[RE] ay de mi, llorona

random event The song carries throughout the woodlands, across the fields and the outskirts, and echoes in through windows and doors. It drifts down streets, seeps into cobbles, a summon and a warning rolled into one. This is no ordinary song, and not merely because it comes from a creature that terrifies those who frequent the forest in the Hollowed Grounds. No, this is particularly unusual. This song has harmonies. They drift, a trio as one, through the skeletal trees, through the deep snow. Their rags are rust red at the bottom, their hands buried within robes and dresses and shawls, and hair as matted and tangled as river weeds obscures their faces from view. They wander and they sing together. Not one banshee. But three. This is a rare creature sighting! Please post within the next 48 hours to count this as a sighting for your levelling requirements.

MABEL

She could hear the calls.

They were like abominations, spinning witch sirens curling over her ears – and she knew what they were, and it didn’t seem to matter. They led her feet down cobblestones and alleys, along pathways she’d known since she was a child, mustering her forward, onward, trailing after the void and abyss. Haunting, luring, enticing, and she had no ability to fathom why.

To the Outskirts, to the Woodland, crawling over her spine and setting her foundations into the evening sprawl – and she stepped no further when reality seemed to ensue. The fumble of their rags, of the threads dipped in crimson, a trio of musical, abysmal quandaries – and somewhere deep inside her soul an emblem rang out. To join? To flee? To run? Instinctual or otherworldly? She didn’t know, she didn’t know, she didn’t know, and so she tucked herself against an oak, eyes widened, watching, waiting, a listless, lissome thing.

I bare my teeth
and stretch my claws out

Neos

Don't be mistaken
Your bloody time's up

"Step by step, heart to heart
Left, right, left, we all fall down
Step by step, heart to heart
Left, right, left, we all fall down
Like toy soldiers..."

He was singing softly and quietly to himself, a moment of homesickness taking him for the time being as he walked among the trees and sung under his breath a song he only partly remembered now. His feet had come to match the unheard beat behind the melody, glancing down as he did.

"Bit by bit, torn apart
We never win, but the battle wages on
For toy soldiers..."

He had looked up upon hearing another distant melody, a distinct trio of singers from what he could tell. Before he could even think on it, however, the haunting tune had enamored the animal within, causing him to develop a glazed look in his eyes before walking in the direction he heard the singing from.

And once again, I must save you from yourself.

After a few steps, the false human developed a splitter of a headache, breaking him from the momentary trance as he gritted his teeth. He tried to shout in pain, but he found he could make no sound for now.

We're not alone, hide.

Through the headache, Neos managed to see entering his view a trio of...something, he couldn't focus on what. Dipping behind a tree to put it between him and them, he raised the sides of his hands to his temples to massage them and try to ease the headache away.

And before you ask, yes, I did have to induce the headache. You were going to have us likely killed otherwise.

Neos silently growled at the other voice in his head for that before trying to look back towards the trio while taking care not to be seen this time, examining them. "...they look like banshees, but...different?" he mused, his voice only starting to come back but still being almost completely unheard to even himself. "Far less cartoonish, at...least..."

...

Neos felt a shudder go down his spine for a moment at the realization that he himself likely looked like a cartoon character while in one of the past realities he has traveled through. But that wasn't important to now.

This ain't no game
We're not here to entertain you

You are the night-time fear

Their haunting song bids him to come out: it wraps around his flesh and his ghost, the subtlest of marionette pulls. He listens, entranced, enchanted, padding softly through a settlement he just barely remembers, crosses fields which are nowhere near lush enough, and drifts into a bare-bone, skeletal forest coated in white. It wraps around the world like a blanket, swallowing all sound except for the deadly and beautiful song.

He is oh so quiet on the snow.

(If he'd had a heart, it would've been pounding—)

He has other systems in place to remind him of mortality, urging him to caution. The shapes through the trees are angular and wrong, jutting shoulders, thin arms, otherworldly melodies rising and falling around them. Aamu shudders ever so slightly: not at the sight of them, but to break their spell. He knows very well what they are, and he knows that he's a fool for being here.

