Almost large enough to be considered a theme park while remaining free to the public, Terrace Park is rumored to have been the site of the Grand Hollowheart's defeat, leading to the Hollowhearts first accepting a pact with humans. (+2 Fame, +2 Endurance)

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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/04/2016 7:51 AM

She threw the words out casually, as if it was just no big deal. Off to the side, she could see the pigeon lady staring at her again. Oh well; there were worse things to be than a public spectacle. If the woman had some more stories to tell her friends later, good for her. "I'm right, aren't I?" she said triumphantly. She wanted to feel as happy about this as she sounded, but honestly, having it confirmed didn't make her feel any better. On the contrary, she probably felt worse now than she did before.

"I didn't want to worry you," he said at last. If that didn't put the last nail in the coffin, Des didn't know what would. It was her turn to sigh, though she tried to do it quietly, so he wouldn't hear it over the line.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/04/2016 7:55 AM

"Do you want me to find you?" he said. He was probably getting up already. Where exactly was he waiting? She scanned around, half expecting to see him emerge from somewhere she hadn't thought to look. He didn't do anything of the sort, fortunately. That would probably irreversibly put him into creeper territory, and as his friend, she didn't want that for him.

"It's fine," she said. "I still think I have a better chance of finding... whatever it is, if you're not here. A single person's not as intimidating, right?"

"You said you were in a crowd," he pointed out.

"I said there were other people around. None of them look like they're associated with me," she replied.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/04/2016 8:20 AM

"Besides, you already said it yourself. You can't detect them. What help would you be?" she said.

"It could be a trap." He had mentioned this one too, before. She had never managed to work out an argument to counter it. People didn't know why Kismet's daughter was apparently a defunct dud, and--- okay, maybe she hadn't been stared at for being a freak, but she did actually remember people giving her weird looks for suspecting her of being a bastard. But it hadn't been as if her dad was married to her birth mom, and eventually people decided that if Kismet wanted to adopt a child and call it his, that was his choice.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/04/2016 8:25 AM

He had her, and he probably knew it too. "Fine, but--- look, give me another half hour, alright? Then, whatever happens, you can look with me."

He didn't say anything right away. Destiny held her breath. It wasn't a bad compromise, probably; she was pretty stubborn about things even when her position wasn't reasonable, and how much could happen in a half hour? (She knew what his answer would be to that--- too much. But then again, if the thing hadn't done anything so far, who was to say it would pick now to make its move?)

Eventually, he said, "Fine. But only half an hour. I'll start counting now."
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/04/2016 8:27 AM

"Okay, mom," Destiny said, though inwardly she was more pleased at having bought herself some extra time. "I'm hanging up, alright? See ya," she said, doing just that before he could say anything more.

She had half an hour. She had to make the best of it. Whatever Cain said, she did suspect his presence would spook the thing she was looking for. The real question was, just how was she supposed to draw it out? Waiting on a park bench hadn't worked, and a half hour was too long a span of time to thoroughly search the park.

Maybe it was the crowds. Maybe the people, unassociated and unendowed with special abilities as they were, were nevertheless enough of a deterrent to keep the thing away.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/07/2016 2:50 PM

She had an idea, but it didn't hearten her. "Cain's not going to like this," she said to herself. Normally she wouldn't have minded, but their impending reunion meant the threat of his disapproval was more potent than usual. She also didn't want him to have to look around for her at the park.

She needed to get to the bottom of this, though. And besides, if something did happen, well... Her dad had been pretty adamant that she learn how to do martial arts, just in case. She never thought she would actually need it the way he'd been thinking, but maybe today was the day that changed.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/07/2016 2:52 PM

Making up her mind, she walked away from the bench she'd been sitting at. Where would be a good place to go? She had decided to try and find an isolated area, but it was a public park. There were more people and open spaces everywhere she looked.

There was one particular area that seemed promising, but it was quite a walk. There was a stretch of woods, with a few trails running through it. Joggers and dog-walkers frequented the trails themselves, but it would be easy enough to find a less-used trail, or even to venture off the path and into the woods themselves.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/07/2016 3:59 PM

"Meeting a stalker in the woods... This is something straight out of a horror movie," Destiny said. She felt more self-conscious as she walked on. It was broad daylight--- of course it was, or else Cain would never have agreed to let her go alone. Despite that, the trees seemed to loom as she drew close. It was an old stretch of woods, which was probably why it had been preserved. Some of the trees that made it up were very tall indeed.

