LGBeach part-T | remmy, nell, shiloh, skylar, & winn
LOCATION: cursed frozen beach of freezing chest fame. PARTIES: @whatsin-yourhead, @nelllraiser, @evanescentform, @theskyeandsea, @packsbeforesnacks. RECCOMENDED LISTENING: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] THE BATTLE PLAN: [ by cal ] SUMMARY BELOW:
calcifiresToday at 7:50: LGBeach par-T: Location: the beach Description: Ice-capades ensue. See video [Power of Love Video LInked] HellaHairFlipToday at 7:50 PM: the sailors go to the ice capades. moon crystal power. deusxmanichaToday at 7:51 PM: "HUNTERS, SELKIES, WEREWOLVES, WITCHES, & ZOMBIES: ON ICE!!!!!" envysaurus-rexToday at 7:51 PM: power of love is my otp song for shylar
For being such a small box, the Imperial-or-whatever box sure felt heavy in Remmy’s hands. It looked somehow both extremely delicate and extremely sturdy, held together with a network of pins and latches that Remmy itched to undo. Kinda like the box Ricky had have them solve. But it would have to wait. Whatever power this box had, Remmy wasn’t sure they could use it. In fact, they were almost positive of it. Cece had acted as if it held a great power, as if she could feel it, but Remmy felt nothing. Even as they made their way down to the beach-- despite Blanche’s protests-- Remmy couldn’t feel anything. Supposedly this thing had a connection to the chest, but how was someone undead and disconnected from the energies of the whatever ether supposed to feel that?
The beach was empty. Of course it was, though. Remmy had chosen to go closer to night so that it would be. Nobody wandering by, either. Remmy could see well enough at night, anyway, and involving other people wasn’t a good idea this time. They had no idea what was going to happen with this, so it was best if people kept a distance. All they needed now was someone pure of heart. Blanche was supposedly sending someone their way.
Remmy made their way down the beach tentatively, keeping an eye out for karkinoids. They’d mostly started to recede the past few weeks, lethargic and dwindled in numbers. The frozen snow and ice crunched beneath Remmy’s feet as they approached the chest carefully, wary of what might happen when the two boxes met. It was only when they were right in front of it that Remmy realized the little markings on the box in their hands seemed to match the ones on the chest. They didn’t know what that meant, other than that the two objects were clearly connected. Finally, Remmy came to a stop. It felt like there needed to be some big build up or drama or drum roll, but Remmy didn’t have time for that. So they just plopped the box onto the chest, and waited.
And nothing happened.
Well, one thing happened. Chittering. Karkinoids. Remmy would recognize the sound anywhere. Whirling, they turned on foot, picking up the rubber mallet they’d brought with them just in case. And it looked like that “just in case was” happening after all.
It had been weeks since Nell had encountered the mysterious zombie and the Garkain, having intended to do a tracking spell ages ago after she’d seen the draugr do it’s impressive work of annihilating the monster. But between everything that had happened between then and now, it had simply continued to slip her mind, more important things getting in the way such as keeping Remmy safe, making sure her house wasn’t destroyed by a demon, making sure Seth wasn’t destroyed by a demo, Winston’s name...It had just been one thing after another. However, it seemed that today had been the day the universe decided to give Penelope a moment of peace, and the knife the zombie had left behind that fateful night was finally given it’s moment to shine.
The spell was easy enough, and she followed it’s pull towards the beach, the one where the chest had been deposited some time ago. Anticipation mounted as she felt the pull grow stronger, tighter as she neared her quarry. Clearing the last dune, she raised a hand to shield her eyes from the setting sun, squinting along the coastline. Where the hell was her zombie? Hold on. There was someone near the chest. Was this it then? FInally the end of her short-lived quest? The bad-ass zombie that was practically begging to be a fighter for the Ring with its impressive display was…”Remmy?” Holy shit. Had she ever been more blind in her entire life? As she walked towards her friend, she took out the little knife the zombie- Remmy had dropped, running her thumb over the letters on it one last time. R. M. Remmington McAllister. It had practically been slapping her in the face. “Buddy- I think this is your’s.”
This time, she called their name louder, raising an arm over her head in a wave. “Remmy! What are you doing out here?” It didn’t take long to walk closer, something even stronger than her tracking spell tugging her towards the chest. All she could focus on was the box for a few moments, the waves of magic pulsating off it nearly impossible to ignore. “What the hell is that? And where did you get it?” But instead of an answer coming from Remmy, it seemed the murderous lobsters were the ones who wanted to speak their mind on the matter. “Ahhh, shit.” Her boot dug into the ice beneath it, already knowing this was terrible terrain for a fight as she bent to pull her trusty dagger from its hiding spot. “Well, this should be fun.”
Time passed at the arcade - hours turned to minutes. Shiloh couldn’t have asked for a better person to spend time with than with Skylar. It started with the games they had in the front, pinball games, space invaders, donkey kong - this arcade had them all. Of course, not all of them were winners (they actually lost quite a few games) but Shiloh had never felt more like a winner that day.
It wasn’t until they finished up with a few matches of laser tag that they decided, hey maybe they should step outside and enjoy the rest of the day - only to find the sun had already begun to set. It still didn’t hinder their plans as they just decided to take a nice stroll for the remainder of the evening. It was turning out to be a very long date and honestly, Shiloh didn’t want it to end. The sunset was just a perfect end to a perfect date. Shiloh had even asked Skylar for a kiss when she heard something in the distance. It would have been easy to ignore - it should have been but Shiloh turned her head to the sound.
“Did you hear that? There’s something over there. C’mon.” She couldn’t even make out what she was hearing but knew as they got closer to the beach, she knew they were heading in the right direction. It sounded like scrapes on the ice.
As they arrived, what she saw stopped her in her tracks. Were those lobsters? Why was that one so big? That was way too big. Her eyes tore from the lobsters and she could see two people there - both which looked like they were heading over to the lobsters. That didn’t look safe. Shiloh took a step and realized it was slippery. She offered a hand for Skylar. “Careful, it’s slippery,” she gently warned and continued heading over there.
Something was pulling her to that chest and its pull was enough to make her overlook the gathering of weird looking lobsters. Maybe if she didn’t look at them, they weren't there…
Spending time with Shiloh was like a breath of fresh air to Skylar. Was she still incredibly nervous around the other woman, particularly after their prior date? Yes, and she probably always would be. But…spending time with someone outside of all the craziness she’d been dealing with and who wanted to hang out with her… it was nice. And Skylar could really use nice right now. Which is why the arcade had been so much fun. She’d never been to a place like that and, though she’d been a little worried, it had been a lot of fun. And when they’d exited the arcade, startled to find that night had begun to fall, she hadn’t wanted the date to end. So, a nice long walk it was, talking, holding hands, and a request for a kiss.
