Together We Map the World [Sascha] [C]

[Casey DeLaney]

One sketchbook, a couple of his new pencils, a canteen of water, and they were ready to go. At least Casey was. He closed up his small pack and slung it over his shoulder, and then leaned against the tree with a sigh. Squinting against the midday sun, he raised his gaze to the treehouse, or where he knew the treehouse was, as it was camouflaged by branches from below. “Sascha, come on!” He called, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. “It’s almost noon already!” The plan was to have set out mid-morning, but it seemed like they were barely going to make mid-day. Casey paced impatiently, excited at the prospect of exploring and mapping their new territory together. Ever since the treehouse had been finished, they had been busy settling in—moving their stuff over from the cave, finding the best places to hunt and forage, and just getting used to the sounds of the forest at night. They hadn’t yet ventured too far from the treehouse, as if they were tethered to it by a long rope. Today they would cut that rope and venture into the few acres of forest they were calling their own. Or at least they would, if Sascha would finish getting ready. He shook his head and chuckled, wondering what could be taking him so long. It’s not like they had a wardrobe to choose from… The man couldn’t even physically wear a shirt! How long did it take to say goodbye to the kid and tell him not to go outside alone? They would be back by nightfall, anyways. “Let’s get a move on, hot wings!” MAP: Casey's Current Map [click to enlarge] ooc: HOT WINGS Title from this song.

[Sascha Stark]

Sascha groaned at the sound of Casey's muffled voice calling from below, cracking a sleep-gunked eye open. The sunlight filtering through the windows greeted him cheerily and tried to promise him a good morning, but he met the greeting with a soft hiss, quickly shielding his sensitive eyes from the light. Casey's voice came again and he slowly rose from the bed they shared, feeling as if he had just woken from the dead. “Eu vin,” I’m coming. he murmured weakly in Romanian, sleepily thinking that Casey’d be able to hear him. Sascha sat at the edge of the bed, legs hanging over the side, wings drooping lazily at his side. They were too heavy to lift right now. He blinked slowly and stared at the wall until his eyes adjusted to the light. Grunting he hefted himself up, wings and all, and started getting ready. He trudged around the small treehouse, ducking to avoid the stairs that led up to Fletcher’s loft. He peeked up there to see Fletcher reading a book they’d managed to scrounge up for him. “Remember to stay inside, okay? Casey and I be back soon. Then we can show you the map, hey?” He said, happy to see that Fletcher seemed excited about it. Sascha grabbed his newly acquired poncho and slung it over his shoulders, happy that he had finally found something to wear around his wings while still keeping his arms free. He slipped on his single pair of socks and well-worn boots, groggy fingers fumbling with the laces. It was cold out so he grabbed his pink circle scarf and plopped it around his neck, happily burrowing his face into the (relatively) clean fabric. They’d just washed it the other day and it still had the fresh smell of the river. He double checked to make sure Fletcher was still tucked in his loft, gave him a quick kiss on the forehead before stepping out the front door into the bright, mid-day sun. The porch boards creaked under his weight as he stretched, first his arms, then each of his wings. He couldn’t even see Casey beneath the tree branches, but assumed he was waiting just below. It only took him a few hard flaps of his wings before he stumbled onto the forest floor, nearly tipping into Casey before he regained his balance. He flashed Casey a guilty smile, pretending that he hadn’t been sleeping the whole time. It was hard to adjust to a morning schedule, being that he was mostly nocturnal since the Keepers had experimented on him. “Bună dimineața,” Good morning he said, though as he craned his neck to look at the noon sun, he grinned sheepishly. “Err...ziua.” Afternoon. “Sorry,” he said, giving Casey a quick hug and peck on the lips. “Let’s go, yeah? We’re burning daylight, here.” He said with a laugh, heading off towards one of the more unexplored regions of their new home. “Sweet cheeks.”

