Molly Toombs
Nathan Amherst and Molly Toombs were on
speaking terms again, and that served as a relief for the red-headed
Occultist In Study. She wasn't sure how relieving it was, though, when
he hit her up with a phone call last week and asked how she would like
to go on a date with one of his friends. Well, an acquaintance,
really. Some guy that he worked with.
He had a normal name--
Brian. Didn't that sound nice and normal, Moll? Not at all like the
things she's gotten used to-- Flood, or Finch, or Kali, or any other
single-named oddities like that. She didn't see the harm in going out
and giving a guy a chance, and it wasn't like she was busy on this
Tuesday evening, so she agreed. Sure, why not?
The condition was
that she was tired of being cooped into a dinner booth where she had to
sit still and face-to-face with a stranger. That was too much like
being put on the spot and interviewed, as she'd discovered with a
handful of blind dates in the past. It was her idea that they go out
hiking, provided that Nate wasn't setting her up with a paraplegic or
something like that. She also mentioned that she really hoped he wasn't
allergic to dogs.
So it came to be about 5:30pm, and while the
day would normally be at its hottest in July around this time it wasn't
so bad up against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Here where the
elevation was steeped a bit higher, the temperatures were cooler. It
wouldn't be unbearable, plus that's why you came prepared-- Molly had
plenty of water, a small picnic's worth of food, and a flask of
something strong tucked away in the backpack that she carried with her.
She'd
arrived first, punctual as ever, and could be found waiting in a patch
of grass shaded by a tree when Nate's Friend Brian arrived. Molly was
dressed in a pair of straight-legged khaki shorts, sturdy hiking boots
and socks, and a gray tank-top that was loose-hanging overtop a black
sports bra that had its work cut out for it. She had a brown dog with
her that was large, but lurpy and proportioned like a puppy that was
growing into its feet and ears still-- Florence was shaping up to be a
good sized dog. She was stretched out in the grass not far off from
Molly, no leash in sight, apparently well trained enough to be trusted.
Dog ears would perk, and human eyes would turn, for the arrival of this new face.
Brian Dempsey
Blame
it on Nathan's desire to try and keep Molly out of trouble without
being the one to do it himself. He can't trust himself to do it himself.
He's a magnet for the incorporeal undead and has been slogging through
post-traumatic stress that has made being around him a difficult
prospect. Not to mention the fact that his little sister has been in
town since the end of May and his mother was here all weekend.
Brian
knows little about Nathan's personal life. Knows he's a writer for the
Denver Post and looks like he has somewhere in the neighborhood of zero
social skills until you get him alone and slightly inebriated. Knows he
was in the Marine Corps. Knows he was close friends with a Denver
photographer because it seems as though everyone in the goddamned city
knew who Shannon Everett was if they had anything to do with local arts
or media.
As for what Nate told Molly about his associate it was
as flattering as anything that comes out of Nate's mouth is ever
flattering. He's in his thirties "but like mid-thirties, not
it-would-be-creepy-to-hook-you-up thirties" and he was also in the
service "but a pilot, not a grunt, so he didn't come back all fucked up"
and he flies a helicopter for one of the local news stations "but he
doesn't actually talk he just buzzes around and shoots footage of shit
when it's on fire or whatever."
If he threatened Brian with
physical harm if he were to mistreat Molly neither of them told her
about it. The date was arranged and Molly arrived first but there aren't
a lot of people out here on a weeknight looking like they're standing
around waiting for something to happen.
A Ford pickup truck
rumbles its way into the parking lot. It takes some time for the person
belonging to the vehicle to get himself out of the car and get his pack
loaded up onto his back. When he appears and makes his way towards her
Molly has a chance to take in his physical characteristics being as Nate
didn't have much to say about him other than "he's big."
At his
age Brian has to go to the gym on a regular basis to maintain a weight
that's near healthy. He hasn't gone to flab yet and wearing khaki shorts
as he is Molly can see muscle tone in his calves though his chiseled
days are over. He too wears sturdy broken-in boots and a gray t-shirt
though overtop the t-shirt he wears an unbuttoned plaid shirt with the
sleeves rolled up. He's well over six-foot-two in his shoes. Light brown
hair and who even can tell the color of another person's eyes from this
distance.
He shaved his face earlier today. The five o'clock
shadow didn't earn its name out of nowhere. He gives her a friendly
smile as the distance flattens itself and looks down at the dog before
approaching.
"Hey, there," he says to Florence. Sounds mildly
surprised but not put-off. He looks from the dog to her mistress. "I'm
looking for Molly."
Molly Toombs
The description
she'd gotten was vague. The fact that the man was in his thirties
didn't seem to deter her much-- it may have a year ago, but nowadays she
had an entirely different perspective on age. Still, she had enough to
go off of to keep an interested eye on Brian when that Ford pick-up
rolled up and quieted to a stop in the cracked pavement parking lot.
By
the time Brian was out of his truck and approaching, Molly had pushed
herself back up onto her feet and was standing to meet him. She had
both of her hands on the straps of her backpack, and smiled polite and
pretty to greet him. She was wearing make-up, of course, but was clever
enough not to cake it on for an outing like this-- some bronzer and
mascara did the trick just fine. Oh, and plenty of sunscreen, of
course.
Florence had hopped up to her feet as well and walked over
with head and tail down to sniff and greet, as dogs are wont to do.
Naturally, the short-haired and lean-muscled dog didn't answer beyond a
sniff-huff, but Molly stuck out her hand for a shake.
