A Tale of Two Cryptids || Elias & Mona
TIMING: Current LOCATION: Along a hiking trail PARTIES: Elias (@eliaskahtri) & Mona (@thunderstroked) SUMMARY: Elias has the best day of his life, Mona's day is less so.
The fox trotted along the path, vigilant in finding any traps before they could possibly find her. She’d been traversing the trails that most of the humans did in the hopes to avoid such things, but that also came with a risk. Lucky enough for her, most humans were loud in their footsteps which meant she could typically hear them before she’d even come into their view. Of course, that wasn’t always the case, but she could be quick when she wanted to be. It was unfortunate that her form was not reflective of a typical fox, but one that had seen some kind of tragic event, as one photographer put it. Becoming one of Wicked Rest’s new cryptids hadn’t been on the itinerary, but it had happened anyway. It was only a matter of time before the photos and word of where she was got back to her family, and she knew that, but for now, she would stay put. Until her sister knocked on her door, she would assume she was fine.
Still, despite the measures to keep herself safe, the town had other plans. The sound of a twig snapping– the movement of leaves. The fox stayed put, gaze narrowing. She looked around slowly, yellow eyes scanning her surroundings. And then– the flash of a camera. The fox took off, sprinting in the opposite direction from which she’d come, crashing through brush and thorns. She could feel them on her coat and it hurt. She wanted to stop, wanted to find somewhere to check herself, but she could hear them behind her.
And unfortunately for her, there was somebody in front of her, too. The fox skidded to a halt, hackles rising.
As usual, Elias found himself letting off steam the best way he knew how; hiking. It had started as a rather uneventful hike, but he found that an uneventful hike turned out to be a good thing in a town like Wicked’s Rest. He was finally experiencing the changing of the seasons. Being from California, it was rare for him to see such sights. It was exhilarating. The changing of the leaves, the crispness that was often associated with autumn, he finally understood it. He took in a deep breath, smiling to himself. Then, a crunch of the leaves alerted his attention off to his right. He glanced over in the sound’s direction, suddenly alert. He learned not to brush off animal sounds in these woods anymore. One too many encounters with strange or dangerous creatures, thanks very much. He saw a fox. Nothing out of the ordinary–
That’s when he came face to face with a fox with a strange pattern and coloring to it. Blue and white mixed with the usual orange fur they were known for. It also stook up kind of funny, as if it were in a state of perpetual shock. He stuttered backward as the fox came skittering to a halt in front of him. He blinked. Once, twice. “Uh.” He uttered out, eyes darting back and forth as he tried to figure out what to do in this situation. “You look pretty cool…” He then added, deciding that the fox deserved a compliment. He stepped to the side, feeling bad for catching the fox unaware. “Wait a second…” Elias stared harder at the fox, he had seen this fox before. But where…? “Ohmygod,” Elias spoke in a rushed tone, suddenly excited beyond belief. “They labeled you a cryptid in town!” He exclaimed, quickly pulling his phone from his pocket as quickly as he could and pulled up the list of cryptids the club in town had compiled. A blurry picture of a fox running had been posted not too long ago. “Look!” He showed the phone to the fox, as if it could possibly be interested in what Elias was showing it. He felt a little silly, but for some reason, the fox wasn’t leaving. “I’m Elias! I’m a friend, I promise!” He exclaimed in a softer voice, trying to visibly calm himself down to not spook the creature any more than it already was.
He was talking, and he was complimenting her. If she weren’t so annoyed, she might be pleased with his words. If she hadn’t been running away from the very kind of person that he was turning out to be, she might have said something kind to him after shifting, explaining that oh, the fox disappeared. She could probably still do that, he seemed enamored with her memory, thanks to the blurry photo now displayed on his phone towards her.
It was concerning that if she were any regular fox, that this person might think it’d be able to understand show and tell. A little funny, too.
The fox backed up a few more steps, gaze sliding over the phone. Sure enough, there was a photo of her, blurry with her two tails nearly fading into each other to appear as one. If they were going to take photos of her, they could at least take better ones. Then again, she couldn’t take photos worth shit, either.