[Casey DeLaney]

The sound of rushing air above him told Casey that Sascha was on his way. He took a step back to avoid Sascha toppling into him, and gave him a little shove back to help him regain his balance. “Stuck the landing,” Casey offered with a laugh, smiling back at Sascha’s sheepish grin as the man wrapped his arms around him and kissed him good-morning...or afternoon. “Didn’t we already say good morning? You know, when I woke you up the first time,” he teased, reaching up and gently wiping away a little bit of eye gunk that Sascha had missed.Casey flicked it away and gave Sascha a little peck on the nose. "Bună ziua, dragul meu.” Good afternoon, my love, he answered in Romanian, his accent still terrible, but slightly improved from the weeks before. Casey laced his fingers through Sascha’s and they made their way out of the copse of trees they called home, hand in hand. Arms swinging between them, they ventured into the unexplored forest. “What do you think we should be looking for?” Casey asked, eyes roaming the trees for something, anything interesting. He supposed they didn’t know what they were going to find. Landmarks, paths, possibly neighbors or other dangers…Casey realized they didn’t really know what they were getting into. He instinctively patted his waist to make sure his knife was still there, and was relieved to find he’d remembered to bring it along. The forest was relatively quiet however, with only the faint sound of bird song drifting on the breeze. Casey shivered as the wind swept past, his thin cardigan just a bit too thin to comfortably keep out the cold. But he couldn’t complain really, not when for winters Sascha could barely bundle up. He looked over at Sascha and smiled at his outfit, reaching over with his free hand to give the poncho a little tug. “I’m happy we found you that. It’s starting to get pretty cold out here.” Even though it was mid-day, under the cover of the trees, the sun’s warmth could hardly reach them. It was a little ways further before Casey saw something that caught his eye. At first he only slowed down a little, until Sascha had passed him, and almost pulled him over when Casey finally stopped. “Huh.” Was all he said as he stared at a nearby tree, thick brows furrowing as he considered something. “What’s up with this branch? It’s like… weird. Isn’t it sorta weird?” Casey looked over at Sascha and nodded toward the weird branch, looking for some sort of confirmation that the crooked, strangely geometric thing was noteworthy. Or perhaps, more likely, the forest was all beginning to look the same, and he was grasping at straws for something to mark on his map.

[Sascha Stark]

“I’m no judge,” he said, standing perfectly straight, pointing a booted toe and with a stylish flourish of his hand, took a bow. “But I think I get, like, nine point for that, maybe 10, easy,” He said, grinning. “See, what had happen was …” he started to explain, sheepishly grinning away his innocence when Casey called him out on sleeping in. Sascha felt his cheeks flush a bit when Casey wiped the bit of sleep gunk he’d missed in his sleepy shuffle. It gave him a humming feeling from head to toe, which only heightened when Casey kissed him on the nose. It was still so hard to believe that they were together now, wholly and truly. They were a true family, bound by love and trust hard won, and the warmth and happiness those truths brought. And here Casey was, speaking Romanian, trying his hardest to learn a whole new language because it meant something to Sascha. He was still so unfamiliar with the whole idea of someone being there permanently, someone who did things for you because they knew it would make you happy. It was what he had hoped and wished for, for so many years. And now he finally had it. He squeezed Casey tight against him, staring up at everything they had fought to build: their home, their haven, their family. He felt himself tearing up at the terrible thoughts threatening to cloud his happy moment, and through long-practiced means easily shoved the malingering doubts aside and turned to face the rest of the day. He slipped his fingers through Casey’s as they began their exploration. “Yes. I tried to make something like this, but I didn’t have needle. Or a blanket. They’re hard to find in here,” he said, thanking their luck that they had found a generous amount of blankets for the depths of winter. Sascha went quiet as they continued. For once, as they made their way through the dome, Sascha didn’t feel as if he were trekking into the great unknown, likely to his untimely end. He felt a sense of security, even though nothing had really changed. This forest wasn’t really their forest. Building on land didn’t make it yours, not in the dome. And yet as he peered through the leafy, shadow-and-sun dappled depths of the surrounding trees, he felt a sense of familiarity. Already he began to know the bark of the trees, the bend of the boughs, and Sascha watched as their very own world took shape right before their eyes. He wished Fletcher were here to experience it, but he knew it was safer for him in the treehouse for now. “We find things that are easy for Fletcher to recognize, yeah?” He replied after a bit, grinning as Casey pulled him over to the weird, almost rectangular branch. He thought it looked almost like a picture frame as he walked up to it, fingers skimming over the rough bark. “This will work, I think. It looks almost like where you would hang a picture, yeah?” he said, standing behind it and striking an elegant, royal pose. He remembered a portrait of a Stark ancestor that his parents had hung in his room to remind him of all he was not, those dark, brooding eyes staring down at him from on high. His skin prickled at the thought of it still, so he changed his pose. He turned to the side and flexed a bicep, quirking a brow as he fixed Casey with a sexy model stare. “What you think?”