"That would
be me, though Nate's description probably had you guessing that it might
be her." Of course, she didn't think Nate would describe her as being
much like a dog-- that's just jokes. Look at Molly, breaking the ice,
smiling and trying to make nice with this incredibly normal man. It
would be difficult to guess that every book lining her shelf at home had
something to do with vampires or mages or werewolves or necromancy or
other elements of the Unreal and Impossible. All other books, save for
three or four, had since been packed up and stored elsewhere for lack of
space to keep them on her shelf-- she'd worry about buying another
bookshelf when she got around to it. She hoped that Nate would have
left that out of the description, at least.
When done
shaking hands, or not, whatever came of that, Molly adjusted the pack on
her back and gestured up the hiking trail that branched off from the
parking lot.
"There's a clearing up there that I figured we could
take a pause at. I've packed some things for us-- cheese, fruit, some
rum." She paused to grin. "You know, the basics."
Brian Dempsey
Brian's
laugh is polite because if he laughs too hard that could imply that
Nate did in fact give a description that would have him confuse the
large puppy with her owner and if he doesn't laugh at all that will make
her self-conscious. Or maybe he just doesn't get the joke. Like why
would Nate's description throw him off she looks nothing like a
Rhodesian ridgeback.
The laugh is overshadowed by the handshake
though and Brian doesn't draw too much attention to it. Dates are
nerve-wracking affairs. He's not entirely convinced he's going to be a
smooth operator on this thing either.
Both of them adjust their
packs and with the gesture he inclines his head and off they go. At
least he didn't bring his dog if he has one. Double dates are even more
nerve-wracking than solo ones.
One grin receives another.
"Right on," he says. "I brought water and trail mix. Bases are covered."
Molly Toombs
A
couple nods, a couple of grins, and the set-up couple were on their
way. The trail was wide enough this far down on the mountain side that
two people could walk side-by-side without much difficulty. Florence,
true to her doggy nature, took off up ahead and was eagerly sniffing
every rock, crevice, and hole that she could find. She never strayed
very far, though, and would always pause well within eyesight to glance
back and make sure that her human and that guy that was walking along
with her were keeping up.
Molly, to her credit, traversed the
uphill slope without much trouble. She was built soft and curvy, though
the loose cut to her top did a fine job of masking her stomach and legs
at work tended to look stronger and more toned than legs at rest. She
kept her breath like someone who goes out hiking frequently would, well
enough to be able to make the small chat that you're expected to have on
awkward first dates with strangers.
Where do you work, where are
you from, what are your hobbies-- these are all things that you're
supposed to cover. They were partway up the sun-soaked mountainside and
just barely cresting into the area where trees cropped up to provide
shade when Molly paused just inside the treeline for a drink of water.
While taking that pause for water and air, she broke a moment's worth of quiet by asking:
"So,
not to get incredibly personal on a date or anything like that--," and,
again, a grin, as though she hoped curving her lips and showing her
teeth would make her questions seem less direct and her humor less
hopelessly flat. "--but I know why Nate's setting dates up for me. Can I ask how you wound up with that guy as your matchmaker?"
Brian Dempsey
Most
of what they have to talk about is boring and yet easily within the
realm of each other's imagination. They don't want to walk in the
sunshine and talk about hospital emergency rooms or the scenes of
breaking news stories a thousand feet in the air though. They're both in
this situation because they know the same young man who looked at both
of them and had a lightbulb moment when attempting to solve some aspect
of their lives that was somehow impacting him.
While much taller
than Molly her date doesn't have to do much to his gait to keep from
trailing behind or plowing ahead of her. He is used to physical activity
and doesn't wheeze or sweat overmuch as they rise up out of the valley.
The
setup to her question has Brian laughing. The resolution has that
laughter becoming something more wry. He has already drank his fill of
water and is standing nearby keeping an eye out for the dog or for
interlopers.
"Only if I can ask why he's setting up dates for you first."
Molly Toombs
Interlopers
were few and far between. They'd encountered one other couple-- a
dark-haired man and his girlfriend with a blond ponytail-- but they were
headed the other direction. When they'd stopped for water and a chat,
they were alone again with Florence off to the side, in the trees,
sniffing and gnawing on a snapped branch that was probably dripping some
kind of sap still. She didn't appear to be in any danger of wandering
too far, and Brian would note that Molly's clear blue eyes would sharpen
and skim every so often to check in on her canine's location.
She'd
done this recently, and apparently found no harm in letting the dog
chew a downed branch. So she screwed the cap back onto her water bottle
and jammed it into the mesh pocket of her pack designed specifically
for that purpose.
"Because he worries," she answered, and there
was a ringing to the tone of her voice that hinted raw honesty--
speaking a truth that had deep roots without showing what those roots
actually were, or where they traveled to exactly. She still smiled
lightly, though, and gave a sharp whistle to call Florence along so they
could start walking again-- she'd mentioned previously that the place
they could eat was near a creek so the dog could work off heat
exhaustion splashing about and not worry about begging for scraps.
As they started to walk, and as Florence obediently bounded along after, Molly elaborated.
"You
know, I live alone and work in the emergency room of a downtown
hospital-- trauma, at that. He worries about what all of that'll do to a
person. Probably figures that I could use some human support." He
might pick up an inflection on the word 'human' that Molly probably
didn't intend to be there, he might pick up a note of irony in the smile
that followed too. "I don't fault him, though. Who couldn't use
company?"
Brian Dempsey
And the implication in her
phrasing goes unnoticed. That may be another reason why Nate wanted to
set them up. Nothing has happened to Brian that would ring in his ears
with the inclusion of that word in her explanation and for all he knows
about people who work in hospitals it could just fit his expectations.
