down towards him. Cringing slightly, he darted out of the way of the oncoming attack, banging into the traveller he had run in to.
Glancing at the man, who he noted had green eyes now that he took an actual chance to look at him, he questioned, "So... any ideas as to what to do about that thing?" He asked, raising a thin finger to point at the plant-monster-creature-best-like-thing, giving it a scowl. It really was not a pleasant sight to look at, couldn't it have flowers, or something, to make it more presentable? No, it was just covered in leaves that looked like scales and vines like veins all over it's huge, grotesque body.
Looking at the beast was not a pleasant sight at all... in fact, he was sure that there was nothing but the compilation of leaves and other plant-life all over it's body that made it into the creature it was. Where the hell was its eyes? Couldn't they stab them and blind it? More importantly... the vines... were practically everywhere, reaching and grabbing and trying to suck them in. Francis wondered how many woodland creatures had already been consumed by this thing.
Then he wondered if the creature was responsible for all the weird stuff going on in the forest. After all, he did mention there was an odd feel to it. Was it magical? Could it play tricks on the mind? Or was someone else behind it all, trying to get him killed? All of it was... very overwhelming, the blonde groaned inwardly, silently cursing himself for ever thinking the forest was a good place to explore.
This was most certainly not a pleasant situation. No less, he was probably getting dirt and leaves in his hair, and brushing one hand through the golden locks, he found this to be true.
He needed a nice, warm bath. To relax and not think about this... thing.
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Mar 20, 2010 10:37:29 GMT -5
Arthur couldn’t help it. A shiver ran down his spine, and let his gaze wander – unconsciously – to the surrounding trees, searching for the source of this uncomfortable feeling. It didn’t seem to be coming from the plant; rather, it seemed to be coming from just to his right, by the maple tree. As he looked closer, the Englishman swore he could see some kind of figure peering back at him. It even looked... human. His face twisted into an expression of confusion – surely he would have noticed if someone was there? But, he still couldn't shake the feeling. Plant forgotten momentarily, he turned to his companion – “Hey, Frenchie, do you see that figure over there?” – just in time to see the man come crashing into him. Luckily, Arthur managed to catch his balance before he went falling to the floor.
“What the bloody hell do you think you’re–” Arthur started, scowling, before registering just why the other traveller had crashed into him. He paled considerably. How had he forgotten about the plant? You can’t just forget about some creature whose goal was to devour you, could you? It must have been that eerie presence, it had distracted him. Well, that could have ended badly.
Arthur shook his head, discarding his thoughts, just in time to catch what the other man was saying. He thought about it – what were they going to do? They’d found the source, unfortunately, but now what? His fellow traveller seemed to have a sword with him; perhaps he could go stab it a few times. Arthur snorted softly at the thought, smirking. Like hell he could – He looked as if he could barely raise a sword, let alone go and stab that hulking mass of vines and leaves with one.
“Leave it to me,” the Englishman told his companion, giving him a shove to the side so he could better see the plant, or monster, or whatever-the-hell-it-was. As he remembered from earlier, the creature reacted to fire in the same way a normal plant would. So it would make sense to use a fire spell, right? He unhooked his red spell book, which hung at his side, and flipped it open, scanning the pages for the needed spell. Arthur let out a quiet ‘A-ha!’ when he found it, and immediately began chanting.
However, it seemed to plant had some intelligence to it.
Before Arthur could even get a third of the way through the spell – and it wasn’t a long one, in any case – a vine shot out from the monster, striking the book. It flew out from his hands, falling at the base of one of the surrounding trees. But before he had any chance to react past an exclamation of ‘crap!’, another vine shot out and slithered around his throat. Arthur choked and spluttered as the appendage tightened its hold, his breath coming in panicked gasps and his vision beginning to blur at the edges. His hands shot up to claw at the vine, but the plant refused to let go of its new meal.
((Ah, gosh, I'm so sorry for the late reply. My Internet service provider has been blocking Proboards for some unknown reason, and I've only just found a way to get around the block. ;-)
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Post by Francis Bonnefoy on Mar 21, 2010 14:16:58 GMT -5
Although Francis was vaguely still acutely aware of the presence in the forest, he was not as aware of it as the other way, it seemed. Barely managing to catch what he said about a figure, he rolled his eyes. Did it matter what figure was lurking in the forest unless that too was planning on their penultimate doom or was planning to help them live? He did not think so, trying to push the thought from his mind even as the shivers ran up his spine at being watched. It was not an all together pleasant feeling, after all. He even somewhat hoped that the person would show him or her and attack or help soon. However, that was asking too much.
“Leave it to you?” He snapped as he was shoved to the side, a slight taunting tone entering his voice when the plant attacked the Frenchman, another vine coming near him that he promptly stepped on and cut off, “You just—“ letting out a groan, he dropped the subject. Well, he supposed... if he wanted to do it himself so badly, he could. Frowning at the sword he held, he sighed. One thing to do when he got back to a town – buy a lighter sword or actually learn how to properly use the one he held in his hands. This was clearly not working out.
Concentrating mainly on using the sword effectively and not getting himself killed, he barely noticed when the other man was beginning to chant the spell. Although he quietly thanked the Gods that something was going right that day and hopefully soon the ordeal could be over... that plan was quickly foiled by the goddamn plant whose sole purpose in life seemed to be making his a living hell or the closest thing to it.
Eyes going wide when he noticed the plants attempt to strangle the other. The plant obviously did not want to die and when he noticed it was, he probably was attempting to stop that. Note the fact that the book was all the way over there at the base of a tree, his mind immediately began groaning to itself. A silent chanting of various curses flashed ran through his thoughts, all centring on a few facts, one of them was the plant. The stupid plant monster that eh dearly wanted to cook into stew right about now. The second was the Englishman “helping” him, although clearly his help was failing. The third was the fact that if he let the man die, he probably would too because he had no means of killing the beast right at this moment.
Well, the solution was obvious, then. Distract the plant and have the man kill it or else they would both die.
Bracing himself for what he was about to do next, he tightened the grip around his sword and made a brief prayer to whatever God or person was listening to just help him not kill himself... or his companion by accident. Cutting the vine wrapped around the others throat, he just barely managed to rush across dodging all the other vines that were attempting to grab him now. In fact, he was not thinking of dodging them, it was likely blind luck.
Shoving the man when he did manage to free him, he pushed in the direction of the tree, “Get your silly book and get rid of this creature,” he demanded as he pushed him before turning back around and facing the very creature he spoke of, of course... he was stuck with distracting it for now. Sighing quietly at the thought, he tried to concentrate on when his master gave him sword-fighting lessons. He was never that good at them... but there was hope! He was not going to become a victim of a stupid plant! Cutting two approaching vines, blue eyes flashing around for more, he waited for the other man to cast that spell he used earlier so they could finish with this creature. [[Oh, it's okay~ XD I slacked on posts recently while I've been writing up apps and preparing for school (fun). I'm glad to know you found a way around it~ <3]]
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