As he slowly creeps forward he comes across a set of familiar tracks. He sees Mabel there, pressed up against a sturdy oak, and he yearns to go to her, to stand behind her, to.. protect her? Don't be a fool.

His faux breath pools white in the air as he slips behind another tree to watch the banshees. The last thing he wants to do is startle Mabel into making a noise by suddenly appearing behind her.

You are the morning when it's clear

AAMU

random event It's a parade of mourning, these banshees passing by. So consumed are they in their song that they do not notice those who have gathered to watch them. Not Neos, not Aamu, not Mabel. None can draw their attention, and it's a sad and pathetic sort of thing as they meander on, deeper and deeper into the woods. Upon close inspection, one of them appears to be holding something. Should the group follow, they will find themselves trailing through snow and deep, dark woodland, heading towards one of the streams which feed into the Oasis. What could they be doing? And what will happen if they are interrupted? (I think you know the answer to that). Do you follow, though? Or do you leave? Those who are participating, you have 48 hours to respond!

MABEL

She ignored the others, for the most part, save for Aamu. A quirk of her brow was all she’d given to him, on the airs of dare devil complexities. And she shouldn’t have been – because she knew better.

One didn’t mess with the banshees.

But she emerged from behind the oak, sliding along the trail, into the darkening folds of the forest. Catty and limber, lissome and willowy, Mabel followed – intermingling between the footfalls, in the range of silence. Compelled by curiosity. By whatever one of them seemed to be holding (she’d never thought of the creatures collecting things, but she’d never been close enough either).

And then she intended to tuck herself away again, behind branches, brambles, thorns, and nettles, out of sight, out of mind, as if she was never there.

I bare my teeth
and stretch my claws out

Neos

Don't be mistaken
Your bloody time's up

Do not follow after them, leave them to their devices.

But what is that in one of their hands?

Not of importance. It is not worth the ri---

Neos heard a loud groan of annoyance in the back of his head as he carefully approached while trying to keep himself as hidden as he could, eyes narrowing as he tried to focus on the item while fully hiding away every time one of the spectral trio in front of him turned to look towards him. He didn't know how many times he was going to get away with that---

I'm amazed you're still standing by now, you stupid idiot.

Remember, everything you call me applies to you, too.

He feels his lips want to twist into a wicked smirk, though he bites the corners of his mouth to stop that. If only you would remember the other way is the same, dear counterpart.

He didn't know how often he was going to get away with the weaving in and out of view while carefully approaching and keeping the same distance he's been keeping while they moved...but he was pretty sure his luck was slowly running out on him.

This ain't no game
We're not here to entertain you

You are the night-time fear

Mabel greets him in deathly silence. It relaxes him, even though it shouldn't: they're both fools for being out here, and he's pretty sure they both know it. But, y'know.. even being a fool is better with good company, right? Right.

It doesn't even cross his mind not to follow (even though it really, really should've). He ghosts along in their wake, weaving carefully between trees and naked bushes, meandering along narrow paths and carefully crossing frozen creeks. As they go along he becomes aware of a third creature following the banshees with them. It is Neos, from the bauble-making.

Aamu grows bolder by this. The perfect scapegoat if something goes to shit, right? He drifts, positions himself with the unlucky stranger between himself and the banshees. Gradually he begins to hum, very quietly at first, trying to find their melody, figure out the harmonies, and (lest they seem inconvenienced by his contribution) then a little louder, pulling on his wordless grief to share it with the banshees. He has more than enough to spare.

And if they do not want anything to do with his polite attempts at joining their mournful song, well... He's more than ready to throw Neos to the wolves and run.

You are the morning when it's clear

AAMU

random event It is a doll. A doll carried in the arms of one of the banshees, rocked and soothed and sung to. The trio walks with this makeshift babe in mind, though quite what they plan to do with it when they get to the riverside is anyone's guess. And a guess is what it shall remain - for as Aamu begins to hum, as the trio becomes a quartet, they freeze. They turn. They scream. And they lurch for the forest, for the noise, with their claws outstretched for flesh. Run. You have 48 hours.

