@themidnightfarmer replied to your post “[pm] So Ms medical professional. Are there herbal remedies for poison?...”
[pm] Athenaa then. Like herbal somethings for the after effects of poison. I was one of the few lucky ones from Pats place. But my head won't stop hurting and since I know you're smart as hell I figured i'd ask?
[pm] Thanks! Well, the poison control center is the best way to go. Don’t make yourself sick. Okay, before we go further - what happened?
TIMING: Current
LOCATION: Downtown
PARTIES: @themidnightfarmer and @chasseurdeloup
SUMMARY: If you give a mime a lift...
Being stuck inside sucked. A lot. Kaden was running out of Meerkat Manor episodes to watch and even then, he was getting bored. And the stripes hadn’t faded even a little. Nothing had worked, not even a tiny bit of bleach (which was objectively a terrible idea). He needed a drink, but more importantly, he needed to smoke. And he was out of cigarettes. He could ask Regan for a whole lot of things, but a pack of smokes was not one of them. No way was she encouraging his bad habit. A six pack of beer? Maybe. “Cancer sticks”? Definitely not. There was only one thing to do, then. He slapped on some of the foundati-concealer-whatsit that was vaguely skin colored on his face, grabbed a scarf, some gloves, and made sure his outfit covered every inch of his skin that he could. When he’d walked to the liquor store, the sky was clear and sunny. He could feel sweat beading at his temples as the sun beat down on him and his very concealed outfit. Kaden may have bitten off more than he could chew and got two six packs, a few more bottles of wine, and a nice gin on top of the box of marlboros. “You got it?” the cashier asked as Kaden tenuously balanced all the alcohol. The weight wasn’t a problem, hunter strength. The volume, a little more so. “Got it,” he said with a grunt as he pushed out the door, trying to give the man a friendly nod that probably looked more terrifying than anything else. As soon as he was out the door, two whole steps down the sidewalk, the sky opened up and rain poured down from the sky. Oh no, he could feel the makeup dripping away, into his eyes, and he struggled to keep his balance. “Putain de merde,” he said to himself, but it was barely a croak.
Jared was just doing his weekly shop, filling up on things he needed as well as what he guessed would cook alright in his new instant pot. As always the nymph had passed over driving his truck into town and -now that his tractor was all patched up- was gleefully housing his shopping into the cab. He may have been taking up four parking spots, but there were so few shoppers at this time of day he wasn’t worried. He’d never had any complaints before. Although this was likely due to the fact no one in town had ever seen him drive his truck, they likely thought all he had was the tractor and the horses. Pushing his last bag in Jared readied himself to go, patting down his pockets just to make sure he hadn’t dropped anything inside. In the few seconds it took for him to do this the rain started. The clouds had rolled in without him noticing, but seems everyone else had cleared out fast. The store closed for lunch just as the rain started to pelt down on the sidewalk. Hauling himself into the cab double speed Jared looked out over the rapidly emptying parking lot, only to spot a mime, a sad looking mime staring up forlornly at the sky as if the look in itself would halt the water. It was a tragic sight, and Jared took pity. Pushing open the back window of the cab he called out to the sad mime. “HEY, NEED A LIFT?”
It was going to be a long, awkward walk, but Kaden was sure he could do it. At least the stack of liquor was mostly coving up his face, right? And he had hunter strength, it’d be fine. Hunter balance wasn’t exactly a thing, but he had everything in hand right now and it was mostly steady. The wine bottles wobbling would certainly not fall as he continued his pace. A voice called out and his instinct was to hide his head behind the tower of alcohol in his arms. Shit, shit, shit; they all leaned to the left so he angled himself towards them, righting and steadying the whole thing. That was too close. Hopefully they didn’t see that. Or they weren’t talking to him. Only. Oh. They were talking to him. He caught a glance of the guy in the tractor staring at him, looked friendly enough. At first, Kaden tried to say “No thanks, I’ve got it,” but nothing came out but hoarse whispers. What the fuck? He tried again, same result. Alright, fine, he shook his head no and tried walking again, only now his heart was racing. Why couldn’t he speak? Was he turning into a-- No, that wasn’t a possibility. No.
