[open] If I could store lightning in jars

[oathkeeper]

Who: Sora & OPEN
Where: The mysterious dark forest that appeared!
When: June 1
What: Bright "fireflies” have been luring gods and shinki alike deep into the forest. People are suddenly drawn to the little spots of light and can’t help but follow. There have been reports of screams and unhappy spirits and people never returning. All you know is that the sun doesn’t pierce the treetops and it’s dark.
Warnings: There's lots of creepy demons and stuff!!


[ A ]

[A sudden cold and heavy rain starts. Light and whimsical at first before it starts to pour down in thick sheets. Gray clouds blanket the sky and the sun is nearly blotted out. The atmosphere suddenly darkens and a chill is in the air.

Through the dark Sora notices some sparks of light somewhere near. They’re like candles flickering and dancing through the haze of the rain. A small smile pulls at his lips as he’s suddenly drawn to them like a moth to a flame. All he wants to do is reach out and touch one. They look like fairies.

You might notice Sora wandering through the rain, a blurry image of him slowly walking just out of your reach. Then he vanishes into the dark forest.]

[ B ]

[Perhaps it is you that got drawn into the bright dancing lights. Pulled into the woods as it makes your heart hammer. All you can focus on is the unseen force pulling your legs as you wander closer to the woods.

And suddenly everything is dark.

Sora manages to catch a glimpse of you before you vanish and he calls out.]

Hey!! Wait!! Don’t go in there!

[And promptly chases after you to stop you from falling deeper into darkness.]

[ C ]

[As soon as Sora enters the woods the rain stops. Or so it seems that way. He can still hear the thundering water in his ears but it sounds muted now. Like someone has put a blanket over the heavens and all he can hear is the thin thudding of the rain but no raindrops touch his face anymore.

He wanders through the woods as he looks up at the treetops to find that small beams of light do flicker through. Weakly, but they’re there. The gloom is still heavy.

His feet take him in a random direction until he spots a figure in the distance… Someone already lost here like him, or is that a tortured spirit...?]

[ wildcard! ]

[something else in mind?]

Comments

[oathkeeper]

Yeah I think I am. At least, I don't remember coming in here. Do you?

[It's all so confusing! Why can't things be easy to deal with for once in the far shore?]

No, I'm a god. Baldr, god of light. Are you a shinki?

[God of light, but he can't exactly produce a light source. It's more figuratively and representing of life.]

[heatupnever]

I'm supposed to go by Surtr. I remember coming in here, but not the way back out.

[So sloppy on her part. She's not usually the getaway driver, though.]

Want to pick a direction?

[oathkeeper]

Surtr... [That rings a bell slightly. Sora tilts his head.] That name sounds vaguely Norse, are you from that Parthenon?

[He assumes people find out which one they belong to by now. And if she is Norse or an Aesir, than Sora feels even more inclined to stick to her side.]

I'm the reincarnation of a Norse god prince. So if you are we could be family!

[He then nods pointing a random direction with a finger.]

Let's start this way. Hopefully it doesn't get any colder than this.

[heatupnever]

The cold doesn't bother me. [... Regrettably. Okay no but that's a good thing. A good thing.]

If you mean family in the Yazuka sense, then no thanks.

[She starts along the direction he pointed out.]

Are you really so into this god thing that you'd...uh, become family to strangers so easily?

[oathkeeper]

Hmm? No, I'm not a gangster or anything. [Sora laughs, falling into step with Reika and putting his hands in his pockets to keep them warm.]

We're reincarnations of gods, isn't it important to be so into it that we should protect our families? [It's logical to him.] The people that came before us had connections for protection and looked out for each other. I think that's pretty important.

[Sora has gained a father, brother, aunt and "son" because of it. And he wouldn't trade those people for the world.]

[heatupnever]

... I don't have any family to protect, so it's not that important.

[Nevermind that one time when it might have been. That's history. If they haven't ended up here themselves, they might be alive for all she knows, save for that time with the corpses when she heard Kyosui but that could have been faked and probably was.]

Besides, it'd be a pretty bad joke if I really were a reincarnation of a god. Gangsters look out for each other, too, you know.

[She squints into the dark, but can't see a thing.] What made you pick this direction?

—And sorry, but I don't know what the relation between us is supposed to be.

[oathkeeper]

I'm not sure, since we don't know which way to go I figured any way is as good as any other for now. Until we can find something.

[There's a faint chirping of birds overhead. Sora glances at Reika, looking curious.]

You don't believe you're a reincarnation of a god? What do you think we are then? [He's genuinely curious.] And it doesn't matter if you're not sure what our relation is. If you're Norse we're supposed to take care of each other. So I'll watch your back.

[heatupnever]

[Sounds like a plan. She glances up at the birds, then keeps going.]

Dead. More like, why would Heaven call us the "new" gods and everything?

[And it's not like she is Norse or anything, considering she hasn't accepted she's supposed to be this god instead of shoved into the role for convenience, but she supposes that's a losing battle.]

Uh, sure. [She pulls out her phone and—what was it again? Baldr?—dials Baldr. There, he's in the call history.] That you?

[oathkeeper]

I guess you have a point! But, I don't remember dying. Do you? I think that's something we'd remember, especially if we can see a shinki's death. Maybe we're not exactly dead but borrowed?

[That's how he likes to see it. This can't be the end all game. There has to be something after this.]

That's me. But call me Sora.

[He'll do the same but he notices there's no signal on his phone. Guess no calling for help...