That
and Nathan Marszalek or Amherst or whatever the hell name he's using
these days isn't the most normal person to ever step foot in the
newsroom at the local station to shake someone down for a lead. Any
friend of his would have to be a little weird in order to make
conversation with him.
"Fair enough," he says. He takes one last
swig of water before putting it back in the side pouch of his pack.
Manages the feat while walking. No wonder Molly wants to know how in the
hell this topic came up with their mutual acquaintance. "So did you two
go to school together, or...?"
Molly Toombs
Molly
was walking ahead, since the path narrowed once it hit the trees and
walking shoulder-to-shoulder would force someone off the trail proper.
So when he'd followed up with a question she cast a glance back over her
shoulder and raised one light ginger eyebrow. The expression was
clearly her calling out the fact that he wasn't following through with
his deal to explain why Nate's setting him up on dates after she'd
shared hers.
Calling it out, sure, but in humor. She'd smirked just a little and shook her head and pressed on forward.
"No.
We actually just started hanging out last year. But he's a good guy,
and we became close friends pretty easily." Realizing that it made it
sound as though she used to date their mutual acquaintance, she cleared
her throat and clarified. "We've just got a lot of mutual interests.
Read the same books, like the same flicks. You know...," and she
trailed off, leaving it there. She'd been about ready to outright say You know, normal people stuff, but that would be too telling, wouldn't it?
It's
before long, and after a particularly steep and winding part of the
hiking trail, that they reach a flat ridge up on the mountain side.
There's plenty of shade here, with the creek that wraps around and down
the mountain off to the side of them. Through the trees you can catch
glimpses of the wide view of the valley below, but no spectacular sunset
because that happened on the other side of the mountain, you see.
The
trail opened wide on this flat space of land, dirt stamped down to show
that this was where people were supposed to go and gather. Logs that
have long since been in place sat around the clearing, obviously
intended as seats for people to use. Molly shrugged her pack off her
shoulders and stooped to set it on the ground, so she could unzip it and
start to pull contents free from inside.
"But what's your story, Mr. Dempsey? What's got you set up on a mountainside with a friend of a friend?"
Brian Dempsey
The only thing a designation of Normal
People Stuff would tell him is that she understands what it's like to
not do the same things the bulk of society is doing. It wouldn't tell
him anything else about her.
Must be strange to be in the presence
of someone who can walk in the sunlight and doesn't look like he's
spent his entire life hearing things other people can't hear. Who isn't
trying to suss out what it is she knows or ask her about an experience
in the hopes of finding one of her own buried somewhere.
This is why Nate set them up. Because he worries about Molly. Because Brian is normal. Solid maybe. He looks solid.
At
the clearing they step off the trail. They're alone for the odd hour of
the day but they both work odd hours. He joins her in setting up a
place to sit a while.
"Eh, you know," he says. False modesty. Nate
didn't set the dude up with his friend because he is a loser with no
social skills. "Been divorced for over a year. I'm no expert or
anything, but lemme tell you what, you ever want to know anything about
the human condition and what being single for too long says about you as
a person, ask someone who works in a newsroom. You'll get breaking news
on how you're not gettin' any younger."
His accent isn't a
Southern drawl but there's still a slow mountainous quality to it that
tells folks he's from around here in a broad sense but not exactly
native to Denver.
"Me and Marszalek started hanging out maybe a
month ago. He found out I wasn't seeing anybody and asked if I'd want to
meet his friend who's an ER nurse and also isn't seeing anybody. And
now here we are."
Molly Toombs
This wasn't a
straight-up picnic, and Molly wasn't cliche enough to bring an actual
blanket for them to sit on together. The logs were more comfortable
than the ground in her opinion anyway. But she did take out a hand
towel of white and green thatches and spread that on the ground for the
paper plate and previously promised fruit and cheese. Two apples, a
knife, and a plastic-wrapped hunk of sharp white cheddar.
Molly set herself up on one of the logs, sitting with her knees open so she could lean forward and access the food more easily.
"That
sounds about right," Molly agreed with a low chuckle. She hadn't had a
steady relationship in some time herself, though she was still in her
twenties so that was alright. All the same, she figured that if more
people that she worked with got along with her, she'd likely be catching
the same flack from them.
A pig's ear dog chew was fished out
from another pocket in the bag and offered up to Florence, who galloped
over to happily seize the treat. The dog trotted a few yards away and
laid down to gnaw. Soon after, she swigged some water and offered the
knife to Brian-- whether it was an indication for him to serve himself
or start slicing in general wasn't really clarified.
"So, do you
have any kids, then?" He was married for a period, after all. That was
probably a reasonable and not-boundary-crossing question to ask.
Brian Dempsey
Bless
these logs. They take a bit of the quaintness out of the situation.
Something about a blanket would be far too intimate for a first date but
they're not talking about the appropriateness of the seating
arrangements. They're talking about how their cohorts' perception of
their relationship status has led them to their current juncture.
They're sharing food.
He was full of shit when he said all he has is trail mix. He also has a bag of venison jerky. Mid-hike meal of champions.
Once
the dog is distracted by her pig's ear and the knife is handed off to
him he sets to work. A question comes. It doesn't appear to cross a
boundary. Nobody gets divorced because their marriage is going great.
"I
do," he says and his tone brightens in the subtle way of all parents
whose kids haven't grown up to become massive disappointments yet. "Two
boys, they're thirteen and ten. It's a little weird, you know, I didn't
see much of them when they were growing up because I was overseas--"
Nate might have mentioned he was a naval pilot before he came to Denver.
It's not a secret. "--but we're doing alright. They get good grades and
go outside without me having to unplug the Xbox."