In his panic, Kaden felt his toe catch on s bump in the sidewalk and he stumbled, doing everything in his power to keep the stack of liquor upright. Fuck, that was close. Too close to seeing all his recent purchases fall and shatter on the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the tractor was still there. With a heavy sigh, Kaden turned to the guy and said “Fine. Thanks.” Not that he heard most likely, not unless he had hunter hearing with how quiet and frail Kaden’s voice was at the moment. He walked to the tractor and looked at it confused of where to even start placing his items. “Uhhh, help?” The words were more mouthed than anything. Putain, he needed to get home and fast. He didn’t need anyone he actually knew seeing him like this.
He waited patiently for the guy to turn around and decide what to do. From Jared’s perspective, the tripping looked like a theatrical pratfall. Miraculously keeping the items balanced at the last second was impressive and the nymph wrongly attributed it to the act he thought was being put on. He spared a moment to cheer when the mime caught his balance again, clapping a few times and laughing in appreciation. He supposed mimes who wore their gear out to the shops were really dedicated to their craft, so of course they’d put on a show as soon as they knew they had an audience. After the second pratfall Jared figured maybe they truly didn’t want to get a ride and readied to move on. The nymph fussed with the windshield wipers, only spotting the mime had come closer once they were right at the doors. Jared jumped in surprise and swore a little. As much as he didn’t condemn mimes like the rest of the town seemed to, the make up was rather a shock out of nowhere, especially as it looked like there was some sort of real skin tone melting off of it in the rain. “Decided to get a ride after all huh, bud?” And with that the farmer threw open the cab door and climbed down. He gave the mime a grin and took the top most box from the stack in his arms and slid it into a safe spot under the seat inside. This followed by the next and then he gestured the mime in and out of the rain. “You’ll have to sit on the boombox, sorry about that bud. Never needed another seat.”
“Thanks,” he shouted, but it was still barely at full volume. The mimes who did this to him were dead the second he had a chance to hunt them down. This was a level of humiliation that Kaden hoped he never got to repeat. He was fairly certain this might be worse than Regan and Blanche laughing at him in unison. Still, he was grateful that this guy was helping lift the stupid boxes into the stupid tractor. And it was nice to climb out of the rain and into the covered cabin of the tractor, even if he did have to awkwardly situate himself on top of the boom box, trying to find a spot for his legs around the boxes. Maybe if he was lucky, he’d either never see this farmer kid again or the next time they did see one another, Kaden would be wholly unrecognizable. Then it dawned on him. He should probably tell this guy where to go. “Nine hun—“ His voice was still shallow. What the hell, was something caught in it? He coughed and tried to clear his throat, pounding his chest with his fist, hoping to dislodge whatever weird phlegm might be making him hoarse. “Nine—“ Fuck, it was just as bad, maybe worse. He looked around for pen and paper, anything to write on, but there was nothing. Putain. With another heavy sigh, Kaden tapped on the kid’s shoulder and pointed to the left. Guess he’d have to direct like this.
Once everything was all squared away, and the mime was sitting down as comfortably as could be expected. Jared hauled himself into the cab and situated himself in the chair, moving only slightly into the mimes space to pull the back window closed again, securing them away from the rain. The nymph thought for a moment he’d heard a sound from the mime and looked over at him curiously, but it seemed to only be his imagination as instead of mouthing any longer, the mime elected just simply to point. Jared started up the tractor and nodded away. “Don’t worry I totally know where you’re headed with all the booze.” In his mind, and once he’d given the mime a once over there was only one place he could be going. There were many mime based establishments in town, but for some reason all the layers of clothing screamed that those layers were abnormal. In that perhaps what was underneath was not safe for the public eye of a store. This had to be one of the mime strippers. Starting the engine up Jared pulled out of the empty parking lot and started towards the place. “So, had to stock up huh? Ran out of beer? Is one box enough?”