She stood at the mouth of a trail, slightly to one side so the people using it could pass. It shouldn't have looked menacing at all. A family on bikes passed her by, the children talking amongst themselves and laughing.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/08/2016 12:37 AM

She watched them pass, wondering if they felt anything the least bit off about the woods. It sure didn't look like it. She wondered which of them was right--- the bright, happy, carefree family or herself. She dearly hoped it was the former.

Suddenly she shook her head, hard, sending her hair flying about. It had been doing that a lot more enthusiastically since she had gotten it bobbed. “Ugh, I'm letting Cain get to me. There's nothing wrong with this place.”
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/08/2016 12:38 AM

If there were, there ought to have been rumors about it by now. It was a pretty well-frequented park, even the forest trails. They hadn't even had a bear scare for a good long while. On the one hand, maybe that meant they were overdue for one, but on the other hand... Hey, wasn't she the child of the famously lucky Kismet? She didn't have her dad's powers, but some of his goodwill had to have rubbed off on her by now, right? Besides, bears were easy. Bears were physical and normal and operated predictably, sort of. More or less, anyway.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/08/2016 12:46 AM

Right, there was absolutely nothing to worry about. If she ran into trouble and hollered, someone was bound to hear her. And she wasn't going to wander too far off the beaten paths anyway. That was a good plan. Besides, she was wasting time dawdling here like this. Cain would probably be here soon--- and she had her phone too, how about that? There were plenty of ways to get out of trouble if things went south.

Destiny took a deep breath and walked into the woods before her confidence deserted her again. Hadn't she always wanted to be the knight when they played pretend, when she was little? No use being a coward now.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/08/2016 12:47 AM

Image


Elsewhere, a boy came to a stop at the park entrance, visibly out of breath. Cain wasn't unfit--- in fact, he was quite the opposite. His parents' generation had all been required to maintain their physical condition. It wasn't required of their children, but Cain did it anyway, partly for health and partly in case he found himself needing it someday. Still, he had pretty much sprinted all the way here, and it was a bit of a walk from Destiny's house to the park. Even for him, it was a long distance to be running at full speed. He had promised her a half hour, intending to walk here, but his tumultuous thoughts had quickened his pace until, before he knew it, he was running.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/08/2016 12:51 AM

In the end, he had arrived before the alloted half hour was up. Checking his watch, he sighed. She was probably going to complain about this when he met up with her. She never did seem to appreciate how much he worried for her. He knew too that sometimes it really was a bit stifling, but in this case he couldn't see why she was being so flippant about this. It was a stalker, one that he knew not to be human. There was nothing about this situation that could be taken lightly. If he had but given word of her suspicions to Nihil...

... But he wouldn't. Cain knew even as he thought it that he wouldn't do anything like that.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/08/2016 1:02 AM

It was an unspoken rule among the children that the threat of Nihil only be used under the most dire circumstances. It didn't matter how many times his mother had explained to him that the leader of the Alliance was merely trying to do what was best for them all. The man gave every single one of them the creeps, right down to Ariel, who usually couldn't be bothered to read the mood off anyone. Heat never mouthed off to him, Echo never tried any jokes. Even Winter, his own daughter, seemed as if she were scared of him sometimes. Destiny had often postulated that he was really a cold-blooded reptile wearing the skin of a man. It... wasn't an entirely unconvincing theory, sometimes.
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Re: A Strange Encounter [self] [HUNT]

Postby crow » 01/08/2016 1:04 AM

Even so, he was beginning to wonder if he had done the right thing after all. He couldn't see her anywhere, for one. Maybe she really had been planning to meet him here at the expected time, and she was just doing something else, that was all. That begged the question, however, of what it was she had to do. He double-checked her text--- the bench next to the pond, she'd said. He could see it from where he stood, and there was no sign of her anywhere. He would have known if it was her, even if all he had to go on was the end of an elbow disappearing through a door.
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