But when Shiloh paused, just before their lips met, Skylar blinked in confusion. Her ears straining, she frowned. What was she missing? “I don’t-- oh! Um, okay.” She nodded, following along behind Shiloh. As she realized that they were heading towards the beach, towards the ocean, a pit formed in her stomach. Sticking her hand in her jacket pocket, she instinctively reached for the case that she kept her hearing aids in. What was going on--
As they rounded the corner, Skylar nearly ran into Shiloh as the other woman came to a full halt. Wincing, Skylar saw a small horde of not at all small karkinoids surrounding-- “Remmy?! Nell?” She yelled, “What are you two doing, get away from there!” But even as she said that, she could feel a strange pull, drawing her towards the chest. Glancing over at Shiloh, she grimaced. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. This was the last thing she wanted to happen. For more of this supernatural bullshit to ruin her life. But, the sway continued and she found herself gingerly walking across the ice towards the chest.
Winn was running the Crypteens through remedial shooting drills — hey, practicin’ the basics was important — when his phone started buzzing in his back pocket. Not many people had his number, and twenty-two of them were within the Arena right now, so… That could be bad. But still. Commitments. He led the kids through the remainder of the drill, the sun hanging low in the sky outside of the Arena, before turning his coaching duties over to his assistant coach for the last hour of practice. Always eager to get her feet wet, even if — especially when — Winn requested it out of nowhere, Annetta clapped her hands together and smiled somethin’... a little evil, if Winn was bein’ honest.
His signal strength in the locker room was shit, but the message eventually popped and crackled into his ear: Blanche was a mess, sick and… crying (???), but his heightened hearing came to the rescue. He caught that Remmy was in trouble, and that it had somethin’ to do with that stupid chest on the beach. (In that moment, Winn regretted not askin’ Ricky or Blanche or Remmy to tell him more about it.) Listening again, he was able to parse a little more of what Blanche was saying… What the fuck did she mean “pure of heart”? No time to worry about that. He remembered, a fragment from a news report on the radio, that the chest was surrounded by ice. Well, he wouldn’t be caught with his tail out twice. He slung his stick on his back, grabbed a bag of pucks, and shoved his skates into his bag, ready to fight whatever fight needed fightin’.
The sun had set over the horizon by the time his bike started to approach the beach along the river, and— Shit, had he been blind? How had he avoided seeing this? He only barely recognized from this distance, thanks to his night vision, the form of Remmy and… a girl? Probably? Engaged with… Satan lobsters? Winn made a mental note to stay in the fuckin’ loop next time, what the shit were they? He’d grown up near the Bay, and the biggest lobster he’d ever seen had been torso-sized, not human-sized. Two figures, just far enough out of his vision even as he pulled aside on the road, were surrounding an object — probably the chest, right? Winn leapt off his bike, making his way to hide behind a — frosty, Christ — boulder at the edge of the ice. No one had noticed him yet, including the cursed crustaceans. He could hear the sounds of a struggle behind him, one that he needed to jump into. Quick. Sliding on his skates, he tried to think of a decent game plan… Eh, fuck it. He’d wing it.
Winn vaulted over the boulder and came face-to-face with a small army of salty seafood. The biggest fucker was right in his line of sight, obviously, to Winn’s adrenaline-brain at least, where he should direct his energy. Just needed to piss it off long enough for whoever the fuck was dealin’ with this situation to open the damn chest. The “pure of heart” or whatever. That phrase clicked somethin’ in his heart, a soft push towards where he figured the chest was. Weird, but Winn definitely wasn’t that. So, he firmly ignored the impulse, and did what any considerate jock would do: Gave a warning.
“HEAD’S UP!” he yelled at Remmy and the other person, lining up his shot and beaming a hockey puck with all of his wolf-enhanced strength straight at the eyes of the ugliest catch of the day he’d ever seen. Nothin’ to get your feet wet with the supernatural like a good ol’ wrestle, right?
Remmy was a simple zombie. They didn’t really question things that happened, but five minutes ago, they had been alone on the beach, and now Nell was coming up behind them, lobsters were rushing the beach, and someone was shouting behind them. Remmy turned to look at who was calling out, recognizing the voice. “SKYLAR?” they called out. “No, get-- get out of here! It’s dangerous!” they shouted, lifting the mallet-- and sliding a little on the ice, zombie enhancements certainly didn’t help with that-- and swinging it towards a straggling lobster who thought being the quickest was the best idea. It wasn’t. He squelched and screamed as the mallet went through his shell, enhanced with slightly starved zombie strength. It was a risk, but Remmy had purposefully not eaten today, knowing they were coming here for this. Strength comes with starving, Deirdre had said. And she’d been right. Remmy’s thoughts were interrupted when another booming voice called across the ice. Looking up just in time to watch a hockey puck slam straight into the side of their head. It was weird, Remmy thought, as they nearly tumbled over, that this didn’t hurt. “I’m okay!” they called out when the dizziness stopped. “I’m good, just-- aim better, please!”
Apparently, everyone had chosen this exact moment to show up for a nice game of beach ice hockey death lobster volleyball, and Nell wasn’t exactly pleased with it. Especially when a puck beamed Remmy in the head. “Do you mind?!” She called out after seeing that Remmy was alright, adrenaline making her have even less patience than usual. “It’s hard enough with the ice!” As if the universe was determined to make Nell feel the wrath of her words, she slipped as she tried to advance on one of the karkinoids, ending up eye-level with it. Thinking quickly, she jammed her dagger into its now easily accessible soft underbelly, and the thing joined the one Remmy had dispatched. Perhaps the ice was good for some things. She got back to her feet, and noticed the two other girls now hovering near them. “What are you all doing here? Get off the beach!” The last thing they needed was more people for lobsters to chomp on.
Wait, was that Bea’s sister? And did Skylar know the other people here? Why were all of them coming closer to these huge lobsters. Shiloh was at a loss for words. “I don’t think we should be here,” she muttered more to herself than anything. Yet she didn’t move - at least not away, instead she moved closer, eyes moving from the chest to the two people trying to fight off the lobsters. “Guys, I’m not sure we should be fighting these things.” But who would? Who were you going to call for these giant lobsters? Shiloh had thought people were exaggerating but… no, these things were actually huge. Honestly, what the hell was happening right now? Shiloh was desperately trying to think things through but unfortunately, life doesn’t have a general reaction to seeing huge lobsters coming at you.