[Casey DeLaney]

“What a fine picture you make, too,” Casey laughed, feigning a swoon as Sascha gave him that smoldering look and flexed his muscular arms. “I think you’d better stop before I end up just drawing you instead of landmarks,” he said, unslinging the bag from his shoulder. He dug out his pristine sketchbook and charcoal pencil, and flipped to the only page that had any marks on it. Casey reviewed the map-in-progress, noting the river and treehouse and other familiar marks. “Let’s see… We walked north for a little while… erm,” He paused, a little confused about how he should have been measuring distance. After all, he was an artist, not a cartographer. He was much more comfortable defining the curves of the human body in charcoal than he was with defining the twists and turns of paths in the woods. “I’ll…just put it here. This is the general area anyways,” he spoke, mostly to himself, as he jotted down their first landmark with a little sketch and a label that read ‘Weird Branch’. Casey flipped his sketchbook around so Sascha could see the map. “There we go! This weird branch can mark the north-east boundary of our territory. Let’s go explore further west,” he suggested. They’d walked about thirty minutes north already without running into trouble, and Casey doubted they would ever venture much further north, lest they test their luck. The two headed out again, this time in a new direction. They went on for a few minutes before a patch of bushes caught Casey’s eye. The bushes were bright green with bright blue clusters of berries. He rushed over and plucked a few berries from a plant, before turning to Sascha. “Look, blueberries! I can't believe it. Fletcher will love these,” he thought aloud, as he inspected the berries. They were blueberries, right? Sascha gave him a concerned look, but Casey popped one into his mouth anyways. The next few moments were silent, tense, utterly still, as Casey suddenly wondered if he had just done something terribly stupid. They looked like blueberries…but could he even remember what blueberries looked like? Were they even blue? His mind raced with more and more ridiculous questions. But he didn’t die; And it sure tasted sweet and tart like the blueberries in his distant memory. “I think that's the best thing I've tasted in my entire life… you have to try one!” Casey insisted, holding up a berry to Sascha’s lips. MAP: Casey's Current Map [click to enlarge]

[Sascha Stark]

Sascha felt heat flush his cheeks at Casey’s compliment, shaken from his pose by the warmth it brought him. As long as Casey and he had been together, Casey’s compliments and words of kindness still never failed to make Sascha blush, either with joy or embarrassment. He was never sure how to take compliments, he felt even more clumsy and awkward with his words than usual. So he just grinned back at Casey like a fool for a long moment. “Hey, I don’t mind,” he said. “No one ever make a picture of me before,” he said, grinning. “No one but you.” He leaned against the weird branch, hooking his fingered wingtips on the top of the angular branch above him. He was able to support himself with just the strength of his wings, his feet dangling from the ground as he made a sort of wing swing, grinning to himself like a child. He watched with interest as Casey sketched, nodding as he explained how to map would work. “Okay, north-east boundary it is,” he said, reciting it a few times in Romanian to help it stick in his memory banks. “Hopefully we find something else good to mark at the west.” He craned his neck up at the sun and judged their position as the sun started towards the west. They headed off in that direction, picking their way through the undergrowth. “Ehhm…” Sascha mumbled, brow furrowed as he watched Casey pop the small, round berries into his mouth. His lips stretched in a thin, nervous smile as he waited to see if Casey started frothing at the mouth or something, heart beating loud in his ears. He laughed nervously when Casey seemed all aright, shaking his head at the offer of the berry. In his excitement Casey seemed to have forgotten that Sascha couldn’t really eat normal food anymore, not since his experiments had turned him into a blood-drinker and made it near impossible for him to digest plants or meat. He could eat a few berries, though. He knew that it wouldn’t cause him too much stomach trouble, maybe just a few cramps. “Okay, okay,” he said. Casey took the opportunity to pop the berry into Sascha’s mouth. His mouth watered at the flood of delicious flavors, tart and sugary sweet all at the same time. “Dumnezeule,” Oh, my god, he said around a mouthful of berry, grinning from ear to ear. It had been a while since he’d tasted anything so delicious. “So delicious, da! Let’s pick some for later.” When they had their pack filled with berries and Casey had eaten his fill, they kept on plodding westward. Sascha wasn’t sure how much longer they’d been picking their way through the forest, thankfully neither of them could scent any dangers or intruders. They could smell deer and rabbits, and even managed to stumble their way onto a game trail. “Good find,” he said with a nod. “Mark it on the map, maybe?” Sascha suggested. “Let’s follow it, see where it leads.” They continued for about ten minutes or so to a strange, thick circle of bushes with a gap in one side. They approached with slow, silent footsteps, inching forward until they could peer through the opening. They were met with the quiet whisper of water at their feet. “Ooh,” Sascha said examining the pond, “Ce frumos.” How beautiful. “A nice puddle, hey?”

