Diesel
Acolytes
Ian Larks
Posts: 492
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Post by Diesel on Apr 10, 2008 21:10:08 GMT -5
Ian grinned a bit and hugged her back, resting his head on top of hers for a bit. "Aw don't worry babe, I'll be fine. It's just this has been on my mind for awhile now. And the teachers obviously don't know everything, but for some reason they don't seem to be doing too much to try and find out the whole story. They seemed to be only concerned with the aftereffects, which is cool and all and understandable, but I would rather know the whole story," Ian sighed again and stepped away from Lorelai to look out at the courtyard. "This happened to us Lorelai. I never expected to have to go through something like this when my parents first told me about this place. You know I didn't think I'd see my friends be attacked for no reason at all and be actually scared that they were done for. When you were trapped in that ring of fire, I felt so helpless. And then Blondie wasn't in the best shape either. And shit babe, when that Sabretooth dude ran at Aideen, you heard the way his voice sounded when he saw her? And the way he looked at her? I thought that only on TV and in movies you see a look on a killer's or a rapist's face when they spot their target, like those crime shows on daytime TV. But this was real Babe. The way Sabretooth looked and spoke to Spitfire made my stomach turn even before he ripped it out," he said swallowing the odd lump that formed in his throat.
He looked back at Lorelai and leaned against the tree. "I don't know what the teachers know about everything that happened that day, but they sure as hell aren't telling us. And I don't think that's cool, we were all there, we should know how it all started and why. I don't give a shit if Aideen can't stand me, she's my friend. Something happened to her out there, in fact, she's probably the reason why all the students came out of there alive cause she got Sabretooth to follow her back into these woods to protect the rest of us from him. You saw what he did to me, you know he could have done much worse without a care in the world. And no one seems to be giving a damn for her sake to figure everything out. We owe her babe, all of us owe her cause she probably saved a lot of us by getting Sabretooth to follow her. If we piece together the whole story of everything that happened, maybe we have a chance of getting some clues to help them look for Wolverine and Nightcrawler. Or at least finally know how and why everything happened to us. This is too insane for me to just let it go and pass through life like nothing happened," Ian finished and studied Lorelai's face.
"So you wanna help me with this Pipsqueak? You don't have to, but I'm not gonna stop," He said as he crossed his arms and looked back out at the woods. He meant every word he said and it wasn't often that he was able to speak with as much feeling as he just did. He tried to be as optimistic as possible, but with everything that happened it had gotten harder and harder to do that.
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Frostbite
Paragons
Lorelai Kavanagh
Can you handle the cold?
Posts: 563
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Post by Frostbite on Apr 10, 2008 22:23:28 GMT -5
Lorelai smiled a little when Ian hugged her back as he rested his head on hers and reassured her that he’d be fine. “Good,” she murmured as he began to speak, letting him talk. When he stepped away to look to the noisy courtyard, she let her arms hang at her sides with her hands brushing against her pockets. She listened quietly, hearing a lot of good points, nodding in agreement even though he was faced the other way. At the mention of the attack, she couldn’t hide the grimace that became visible with ease. Fresh memories flashed behind her eyes as Ian recollected them, making her grimace more pronounced, and she had a slight visceral feeling similar to the one she had when the fight was only beginning. She swallowed, remembering everything. “Yeah. You don’t have to remind me twice,” she said quietly, already reliving bits and pieces of the fight in her head, parts that made her want to curl up in a ball and hide. It was all hitting her now that she took the time to really think about it, rather than keep it at the back of her mind like she’d been managing to do.
She worked to lighten the grimace that had formed on her face as Ian looked back to her and leaned against a tree. She continued to listen to him as he went on, and what he said was most likely right, though another bothered look came on as she remembered again seeing the horrors Sabretooth was the maker of, spilled guts and dirty threats. There was an utmost seriousness about him Lorelai had not seen before, and it came with good reason. She let her arms wrap around herself as she let him finish, and when he did, she spoke again. “What if the teachers know as much as we do? I mean Cyclops arrived at just about the end, and the other teachers came in at the middle. Who knows, but you’re right, we deserve to know what started it and everything. And yeah..Aideen led away probably the worst of all we were fighting out of the Brotherhood then. We should get to the bottom of it, even if the teachers are too. We can do it to settle our worries and rid plaguing thoughts, for our sakes because clearly you aren’t going to rest until you do, and I want to know what the hell happened to start it and why,” she said, looking up at him as she spoke.