Skylar continued to walk forward, sliding slightly across the edge where ice met sand. Oh crap. This was terrible, there were giant freaking Karkinoids everywhere, and her friends were all here. Going to get sliced-- “REMMY!” She shrieked and turned around to look in the direction of the offending puck that had smacked them in the face. “What are you doing?!” Skylar asked, hands balling at her sides as she took in the sight of Winn, hockey stick in hand. Glancing over at Shiloh, she grimaced, the material of her veneers clicking together in a reminder of her secrets. She’d seen Ricky crush a Karkinoid’s shell in his teeth, but she wasn’t like him, she couldn’t do that, she wasn’t going to… out herself like that. “Shiloh’s right, why are you even here? Shouldn’t we be running?” She asked. But even as she said that, a sinking feeling of dread filled her. The karkinoids were only growing in numbers. Running wasn’t going to be an option for much longer.
“Shit,” Winn swore as the puck sliced, missing the slightly-larger-than-the-rest demonic decapod and knocking into Remmy’s jaw. Shit. Hope Remmy had a healing factor like he did. Winn knew he was strong. He called out a quick, “Sorry!” as his shoulder twinged in pain. Fuck. New moon was close, and his injury hadn’t fully healed up. (Why wasn’t it healing?) “Remmy!” he called out. “Blanche sent me! Who the hell is crackin’ this thing open?” A lobmonster skittered closer to him, and Winn skated around it, trying to draw its attention away from the humans standing over near the chest. It kept its eyes trained on him, but didn’t move closer once he hit the edge of the ice. That twinge in his heart flared up, and he glanced from the beast to the chest, and back. If it came after him, he could outskate it. But that wouldn’t help anyone. It was close enough now that… He dropped another puck to the ground, adjusting on the fly to make sure it didn’t fly into the dark and hit another poor asshole, and swung hard at the thing before him, hoping how close it was would make… Bullseye. The monster screamed and retreated back closer to the chest, giving Winn an opportunity to circle around it and closer to Remmy and their mystery friend, though he was still farther away than he’d like. Fuck. He shoulda brought more pucks.
This was very quickly turning into a situation Remmy was not comfortable with. All these people had showed up and were not heeding any warnings and coming closer to this instead. “Skylar, no!” Remmy called back out, reached up a quick hand to readjust their slightly askew jaw. “Go back!” They waved at her, wondering who the girl next to her was-- but now really wasn’t the time for that. More and more karkinoids were rising from the water, scuttling as quick as their gross, crustacean legs could carry them, towards Remmy, Nell, the chest, and the others heading for them. “I’m trying--” Remmy shouted back over their shoulder at Skylar, as they turned to face the onslaught with Nell-- “to open--” swung the mallet again, cracking one across the face. Reached down to yank Nell back to her feet-- “that stupid--” swung again at another one, harder this time-- “CHEST!” Eyes glowering red for a moment, the mallet smashing through and sending karkinoid guts everywhere. Winn was shouting something now, something about Blanche. She’d sent him? Well...that didn’t matter either. “THEN GET OVER HERE AND HELP!” they called, cleared their throat, “PLEASE?” Remmy glanced at Nell, giving her a worried look. “Anything uhh magic you got to help out here?”
For a second, Nell sent Remmy an absolutely bewildered look. They were trying to open the chest? What made them think they’d be able to- oh. The box full of magic they’d put on top of the chest when she’d waltzed up. “The box thing?” She asked, half-yelling over all the carnage that was beginning to unfold. “Is that what opens it?” Shit, this was a lot of karkinoids, though, far more than she’d seen gathered anywhere else in town. Five of them, and she didn’t have any clue about the others ability to fight. The odds didn’t look...great. Pointing blinding at Shiloh at Skylar for a split second, she simply called out, “Do something with the box and the chest!” Her hopes that such a thing would prove fruitful were...low after granting her very specific and stellar wisdom. As far as she knew, neither of the girls had any knowledge of magic. As far as magic went...she’d been trying her best not to use it in public spaces such as this, or in front of people she didn’t know. After all, there was a witch-hunter in town. “We’re fine, we’re fine! Maybe later!” she insisted, not wanting to resort to such measures yet. Instead, she continued to hack at the lobsters, dodging their deadly claws as she pulled another dagger from her boot, wielding in both hands while she dispatched as many as she could, moving from one to the next in fluid and practiced motions.
“Wait is their jaw -“ Shiloh started, weakly pointing off in their direction, wondering what the hell was going on? How can someone get hit like that and act like it was normal. Skylar… she knew that wasn’t normal, none of this was normal, right? Yet everyone was acting like this was just… something they had to do. She reached out for Skylar’s hand, not to pull her away but she needed something to comfort her and right now, Skylar was the only one who could do that. So what was the whole situation now? A bunch of lobsters. And a chest? Shiloh didn’t have to look far to find it. It was like her eyes were immediately drawn to it. “I think the chest will help get rid of the lobsters, Skye. We just have to go and open it.” Was it a bomb?? Who knows but if all they had to do was go open it to help them and the path was clear - they were going to do that. There was no need to put themselves in any danger. Shiloh could help these people without anyone having to get further injured even though that person with the broken jaw looked very injured but maybe she was just seeing things - yeah that was it.
Did Nell just pull more daggers out of her shoes? How many did she have in there? Skylar blinked, shaking her head-- not the time to think about that. In the chaos of everything happening around, the shouting, and the very loud chittering of angry karkinoids, she was able to catch something about a box? But not the chest? What? As Shiloh grasped her hand, Skylar swallowed. Shit, shit, shit. There was too much sound, too much going on, too much pressure. “The chest? The chest… Okay, okay, but what about the box?” She asked, before glancing over at Winn. “You know about the box? Open it then! I’m not-- this wasn’t supposed to happen! None of this should be happening!” She yelled at him before jerking her leg back out of range from a karkinoid that had come dangerously close to snipping at her foot.
“Hey, lady— Wait, shit, Skylar?” Winn’s eyes finally caught up with the rest of him as he got closer to the main fight… and to the chest. The pull of it was callin’ to him, a pull which he promptly ignored, thinking he was goin’ a little batshit in this extremely stressful situation. “Shit, dude! Terrible time for a first meetin’, but hope you enjoyed your gift!” Jokes. He could do jokes. The chest more firmly in his sight now, he saw that Remmy (presumably, it seemed like they knew what they were doin’) had put another box on top of the chest. “Now how the fuck do you open a box with a box, Remmy?” Winn hollered at them as the biggish seafood special, the one he’d previously tried to thwack with a puck, made its way to him. Alright, time for some acrobatics. He was grateful, at that moment, that he’d taken some of his hockey padding off, and that he had just enough space between him and the asshole with claws to build up some speed. Winn skated across the ice, blowing by Remmy and their friend, and leaped with the ease of years of experience on the ice. And his ma had said learnin’ proper ice skating would be a waste! He landed on its back, barely facin’ the right way for his plan, as it tried to buck him off, like the world’s most dangerous mechanical bull. “Fuckin’ hell,” he mumbled. Alright, these things needed to breathe, right? He yanked his stick underneath the thing’s head and pulled with both his arms. It kicked and it screamed, and Winn thought the stick might snap in half — it was his backup stick anyway — but its movements were getting sloppy. “Someone wanna stab this thing while I’ve got it distracted? PLEASE?” he yelled at the other combatants.