[Casey DeLaney]

Casey’s smile fell when he realized that he had forgotten that Sascha was different. It was strange that Sascha couldn’t always enjoy the same things that he could, things that Casey always wanted to share with him. He couldn’t count the times that he’d found or bargained for some treat like fresh fruit or even packaged food from the outside and eagerly brought it to Sascha, only to remember that Sascha had to live without such pleasures. A taste every once in a while didn’t hurt too much though, so Casey fed him the plump blueberry and smiled again as Sascha’s face lit up with delight. They took a few minute to fill the pack with berries for later, and then headed out again. The game trail turned out to be a good find, and Casey took out his sketchbook and made note of it on the map. To know that they had plentiful game in their little patch of forest made Casey feel even more secure with their new home. Living in the wilds had its challenges, but it looked like they wouldn’t go hungry any time soon. He looked up to see Sascha heading down the trail and quickly stowed his map again and dashed after him. He peered ahead to where the trees opened up in front of them; the sunlight was bright there and shone onto a pool of turquoise water. “Wow, no kidding,” Casey laughed. “I would have gone for smallish pond, but you’re better with the words than me,” he joked. Casey set down his pack and inched forward, before making his way down to the edge of the water. He dipped a hand into the pool and was surprised at the temperature; it was cool but not freezing cold, and Casey wondered where the clear water had come from. It was much too clear to just be a regular sort of pond. “Looks drinkable to me,” he said. Though he wouldn’t normally drink out of a pool, the water seemed to have a subtle current that kept it fresh. “Not to mention we could go on a swimming date again,”Casey said, standing up again and tugging Sascha closer by his wing, thinking of their would-be romantic adventure to the oasis long ago. “I’m sure it would go better without…interruptions.”

[Sascha Stark]

Sascha felt his lips crack in a wavering smile, trying not to remember that rather unfortunate day. The world beneath the glass was not suited to romantic interludes. They had often tried to make days where they would just enjoy each other's company, and even then more often than not some danger would rear its head. On their date to the oasis, Jonny had, in all honestly, been the most welcome of interruptions. Sure, he was an opprobrious asshole, but he hadn't meant to nearly drown Casey. And truth be told Casey didn't know that Jonny wasn't the one who had busted Sascha's nose. He didn't have the heart to tell Casey that he was wrong about that, and just let him have it. After all, Jonny turned out to be a traitor and a Carna, and had nearly gotten them all killed. He didn't see much point in digging up old griefs. So Sascha just smiled and nodded and threaded his fingers through Casey's. "It's good to have another spot for water besides the river. But we have to be careful. I hear there was someone poisoning water places in the forests." he said, repeating some gossip he'd over heard. He wasn't sure if there was any truth to it, but it was a terrifying thought none the less. "Let's keep looking," he said after a moment, pulling Casey away from the spring. They managed to find another game trail, though it was faded and didn't seem as heavily trafficked by the wildlife. Part of Sascha was still abuzz with anticipation at further documenting the new pace of land in which they would hopefully spend many a happy, safe day. But he still fighting the almost fervent desperation in the back of his mind to keep the anxiety of the ever-present danger at bay. He kept thinking just because they were mapping their territory, just because they had built on a swath of land, it didn't make it theirs. Sascha knew it was going to be something hard-won and hard-kept, and as his eyes flicked to Casey he knew, he knew that this idea of safety was a falsehood. He still couldn't bring himself to believe that they would ever be safe in the dome. Absorbed in his thoughts but not totally unawares, Sascha suddenly pulled up short. "Watch out for the skank!" He said with a gasp, pulling Casey back as he pointed at the small, white-striped black mammal trundling happily through the undergrowth ahead of them.