Parents can go on about their kids for hours if you don't stop them. He does her the favor of changing the subject.
"What about you? You got any kids?"
Molly Toombs
Gingery
eyebrows hop up when he confirms that he has children. It's rough to
tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing. They do climb just a touch
higher when he specifies their ages-- that was a surprise, clearly.
She'd figured that they wouldn't be older than six or seven.
Rather than commenting (though the question in her throat was 'How old are you, anyway?'), she just grinned and hiked a shoulder in a shrug when the question turned back on her.
"No,
no, this dog's the closest thing I have to that." She looked over to
where the lanky adolescent dog was showing big white teeth in an
enthusiastic side-of-mouth chew, then chuckled under her breath and
looked out through the trees and into the valley instead. "I
wouldn't--," she'd started, but stopped herself from continuing. She
had been about to express honesty, and the honest truth was that she
wouldn't ever want to put a child in the position of having her for a
mother. Not because she was necessarily terrible with kids, she did
just fine with child patients as well as with adult ones-- both required
equal amounts of different brands of patience. Rather, she didn't want
to put a child in the sort of danger that being involved with Molly
Toombs brought to the table. She was already considering that when it
came to a second date with this guy-- she was sure his kids were nice,
they sounded like it when their father spoke of them anyways. She was
pretty sure they deserved unspoiled lives.
Molly was getting
better at cover-ups, though, so the transition was smooth and easy to
glaze over when she started again but differently. "I'd never really
settled down with anyone for that to be a consideration before. Had a
boyfriend through some of college, but nothing steady past that." It
could make someone wonder what was wrong with her. Maybe she was a
terrible temper after getting to know her, or perhaps she partied too
hard. It might be a follow up question for Nate later.
"Do yours live with you?"
Brian Dempsey
After
ripping on the production crew and whoever else at the station that
supplies his 1099s he isn't going to go so far as to draw a conclusion
as to what Molly's childless state and her lackluster track record go.
Nursing is a demanding profession. It has a high rate of burnout and
substance abuse and divorce. The stress of the day-to-day and the
difficulty dealing with those who aren't in the field are a drain on
people who aren't innately capable of handling it.
Hell. The
military chews up young men and women like a possessed machine. She can
see the difference between Nate who was not cut out for war but joined
up anyway and Brian who - well she doesn't know how he came to be in the
service. Pilots have to go through officer candidacy school though. So
he has a degree under his belt. A degree and two kids.
He has to
already be considering that Molly won't be pursuing a second date. That
she isn't marriage material. That's alright. It's a nice day and she
hasn't done anything that would have him glancing at his cell phone and
feigning an emergency just to get out of there quicker.
"Sometimes
they do, yeah. We have joint custody but the ex, uh... I think if I
pressed for full, she wouldn't put up much of a fight. We're just gonna
ride out the rest of the year and see how they're holding up and go from
there." He considers the ghost of those raised eyebrows and the dog's
standing in for a child and laughs a modest laugh. No sense subjecting
her to stories about the boys if she's never going to meet them. "Do you
live in the city, then?"
Molly Toombs
"Yeah, I
live right in the downtown area." Molly was trying not to worry about
what happened after this afternoon. She was too concerned that it would
make the date a bad one, and as Kali had expressed to her once before,
enjoying a bit of normalcy every so often was vital to mental health and
happiness. And considering the fact that Molly was taking this advice
from a Vampire, that probably meant she really needed to enjoy this time.
So
she lets the talk of custody and half-grown children slide to the
wayside, is happy to start talking about something that doesn't make it
so glaringly obvious that nothing long-term is likely to come from this
arrangement.
She drew one more item from her backpack, which was
set up against the log nearby. A flask, the promised rum. She screwed
the lid off and held it out as an offer to Brian first, along with a
smile. "I moved to Denver from Oregon-- to go to school. So I lived
near the University to start. Then I graduated and got my job at St.
Lukes about right away, so I just moved into an apartment that was near
enough to bike. The job never changed, so there wasn't reason to move
away." She shrugged, and whether the rum was accepted or not she'd take
her turn with a small swig.
Brian Dempsey
Of
course he accepts the rum. Not with a young man's zeal but with a
matured soul's gratitude. He offers the smile and meets her eyes and
this is the sort of light that really lets a body appreciate the color
of another person's eyes. Hers are big and blue and even if nothing ends
up happening there are worse ways to while away an afternoon than going
hiking with a pretty young woman.
He takes enough of a drink to
cause a burn but does not chug the stuff. Listens to her answer and it
does seem like he's listening and not just waiting for his chance to
talk. When the flask comes back to her he starts prepping another slice
of cheese.
"I've only been here since last year," he says, "but I
like it. Kinda has that frontier town feel to it but without the
tumbleweeds." A beat. "I'm from Montana. Whole lotta nothin' out that
way."
Well that explains the accent.
"So your family's still out in Oregon?"
Molly Toombs
"Montana,
huh?" She set the flask down beside the plate on the hand towel, then
waited patiently for her turn to get at the apples and cheese. When
that time came, be it by her getting the knife back or him handing her a
piece, she settled back to eat it slow and easy. Eating for the sake
of taste, not because she was ravenous for food. Her left hand settled
onto the tree log beside her so she could lock her elbow and lean back
some to rest her weight into that arm. "That sounds a hell of a lot
more frontier than here."
But, he was asking about her family.
And Molly realized with a look back into his face (through that time of
eye contact) that she had no reason to heed the now-reflexive urge to
lie and not speak about her family. This wasn't a man who would use
that information against her, not in any way to be worried about. She
didn't need to keep in mind that he may go seek them out and give threat
of harm in order to leverage details or a favor (a betrayal, most
likely) out of her.