Remmy looked around just in time to watch Winn come skating across the ice and do a leap onto a karkinoid that would impress even professional bull riders. Not sure that was the safest tactic, but Winn looked like he could take care of himself. It was Skylar and the other girl with her that Remmy was worried about. “The box! It-- it um, folds out!” Remmy said, swinging again. A miss this time, but the lobster also seemed distracted and unable to claw them. Oh, right-- the bracelet. Remmy hoped it would work well enough as more started to surround them and they swung in a circle to clear a path. “It’s-- it holds the power! Or s-something.” They couldn’t remember everything Cece had told them. They should’ve just written it down, dammit. “Someone with-- pure heart has to open it! Hold it to the--” but they stopped, mid sentence, as a gargling noise and the sound of rushing water echoed around. And from the depths of the ocean, rose a claw, the size of a man. And then another claw. Followed by the body of something that Remmy was pretty sure that one horror dude wrote about. They swerved, bewildered, to look at Nell. “Now can you use magic??”
Pure of heart? Holds the power? What the hell was Remmy even talking about? But Nell didn’t particularly have time to question it in the midst of trying not to completely eat it on the ice while she did her best to gut as many karikinoids as she could. Besides, she trusted Remmy. And yet...as the two girls grew closer to the chest, Nell could have sworn she heard the stereotypical boss music in every video game start to play. For a moment she was simply starstruck, a sharp smile beginning to spread across her lips. Oh, hell yeah. A karkinoid that looked like it could take the place of the RV in ‘We’re the Millers’? Sign her the fuck up. “We’re eating good tonight, guys!” she called out, rushing towards the giant thing. But the small lobsters kept getting in her way, deterring her progress. Nevertheless she took the appearance of the giant lobster to mean they were doing something right. After all, didn’t the boss always come out at the end? Maybe Remmy was right. “Okay, okay!” Time to stop messing with the little bait karkinoids so she could get to the big one. Rolling up a sleeve of her jacket, she revealed a tattoo she’d gotten some time ago, a summoning sigil that she chanted into for a moment, slicing her thumb open to pour some blood over it. In a few moments, a trio of hellhounds had appeared from misty darkness, waiting to do Nell’s bidding. “Dinner, boys,” she simply said before the shadowy beasts began to tear into the karkinoids, roasting some with fire from their maws while crushing others between hellishly strong jaws.
Shiloh focused on that chest - if it could help them, that’s all that mattered. Everything was going well, all things considered until she felt a rumble at her feet and stopped in her tracks. She wished she didn’t look up because Really Huge Lobsters. That was a thing. And some guy thinking it was safe to ride one. Okay. Focus Shiloh. She kept heading over to the chest when a “small” lobster (compared to that huge mother of a lobster) scurried in front of her. Before she could even react, a… shadow? Dog? Ran right to it and snatched it up and ran. “Okay.” Was all Shiloh could say as she forgot how to breathe. The last thing she needed was to lose her cool in front of Skylar, even though there wasn’t a better situation to do it! All she wanted to do was open that chest and hopefully all this would end. Maybe it would all end up being a dream. It started off as such a nice one too. As she reached the chest, she knelt down, this thing didn’t seem to have any noticeable latches. She grabbed the box on top of it and turned it over. She looked over at Skylar. “What do we have to do?”
Struggling to make out Winn’s words over the yelling, screaming, lobster noises, and very sudden presence of the biggest freaking Karkinoid she’d ever seen in her life, Skylar squinted, trying to make out the sounds. “Lyft? What, is he a Lyft driver?” She mumbled under her breath before shaking her head. Before she could really figure out any sort of game plan though, Nell did some kind of weird gesture and then-- “No! No! NO!” She yelled, scrambling away from the three hell-dogs that had appeared from nowhere. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” Skylar shrieked as she attempted to continue to back away, only to run the back of her legs solidly into the chest. Dogs. Big fiery, scary, hell dogs with giant teeth. Skylar’s blood was pounding in her skull, but she forced herself to get a handle on the instinct that screamed at her to run away. She couldn’t run away, no matter how much she wanted to. “I--” She swallowed, still trying to process everything, “I-- Box. Something about a box? I can’t, I can’t hear over everything.” Skylar said. “Maybe we need to put the box inside the chest..?”
It occurred to Winn, as he continued to be bucked by the now second biggest bull at the County Fair, that he was going to have to deal with this the hard way. Well. They didn’t call it leg day for nothing. He substituted his stick for his legs as the monster’s attention was drawn towards its granddaddy from the deep, tugging tightly, tighter even than he’d been able to manage with the stick, and leaned forward, careful of the creature’s claws. They snapped over top of him, trying to get at Winn, belly down on the hard shell of the beast. Alright. Eat this, asshole. Winn pulled a puck from his pocket, and emergency back-up plan in case he needed one last-ditch effort, and smashed it against the creature’s mouth, forcing it in, wincing as the creature gnashed at his hand. Ah well. Healing factor for the win (ha). He hoped the puck was just big enough to… The bottom of his stick in his dominant hand as he held the puck in the dumb thing’s mouth, Winn shoved, hard, and kept pushing, and pushing, and pushing, until the puck, and the stick, were halfway down its gullet. Once it was lodged in there, Winn pulled up, and up, until he heard the slow crack of the wood, legs still tight around it, and shoved down. It wailed, screamed, gnashed, a horrible, gut-wrenching sound as Winn pushed the stick down and down, and out the bottom of the beast, through its underbelly. It fell slowly, twitched for a moment, and moved no more. Winn pulled his stick, holdin’ together, if only barely, out of the things mouth like a gooey Excalibur, before turning to the big fucker in the ocean. “Game plan, guys?” he called to the rest of his allies, chancing a glance to where Skylar and her lady friend were fiddling with the box and the chest. “I can do this all night.”