[Casey DeLaney]

“Poisoning? Oh…” He murmured, drying his hand on his sweater and eyeing the pool warily. The thought was a reminder that even out here away from the rings, there was still little respite from the malicious nature of their co-habitants. Poison, out of all the ways to kill your enemies, was really the lowest of the low; but also effective. He would be watching their water sources carefully now, that was for sure. He shook his hand in the air as if that would fling away any toxins, and then followed after Sascha. As they continued, he took out the map and marked down the smallish pond. It needed more investigation, but if the water did turn out to be clean, then it would make a useful resource when they were out and away from the treehouse. The game trails that laced back and forth between the underbrush were promising; If there was good hunting nearby, they would be out here often enough. Casey was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by Sascha’s cry. He didn’t have time to try and register what he’d said before Sascha pulled him back. Casey gasped and the map fluttered from his grasp. “No, my map!” Sascha held him back and Casey suddenly realized what all the fuss was about… as the paper twirled in the breeze and quietly landed beside the black-and-white creature. Casey turned his head and looked at Sascha with wide eyes, his mouth hanging slightly open in his speechlessness. He might have laughed at Sascha’s mix-up, but he really couldn’t when they were face-to-face with a potential disaster. He watched the skunk again as it trodded about, sniffing at the precious paper. They weren’t leaving without that map… but at the same time, Casey really didn’t want to have to sleep outside for a week if things got ugly. “What do we do? We have to get it back!” Casey whispered, nudging Sascha with his elbow. “Uh…distract it or something!” MAP: Casey's Current Map [click to enlarge]

[Sascha Stark]

Sascha backpedaled a few feet, pawing at Casey's shoulder and gingerly prying himself away. He loved Casey and would defend him from any dangerous enemy that tried to attack: except skanks. He'd been sprayed by one once, during the early days of his capture. He'd reeked for days, maybe even weeks, no matter how many times he tried to scrub it off in the river. "Uh, distract the skank," Sascha said, eyes glued to the black and white thing as it snuffled at their map. It looked like it was considering scooping it up and using it to line its nest. "Okay...I'll get right on that." He gave Casey a sidelong glance before inching toward the skank. He thought better of it after a couple steps when the skunk finally seemed to notice them and lifted its tail in a warning. "Nice skank," he said. "Good skank." Taking a few steps back, Sascha glanced over at Casey, wiggling his fingers at him in a halfhearted wave. With a sheepishly unapologetic grin  and a few hearty flaps of his battish wings, Sascha was headed skyward, vaulting high above the malodorous creature. He saw the map flutter away in the small gusts his wings created, but he didn't stop climbing until he felt the tickle of leaves from the highest branches of the canopy on his wing tips.

[Casey DeLaney]

Casey watched Sascha anxiously, holding his breath with each step that he took. His eyes darted to the skunk as the thing sniffed at the map. “Nooononono,” he whispered, his face twisting into a cringe. “Quick, get it!” Casey encouraged Sascha in a hushed tone, waving him toward the skunk. But then the thing raised it’s tail and his heart leapt into his throat. Casey took a couple of steps back as Sascha did. He opened his mouth to ask what they should do next, when Sascha gave him a sheepish grin and a wave. “Don’t you dare—“ Sascha took off and the resulting gust of wind showered Casey in leaves from the forest floor. He narrowed his eyes but turned back to the skunk, just in time to see the map flutter a few feet away from it’s captor. It was now or never. Casey quickly shifted into his long-legged wolf form, deciding it best for the quick escape; a deer was nimble, but this way he could fly. His insect-like wings erupted into a buzz and he darted forward, gingerly plucking up the map in his teeth. The skunk was enraged and lifted it’s tail again, but Casey escaped into the air and made a bee-line for the forest path behind it. Only once he was a safe distance away did he dare land and look behind him. There was no sign of an angry skunk trundling after him; a good sign. He looked up to the canopy and spotted Sascha a good distance away. His fur bristled at the mild betrayal; he didn’t want to admit it, but it gave him a little satisfaction to see Sascha hanging back. Casey knew well enough that his partner was frightened of his wolf form. He also knew it stemmed back to his trauma at his wolf-brothers’ hands and Casey felt a pang of guilt when he thought of it. But then again… it would teach Sascha to throw him to the skanks, wouldn’t it? Casey lifted his tail defiantly and trotted through the trees, knowing that Sascha was following a safe distance away. After a few minutes of continuing on like that, Casey decided that Sascha had been punished enough. He shifted back into his human form as he entered a clearing and scooped the map up off the ground. “Still there?” He called over his shoulder.

