[FFRP] The attack of the Faeries!

[Amy-chan]

Patty, age 15, stopped for a moment at the edge of the forest. Her family had just moved into the city the previous month from an city that had let the logging industry have its way with the forest that had been near it. She much prefered this forest, even though it still showed some signs of past logging. She walked a little ways into the forest, and then sat down with her back against a massive oak.

She was glad that the tree had survived whatever logginf had once been done. She sighed as she drank in the feeling of nature around her. She really enjoyed being in the ourdoors, but couldn't do much in it due to being overweight. The kids in her old school had made fun of her because of it. But no matter what she had tried, severe diets, exercising, even medical help, she couldn't lose an ounce, and kept gaining weight.

She wiped her eyes and tried not to think of the problems she expected at the school in this town. She leaned her head back against the tree, closed her eyes and drifted off to a light sleep.

[Miku-chan]

As Preston turns on the switches, the familier sound of the generator fails to resonate thru the complex. He hears the muffled sounds from one of the other offices in the building. " I wonder who that is?" he ask as he hits the back up power switch, that while it is a solar battery system, only provides enough power to run a few lights and the LAN so games would be uninturupted. Heading towards the sound of voices, he gets alarmed bty the sudden rise in one of the voices. Hoping he hasn't been noticed yet, he tries to find the room with the noises, and perhaps...no, they had too much equipment and time invested in the place to call the cops. Maybe he can fake out the intruders by acting loke one of those mall security guards or something and scare them off. He starts wishing the rest of the gang was here to help back him up, but he was alone in the building...well his friends were not there yet. Taking the big Mag light flash light he puts on his best rent a cop attitude and goes looking for the intruders.

[Blindsense]

Unfortunately for Preston, his inner musings, combined with his fumbling in the semi-darkness for his mag-light, distracted him from the fact that there was a massive, flannel-garbed man standing right outside the door. The man snarled as he pushed Preston to the ground forcefully, putting his large leather boot on Preston's chest to keep him pinned. "'ey, wuddya know? I found me one o' the twerps tha's been campin' in our mill!" His glare darkened as he pulled a wicked-looking handgun from the holster at his hip. "Now, I usually carry this for protection, y'see, but a pest like you may just be worth a bullet..." The air smelled of alchohol - the man was clearly drunk. A chorus of rambunctious guffaws came from behind the grizzled logger, though from Preston's place on the floor he could only see several sets of boots.

[Kris_Roth]

OOC: How far away are Li and Ari from Preston and Patty, anyway? Li and Ari are planning to plant new trees in the seemingly abandoned logging area, Preston is about to be accosted by drunken ruffians, and Patty is near one of the large trees....would Li and Ari be able to see Patty?

[Blindsense]

.: Li and Ari may be able to glimpse Patty - the trees are very dense and it would take a keen eye. Preston is kind of outta luck unless someone goes into the mill though. :.

[Kris_Roth]

Li was about to get a shovel and a sapling from the wagon when she spotted Patty by the large tree. "Hi there!" Li then handed Ari the sapling and shovel, and then said, "Start wherever you want, and be on the lookout for any of those loggers. I hear they may still be around here." She heads over to Patty, "What are you doing over here? Is something wrong?"

[Roggamer22]

Ari takes the shovel and carefully takes the sapling too. "Oh uh... okay." He looks around for a clear spot then digs a bit at the spot and plants the sapling. "Alright... one down." He says happily and goes to grab another sapling.

[Miku-chan]

Unfortunately for Preston, his inner musings, combined with his fumbling in the semi-darkness for his mag-light, distracted him from the fact that there was a massive, flannel-garbed man standing right outside the door. The man snarled as he pushed Preston to the ground forcefully, putting his large leather boot on Preston's chest to keep him pinned. "'ey, wuddya know? I found me one o' the twerps tha's been campin' in our mill!" His glare darkened as he pulled a wicked-looking handgun from the holster at his hip. "Now, I usually carry this for protection, y'see, but a pest like you may just be worth a bullet..." The air smelled of alchohol - the man was clearly drunk. A chorus of rambunctious guffaws came from behind the grizzled logger, though from Preston's place on the floor he could only see several sets of boots.

Preston panics as the logger tosses him to the floor, a sound of glass crunching can be heard as the touch screen on Prestons iPhone breaks under the heavy foot of the logger..."Th ...this is nnn...not your Mill, m...my father's company ow...owns it." Preston stutters out, not thinking how dangerous his statement could be to himself right then. He was scared and didn't understand what was going on. Why where the loggers in the building? He and his freinds had the only keys for the locks, didnt they and he hadn't seen the indications of forced entry as he came in. Why hadn't he called the cops before when he had thought of it earlier...

[Blindsense]

The soft glow of the Faetouched butterfly illuminated the evening sky as the creature alighted on the branch of the sapling. To Ari's surprise, the ground began to rumble and tremor. Moments later, the young sapling shot from the ground, quickly growing to tower over the two aspiring woods keepers. Its spindly stem of a trunk expanded until it was at least two feet thick, while its branches shot out and blossomed to form a canopy of azure flowers and crisp green leaves. The new tree's roots shot out, knocking Ari and Li to the ground as the roots intermingled with the systems of the nearby trees.

The tremors sent out by the magically-grown tree shook the previously-abandoned mill to the limit of its support, the structure only just holding together. The gun-wielding woodsman looked up in shock, only to meet a falling piece of old machinery as it collided forcefully with his head. The gun fell from his hand as he collapsed, unconscious.