Kaden tried his best to hold on to something, anything, as the tractor rolled down the way. This was completely and utterly ridiculous. Oh well, at least the town wasn’t too big, it wouldn’t take long. Kaden was about to tap and point to the next turn when the kid pulled up to something and stopped the vehicle. His brow furrowed and he tried to ask why. There was no voice that came out. Not even a croak. Just air. He tried to scream with everything that he had, but only silence came out. It was like his vocal cords were paralyzed or cut out or something, it didn’t matter because he couldn’t speak. Kaden looked out the window to see how far he was from home. Maybe this was close enough. He pressed his head against the window and peered out. The Stripe Club? Kaden tapped on the kid’s shoulder and started aggressively gesturing his arms in an “x” shape, shaking his head no. If he couldn’t scream no, he was going to do the next best thing. He tried to point ahead, out the front windshield, away from here. There had to be something to write on here, there had to be. There was a slam on the window and Kaden jumped. There was a hand on the window. A white gloved hand. Attached to it was a mime, smiling. Another slam on the other window. Another mime. Kaden gestured “no” and “go” again as enthusiastically as he could manage and reached over to honk the horn. “Go!” he tried to shout, still wordlessly.
Jared was confused, very confused as he rolled to a stop and the mime didn’t immediately start to gather their many layers of clothing about themselves ready to hop out and make a dash out of the rain. Unfortunately for the other man, the nymph was a little slow to pick up on things, even this early into mushroom season. Sometimes he was extremely observant and tuned in with someone, but more times than not lately -especially given how his week had been going with what had happened at Pats- he was dottled. “Not here? The cafe maybe? Does the cafe serve alcohol?” Still so wrapped up in the others appearance that he couldn’t fathom the man was simply a person with stripes. Jared also jumped at the sudden sound, but he missed the initial fear that he perhaps should have felt. “You’re friends have come to get you bud, were you playing coy with me?” He laughed. But finally. FINALLY. The panic registered. The horn sounded and the nymph was jolted out of the early mushroom season haze that had taken him over unnoticed and he came back into reality. Foot on the gas the tractor jerked forward twice before ramping up enough momentum to move. “Not friends then, but...you’re a mime?!”
Kaden wanted to yell Not the fucking cafe! but it was useless. What if he just pulled the kid out of his seat and drove away himself? Tractors couldn't be that hard to drive, right? Thankfully, he wouldn’t have to, the tractor roared into action and started to pull away. The relief he felt was short lived as more hands started to cover the windows. How? How? Were they hanging onto the tractor somehow? Or floating? Oh god, they had to be floating, their terrifying painted faces tilting and moving in exaggerated expressions. Kaden considered cowering in the back, covering his head and shutting his eyes and just hoping he woke up safe in his bed, but somehow, some part of him knew this was actually happening. How could he tell this kid that these were monsters trying to kill them without a voice? While he was covered in stripes and face paint? He refused to mime it. And they didn’t have time for that. He settled for drawing his finger across his throat and then pointing at the fuckers outside. That might paint a picture, right? Kaden reached out and tapped the kid’s shoulder and aggressively pointed forward once more. Please, please take the fucking hint, kid.
The rain continued to pour, but it didn’t seem to impact the mimes stuck to the outside of the tractor at all. Jared started to speed up as more hands started to seem to glue themselves to the tractor, the faces appearing afterwards out of the gloom like it was a thick fog and not just a heavy downpour. The nymph swore and swerved in the hopes that it would have some of the mimes fall off, but no dice. If anything the image got worse. One mime seemed to have slipped, but their body was keeping up with the vehicle, one gloved hand adhered to the windshield, like a flag in the wind. He didn’t have a clue what was going on, but the mime in the cab was making….death threats? Fuck what had he gotten himself into. Was this some sort of ruse? Was this a mime mob hit or something. He had nothing to offer them and he said as much as he continued to drive and swerve. “I don’t have anything for you, fuck. Are you trying to steal my tractor? Please don’t I just spent the rest of my savings on fixing it.”