[Sascha Stark]

He watched the scene unfold on the forest floor below, mostly amused with the ordeal until he saw the dark, lithe form of The Wolf. He knew it was Casey's Wolf, he knew that. But still he couldn't help the ripple of unease spreading from the rampant beating of his heart; his skin prickled, every hair standing to attention as he kept his eyes on the rust-colored thing. It is Casey's Wolf. You are safe. He is stronger than The Wolf. He will not let The Wolf hurt you. He hated the sight of it, but still he could not look away. He couldn’t take his eyes off it for one moment as it darted around the skank far below and retrieved the map. His body and mind would allow no slack in vigilance, not while The Wolf was about. Muscles taut, neck craned to see every twitch of its blood-red ears, every brush of its fur in the wind, Sascha could feel his wings straining to keep his heavy body hovering at such a rapid pace. He trailed after it as slowly as he could, without overtaking The Wolf, never once allowing it to get behind him. He watched it with a shuddering quietness, the silent beat of his wings brushing an occasional branch the only sound to follow him. It was only a few minutes he had been following, and he even now there grew an interstice in the fear as The Wolf ignored him and continued on its way. Casey’s Wolf was unlike the Others in some ways, and Sascha sometimes appreciated its presence because it helped him understand that not all Wolves were like his brothers’. Even so, Sascha didn’t trust The Wolf any further than he could spit into the winds of a hurricane. When he saw The Wolf disappear and Casey return, he drifted down to Casey’s side, landing with a rush of muffled footsteps a few feet behind. “You got the map,” He said. “Good. Let’s keep moving, yeah? Hopefully no more … skanks will show up.” He said, hoping that The Wolf would be the last one they saw for a long while. He twined his fingers through Casey’s, and they walked for some time in silence before Sascha began to feel his unease return. The forest fell into a deadened silence, the air itself not daring to stir. The air was heavy as he breathed it in, their footsteps seeming to fall dead in the stifling atmosphere. Sascha pulled up short as Casey continued ahead for a couple steps. His eyes were fixed on a dirt path that led off to the right a ways, the ground devoid of vegetation. The path yawned before the pair, where several yards away stood a single dead tree, stark white even in the shadows. Sascha’s skin began to crawl, a chill rippling through him as he stared at the tree. Sascha looked to Casey, his dark eyebrows knit with his unease. "Casey ..." There was something not right about this place. He could feel it in the hollow of his bones. "We should go." ooc| WOT a post?! Edit: added word of the day!

[Casey DeLaney]

As expected, Sascha only landed once he’d returned to human form. Casey nodded, eager to move on, already a little guilty for his petty revenge. But in some ways he did want Sascha to see him shift some; Though in their few years together Casey had realized that the deep-seated fear would never completely go away, he held out hope that it might get better over time. It Casey supposed he might never be fully comfortable with the wolf, but he hoped that one day he could shift again without worry of upsetting Sascha. For now, he limited his shifting to only the most necessary situations; it had been strange to him at one point, but now it seemed normal, and well worth it to be with the man he loved. Casey smiled as Sascha took his hand, and he walked contently in the quiet, occasionally bumping into Sascha with a playful grin. His smile faded as Sascha came to a stop; he only got a few more steps before he turned back, and then followed Sascha’s gaze to the dirt path. The moment he laid eyes on the white tree, Casey felt it pulling at him, calling him closer. “Wow…” Was all he could mutter under his breath. The tree was magnificent; white as newly fallen snow, and reaching toward the heavens with snaking, barren branches. It was a landmark if he ever saw one. Immediately, he threw down his pack save for the map and his pencil, and began down the path. A sudden cold wind swept down the barren path and made him shiver, and nearly tearing the map from his hand again. Casey held fast to it this time, but only took a few steps more. He turned to look back at Sascha who, though was only a few yards away, seemed oddly far off. Casey furrowed his brows and looked between Sascha and the tree, suddenly not so sure about continuing on. “I can draw it from here,” he decided, beginning to scribble down a sketch of the path and the tree. After a moment or two, he thought he heard Sascha whisper something behind him. “What’d you say?” he called over his shoulder, while marking the twisting branches onto paper.