So, she blinked, then smiled a little
curiously when she answered. "Yeah, they are. They're still together,
and my little brothers are at home. One just graduated from high
school, the other's still in it." She took in a breath that filled her
chest with cooled mountain air, let it out slow while chewing a small
bite of apple and cheese. "Pretty damn normal of them," she added as an
afterthought.
There was a lull, for a moment, in conversation.
Both were either eating or drinking something, looking at the scenery,
listening to the crunching of the pig's ear.
It would take them a couple of seconds to realize that the crunching had become a sound in stereo; something else
was crunching too, into the trees along the flat stretch of land behind
them. And this crunching was wet, accompanied by suckling and slurping
for flavor.
[Rolling Perception + Awareness for Moll!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )
Brian Dempsey
[look at the new mortal guys
perc + alert]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
Molly Toombs
Molly
had looked about, but seemed to be focused more on what she was hearing
than trying to search with her eyes. She seemed to be hunting,
seeking, following some kind of sense that was something beyond visual.
Brian would probably think she was trying to decipher the crunching
sound, figure out why she was hearing her dog in two directions, or that
maybe she smelled something he didn't.
In reality, Molly was feeling in her chest, bones, and skull the staticky-electric hum of something Otherly.
Brian,
though, he was a more practical man, more grounded in this world than
any other, unlike his date. He swept with his eyes, and was able to
make out, about three or four dozen yards into the treeline behind them,
something hunched over and clearly using hands to hold something that
it was gnawing on. The thing was probably about the size of Florence,
or a young child, or maybe even a baboon. The really weird thing was
that it was hairless and green and bipedal.
And that thing it was
chewing and sucking on had splashes of red and peach-- some kind of
flesh, some kind of animal. It was carnivorous, whatever it was.
Brian Dempsey
The
human mind can only handle so much weirdness before it snaps. If it
doesn't snap it ceases to be what it was before. A woman like Molly who
has already seen so much in her young life has no choice but to adapt.
Her friend Nathan has been seeing things his entire life. He hasn't
snapped but he can barely function despite the strength of his spine.
Hard
to tell what kind of man Brian is but that he hears the sound and
registers that it isn't normal. But he does hear the sound and he
doesn't ignore it. He looks toward it and frowns when he realizes he
doesn't recognize the shape or color of it.
Before he speaks he drops his voice to just above a whisper.
"You hear that?"
Hard to tell what all's in his hiking bag but Brian looks like he might reach for it in a second anyway.
Molly Toombs
Hobgoblin
[Perception + Alertness: Whassat?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )
Molly Toombs
When
Brian glanced back to Molly to ask if she was hearing something, he
found her looking in the general direction of the little green thing
snacking on something meaty and crunchy. Her eyes were out of focus,
she wasn't looking directly at anything, but seeing and sensing
something in general. It was probably how people looked when they
watched a dust storm or fog bank roll in.
Whatever it was she was
seeing or sensing, it had her spine stiff and expression serious. Molly
looked quickly over to her at-the-moment companion when he asked if she
heard something. She licked her lips, nodded her head, and answered:
"Yeah. I don't like it."
Maybe Molly's whisper wasn't as
well-executed as Brian's. Maybe it had more to do with those long,
pointed, deep-hollowed ears that the thing sported being able to pick up
sound better. Either way, soon as Molly had let loose the breath that
carried her confirmation, the crunching sound stopped and the green
thing that Brian had spied straightened itself up like a meerkat on
watch. When it stood up, Molly spied it too, and her eyes widened at
the sight.
Upright it was perhaps four and a half feet tall. Its
face was pointed, nose a flat snout with slits for nostrils. The scary
thing was how big its mouth was, and how sharp and blood-red those teeth
were. It was wearing furs about it that it must have stolen from an
animal, fashioned into a crude toga. Long claws on green knobbly
fingers, and speaking of fingers...
That's a human arm it's been chewing on.
"Oh fuck," Molly breathed.
[Perception 3 + Occult 3: What the fuck is THAT?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Brian Dempsey
Oh fuck indeed.
The
thing's face swiveled towards them and Thing is the only word that is
appropriate. No way it can be human but of course the mind tries to
rationale in moments like this because minds like Brian's wouldn't have
made it through naval indoctrination and flight school if he believed in
shit like little green men and werewolves.
If it weren't for the
fact that it's gnawing on a fucking human arm he might have continued
carrying on as if it were something perfectly rational. Instead Brian
takes hold of Molly's upper arm and coaxes her to duck down behind the
log. Poor cover but poor cover is better than none.
"Get down,"
he says in a whisper quieter still and ducks down himself. Now he's
opening the backpack and removing his sidearm. "Is that a...?" No that's
not a fucking person Dempsey Jesus. "What the hell is that?"
Molly Toombs
Molly
was standing stock-still, staring into the thing's bulging, milky-white
eyes from across the distance as though if she kept still long enough
it wouldn't be able to see that she was there. As though that Thing was
mesmerizing her to keep her in place. Perhaps she was frozen with
fear?
No, not fear. She didn't look horrified for her life, and
the strange thing is there wasn't an ounce of disbelief in her visage
either. She looked intent, more than anything else. Studious.
Curious. Deciphering.
When Brian seized her bare upper arm and
pulled her back and down, she went without a fight or a stumble. Her
knees bent out and a hand grabbed the log to balance her. Eyes hopped
down and swept about, looking for some kind of weapon that she could
defend herself with. To the side, Florence had stopped chewing the
pig's ear and was standing straight, alert, but silent. That was a
trait of the breed-- they didn't bark much at all, but were very alert
and attentive. Florence's big brown eyes were twitching here and there,
her nose was as well, while she tried to locate the thing that was
causing her mistress and That Other Guy to whisper and spike heartbeats
and adrenaline.