As Ian looked off to the side as he asked if she was going to help him, Lorelai nodded. “Yeah, I’ll help you. I know I don’t have to, but I want to. Besides, two heads are better than one,” she replied quietly, putting on a little smile that was meant to be encouraging, but it was a bit hard when the fight kept playing over in her head now. Maybe there would be some sense of closure once they found out what was the root of it all, and she used this thought to try to push the disturbing thoughts to the side.
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Diesel
Acolytes
Ian Larks
Posts: 492
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Post by Diesel on Apr 11, 2008 22:06:56 GMT -5
Ian smiled at her softly and went over to lightly kiss her cheek. "Thanks babe, I mean it. And the teachers have to know more than we do. Frost could probably reach into all of our minds, in particular Aideen's and find out how it all started. And it's not fair that they know and haven't told us anything about it, we deserve to know babe, it's not cool for them to keep this story from us when is happened to us. Frost wasn't there and Cyclops had more important things to do than check on his students," he said with a frown, but then realized how that sounded. "Not that I don't think he's cool and all, but I dunno babe I guess I wish he was there sooner to help us and half that shit wouldn't have happened," he added.
With a sigh Ian looked around the wooded area and looked for more clues down the path. He scanned the area carefully and walked further down the wooded area, beckoning to Lorelai. Looking around carefully, something in the distance caught his eye. It was still on the edge of the courtyard, just further down. "Hey babe, look at that over there," he said as he scrambled through the snow to try and get to that thing. When he got closer, Ian saw something he recognized instantly: a piece of the the gray wool sweater that he gave Aideen that day. "Babe look at this. This definitely has to be where Aideen ran through with Sabretooth following her," he said and then looked over to the direction that she must have gone and his eyes widened. "Holy shit, look! Sabretooth was definitely here! Look at all those broken off branches and messed trees. He had to have followed her that way," Ian said with wide eyes.
He gave Lorelai a sidelong glance. "Wanna follow babe? I bet we can find more clues with this clearer trail."
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Frostbite
Paragons
Lorelai Kavanagh
Can you handle the cold?
Posts: 563
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Post by Frostbite on Apr 11, 2008 23:03:40 GMT -5
Lorelai kept up the little smile as Ian kissed her cheek, and nodded when he thanked her. She listened, and the way Cyclops was mention made her slightly raise an eyebrow, but she could see where the slight bitterness had come from. “Yeah..you’re right. The teachers probably know more than us, why else had they all stayed behind after the hangar meeting? Certainly not to discuss the weather, I’m betting. And that is true, Miss Frost could go into anyone’s mind and find out anything. But I’m sure she wouldn’t do it without consent, otherwise it’d sorta be an invasion of privacy. But in Aideen’s case, I’m not so sure she would. You haven’t seen the way she’s looked. I saw her in the library and she looked worse for the wear than I thought possible,” she said, slowly crossing her arms over her chest. “You’re right though. We do deserve to know…I mean it was us who pretty much almost died, without the help of the bombs that were going to blow up,” she continued. “And I get where you’re coming from. If he had been there earlier, we all might not have gotten so badly beaten up, and some things would be different.”
When Ian started looking around and walking ahead, she followed when she saw him calling for her; their trail traced the edge of the courtyard. He had spotted something, and Lorelai saw he was working to trudge through the snow, and so as she caught up with him, she carefully moved to sweep away the snow that made walking through it harder, making the trail easier. When she got up to him, still moving branches that threatened to hit her in the face, he had found another piece of cloth, and closer inspection showed that it was the sweater he had given Aideen. “Yeah,” she murmured until she followed his gaze, seeing tons of broken branches and destroyed trees. “Wow, definitely,” she agreed, her eyes just as wide as his as she looked on what Sabretooth had done in just a run.