[Sascha Stark]

He watched Casey venture further down the path, feeling as if he needed to stop him. But his tongue felt heavy and leaden and it was almost as if he couldn’t speak for a brief moment as a wave of nausea sent the trees above him spinning. There was a rush of sound in his ears where before there had been none in the stale air, and it was as if the forest suddenly became alive, and it wasn’t welcoming. He could see Casey standing a few yards away, but past him loomed the tree, seeming to reach for them with its gnarled, white branches. He stepped back, stumbling away from the edge of the path, catching himself on a tree. His fingers dug into the rough bark of the tree, grounding him as he again sought Casey with his eyes. It was all a matter of seconds that he fumbled in his growing panic, yet it felt as if he were struggling through molasses; seeing, hearing, thinking through a cloying, paralyzing haze. But he heard Casey’s voice, a clarion call that brought him back. He straightened, pushing himself off the tree but would not cross onto the path. “I didn’t say anything,” he called. “But you should come back!” He saw Casey hesitating for a moment, the tip of his pencil lifting from the map; but within seconds it was moving again as Casey tried to capture the tree. “This place is bad, Casey. It is înfiorător here, uneasy. Can’t you feel it?” Sascha’s voice was as loud as he could make it. Casey kept drawing, saying that he was almost done. “Listen, I know about these things. My grandmother was a witch!” This place was no good. He could recall tales he’d heard from the cook about a forest called Padurea Hoia-Baciu where dark things were said to live, dark things that hid people away in the shadows of the branches. The wind kicked up again, buffeting him from behind and seeming to push him towards the tree. It roared in his ears, and it almost swallowed his voice as he shouted again. “Casey! You better get your ass back here!” ooc| this is why white bitches die first in spooky movies, dont go down the spooky path !!!

[Casey DeLaney]

The chills that ran down Casey’s spine intensified so that it seemed there was no pause in between, only a strange vibration of his nerves as he stood affixed to the ground by fear. The wind howled again and this time Casey heard the whispers, harsh and dissonant in his ears, blowing from some veil beyond the tree. He nearly fell as he turned to run back to Sascha, stumbling over his own feet but managing to right himself again just in time. He ran so fast that he slammed into Sascha’s chest and buried his face into it. He felt all the hairs on his arms and neck standing on end. What the hell was that?! Casey didn’t think he believed in those things.. the paranormal, unexplained places people talked about were surely just stories. But there was no doubting the ominous energy that radiated from the path. Even then he could feel it licking at his back as he refused to look back at the tree. Finally after a few moments he was able to pull his face away from Sascha’s chest with a shaky breath. “…A witch, huh?” Was all he could muster. Perhaps he was in shock, but he believed it. The spooky path, the bad vibes…sure, that made sense. All he wanted to do was get out of there. Casey took only one moment to scratch ‘STAY AWAY’ over his sketch of the path, and he rubbed away all trace of the tree altogether. It just seemed like something that didn’t need to have a presence in their treehouse, even as a doodle on a page. “Let’s get out of here. I think we’ve done enough exploring for one day.” And even though they had found the least pleasant place in their territory, they had found many good places along the way. Casey grabbed his pack and they quickly turned back toward home, leaving the Silent Path far behind them. “I’m glad that we did this,” he said, once the path was out of thought and the rush had worn off. He held out the map in front of them and smiled. “It’s a Haven all our own.” MAP: Casey's Final Map (Uncle Rockald Excluded) [click to enlarge]