Preston's good fortune, however, quickly turned to horrid luck. As the gun clattered to the ground, it discharged, sending a nine-millimeter round tearing through his torso and burrowing behind his ribs, narrowly missing his heart. The pain, to Preston, was beyond words - it was as if the world around him was exploding. Startled by the impromptu earthquake and the sound of the gunshot, the other loggers fled.

Outside, Li and Ari could hear the loud bang of a gunshot cap the end of the tremors.

[Miku-chan]

Preston Cries out in pain as the bullit tears into him. He looses breath as the bullit nicks his spine and collapses a lung, all he sees is white heat and pain blurs his vission. 'What a stupid way to die...' Preston thinks as blood pools on the ground under him, his feelings in his legs deadens as he starts to feel cold from the loss of blood and shallow breathing he is laborusly trying to take...

[Blindsense]

The aged Faerie curses in the forgotten tongue from her hidden spot in the treetops. She didn't know what was going on, but she -did- know that she was dangerously close to violating one of the ancient Codes of the Faewild. Never let another living being suffer and die as a direct result of your actions, be it intentional or otherwise, she recited in her kind's native language - a tongue that had been all but forgotten by the likes of mankind. She knew what she had to do now - find the source of the pain and resolve it, one way or another.

It didn't take long - the pain was radiating off of the human in copious quantities. At first, it would have been routine - she would simply end his suffering as he passed painlessly into the next life, protecting the ancient tenet while not altering the natural course of life. But the Faerie was taken aback when she discovered that the victim was not some wayward tourist or corrupt logger - though she couldn't help but notice with mild disgust the unconscious (and malodorous) flannel-clad man lying nearby - but a young man, barely in the cusp of the human lifespan. A silent, silver tear rolled from her emerald eyes as she eyed the human. She knew that she should still follow her previous intentions, and reached out to touch her consciousness with his to ease the pain...

But he was so young...

In a moment of rash action, she altered the form of the magic she was emitting into the human, the flame of his soul already sputtering and threatening to vanish. Suddenly, the fire that she saw within the boy began to change. The dull red glow of a dying human soul flared with a beautiful green hue. The heat of the new soul began to spread in tendrils throughout the boy's body.

The Faerie, exhausted from the effort it took to link consciences, stepped back, panting softly. He would wake soon... And then she would have to tell him what she had done.

[Roggamer22]

Ari watches the strange butterfly land on the sapling he just planted, and fell over to the ground as it grew. "Wh-whoa... Didn't think of myself as having a 'green thumb'... haha... ha..." He says nervously to Li while trying to get up. He suddenly hears the sound of the gunshot. "Whoa! Wh-what was that!? It sounded like a gun, I think... It came from the mill!? Who could possibly be over there? Somebody might be hurt... or worse. The rest of the saplings can wait, we HAVE to go see what happened." He says, standing up and helping Li up to her feet. "Do you have a phone? This could be bad..."

[Miku-chan]

As Preston lay there, each breath much more shallow then the last, he saw a blur of light as his eyes close for the last time... Or so he thought. One moment he was so cold, the next, he felt the warmth of something he could not explain. A strange connection seemed to be forged in his death like state, and his mind felt at peace, knowing his life was not to be a lony death at a young age. He opened his eyes a moment later looking at the fallen form of the logger, the copper slug of the bullit still sitting in a area between the ribs and itching like crazy. As he sits up and reaches to where the itch is at, he sees the Fae woman and stops, blinkining his eyes in first amazement and again in surprise..."Uh...hi?" he says as mentally he chastizes himself with a mental shoe eating picture...

[Blindsense]

The woman smiles sadly. "Hello," she responded, her soft green gaze drawn to the bullet wound. "Ah, yes, I'd imagine that is causing some discomfort. Let me help." She extended a delicate hand in a flash, her deft fingers quickly entering the wound and snatching the blood-covered slug. Her arm retreated from the wound with a shower of green sparks as the wound quickly sealed, leaving not so much as a blemish to suggest that the fatal wound had been there moments ago.

"You're probably very confused," she prompted, her eyes returning to lock with his. Her expression was conflicted, but not difficult to read - a mix of happiness for the renewed life of the young boy... and regretful sorrow. "and that is understandable. After all, you have just had a very scarring near-death-experience... I only just got here in time." She extended her hand again (somehow devoid of gore despite having been plunged into Preston's abdomen moments before), this time in greeting. "I am Annalina - and I am a Faerie."

Though Preston likely didn't realize it yet due to his sitting position, Annalina deftly noted his quickly diminishing height. The boy's once-respectable size had decreased by a few inches already - and the length of his hair seemed to have taken on the excess. The changes had certainly begun... The normally-calm Faerie bit her lip, trying to discern how to continue. "Now, before you call me insane, could it have been anything short of magic that saved you from that gruesome wound that you suffered moments ago?" She shook her head. "Child, I fear you will have to trust me for the next few days... For you have much to learn, and I have much to tell you."

***

While moments before Ari and Li had been assaulted by a cacophony of different sounds, it had all at once ceased with the gunshot. Now, all was quiet as the blue blossoms of the newly-grown tree rained a sparkling pollen across the forest floor beneath. It was truly a beautiful sight to see - though it was coupled with an eerie, unsettling quiet.

[Roggamer22]

"Uh... not that I'm not happy that the tree grew up so fast and how nice it looks... but it's kind of creeping me out right now..." Ari says to himself. "It's so quiet now... It's just unnatural hearing nothing after what just happened... I'm not sure what to do anymore now..." He says to no one in particular. He sits down at the base of the newly grown tree, relaxing. "This day was... different. haha." He laughs nervously.