“I don’t want your fucking tractor!” Kaden attempted to say. And hey, that was a whisper! Barely audible, but that was an improvement, right? He still wasn’t sure that the kid heard it, but things seemed to improve the farther they got from the mime strip club. He looked back and saw that the last mime was struggling to hold on. Just one more good fast turn ought to do it. But they had to get out of here and fast. Merde. How in the fuck could he tell this guy where to go? He was clearly clueless and navigating wouldn’t work. Why didn’t he have paper and fucking pen? Maybe he could text someone and ask for a p-- Oh. Oh. Kaden reached into his pocket for his phone and furiously typed into the notes app, shoving the phone at the kid and pointing at what was written there, “900 Peaberry.” Putain de merde, if the kid didn’t understand after this he was just going to walk in the fucking rain.
Over the top of the noise the rain, tractor, and his own racing heartbeat was making Jared had no chance hearing the barely audible whisper of the mime sitting to his left. One mime left, flapping in the wind ominously, so the nymph pushed the window open with one hand and peeled the mimes glove off. In a terrifying fashion the glove came off with another identical glove underneath seen for only a moment before they’d turned a corner and the mimes were gone apart from the one sitting to his left. He swerved in surprise when a phone appeared under his nose, but squinted at the screen and then back at the only mime left. “This is where you were going? Okay. Okay cool. Fuck you’re not like those other mimes right? What the hell just happened?”
As the tractor swerved and careened away from the oncoming onslaught of mimes, Kaden tried to hold onto the inside of the cabin and the seat, attempting to maintain his balance while peeking back to see if the last of the mimes were gone. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw they were safe. For now. And it looked like the kid was actually taking him home. Putain, he would never leave again. Not until he didn’t look like a reject from a Dr. Seuss book. “Yeah this is--” His voice was still hoarse. Fucking hell, you had to be kidding. Kaden nodded enthusiastically instead and then offered the kid a shrug. It was about all he could manage apparently. Kaden felt relief wash over him as he saw his building drawing closer through the rain. Home. So close to home. Kaden tapped the kid on the shoulder and then pointed at the building and gave him a thumbs up. Once he rolled to a stop, Kaden practically threw himself out of the tractor and started quickly gathering his things. Shit, she should have bought two boxes of lights at this rate. He was going to need them.
Jared and the mime finally seemed to be on the same page, and he pulled to a stop in front of the desired building at last. The nymph pushed the shopping over to the door and looked down at the mime in the rain. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be giving a mime a ride ever again, but he smiled anyway. “Hey bud maybe next time drive to the store so you’re not struggling like that.” He then paused, wondering idly if mimes were allowed to drive, it seemed like they should be allowed but he had no idea of mime law. “Or at least a wagon and an umbrella just in case.” He finished before giving the guy a small wave. He was going straight home. Straight home to reflect on himself. Maybe he should stop being so friendly. It didn’t seem to be doing him any favours anymore...
The boughs above Adam lay whispered with the first breaths of morning wind. The teeth and finger-bones hanging by sinew strings from each branch clattered like dry wind-chimes as the trees swayed. Intimations of dawn sent timid rays of light through the forest canopy, illuminating a verdant copse where the rich greens of summer contrasted with a morbid menagerie of flesh and bone.
Adam lay on the ground with his back supported by a tree, unfocused eyes taking in the interplay of dappled light and the murmuring undulations of the talisman-covered limbs. The broken remains of skeletal automatons littered the forest floor, undead soldiers of bone and flayed flesh that’d been harvested from living people like thatch for scarecrows. There’d been so many that after Adam had run out of ammo he’d resorted to fighting hand to hand against carnage puppets that had sickles, barbed wire, and cleavers fixed into the stumps of their hazard limbs.
But now the forest was quiet and he’d bought the captives enough time to escape. Adam knew he was bleeding faster then even his mutant body could regenerate, but there was a quiet peace in knowing that the mission was complete.