“Yeah, let’s go. It’s a clearer trail, but not necessarily a clean one” joked Lorelai as she took the lead for a moment, carefully treading the debris, making sure she didn’t fall or trip. She kept at it, following the mess deeper in until she saw something big, and unexpected. “Shiiit,” she mused as she saw a giant craterlike indent in the ground in front of a damaged tree.
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Diesel
Acolytes
Ian Larks
Posts: 492
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Post by Diesel on Apr 13, 2008 20:37:13 GMT -5
Ian followed her down the destroyed path, picking up bits of what had to be pieces of Aideen's clothing. There was also dried blood smeared on some of the trees and claw marks on the trees. Ian shuddered when he saw them, remembering the feeling of those claws digging into his sides. He wish he could forget that.
After walking for awhile and they saw the giant crater, right with Lorelai he said, "Holy shit." It looked like something blasted with a great amount of speed right into someone really big. Ian noticed the scratch marks on the side of the crater from giant claws and though it did snow last night, not enough to cover up an imprint of a form that definitely belonged to Sabretooth. "Looks like we know how Spitfire escaped," Ian said in a quieter tone. Because the area was surrounded by trees, the snow wasn't as heavy here and he saw a large piece of dark green material partially covered by snow. He went around the crater and picked up the large green material. It was apart of Aideen's jogging suit. There had to be more where this came from.
Ian stood up and looked over at Lorelai. "Babe can you clear this place of all the snow? I think we might find more clues than that way," he said almost dreading that the suspicion he had was wrong.
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Frostbite
Paragons
Lorelai Kavanagh
Can you handle the cold?
Posts: 563
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Post by Frostbite on Apr 13, 2008 21:47:43 GMT -5
As Ian caught up and saw what Lorelai saw, she nodded in agreement to his quiet note. She cringed a little at the sight of it all, dried blood, giant scratch marks and the big imprint that could still be seen even with all the snow. Turning to Ian as he addressed her, she nodded quickly, as if snapping out of a train of thought. “Yeah, yeah, one second,” she answered, and then looked at the snow that had covered the ground in front of them. Thin enough layers were swept away, so little was left to remain unseen. She swept away the fresh snow, moving it off until remnants of dried blood could be seen on the now bare ground.
“Oh man,” she said, seeing more scraps of green material. “Poor Aideen. I’m just glad that she managed to get out of it somehow. But how the hell was this crater made? Surely the big tiger guy might’ve made it? Or was it something else?” she wondered aloud, trying to think of how she might have gotten away from him, but seeing how big, strong and dangerous he was, she couldn’t see much of a way to do it. All she knew was that if it were her there, she’d be scared shitless.
She looked at everything again, and saw that one part of their question was answered, but now that it was, this crater seem almost a dead end. It didn’t quite tell how everything started, or maybe there was something she was missing?
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Diesel
Acolytes
Ian Larks
Posts: 492
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Post by Diesel on Apr 14, 2008 11:37:42 GMT -5
At the sight of the ripped dark green materials on the ground and the gray bits that must have been from his sweater, Ian felt his stomach turn. "Shit babe. Aideen sacrificed everything to keep Sabretooth away from all of us," Ian said quietly the food in his stomach rising up at the thought of what he did to her. It wasn't hard to guess with all the shredded clothes on the ground and he remembered quite clearly the way that Sabretooth looked at Aideen. Ian studied the ground closer and saw all the disturbed earth by the crater. He watched enough crime shows to know that this was definitely the sign of a struggle. There were claw like marks on the ground and a slight imprint of a female body. On either side of the imprint of the female body were two very large and almost cone like imprints that were much deeper in the dirt than the body imprint. After studying them for a couple of minutes, it was like a light bulb turned on in Ian's head. They were knee prints! These must have been Sabretooth's knee prints! That meant that...
"Oh man babe. Look at this, these two things here are knee prints. And look its the imprint of a girl's body. Sabretooth had her pinned down on the ground. And look at these marks here. It looks like Spitfire was putting up a good struggle. God damn babe... no wonder she seems so dead," he said from the ground where he had squatted down carefully to not disturb the scene.