Not quite what Remmy had in mind for the magic, but it was better than nothing. It wasn’t like they really knew much about magic or how it worked, only that the bracelet around their wrist sure was a saving grace right now. Somehow, though, Remmy could feel it fading. It didn’t feel warm and heavy on their wrist so much anymore. “OPEN THE--” they started, then noticed Skylar struggling. “SKYLAR!” they shouted so that she’d at least know they were talking to her, and when she looked over, they signed ‘Open the smaller box to make it flat. Put on the chest. Hope something happens’. That’s what Cece had said. The Imperium would activate once the pure of heart part was there. Skylar was as pure as anyone got, to Remmy. Hopefully this would work. Suddenly, a sharp pain. Wow, Remmy hadn’t felt pain in a long time. What was that? They looked down, found a lobster claw sticking out of their stomach. Oh. Oh, that would do it. Without really knowing what to do now, Remmy screamed. They yanked away, the claw removing itself with a squelching noise, stumbling. Turned blindly with the mallet and swung, but claws grasped the handle and it was lost to their grip. It was a little surreal, having a hole in their stomach and not seeing blood. There was definitely something there, though, but Remmy didn’t want to look at it, for fear it was probably whatever organs were in that spot. It would heal, right? Hands caught a swiping claw. Eyes red and angry, that hunger growing inside of them again. Remmy’s hands tightened and the shell of the claw started to crack. With a loud yell, they pulled-- and ripped the claw right off. The karkinoid screeched and flopped away. Now for the big boy. Remmy’s eyes, still red, looked from Nell, to the big one. “Just...open the stupid chest,” they exhaled, stalking past Winn.
As far as opening magical chests went, Nell wished she had a little more clarity about exactly how this one was meant to work. All she’d gathered so far was that those pure of heart seemed to be the key. Thankfully, she trusted that at least Shiloh and Skylar were the most pure of those among them. Then there was the hockey man, Winn. How did he fit into all this? “Ahhh, fuck,” she cursed as a lobster ran Remmy through, not getting their in time to help with that situation. Well- no better time to be a zombie, right? “You good, Remmy?” she called out over the fray, figuring it still wasn’t exactly pleasant to be gutted by a karkinoid. But a quick look towards her friend made her realize just how close they were to zombie-ing out, and an idea formed in her head. “Remmy!” she called out again. “I can trigger you! Make you go full out!” There wasn’t really time to include the part of her plan that featured her being used as bait to guide Remmy on a lobster killing rampage. “Does that sound good?” She didn’t want to surprise them by forcing the change. But as soon as Remmy gave her a nod of confirmation, Nell was scooping up the brains of one of the lobsters her hellhounds had crushed open, flinging it straight into Remmy’s face. And then- she sloshed another handful of brains and viscera after it, just for good measure. A moment later, she sliced a portion of her arm open, waving it high over her head as if that would carry the delicious scent of human to the hopefully hungry zombie. She didn’t wait to see if they would give chase as she flung herself over the back of a lobster putting it between her and Remmy as she blazed a trail towards the giant karkinoid, giving herself a bit of a magical speed boost to avoid being zombie dinner.
Despite not being her name, Shiloh picked her head up when she heard Skylar’s name being called. However, she wasn’t much use after that as the person started signing and Shiloh didn’t know sign language. Couldn’t pick a better time to be an idiot. Instead she looked over at Skylar, hoping she could make out what they were saying. Until then, Shiloh kept playing with the box, even trying to open the chest to put in but obviously there was no way it was going to open so this was tricky. As she messed with it she discovered she could open it flat and was a little startled when it happened - momentarily worried she’d broken it. It was really hard trying to focus with all the noise around her. So when she heard Skylar’s voice, it was welcomed and she turned to look at her.
Head turning to the sound of her name, Skylar watched in confusion as Remmy signed at her. Open it flat? As she muddled through the information she was given, her eyes widened, “Rem! Behind--” And then Remmy was impaled, right before her eyes, a lobster claw protruding from their body. Horror and bile rose in the back of her throat as she quickly turned away. Remmy, they were a zombie. They were a zombie-- that sort of thing would be fine. They’d be totally fine. This was fine. Oh god, how was any of this fine?! Turning around to face the chest, she ran her hands over the surface, fingers brushing over the runes. Immediately, a sense of freezing cold washed over her, almost bringing her to her knees. “Don’t-- don’t touch the chest,” Skylar said through chattering teeth. “N-not with your hands.” Looking at the weird little box in Shiloh’s hands, she realized that she’d already figured out how to get the thing to lay flat. “I th-think you’ll be fine if you touch it with that though? Remmy said t-to open it and then put it on the chest?” Looking over at the three squaring up against Mr. Giant Freaking Lobster, she immediately wished she hadn’t. Nell was chucking lobster guts at Remmy for some reason and when she brought her knife up to her arm-- Nope! Looking back at Shiloh, she offered a nod. “I think they have it. Give it a sh-sh-shot?”
Winn scrambled backward on the ice as Remmy made their way past him, the tone in their voice raising the wolf’s hackles like not much else could. Winn knew, given what Blanche had told him, that Remmy was somethin’ that a Hunter would try and kill. And he knew, now, that being run through with a lobster claw would barely phase them. That was metal as fuck, if incredibly worrying. Jeez, at this rate, they’d both send Blanche gray before long. He had two pucks left, it was almost the new moon, and his hand was bleedin’ pretty badly from his stunt with the bull-lobster. Now, what was a werewolf to do? Remmy, the woman who’d just thrown viscera at Remmy, and three… dogs, he’d guess, were closin’ in on the boss. But there were still a couple of the smaller guys circling Skylar and her friend. He knew when to play defense. The werewolf whistled, loud as can be, at the monsters, waving his bloody hand and gesturing with his other at their dead sibling, hoping they could feel something beyond base instinct, and skated towards the edge of the ice towards the road, away from the boss and away from the chest. The lobmonsters followed him, eyeing him and his disgusting stick warily. “HURRY UP!” he yelled as loud as he could to the women at the chest, trying to piece together a plan. Their underbellies were less guarded, could he get under them in his human form? Dammit, he wish he had claws. Wait… He skated farther away — ignoring, once again, the tug from the chest, fuckin’ magic was so weird — and yanked off his skates, tossing his stick to the side and pulling them over his hands. His feet were a little cold now, and his traction was shit, but he’d survive. If all went to plan, he wouldn’t be on his feet for much longer anyway.
Remmy had to admit, in the moments before the dark hunger in their mind took over, that it felt kinda nice to let go. Fists flying through karkinoid shell, satisfying cracks. It was like all the anger and sadness they’d had pent up was flowing out of them through their hands and into each punch. And then the smell of fresh human blood hit their senses and eyes dimmed out, yellowed sclera and red irises turning on the source. Face grey and paled, veins highlighted through the thin flesh. Remmy’s head snapped up and turned. A karkinoid snapped at them but they caught the claw, one hand on each side, and pushed, turning the claw around backwards, before shoving through the thing, taking off at a speed not known to human. Each karkinoid that got in the way was met with yelling and fists, and teeth. But each slice they made stayed a little longer each time. Until Remmy was at the big one, trying to plow through one of its legs to get at Nell, not mindless yet, but not in control.