To think he’d suspected Beatrice Vural might be behind this? Pretty fucking uncharitable, Adam admitted to himself, leaning his head against the rough bark of the tree as strength leeched from his body. When there’d been reports of skeletal soldiers kidnapping people Adam had to suppress a dark suspicion he’d hadn’t even known he had. Maybe after talking to Professor Drake, something in Adam had been waiting for Beatrice to snap. Perhaps some subconscious part of him had wanted Beatrice’s resurrection to be a cruel lie so he didn’t have to think about how much he longed to see Dad again.
But he hadn’t saved those people from a crazed Necromancer, but rather a vampire species he’d never seen before. It’d entranced people with hypnotic breath before vivisecting them to build a skeletal army and bedeck this grove with a grizzly collection of bones and teeth.
Adam’s eyes closed and his heartbeat began to slow down. But it was a relief to be wrong.
timing: Monday, 10/6; midnight
parties: @themidnightfarmer & @laylacooke
summary: Layla comes to wreak more havoc on Jared’s life and farm equipment.
Jared was walking, he was moving around the farm, but he had no true gauge of time. He wasn’t even awake. His body was moving of its own accord and he wasn’t sure how or why, and he wasn’t even conscious enough to ask those questions either. His first action had been to check the gate locks, something his subconscious knew was important. But where an aware Jared would have looked at the open locks after a perimeter walk and known to close them, instead a very much asleep Jared decided looking was enough and he moved on to continue his chores other usual daily chores. As well as that, an awake nymph would have identified the fact that there was someone walking across the farm towards the house was very odd. But as it was, a very asleep Jared jogged to catch up to them with a half wave and a sigh as he joined them wherever they were going. In his mind his dream had shifted from chores to hanging out with someone he vaguely remembered meeting once and he was content.
Layla had been so tired lately, and she couldn’t figure out why. It was as if sleep just wasn’t satisfying anymore. Deciding to head to bed early, she snuggled up to Indy and closed her eyes dozing off sooner than she thought she would. However, not two hours into her slumber and the teenager was unknowingly leaving the trailer with Indy still sleeping soundly inside. Feet carrying her automatically, the young woman walked for miles until she had reached a farm. Her sharp hearing picking up on all sorts of sounds, including someone jogging towards her, Layla continued to make her trek forward with one thing on her mind. If this person was going to be a threat though, she had her claws at the ready. Nothing was going to stop her for what she had come for; lights and the occasional ink pen.
No words passed between the two beings, and yet Jared felt he’d grasped exactly what to do with this situation. He was going to help her, he was going to help her whatever it was she was here to do, surely that's what this dream wanted from him. Layla wouldn’t have appeared had she not been there to carry out some task with him, right? The nymph walked at her side for a while, they arrived at the tractor and he waited to see what she would do. He laughed lightly at the coincidence and then shifted his bare feet on the patch of gravel he’d parked on. He watched her pleased, with himself at having found her, not yet knowing she was here to once again mess with his poor tractor.
Layla had found herself at the destination on the mental map in her head. Jared’s laugh seemed to give her assurance that she was doing the right thing, and as she looked over to him with a smile, she let one of her small sharp claws escape from her nail bed. Looking back to the tractor, she stepped forward, climbing up the front of it, and began to cut into the plastic headlight shielding the bulb on the piece of machinery. It was like something out of a spy movie as her nail drew a perfect circle that seemed to fall out on its own when completed. Reaching into the open space, she began unscrewing the small high-powered bulb, “Help me get the other ones. I need these. It’s important. Then we can start on the back.”
Everything was normal, and everything made sense to Jared as Layla used only her nail to cut plastic. Thick plastic at that. He’d never considered that the bumps under the plastic would be easier to get to if you cut them a gap. In his mind she was doing something revolutionary. He nodded dutifully to her order, quick to snatch the other side and wrench the whole thing away from the vehicle. Usually well concealed increased strength making its appearance for a moment before he dazedly smiled at her and unscrewed the bulb as daintily as his rough hands could manage. “All of them? Need the orange ones from the spinny bit at the top?”