Then there's suddenly a loud shrill of a bird, so loud it makes Sora's ears hurt. Like a high pitched siren.]

[heatupnever]

["Borrowed" is a really nice word for what happened to them, but she's starting to figure that that's just how Sora is.] Yeah, that's one way of putting it. Don't think seeing a shinki's death relates to that, though. Someone around here thinks that Heaven knows our pasts, but I don't think they'd tell the truth if it doesn't, uh, benefit them or whatever—

[She jumps at the sound, but can't pinpoint it.] Crap...

[oathkeeper]

[Definitely something to reflect on. Sora would ask her more about that later.

Right now a sudden whoosh of air rushes overhead and he looks up to see a cloud of black birds swirling overhead. They are all calling and screeching so loud it rustles the trees.

Then they're suddenly whooshing down in a line like a hive of bees directly at them.]

Move!! We gotta find cover!!

[Sora grabs Reika by the arm and tugs her down and then pulls her to run.]

[heatupnever]

[Thankfully she wore her jacket, but she jerks her arm away anyway. Despite how much she hates it, she always forgets until the last minute that her body temperature's way too low to be normal.] I'm coming, I'm coming.

[Getting attacked by birds so wasn't on her schedule of things to do today. At least they don't travel as fast as...bullets, to use an example. She nearly smacks into a tree that she couldn't see until she was right in front of it, then ducks behind it.]

... Yo, how hardy are you?

[oathkeeper]

[Sora doesn't notice the way she pulls away from him, he's too preoccupied with ducking down with her as the birds swoop down and then back up into the sky to loop around. They're still screeching and looking for them.]

Hardy? I can take a beating, if that's what your asking.

[He's got decent HP and speed and has cure spells, to be specific.]

You got something in mind?

[heatupnever]

That's good, I guess. [And she could stay here and ask for specifics, or she could she go with what she already knows, which is that she's a NEVER and being hardy is pretty much their thing.]

Run in front of me anyway.

[She gives him a little shove to get him going.]

... S'not good if I set the forest on fire, huh?

[oathkeeper]

Whoa, what? [Run in front of her??] What do you mean, we're gonna make a run for it?

[He glances up at the birds swirling around overhead. Guess they don't have much else of a plan.]

Right, okay, if you think that's what we should do! And this forest sucked us in here I doubt we should be worried about hurting its feelings!

[Fire away!!!]

[heatupnever]

[That's her kind of thinking!]

Keep going and don't turn around.

[And don't blame her later when they get stuck in burning forest! ... Okay, maybe she shouldn't go that far. It takes a second to transform and shoot a few fireballs into the swarm, missing the trees as much as she can without being able to see them properly, before she phases back. The good news is that maybe only a few leaves and branches caught fire. Minor thing, right?]

If you smell burning birds, that's a good thing!

[oathkeeper]

[Might as well take Reika's word for it. He takes off, running in a random direction and keeps his arms over his head. Hopefully Reika stays close by.

The birds scream and screech and swoop down again but Sora can hear... fire crashing?

He wants to turn around but he has trust in her.

The trees start getting thicker and Sora changes direction. The birds seem to start getting deterred by the fire.]

Whatever it is you're doing, Reika! It's working!!

[heatupnever]

[If those birds have normal-bird reactions, they'd probably be scared away by the fire. Now, hopefully the fire doesn't attract anything else. But, well, that's what running away is for! She turns, but, since she was the one who did it, she hadn't been able to avoid staring right at the flames, so her vision's completely blank as she runs in the direction she thinks Sora went. When her eyes finally adjust...]

... Crap.

[Hopefully the fire shouting doesn't attract anything else.]

Hey! Where are you?

[oathkeeper]

[Through the chaos of the birds flapping and the fire burning Sora doesn't notice that Reika isn't near him anymore. He keeps sprinting until the sound of the birds is mostly gone and he looks over his shoulder.

And stops.]

Reika? Reika!

[He'll shout too, because sticking together is much more important. Especially now that he thinks they're from the same Parthenon.

He tries to back track, calling her name.]

[heatupnever]

[SUDDENLY]

Found you. Let's go before the fire attracts something worse.

[Because the only ones heading toward the fire would be things that aren't afraid of it, and thinking enemies would probably be way worse to fend off in the dark. Not something she wants to try, at any rate.]

You okay?

[oathkeeper]

Whua- Reika!

[Sora turns. He thought he lost her, and he was really worried for a second there. He looks relieved.]

I'm okay! You're okay!

[heatupnever]

Yeah. [A look back confirms that the trees hadn't caught fire, and despite the danger of further pursuit, it doesn't sound like anything's coming. They should be safe for a bit.]

Did you see an exit while you were running, by any chance? I couldn't see anything for a few seconds there.

[oathkeeper]

I dunno... Everything is so dark.

[Sora turns to look around them. The smell of trees burning is in the air and it stings his nose but everything seems calm suddenly.

Looking, his eyes catch the faint speckle of light in the distance. Sora points, looking excited.]

There, let's head that way.

[heatupnever]

That could be one of those fireflies...

[She follows anyway, because it's not like she has any other ideas.]

Maybe they'll lead us out if we ask nicely.

[oathkeeper]

[The way they start seems like the most likely bet.]

Let's hope so. I'm getting pretty tired of this forest. I just want to go home.

[Not to mention he knows Roxas is going to be really worried about him. He sighs.

Eventually the trees do start getting thinner and thinner. And the sun starts to filter through the trees more.]

Reika, do you see that?