Astoundingly enough, Molly had an answer to
Brian's question. He probably meant it as a rhetorical, but in a hushed
and bookwormishly assured in her own information way, the red-haired
woman caught him up to speed.
"The best word that we have for that
thing is 'goblin'. It's... It's a thief. It eats meat and organs to
steal power. But what the hell is it doing out here?" Probably hunting powerful things, you idiot.
From
across the distance, the green thing's teeth flashed into an
uncomfortably wide, sickeningly bloody smile. It issued a low hissing
sound, dropped the arm that it had been holding, and crouched down onto
all fours to begin to casually lope its way on over in a motion that
most closely mirrored a chimpanzee.
Brian Dempsey
With
her gaze aimed at the trees and the creature within Molly doesn't have
as much insight into what this information does to the man as would the
audience. They have no audience but for the dog and the goblin.
But
Brian frowns and squints at once as she gives him an answer. Like he's
heard something and can't quite make sense of what it is he's actually
hearing and then she goes on. Elaborates on what this thing is and what
it does with its time and the bafflement on his face deepens.
What the fuck? he wants to know but doesn't say. That and Who are you?
And
then the goddamned thing drops its dinner and starts to come closer.
Now isn't the time to stammer and stick his foot in his mouth. Brian
drops down onto one knee to stabilize himself and asks in a voice that's
lost its quiet still steady but only because he hasn't had time to
process what the fuck is going on yet:
"Any reason why I shouldn't shoot it?"
Molly Toombs
The
way that Brian was looking at Molly didn't go missed. She looked back
into his face, and her mouth pressed into a shape that was apologetic,
her brows furrowed and the rest of her expression withdrawn. Like she
was cringing from how what she knew separated her so clearly and
drastically from the world that Brian Dempsey and the vast majority of
others lived in.
Who was she?
Molly Toombs, Occultist and Magnet of the Supernatural.
To
their side, Florence issued a single deep and bassy bark. Her black
lips pulled away from her teeth, and on stiff legs the dog began to
stalk forward. The thing that Molly called a goblin twisted its head to
look at the dog, slowed its gait some as it did. Then, clearly
dismissing the animal, it continued forward toward the two humans. Its
pace was picking up, and it was halfway to meet them already.
Molly
swallowed and grabbed the knife they'd been using to cut apples and
cheddar with. "None whatsoever," came the answer in a tight voice.
[Inits!]
Molly Toombs
Hobgoblin
[6 +]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )
Molly Toombs
Florence
[4 +]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (8) ( success x 1 )
Molly Toombs
Molly
[7 +]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
Brian Dempsey
[+6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )
Molly Toombs
INITS
Brian - 16
Molly - 13
Florence - 12
Hobgoblin - 11
Molly Toombs
[Declaring in reverse order!
Hobgoblin - Claw that guy he looks like the biggest problem maker!
Florence - Bite the stinky danger thing!
Molly - So on the defensive-- dodge anything!]
Brian Dempsey
Something
about his date using a paring knife to defend himself really adds a
layer of surrealism that wasn't there before. Brian raises his weapon
and fires.
1a: 3RB! nets him +2 dice at +1 diff. might as well spend WP.
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 5 ) [WP]
Brian Dempsey
[+4]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 5 )
Molly Toombs
Hobgoblin
[BULLETS! Soak!]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (3, 5) ( fail )
Molly Toombs
Florence
[Bite chomp gnaw!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN5 (2, 3, 5, 5) ( success x 2 )
Molly Toombs
Florence
[Damage! +1 suxx]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 5) ( fail )
Molly Toombs
Hobgoblin
[Stunned, no action!]
Molly Toombs
[Keeping Inits, declares in reverse order still.
Hobgoblin -- Holy shit, run away!
Florence -- Would try to bite again, but is gonna be affected to run away by Molly's action
Molly -- Call Florence out of the line of fire]
Brian Dempsey
With
the dog run up to the child-sized creature Brian flinches not because
he almost shot her but because he would have a clear line of sight on
the thing if the puppy weren't there. A flinch instead of a swear. Brian
is a big man but he's not a brute. He doesn't bark at Molly to call the
goddamn dog. He waits.
[holding his next shot until the dog's out of the way]
Brian Dempsey
[dex + firearms, nothing fancy this time, still spending WP]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 5 ) [WP]
Brian Dempsey
[+4]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )
Molly Toombs
Hobgoblin
[Well, it was a good life.]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (1, 8) ( success x 1 )
Molly Toombs
Thankfully,
someone grew up in Montana and knew a thing or two about going out into
the mountains. There was always the threat of something wild coming to
greet you-- perhaps a mountain lion, maybe a bear or a coyote or who
knows what. Certainly Brian wasn't prepared to have to use his handgun
against something that looked like it crawled up out of the underground
caverns of Grimm stories, but when the woman who apparently knew what
she was talking about gave him the go-ahead to shoot the thing, he did
just that.
The Hobgoblin had stretched its jaws wide and pulled
its arms back when it had gotten nearer, reared up on two legs and ready
to start slashing with those wicked looking claws. But then--
BLAM
--a
shot hit it square in the chest. Yellow-green blood misted from the
wound, sprayed out the back of the gnarled little creature, and its
cloudy white eyes bulged. Florence had come in with gnashing jaws, but
only nipped at the thing's flank before Molly was calling in a high and
strained voice: "Florence, here!"