You are the night-time fear

Well.

Shit.

It doesn't matter that Aamu, too, freezes, that his careful hum goes as silent as only an Ascended can: the damage is already done. And he knew this was going to happen, didn't he? And he did it anyway. Like a fool, like one invincible, immortal, arrogant—

He doesn't know which comes first, his bolting or their screaming.

The forest is a white blur around him as he leaps into startled motion, one eye looking out for Mabel, to make sure she doesn't fall behind, to the mercy of the banshees, because wouldn't that be grand? He curses himself as he runs, quick and lithe, through the dark. What a massive fool he is, and what a mystery this doll will remain.

You are the morning when it's clear

AAMU

MABEL

Any other time she might’ve been amused by Aamu’s sudden singing – but her eyes were glancing towards the banshees, what they carried (a doll?), why (was it someone’s? what did it represent?), and then the results of interrupting their mournful tunes.

They froze, and so did she. Stilled, part of the earth, part of the brush, part of the backdrop. Don’t see me she begged.

The screams were enough to deter her, to flush her out as prey, and no sooner had Aamu turned and headed off, she did the same. Indifferent to the plight of the other, unknown man, her long limbs hastened through the woods, careening, with no intentions of being caught in the midst of their claws.

I bare my teeth
and stretch my claws out

Neos

Don't be mistaken
Your bloody time's up

Neos was watching carefully the trio, debating carefully and slowly approaching while trying to remain unseen. However, before he could even think to actually enact on that line of thinking, the trio of undead stopped and the false human realized he had heard a fourth voice.

Was someone else singing?

For once, I can say that whatever hap---

Both the extra presence in his head and Neos himself flinched at the screech, teeth visible as he momentarily recoiled into himself.

Arceus-dammit, Antonio! RUN!!

Almost on auto-pilot, Neos about-faced upon hearing the other voice shouting at him to run, changing mid-run into his lion's form to apply four-paw traction to his ability to haul ass out of this disaster that was now happening.

Neos didn't know if these 'banshees', as he knew of similar, were anything like the ones he's encountered in the past, but honestly, he didn't feel like finding out. The shriek itself was painful enough to keep his now-large paws moving, even if continuing to run ended up more and more painful. Unfortunately for him, it seemed the shriek might have caused him to be the last to start running, but hopefully he can more than catch up and maybe surpass the others.

This ain't no game
We're not here to entertain you

random event Run, run, run. In the dead of the night, in the cold of the snow. Swallowed by trees and raked by branches, with naught but screams to guide you on your way. But guide you they do, one way or another, and eventually you will find yourselves spat back out at the fringes of the woodland. Back into light, into safety, closer to the relative sanctity of the Grounds. Closer to home. Only, one of you has not escaped unscathed. Mabel will find herself raked by banshee claws, and whilst she does not feel the pain, she will know that damage has been sustained. Perhaps think twice, before singing to banshees. Thanks for being so patient! This rare creature sighting is now over and the thread will be archived in 24 hours! Feel free to respond once more if you like.

MABEL

Run, run, run; coldblooded instinct, a drone inside her head. It became a loud, thunderous echo on their approach, on the slash of claws and the pain that should’ve been there. Had she been truly mortal, screams would’ve ensued, the anguish would’ve bled into the boughs, the outcry would’ve poured from her lungs. Except now it was just her body calculating, rendering more than a mere threat – that if her legs didn’t carry her farther, farther into the clearing, she could be gone –

Again.

Except they managed, and safety lingered outside the confines of curiosity. Out of habit, she clutched her side, hands going automatically to where the rip and tear was in the fabric of her shirt; gazing down, noticing the fluid trickling down through its rivulets. Not life-threatening, but enough that she’d have to sequester, heal, give herself time.

With one last look towards Aamu, and none to the other creature, she carried on, back towards her home.

I bare my teeth
and stretch my claws out