He claimed he was a friend, and if she were fae, he would regret his promise. She would hold him to it. The fox glanced around, uneasy by the idea that she should put any kind of trust into somebody who might also be hunting her. Whether it was visually or physically, she couldn’t be sure without more information.
However, before she could process much else, the sound of footsteps— loud, crunching forest debris, made her flinch in unison with the guttural growl that filled the air. Or perhaps growl was the wrong word, as it was more of a grunt than anything. The fox looked towards the noise, peering through blending foliage, trying to make sense of the yellows and greens to get a good look at what their new company might be.
To say that Elias was shocked that the fox hadn’t run away yet would be a vast understatement. He put his phone back into his pocket, half afraid the fox would try and bite it or something of that nature. “Yeah, it’s not a great photo, but it’s a photo.” He muttered to himself, afraid to make sudden movements if he spooked the creature. He wasn’t one to take photos of things. He was more of a “live at the moment” guy.
As soon as he heard the loud crunch, Elias began to turn around. Once he heard the growl, his eyes went wide. Not again, he couldn’t help but think. Every time he tried to have a nice hike in the woods, something bad always happened. He loved hiking. He’d be damned if something else happened in the woods while he tried to have a good time, dammit.
Then, he saw it. It was hairy, it was big, and it had giant feet. No, could it be…? Elias took a step back from the creature, afraid to say anything in case he ruined the moment. This was the apex of his life. Nothing got better after this.
“Bigfoot!” He hissed out in a quiet voice, pumping his fists in the air as if this were the most exciting moment of his life.
The stranger pocketed his cellphone and the fox felt a pang of regret, mostly because she could have lunged at him and at least have broken it. Finding photos of herself on forums and poster boards was beginning to frustrate her, if only because the information might get back to her family. Wicked’s Rest was far away from Busan, but she couldn’t be too careful.
Her concentration broken, the fox flipped her attention back to the noise that entered the clearing alongside them. As it came into view, even she had to admit, she hadn’t quite expected it. The stranger was pumping his fist into the air and exclaiming. Was he stupid?
The fox backed up a few steps, hackles rising. Electricity bloomed over her fur, but to the stranger beside her, it’d come across as nothing more than static. She wasn’t sure who or what bigfoot was, but he did have big feet, and it looked like he could stomp on her if he really wanted to.
The monstrous creature took another step forward and the ground shook beneath her, or maybe it was all placebo– the fox really couldn’t be sure at this point. Most of the time, she lacked the fight response– at least, not when it served her. The flight was strong, especially now, and the fox took another step away from the bigfoot, eager to put more distance between herself and it. The stranger was on his own.
The fox had already been replaced with the biggest moment in Elias’s life. Bigfoot was bounding around in the forest and had the opportunity of a lifetime! With shaky hands, he pulled his phone back out of his pocket and attempted to snap a picture. He kept staring at the creature as it took notice of the pair. “Oh! Blurry.” He snarled to himself, then looked up to see Bigfoot himself heading straight for him. “Oh, shit.” He muttered before nearly dropping his phone.
He took a step backward, then another. The fox had already started to run away, and Elias was obliged to follow in its very smart footsteps. He turned around, summoned all the training he had ever put into running and booked it as fast as he could as the Bigfoot bounded toward them. “This is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me!” He shouted as he began to run at full speed away from the surprisingly fast Bigfoot.
Out of all the things that could have been real, Bigfoot! While he should have been uniquely horrified in the situation he found himself in, he was over the moon. “I mean, actual Bigfoot! In Maine!” He shouted out as he continued to run, feeling the large footfalls of the beast becoming lesser and lesser. Thankfully, it seemed to not have that much interest in chasing after himself and the fox. The fox started to veer away from him, and he veered the other way. After running down the path for a considerable amount of time, he finally stopped after feeling confident enough that he was safe.
Elias looked down at the blurry photo of the Bigfoot and smiled. It may be blurry, but he knew what it was.
Elias saw fucking Bigfoot.