It’d been a moment since Nell had felt this alive, feet barely touching the ground as she sort of bounded across the ice, having discovered that worked better over the traditional style of running. This was the adrenaline she lived for, the delicious high she was constantly chasing in her everyday life. She didn’t bother to turn and see if Remmy was following her, able to hear it as they tore through karkinoids. Now faced with the monster of a karkinoid that had surfaced from the sea last, instinct made her fling some of her blood in Remmy’s direction, trying to get them as ravenous as she could to bring out their peak strength. Then, she whipped around the back of the big papa lobster, clambering up its tail and frantically climbing up the back of it as fast as she could, hoping the it’s enormous claws wouldn't be able to bend and reach her here. For a moment as she continued to ascend, she saw the entirety of the battlefield from above. The two girls fumbling with the chest, Winn looking like he was in the most avante-garde form of the Ice Capades she’d ever seen, and her hounds continuing to devour whatever they came in contact with. But the distraction cost her for a moment, stumbling over a raised part of the giant lobster’s shell, leaving her clinging to it to avoid falling back onto the ice.
“Are you okay?” Shiloh asked Skylar as she saw her start shivering. It was kind of cold given the ice and all but she could recall Skylar saying she ran warm. Shiloh wished she brought a jacket with her and struggled with what took more importance at the moment. Trying to figure out this damn chest or Skylar coming down with sudden chills. “Come here.” Shiloh put her arm around Skylar’s shoulder’s able to feel her trembling. What the hell happened? They needed to get out of here. But they couldn’t leave before all this stopped. Turning back to the chest, Shiloh reached out for it like Skylar had told her. The box was flat and she touched the chest with it. Nothing. A couple of more seconds that felt more like minutes? Still nothing. She touched the top. The side. Moved it around. “It’s not working, Skye. Are you sure that’s all we had to do? Am I doing something wrong? Do you want to try?”
“I-I-” Skylar teeth chattered as she struggled to fight through the chill that had suddenly set in. “It’s gonna be fine. We g-gotta get this chest open.” She said, but even as she spoke, Shiloh was already busy at work doing what Remmy told her. Were they supposed to like… stick it inside the chest? It wasn’t going to just slot in, there wasn’t anywhere that it would belong. When Shiloh offered the weird box to her, Skylar shook her head, “I’m n-n-not apart of this. This stuff, it’s not… I’m not going to t-t-t-touch it.” She said. She wanted no part of any of this magic, supernatural garbage. She wasn’t going to get into this. Looking up from the chest, she saw that Winn had taken off his skates and was-- “Winn, g-g-get out of there! You’re going to get freaking ch-chopped in half!” She yelled. What the heck was he thinking, smacking the karkinoids around with his hockey skates? As she looked at him, Skylar shivered as she tried to muddle through her curse-fogged brain. “Wait! You work out, right? M-m-maybe you can pull the chest open?” She asked. That had to be better than just, popping the dumb box thing on the evil Pirates of the Carribean chest, right?
As the demonic dog trainer repeated his bull maneuver with the Final Fantasy boss in the distance and Remmy, looking ravenous, chased after her, and as Skylar and someone who was real comfortable getting in Skylar’s personal space — were they on a date? good for them! sorta! — futzed with the chest, Winn turned his attention to his targets. He couldn’t let the wolf go fully loose, not here in front of all of these (mostly) people, but he could do what its — his — instincts were tellin’ him to do. Namely: Slice and dice. He ran forward towards the two monsters, chittering at him like they were the ones who had him cornered, instead of the other way around, used the frantic energy of him stumbling on the ice to propel him as fast as he could go on his human feet. At the last minute, right as their claws came out to make mince meat of him, he dropped to his knees, jamming his skates into the top of their exposed underbellies and sliding through, pulling his makeshift ‘claws’ down as he went, ice burning into his barely-protected knees. Distracted just enough by the pain, their screams loud, so loud, in Winn’s ears, they didn’t have time to react as Winn jerked his claws back towards him, pulling the twin wounds open as he did, pulling the meat out and letting their guts spill onto the ice. Eventually, when the screaming stopped and Winn was sure that he wasn’t about to get his head lopped off, he rose, discarding the gored skates on the ice-covered ground beside him. He looked between his two options. He, a new moon-adjacent werewolf in human form with no shoes on and a bleeding hand, could go try and tackle a monster. Or, maybe… There was that pull from the chest again, his heart soaring as he looked at it. Alright. Well. Never say Winn didn’t listen to Destiny… the third time, at least.
Remmy was like a steam roller, crushing through karkinoids as they made their way towards the delicious smelling human blood. Fists and feet wrecking a path straight through, tackling one after the other, grabbing tails and throwing them aside, the satisfying crunch of their shells sounding as they fell back to the ground. The smell was climbing up the lobster, and Remmy’s instincts drove them straight to it, fists punching, punching, punching, until a leg snapped backwards, even as a giant claw grasped for them. It teetered and Remmy took the opportunity to claw up it, hands digging into its soft underbelly as they reached for Nell, so close, so close to that tantalizing smell.
Shit, shit, shit. Nell could hear Remmy nearly on her, and today’s schedule did not include getting bitten by a zombie. In a scurried movement, she finally regained her footing, a next to insane idea popping into her head as she looked at her feet. She didn’t have a sword big enough to rip through this beast. But...she might have a person savage enough to. Not even having a moment to think about how utterly repulsive it might be, Nell let loose a raw blast of magic down into the karkinoid, launching herself into the hole it made, and praying Remmy would follow after her into the literal belly of the beast. If they couldn’t pierce through the exoskeleton all at once, might as well do this from the inside out, right? As soon as she was encased in the cavity she’d made, holding her last breath she’d taken from the outside world, she began to propel herself with blasts of her magic through the guts and who knew what else of the karkinoid, burrowing like a vole being chased by a marten. If the damage she was causing wasn’t enough to kill the thing, Remmy tearing after her certainly would be. Finally- she tunneled out of the other side, landing in an ungraceful and gooey pile beneath the monster.
“I thought you said not to touch it.” Shiloh asked, wondering how trying to break open the chest was going to fix it when they were supposed to use this other… flat box thing. “Can’t you help me?” Shiloh asked, not sure why Skylar wanted her to do this all alone. Her eyes looked up as she saw this guy coming up to them. She couldn’t recall ever seeing him before but supposed that didn’t matter. Maybe this guy was at least willing to try to help and open it. “Look, I tried putting this thing on the chest and it doesn’t do anything.” She told him, even offering him the box itself. “Can you try because I’m probably doing it wrong.”