Ian rubbed his temples with one hand, concentrating on keeping his food down as hundreds of scenarios ran through his head on what happened just two days ago to someone he did care about, despite the fact that she couldn't stand him. But it was more than that, something like this shouldn't happen to anyone. No one deserved that. Reality than hit Ian like a ton of bricks. This wasn't a movie or a TV show: this was real life. This stuff really happened and for once it hit close to home with him. It just made him sick and angry at the same time. "What the f#@k, how could they let this shit happen to her? The teachers let a freaking seventeen year old girl lead away a god damn sociopathic sadist only to meet... well this. Where the hell where they? Where the hell was her damn leader who I saw out there? He didn't give a damn about her and just let her run off to take care of the rest of us. She didn't deserve this, not anyone. But not her. If I had been able to, I would have run after her. There were a bunch of teachers there and they all saw Sabretooth and they all saw her run here. No one did anything and Aideen gave up everything. That's crap. It's crap that no one came after her, not even her own leader went out to look for his damn student. It's bullshit that she had to take this on by herself, and its alright because hey, she's still alive, that means everything is okay. It's not f#@$ing okay, its not okay that no one gave enough of a damn about her to help her the way she helped us," he said angrily, his stomach contents rising up and down in his throat.
He would have helped her if he could. If he was able to, he would have followed her and Sabretooth into the woods and done all he could to help her. Granted he might have ended up in very very bad condition, but at least she wouldn't have been alone. Aideen might have had a chance to escape. Ian stood up and went over to a tree to the side and leaned his forehead against it, trying to calm down. Ian didn't remember having having this sick and angry feeling before, and he didn't like it. But how else was he supposed to feel?
Taking a couple of deep breaths, he calmed down and looked at Lorelai. "This is beyond bullshit babe," he said in a less angrier tone.
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Frostbite
Paragons
Lorelai Kavanagh
Can you handle the cold?
Posts: 563
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Post by Frostbite on Apr 14, 2008 15:46:15 GMT -5
Lorelai could only nod as Ian spoke, and she grimaced a bit when he started to not look so good. She followed his gaze to look at the markings and imprints on the tree trunk and the ground. Now that he pointed it out, she did see what he meant; she knew they were from something, but until he said something she couldn’t discern what caused them. “I know, god, that’s horrible. I wish I could talk to her, try to help or something. Ah, god, I think anyone in that position would end up like that,” she said quietly, watching Ian rub his temples with one hand as he again looked a bit unwell. In the silence, she reflected. What if she were in a position like that? She couldn’t even imagine; it would be too horrific to deal. She’d probably struggle to the death, or just freeze up in utter fear. How Aideen managed, she’ll never know, but she was amazed that she did. For that, Lorelai admired Aideen.
And then Ian blew up.
She recoiled from the sudden explosion of anger and emotion, leaning a bit back as he yelled and swore, in shock at his outburst. Never had she ever seen him like that, and it scared her a little, though what he ranted about had truth laced in. She didn’t say anything, letting him vent, because she knew that was the best thing to do: let it out. In the meantime, she let her arms hang at her sides, though she felt herself stiffen in reaction while he yelled. When he stopped to lean against the tree and calm down, then she loosened up and slowly walked toward him. “I know it is, I know. But we’re figuring it out, and see here? We’ve figured out something new already. I know the circumstances were horrible, but there’s nothing that can be done now, as much as I too want to change the outcome,” she said, quiet again, placing a hand gently on his arm.
Then, she moved to hug him, seeing that he was still trying to control his anger. “Come on love,” she murmured, “There’s nothing more to see here, it’s a dead end. This answers one of our questions. Let’s go,” she continued, speaking comfortingly, moving out of the hug to take his hand and slowly lead him away, hoping that he would calm down. She couldn’t help worrying about him. He’d been off ever since they stepped into the forest, and she wanted to get him out of there so that everything that the had found and might find wouldn’t overwhelm them at once.