The adolescent dog,
still lanky of limb and weak of jaw but apparently strong in spirit--
thankfully, obedient to boot, reeled back and came racing in an arc back
toward the logs and the people who crouched behind them. Brian, steady
of arm and apparently marksman of the year, waited patiently for the
dog to get out of the way, then squeezed the trigger.
The Goblin
had turned, both hands clutching the gaping wound in its chest, and
tried to hobble its hobgobliny way away. It made it perhaps three
stumbling steps before a bullet introduced itself to the back of its
head. Skull shattered, the bullet ripped its way through and out again,
and a sickly gray-yellow mess sprayed the ground before it. Its dark
green, skinny body crumpled and hit the ground-- twitched a few times,
then went utterly still.
Molly had been holding her breath. The
hand that wasn't clutching white-knuckled to the pairing knife reached
out to grasp the upper arm of Brian's shirt. When she exhaled, she
breathed out: "Nice shooting, Tex...."
Brian Dempsey
"Shit..."
He's
breathing a bit heavier for the adrenaline now shot through him and the
recoil absorbed by his arms. He held the gun like it was an extension
of his body and not something he was wrestling with but it's still been a
long time since he's shot the thing at anything other than a paper
target. When he's hunting for game he brings a rifle.
Nice shooting, Tex...
"Thank
you." His manners ingrained and automatic. He doesn't lower the muzzle
until he's sure that was a death throe they just witnessed.
Once
the thing goes still he steadies himself on the log and gets to his
feet. Steps over the log and walks toward it. It isn't a beeline. His
eyes are on the trees in case this thing has a mate or a pack or was
just camped out in the woods waiting for something bigger and meaner to
come by. Boots tramp in the grass. The safety is off the .45 though he
keeps it aimed at the ground and held in both hands as he approaches the
corpse.
"Should we call someone?" He doesn't know who to call. Animal Control would get a bang out of this.
Molly Toombs
Florence
came back up to Molly's side, whining and crying and licking at her
hands and nudging her head up under her mistress's arm. The gunshots
were loud, but I was brave, Mistress! Did you see me fight? I did
good, didn't I? That was loud and scary, though, please give comfort.
Molly
rubbed at the dog's side and neck and ears, thumped her a few times and
murmured some words of comfort to the animal before telling her to go
lay down. The dog wriggled anxiously, licked a little more, but
listened after a reaffirmation of the command. For a couple of seconds,
at least. Once Molly's back was turned for her to stand and move into
the trees to investigate the thing that had come charging at them,
Florence rolled back up to her feet and started sniffing around the
area-- probably had the same basic thought in mind that Brian had, when
it came to others that might be out there as well.
Molly, though? She knew exactly
what they were dealing with. And she knew that they traveled alone--
they couldn't work in packs, the infighting and treachery would wipe
them all out in the matter of a twisted generation.
When they got
nearer, Molly lifted a hand to cover her nose-- the thing's blood
smelled something awful. She was studying the thing's corpse, all
sprawled out with a small hole in the back of its skull and a large exit
wound through its back, between its shoulder blades.
"....No,"
was her answer. "I don't think so." Though, even as she said this, she
switched her gaze out to where that human arm that it had dropped was.
There was probably a body around to go along with it that they'd have
to worry about. She licked her lips, then wrinkled her nose and wrapped
her arms firmly over her chest and ribs. Hugged them close as she
scowled and tried to think.
"I think we should hide it. No one should find it."
Brian Dempsey
As
he comes within close range of the thing Brian aims the weapon at its
head. Which doesn't resemble a head anymore. The bullet went in the back
and blew the contents of the skull out the other side and its brains
and other bits of viscera and bone are strewn on the grass. And it does
reek. Brian actually takes a step back at first because the stench is
like a wall but he doesn't go pale or recoil to vomit.
This isn't
the first time Brian has killed something that looked human. Molly has
no way of knowing by looking at him what effect this is going to have on
him but he isn't panicking or freaking out. He had acted and now he's
looking to her for guidance.
No one should find it.
"Agreed," he says. The safety clicks back on and he sighs. "You didn't happen to bring a shovel, did you?"
Molly Toombs
The
lack of panic was tangible between the two of them. It's obvious to
Brian because Molly doesn't look like a fighter, but she doesn't seem to
be trembling from the adrenaline of being attacked by a monster summons
forward. She was cool-headed, you see. A woman who didn't shake
easily. She had gone for a pairing knife, didn't posture herself like
she was going to fight but rather like she would defend herself if she
absolutely have to, but that didn't make her very scared. Now she was
more interested in studying the thing up close.
With the sides of
her fingers and knuckles tucked up against her nostrils to keep the
stench of this dead creature from offending her senses further, Molly
nudged the thing's leg with the toe of her boot, making sure it was
actually dead, then tipped her head to the side to get a better view of
the side profile of what was left of this monster's face. Though her
expression was serious, even a little grim, there was still a certain
excited light of discovery to her eyes, an energy to her bones. It was
like she was an archeologist and had just survived a booby trap, but was
rewarded with the greatest find of the decade.
"Afraid not," she
answered, then straightened her back and shoulders, stopped leaning to
better see the dead goblin, and looked back to Brian. Here she paused,
took a second to look at the man like he was standing in an entirely
different light. And let's face it, he completely was. He was holding
his composure together like a champion. Even the more stalwart mortal
men and women that she's seen have initial encounters with shit like
this went shrill and desperately wanted to phone the police. That he'd
kept still-handed, that he'd killed the thing without batting much of an
eyelash, and that he was now agreeing with her that they should just
hide the body-- that had her plenty curious.