“N-not with your hands. I’m… I got cursed. Th-this happened to Ricky.” Skylar explained through trembling lips, still very much freezing cold. “I-I’m not, this isn’t me. I’m just here.” As Winn neared the chest, Skylar let out a small sigh of relief though the gesture was ruined slightly by the shaking of her shoulders. “Winn. You, you’ve got to help us. They,” She swallowed, struggling to get her head out of the brain fog, “They said something about pure of heart and power? Y-you and Shiloh? M-m-maybe that’s what they need? This magic stuff. I’m not… I’m not a part of this. It’s not me.” She said shaking her head. She wasn’t a seal, she wasn’t magical at all. She was just a normal girl who’d gone on a normal date that had gotten ruined by giant freaking lobsters, blood magic, satan dogs, and one of her best friends turning into Zombie Hulk. None of this was her business. She’d just been dragged along for the ride. “You’ve got to help her. I c-c-can’t do this.” She pleaded.
Winn hated to be the voice of reason. Truly, he did. He didn’t mind, so much, talkin’ to people, tryin’ to get them to come to their own conclusions about things. But a conclusion wasn’t always reasonable. Sometimes, it was messy. Imprecise. Hurt like hell. There wasn’t room for a conclusion here, only reason. Only a step forward. He nodded at the girl, Shiloh, and started talking calmly, but clearly, to Skylar: “Skylar. I don’t know much about this magic stuff either, not really. I don’t really know what bein’ pure of heart means, and, by all of my accounts, I ain’t it. But magic is real fuckin’ stupid, I think. And it don’t much care whether or not you want it to be in your life or not, if it’s got its hooks into you, you’ve got a choice. You either go with the current, or you get crushed against the rocks. Maybe I’m not pure of heart, maybe you don’t want to be a part of this magic shit. But Shiloh here is maybe the smartest of the three of us, ‘cause she knows she has to just buckle down, and do it. You can do it, and we will do it. Together. Because we have to. There will be time, later, for fightin’ against fate. There will be time for questions. But now, all we can do, all the three of us have to do, is put a hand on this godforsaken chest, and hope like hell that we can fix somethin’ that’s broke.” He reached a hand towards Skye. “C’mon. I’m scared too. Scared as hell.” He nudged Shiloh to place her hand over his, both of them reaching out to Skylar, hands over the box. Hearts in tune. And, if only for one, indescribable moment, in that moment, Winn felt the magic.
Remmy’s target slipped right from their grasp and burrowed down into the giant monster. But that didn’t stop them. They scrambled and clawed their way up to the hole that had been made and tore a bigger one, ripping shell and muscle and meat away as they burrowed in, chasing after Nell. Hands tore at the inside guts, squelching in, ripping, tearing, pulling forward, until they were grabbing the inside of the karkinoid’s jaws, having lost the scent of blood, overwhelmed by karkinoid viscera. They pushed out, hearing its skeleton crack as they did, grasping to get out. The monster let out a scream and so did Remmy, before they finally pulled themself out, tearing jaws almost in half, and flopping onto the wet sand, covered in blood and guts. They stayed there for a long moment, somehow exhausted, blinking dazedly, cuts and scratches healing slower than normal, the hole in their stomach finally almost gone. For a moment, vision came back to Remmy, and from the ground, across the beach, they could see the three other people standing around the chest, hands all held together. And it felt...right. And then the smell of blood came back, and everything flooded red again.
Nell didn’t have time to rest as the monster voiced its death knell, knowing that underneath a humongous dying karkinoid was a very bad place to be. What goes up, must come down. Barely catching her breath, she darted out from beneath the thing as it finally found a resting place on the beach, an enormous thud emitting from the collision that she could have sworn had an echo. But as soon as she’d cleared the falling carcass, she knew there was still one more item to take care of. Remmy wasn’t just going to be all zen after tunneling through a massive amount of flesh and blood. As she stood her legs were shaky, the amount of sheer magic and energy she’d exerted rendering her uncertain of whether or not she’d be able to continue out-running a hungry zombie. She managed a few long strides before she stumbled onto the ice, a moment of panic flaring in her lest Remmy start to give chase again. But thankfully, the hellhounds were still picking at the leftover feast of karkinoids, and she summoned one to her, latching on its fur and sloppily clinging to its back as she urged it to run. But in the midst of all this, she chanced a glance towards the chest, and couldn’t help the flooding of relief that it seemed to finally be doing what it was supposed to. The magic around it was shifting, pooling amongst the three who’d gathered around the chest.
Shiloh listened to the guy, smiling as he seemed to be sensible enough minus the talk about magic. She’d rather choose not to think about that and instead focus on trying to convince Skylar that they should do this together. Which already relieved a good chunk of Shiloh’s stress that she didn’t have to open this weird chest all by herself. “Come on, Skye. Let’s do it together so we can all get out of here safely.” Shiloh at least hoped that the last part was true. It had to be. She had to have hope it would all be fine once they open the chest.
You either go with the current, or you get crushed against the rocks, Winn’s words struck a chord in Skylar. As she looked from him to Shiloh and to the flat box held between the two of them, she swallowed. “This… th-this is all real, isn’t it?” she mumbled, shaking her head. But, as much as she tried to deny it, as much as she tried to run away from the situation that bared down upon her, she couldn’t outrun this. She couldn’t just leave her friends here, she couldn’t just let them fight against this on their own. And… as much as she hated it, this was reality for her now. A world, previously unknown to her, had been revealed to her and she couldn’t escape its grasp. Swallowing, Skylar stared up at Winn, her bright blue eyes locking with his. “Y-you’re a good person, Winn. You c-came here and fought giant lobsters and tried to protect the town from this. You’re the most pure of heart out of us,” she said before reaching out and placing her hand alongside the other two. Glancing over at Shiloh, she offered a worried smile before focusing on the chest. There was no turning back now.