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Diesel
Acolytes
Ian Larks
Posts: 492
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Post by Diesel on Apr 14, 2008 17:02:07 GMT -5
"Na babe, we can't go now. We came too damn far. I'm not going to do what the teachers did and sit on their asses and not get all the facts. I wanna know what the hell happened. I wanna know why this happened to our friend, cause I actually give a damn about her. What's pissing me off is that I'm the only one who seems to. Screw them, I'm going into the woods and look around till I get some answers. You can go with me babe, it's up to you though. But I'm not leaving till we get the answers that no one else seems to want," Ian said not budging from his spot, but still holding Lorelai's hand. No they had gone too far and possibly discovered things backwards. But that didn't mean he would stop now.
He looked toward where the noise from the construction was coming from and then the area around the woods. Ian wanted to find the direction that Aideen ran from with the transformed Mystique in her arms. That's where all the answers where. That's where everything started. And he was so angry right now about what he just discovered, that he didn't give a damn if he got in trouble.
Ian looked back at Lorelai and still had a determined look on his face. "You with me babe? Cause I ain't stopping and I really don't care if I get in trouble at this point. At least I'm doing something," he said in a tone that said his mind was made up.
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Frostbite
Paragons
Lorelai Kavanagh
Can you handle the cold?
Posts: 563
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Post by Frostbite on Apr 14, 2008 18:00:03 GMT -5
“I know, I know, and I want to know too, I meant to just get away from this area,” Lorelai said, waving her free hand over this disaster site that they had found. Seeing him so angry worried her to no end, and she was working to keep calm, because although she may not have shown it, she wanted to shake as if she could be cold, she still wanted to cringe and curl up at the thoughts of what happened and what might have happened at the place where they stood. She may not be able to exactly control her anger, but here she didn’t feel anger, she felt pure, unadulterated horror, and she worked to keep it suppressed for both of them. Hiding specific feelings was easy enough for her to do, and so she was going to do it here, because if both of them went off, who knew what might happen during their search.
“Ian, I’ve said I’d go with you, and I’m not about to change my mind, no matter what we find. And I don’t care if we get in trouble either; we’re showing an initiative to find something out that is kept from us. I’d say that justifies what we’re doing,” she answered, looking up at him with a small smile and squeezed his hand reassuringly. She could tell that he was decided, and quite frankly, so was she.
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Diesel
Acolytes
Ian Larks
Posts: 492
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Post by Diesel on Apr 14, 2008 21:29:27 GMT -5
Ian's determined face broke out into a bit of a grin at Lorelai's answer. He brought her hand up and kissed it lightly. "Thanks babe. It's good to know you're up for this with me," he said sincerely and then walked with her back to the direction where Aideen first ran out of the woods. It took them awhile to dins where everything was, but they found it in the end with the help of seeing the bent and broken branches that looked like someone large, though not nearly as big as Sabretooth, was running through them. It must have been Aideen carrying that transformed Mystique.
"Check this out babe. I think we finally have a somewhat solid idea of where she came from," Ian said as he looked on and began to walk slowly and carefully deeper into the woods. He didn't want to lose the trail and at some points where the trees were much further apart it was harder to spot the disturbed branches and area. Good thing this only happened two days ago. It looked like they had a long way to go at the slow and careful pace they were walking, but Ian was determined to find out how it all started.
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Frostbite
Paragons
Lorelai Kavanagh
Can you handle the cold?
Posts: 563
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Post by Frostbite on Apr 15, 2008 4:40:30 GMT -5
Lorelai smiled a little more when Ian grinned a bit, and kept the smile as he kissed her hand lightly. At lease he seemed a bit calmer, which was her goal, and then smiled again with a nod as he thanked her for sticking with him. Why wouldn't she stick with him? No matter, she was going to anyway. She was glad that they were getting out and away from the disturbing scene, and that they were going to continue searching for answers in other places that they could trace. It did take a bit to get back where they started from, but they found their way back to the construction but they did, following the debris, and then the noise when it got close enough to hear, although it was kind of sort of different, where they ended up.
The form of destruction along these trees was different, it wasn't as boisterously big, but it was still there. "Yeah, I see it, the way these trees are broken are not natural, they're sorta like we saw before, but...smaller. Hmm, let's see," she said, looking around and then ahead at their trail. She waved some snow off of their trail, layer by layer like usual for thoroughness, and spotted little brown spots: dried blood. "I think we are, look, more blood," she pointed out, a trail of it beginning from where she had moved the snow. Who knew ice powers would come in so handy? Because of it, it made it a bit easier to traverse through the snowy forest, and brought them closer to find the answers that they refused to stop looking for.