She wasn’t entirely sure why Jared was helping her, but it just felt right. And it was easier. Having a buddy assist with stealing headlights, taillights, and other lights from their own vehicle at their approval was so much easier. Satisfying? Not as much, considering there wasn’t the thrill of the chase, but at least it meant Layla wasn’t going to be arrested again anytime soon. Not if she was given permission. As she continued with her assignment, she glanced towards the man near her, “All of them. Even the ones inside.” She was going to make sure this puppy was picked clean, and if time allowed, she would move onto his truck next.
Jared could almost be called insightful as he removed headlights from spots that might have had to have been missed by anyone but the owner, but only if you ignored the fact that he was removing them from his own vehicle and handing them to someone intent on stealing them away. He handed his haul over before blinking slowly. There was an odd falling sensation in his limbs and then he jolted forward. This happened again, and then again. ON the last occasion he blinked, but as soon as his eyes were open, he was awake. And an awake nymph was far removed from the actions of a sleeping nymph. He stared at Layla outright. “Wh- Did I? Call- no.” He stumbled over his words for a moment before seeing what she was holding and glancing at the tractor. “What’s happening?”
Layla’s arms were getting full of light bulbs, and at the risk of breaking them, she laid them in a nice pile, before searching for something to put them in. Finding a decent sized Amazon box, the teenager began carefully placing the light bulbs in one-by-one. Box in tow, she resumed what she was doing, not noticing Jared waking up. And even when he was awake, she hadn’t completely processed it. Instead, she looked to him with a stone face and replied, “Have you forgotten? We’re getting light bulbs. Light bulbs are needed.” Why they were needed, she didn’t know. She just knew they were needed. “I think we have them all from the tractor. Let's move onto your truck.” She walked past him with the box in tow ready to start stripping his truck of any light source she could find.
She spoke with such authority the nymph didn’t initially realize there was something wrong with the act she was carrying out. Jared took a full step forward to continue to help her strip his vehicles of the lights, but after that single step his confusion ended. “No, I need those. I can’t drive or herd my kids if you take all the lights. They don’t all listen to me, I need these. I’ll buy you some, what do you need them for?” Despite how odd the need for lightbulbs from vehicles (a mixture of vehicle at that) Jared paused. Should he be helping her? Was this something she needed for something important? It hadn’t hit him that perhaps she was sleepwalking as well. The idea that the both of them had met up by chance like that sounded absurd.
Layla had still been blindly in her trance, and ignoring him, she moved towards the truck to resume her mission. A random mission that had been implanted in her brain, and something she had been carrying out on her own around town. Tonight, she just happened to have company. If he didn’t want his light bulbs taken, he was going to have to stop her. And without any hesitation, she sat her box down, ejected a claw, and leaned in ready to start cutting out holes to reach through, “If you’re not going to help me, I’ll do this alone.”
He was calm, confused definitely, but calm for the first few moments as she continued to speak with certainty of her task. It was only when Jared noted that she was cutting the plastic coverings of his headlights that he realized this was all wrong. Blinking away the disorientation from just having woken up, along with the added confusion of being outside and not in his own bed, he came to the conclusion he SHOULD stop her. He moved to her side and gently grasped her wrist to stop her from cutting the plastic covering and held her. He was stronger than a human, but he was also far too soft a person to be firm with Layla. She could easily pull away, he hoped to just dissuade her. “I can buy you bulbs if you need them, please stop, I don’t have money for repairs like this.”
Layla had been so hellbent on her mission, but when he grabbed her something seemed to click. Blinking a few times, the dazed and confused werewolf looked around, “What? What’s going on? Where am I?” It took her a moment before she realized where she was at. Looking between Jared, the box of lightbulbs, and her single claw resting gently on the headlight of his truck, she put two and two together, “Oh...I-I…” Looking between him and the box, she could feel the sting of embarrassment rushing over her cheeks. She was just about to trash something else of his, and she felt horrible about it, “I’m so sorry, Jared. I’m so so sorry. I’ll pay for all of this, but I have to-I have to go.” Pulling away from him, she headed back the way she had come, as if instinctively knowing exactly where to go. A night of sleepwalking came with confusion and a box full of lightbulbs that now sat undisturbed in Jared’s barn leaving him, yet again, in the crosshairs of her mischief and mayhem.