You’re the most pure of heart out of us. Winn fought back the flinch that rose up from within him. But Skylar didn’t know any better. It didn’t matter if he was, or he wasn’t. All that mattered was the chest. The moment Skylar’s hand touched his and Shiloh’s, all three hands were surrounded in warm light, which poured down from their hands like dancing fireflies and into the flattened box on top of the chest. As the light faded, the smaller, flatter box shuddered like an earthquake was rumbling it and only it, and flew off with such force that Shiloh, Skylar, and Winn were pushed back on the ice by the power of it, if only a little. Winn kept the girls’ hands clasped tightly in his own, unsure of the magical protocol here, but knowing that he, a reasonable man, really, really didn’t want to let go of the other two hands. Light, the same light that had encased their hands just seconds previous, rose from the chest, flittering upward like flecks of cinder and charcoal from a fire. Winn’s eyes took a moment to adjust to the return of the darkness, but when they did, he wished that he’d been blinded for a moment longer because he was staring face-to-uhh, eye with what was, by all accounts (and he might be going crazy, but he wasn’t that far gone) a sole, chest-sized, eyeball, flopping out and onto the remains of the ice. It stared at Winn, at Skylar, at Shiloh, making eye contact (ha) with them all, before taking its… uh, tail-lookin’ thing (Winn couldn’t remember biology at the moment, he was too freaked out, thanks) and slowly dragging itself towards the water. Winn watched it go with a sense of creeping dread and hysterical amusement. “What the fuck,” he said, slowly lowering, but not releasing, Skylar and Shiloh’s hands. “What the fuck was that? Why was it in the chest? Who? I? What the fuck.” He plopped down on the ice for a moment, gathering his bearings, his hand still held up above his head within Skylar’s and Shiloh’s, unwilling to let go quite yet.
Something was coming towards Remmy, and even in their tired, hungry state, all they wanted to do was catch it. And eat. They were so hungry. And so tired. And in pain. Pain wasn’t something they felt a lot anymore and it was heavy. Lobster claw marks lined their body and tore up their clothes, but they still lifted themself from the ground and stumbled after the moving thing. Whatever it was, it was moving and it was fresh and Remmy wanted it. Followed it straight into the ocean, waves beating at their face, choking and sputtering out of sheer reaction. Lungs didn’t need air, but the water still felt overwhelming. Moving until their feet couldn’t touch the ground anymore and water overtook them.
The chest opened, and everything seemed to paused for a moment. Nell stood stock still after slipping off the hound in her surprise, feeling as if the eye took a moment to make contact with each and every one of them before sloshing away. What the actual fuck? And then...a zombie was charging after it. “Ahhhh, fuck,” she cursed once more as Remmy went deeper and deeper into the tides. “Remmy! Remmy, no!” Why did she feel as if she was scolding some misbehaving dog who’d gone too far into the surf? “Remmy, get back here!” She used her best hellhound commanding voice, as she launched herself into the waves, a bit of lobster brain and guts she’d grabbed from the beach in hand. Adrenaline gave her another much needed boost, her tiredness melting away for a moment as the shock of the freezing water gripped her. Once she was close enough to Remmy, she reached out to grab them by the collar of their shirt, and carefully shove the bits of lobster down their mouth, avoiding any possible biting before dragging the two of them back through the waves the old fashioned way, finally finding safety on the beach.
Shiloh forcefully pulled her hand back from the other guy’s, despite one to be comforted by physical touch she didn’t know him and what she saw freaked her out way too much and she just wanted to be far away from him. When she got her hand free she crossed her arms, effectively closing herself off from whatever the hell just happened. An eye was in the chest and it just went into the water. Okay. That was a thing that happened now too. Whatever. Things were happening. In an effort to think of anything other than what just happened she looked over at Skylar. Reaching out gently to touch her in case she too was lost in thought. “Hey,” Are you okay what a stupid question. How did that even cross her mind? “- are you still cold? Do you wanna go?” She was just waiting for Skylar to give the okay for them to leave. She looked up to see the other two people safe so it was all fine they can go home now right? Shiloh didn’t want to be the first to leave (especially not without Skylar) but she didn’t want to stay around. She wanted to go home. She needed to get away from all this.
First, it had been beautiful-- the magic, the light, the warmth that filled her and erased the cold that had filled Skylar the moment she’d touched the chest. It had been beautiful. And then that giant fucking eyeball Cthulu-crawled out of the chest and ran into the ocean? Skylar jolted back in shock and horror, nearly tripping and falling over Winn’s form on the ice, his hand still tightly holding her own. But when Shiloh pulled away, arms folding tightly across her chest, Skylar slipped her hand out of Winn’s grasp gently, casting an apologetic look at him. “I meant what I said,” she mumbled, hoping that her words were clear enough for him to understand. The karkinoids were dead, their bodies littered around them on the ice, and the beach was silent save for the crashing of waves on the beach. Or rather, silent except for Nell yelling at Remmy. Glancing up, she watched as Nell yanked a delirious Remmy by the back of the shirt in the surf. “Oh jeez…” she muttered, rubbing her forehead. Before she could yell at the two of them to be careful, she felt a light touch on her arm and looked at Shiloh. “I’m okay now,” she said with a tired smile. Was she though? How was she okay with any of what had just happened? Reaching out, she offered her hand for Shiloh to take. “I… Yeah. Let’s go.” She nodded. As much as she tried to deny it, this was her life now. Magic seals and blood curses and evil demented eyeballs and all. But, that would be something to worry about in the morning. Tonight, she just wanted to live in that simpler world, where none of this had happened.
As Shiloh and Skylar let go of his hand, one slightly more roughly than the other, Winn felt a laugh pop out of his throat, sitting there. He laughed. Because this, well, this was his damn life now. And, alright, technically it had been since the day he’d stepped foot into the forest with Berto and his (then-future) packmates. But he’d never imagined this. Maybe he’d been foolish not to. And so he laughed, ‘cause really, when a giant eyeball falls out of a cursed chest and pulls its way through lobster monster guts to float into the river and towards the ocean, well… What could you do, but laugh? When he stopped, he felt boneless and tired, but… determined, in a way that he hadn’t felt in a while. There was one person he needed to message. Immediately. Wiping his hand on his pants, he pulled his cell out of his pocket and typed a quick message out to Ricky. They hadn’t spoken since… well. That didn’t matter. “Curse broken. Boom. You’re welcome,” he tapped out, waiting to hear the whoosh of it going through before turning his phone off and picking himself off of the already fading ice, which was seemingly being pulled back in towards the chest from whence it came. He had questions. A fuckload of them. But first. He stepped towards the chest, and looked down inside of it. Was that...? Coins. A lot of them, by the looks of it. Well, no way he was touchin’ them with his bare hands. “Hey! Magic lady!” he called, making an assumption since he knew those “dogs” hadn’t been there when he’d landed on the beach. “Somethin’ over here you might wanna do some magic on. ‘Cause I got questions, and I know a lot of other folks will too ‘fore long. Better safe than sorry, ya hear?” He unloosed the puck bag from his waistband, dumping the remaining pucks into the cold sand beneath his feet. Winn flipped it inside out and stuck his hand into the thick material, using it almost like a glove. He grabbed a small handful, and flipped the bag, carefully, back to its normal state. Winn didn’t want all of the coins — money wasn’t important to him, not in the slightest — but he did know a few people who might want to take a look at these. And ‘sides, he thought as he picked up the rest of his shit and walked away: He’d earned a damn souvenir.