Upon realizing that
she was staring, Molly blinked and gestured up the mountains. "I think I
remember there being a dried up waterfall up the mountain a bit. We
could just knock some rocks loose and bury it under them?"
Brian Dempsey
Nothing
about this is exciting to Brian. If that thing could pull the arm off
of a grown man and set upon it like it was like a honking turkey leg
then that meant it would have made a meal out of whoever was unfortunate
to be its next target.
He had the gun for a reason. It's for
self-protection. It's for not dying because someone or something else
wants to kill him more than he wants to stay alive. He has two kids at
home playing video games or assholing around in the backyard while he's
off on a date with some woman they may or may not ever meet. That's why
he didn't lose his composure. If he lost his composure while he was
flying he would kill everybody onboard and if he lost his composure on
the ground then he wouldn't come home.
If he and Nate have shared
war stories Nate didn't pass along any tales of Brian's exploits when he
set this whole thing up but rest assured Nate is going to hear about
it. Brian may look as if he's an unflinching badass right now but he's
sweating buckets underneath his clothes.
Stands to reason if they
can't call anyone they can't just leave this alien-looking creature
lying out for hikers or children to stumble upon.
He blows out a breath between pursed lips and flicks his eyebrows. Helluva first date.
"We could," he says.
With
the safety off he walks back towards the log to retrieve his backpack.
Rummages through it until he finds a garbage bag. Shoulders the backpack
after that and he puts the sidearm not back into the bag but into
waistband of his cargo shorts near his hip. It isn't a holster but it's
better than nothing. He flaps his t-shirt out to conceal the thing and
waits for Molly to indicate she's ready.
The child-sized doesn't
quite fit into the garbage bag but it's better than nothing if he's
going to carry it up the mountain before nightfall. On autopilot now.
Hard to know how he'd be acting if Molly hadn't told him what the thing
was but she's in charge now.
Molly Toombs
The
garbage bag that he retrieves is looked at gratefully. Molly didn't at
all want either of them to have to carry the thing up and get that
stinking ooze all over their clothes. She didn't remember reading or
learning anything about their blood being toxic or harmful, but she
really didn't like the idea of taking the risk-- just in case.
Being
a nurse, Molly's stomach was less likely to turn at things like this.
She kicked dirt about to cover up the gore that had sprayed on the
ground, and hoped that the animals that would come to nibble the rest
wouldn't get sick from it. Or that they'd leave it alone entirely and
it would just decompose without anyone asking questions about that weird
dirty-covered goop in the woods. Hopefully if anyone saw it they'd
think it was the result of an animal getting sick from eating something
it shouldn't have.
She had packed up everything they'd laid out
previously, then helped as much as was needed and/or accepted to get
that thing's bony body into the bag-- thankfully, it didn't weigh a
whole hell of a lot. Probably about as much as Florence, or a little
less.
As they were hiking up the hillside, Molly found herself
uncomfortable for the silence rather than appreciating it. It made her
squirm, to have so many unanswered questions in her guts-- she couldn't
understand why Brian wasn't doing the same. Why he wasn't asking the
questions that she knew he had to be chewing on. They could see where
the mountain made a short but steep drop, where the gravelly-golden
rocks indicated an old and dried up stream that turned to waterfall.
It's when they reach this point that Molly breaks silence. She sounded
stressed when she asked:
"Okay, how come you aren't asking me
things like 'How did you know what that was', or 'Why can that thing
exist'? That's what usually happens in these situations."
Brian Dempsey
As
they walk she can see the ease with which he packs away the body and
picks it up. If the thing weighed more he would have no trouble but with
the altitude and the heat of the day slow to dissipate he's grateful
that it doesn't. She can see the thick blue veins beneath skin that
absorbs the sun's rays rather than deflecting them or burning beneath
them. She can see the muscles of his calves flex beneath the skin as
they take to the hillside again.
Nate set the two of them up
because Brian is a normal boring human male and he was hoping they would
do something normal and boring and human on their date. That she'd see
what she was missing and come back from the precipice over which he has
nightmares of her falling.
That's what usually happens in these situations.
"Oh."
Like he had no idea and it isn't exactly a relief to hear it now. "You
get into these situations often, then?" Before she can answer: "Molly, I
gotta be honest with ya... I'm tryin' real hard not to lose my shit
about now. You got something else you wanna tell me before we're in the
car going home, you go right on ahead."
Molly Toombs
His
question had her looking back up at him sharply. There was no scolding
or burn or defensive accusation in her face, but she did seem at least
taken aback by it. If she had to answer honestly: yes. And she just
couldn't stop herself from being in situations where they were more
likely. And now, when she was supposed to be doing something normal and
human for once god damnit, these situations just came to her instead.
Before
she could slip and fall down the slope of introspection and clenching
doom, she sucked in a breath and leaned forward into the hike. They
were nearing the rocky hillside now. Molly was sweating along her back
and the back of her neck, but at the moment she was just glad that it
was body water she was losing instead of blood.
"Well, I...,"
Molly started, sounding like he'd knocked her off-balance. She cleared
her throat and frowned a little, looked at the ground in front of her as
she finished the steepest part of the trudge up the hill so they could
go to meet the bottom of that stumpy rocky waterfall.
"I suppose I
just wanted to make sure you were alright. Usually people are alright
after they've gotten those questions out. That you didn't even ask any
has me wondering if you hadn't seen anything like this before." She
paused, then added: "If you're that shaken up, I'm getting the wrong
message."
Then, because she felt uncomfortable just leaving it there, she added:
"Thank you, by the way."