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Diesel
Acolytes
Ian Larks
Posts: 492
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Post by Diesel on Apr 15, 2008 14:10:22 GMT -5
Ian was really working at calming down for Lorelai's sake and threw his mind into staying on the trail that they were very carefully following. He didn't want to let off how steamed he still was by the scene they had just found. He couldn't believe that the teachers let a student, a seventeen year old girl take that on all by herself. Aideen he saw was independent and had a lot of pride but did even her own team leader not give enough of a damn about her to even look to see if she was alright. He didn't give a shit that she was the oldest and possibly the most trusted out of all the students, in the end shes still a seventeen year old girl. He didn't want to think of all the things that may have happened there and what events might have led up to it. All he knew was that it disgusted him that despite this being a school with teachers who were supposed to look out for the students, in the end the teachers put each other before the students. Perhaps that wasn't true, but the way that Ian saw it now was just that. Well fine it looked like the students should rely on each other more than the damn teachers. There was just something wrong with that.
They walked further into the woods carefully following the trail. They were in the woods pretty deep at this point. Ian hoped that they could find their way back without too much difficulty. He was too steamed to go back anyways. Lorelai was a big help in sweeping aside all the snow because what luck! At one point they actually found footprints from running shoes in the snow that had to be Aideen. "Check it out babe, these gotta belong to Spitfire. Thank god the forest is really moist in this area," he said as he pointed at the footprints that looked relatively fresh still.
Yup they were definitely really deep in the woods now.
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Frostbite
Paragons
Lorelai Kavanagh
Can you handle the cold?
Posts: 563
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Post by Frostbite on Apr 15, 2008 17:15:50 GMT -5
Lorelai glanced up at Ian from the ground for a second. It looked like he was thinking hard and also like he was trying hard to calm down. She was glad that he was trying, because stewing in anger was never good, and she didn’t like to see him like that even though she knew as well as he that there was a damn good reason to be angry. The thought of it all still sent hidden shudders down her spine; they weren’t seen under her windbreaker. To be left alone with someone like Sabretooth…she blocked the thought out of her head. It wouldn’t help her to think of it, and it wouldn’t help either of them if both were too focused on it.
As they kept walking further and further in, she couldn’t help looking back once or twice. There was nothing but forest behind them, and the noise of construction had disappeared. The only sounds she could hear were Ian and her trudging through the quiet, and the soft sounds of the snow moving when she commanded it to. She kept it up, and saw what was pointed out: footprints that were still there, visible enough to see and still in a discernable state. “I see,” she answered, looking at them with him, and nodded. “We’re on the right track then, seeing footprints. I wonder how far it goes,” she thought aloud, looking ahead and only seeing more forest.
Though she was interested by being on track, and though she liked that she was walking around in the woods getting to explore with a goal, she couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of worry that they may not find their way out when all was said and done. But she quelled her thoughts with the knowledge that she was making a trail as well, by sweeping out the snow so they could walk.
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Diesel
Acolytes
Ian Larks
Posts: 492
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Post by Diesel on Apr 15, 2008 20:08:16 GMT -5
They walked further into the forest following the maze of footsteps that zigzagged through the trees. Aideen must have ran really fast, from her the depth of her footprints its like she zoomed through the forest. The forest was pretty dark with only slight shines of light peeking through the trees. Ian could deal with the density of the forest if it meant finding out the whole story of that day. Hopefully it will be a bit better then the part he found out so far.
His hopes were dashed again.
After following the trail for quite some time, it led them right to a horrifying scene. In the clearing the trees were wrecked, with dried and still wet blood covering the tree trunks. All the trees in the area were wrecked completely, knocked down with blood stains and deep scratches in the drunk. "Holy..." Ian said in quiet horror and cursed under his breath. "What the hell happened here?" he whispered. Was Aideen involved in this? How the hell did this start? Ian looked around wide eyed, not believing he came upon a scene like this.
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