Story Event - Beast of Hackney Marshes

[ask_whydunit]

Who; Waver and anyone! Open to all!
What; A Network Story and a Log for the event!
Where; All around Aterat!
When; Sometime in August
Warnings; None to start aside from the description of the beast, if anything happens I will add it!
Note; So I’m thinking the network could be a fun chat story time, the log for after-story experience if you want to run into him or handwave asking him to check a place out. We could mix it up and people could reach out to Waver about sightings or talk if they’re experiencing an encounter via the network, if you aren’t feeling the log! And if you'd rather just do your own thing with the beast, that's cool too. Also, if you want something personal written up, or to do something different, I’m open to anything! My plotting post is over here



Network Video - OTA

[ The feed opens up to reveal a rather severe frown and narrowed eyes. Waver’s pissed, honestly (when isn’t he at least a little, though?). He may not be a great magus, but he sure as hell knows about protecting the mind and there’s something pulling at his thoughts rather insistently.

His mouth is set firmly in an attempt to resist, but finally he huffs and finds himself acquiescing to the entity’s desire instead, despite the attempt. ]

Back when I was a boy, in… [ The wrinkle between his brows deepens slightly as he recalls the date. ] 1891, just after Christmas, I think. We were still on break, anyway. I remember one of the neighbourhood kids sharing this story they heard from someone else.

I guess there was a group playing in the snow in Hackney Marshes. Games ended pretty quickly when they got approached by something they claimed was a great beast of some kind. Guess it was big, hairy, and it started growling at them after rising up to its full height on its hind legs. They took off before it got any closer though, scared the hell out of them, understandably.

[ Glancing sideways as something flits by his peripheral vision, he frowned again before continuing. ]

Authorities investigated but didn’t really come up with anything, not that I’m surprised. Story made the rounds on the news a few times before it all seemed to get dropped. Near the end of it, theories moved away from an actual monster and to the more mundane. Theories suddenly ranged from a large dog to a bear… Or a guy in a suit pranking the kids, according to at least one report that I remember. Either way, eventually, no one believed the kids saw anything truly unnatural that day.

Of course, knowing what I do now… I would add the potential of a mage having set up a workshop in the area and their familiar getting territorial when the kids got too close to the list of theories.

But who knows? Never really thought about since, at least until today.

[ A deep, long sigh mixed with both relief and frustration escaped the mage as the tugging at his mind finally eased. ]

Dammit! I don’t know what the hell thinks it’s acceptable to muck around in people’s heads, but I guess it was too much to hope that it’d skip me. Excuse me while I try to figure out how the devil it got by my defences.

[ With a grumble and a mutter, the feed cuts off. ]



Log - OTA

Waver had known better than to hope that this would all be done with a forced story time, so he wasn’t surprised to find himself picking his way through the forested marshes after a few reports came his way over the tell-phone about encounters. Sure, this wasn’t exactly his fault... But it was his story the beast had sprung from, pulled from his own mind. As tempting as it might be, the mage wasn’t about to ignore it or let someone else clean up his mess without at least trying himself.

His shoes were not made for this soggy, uneven terrain, though... They better not get ruined by this! He’d had them for so many years now, and he’d had to replace enough clothing since arriving in this stupid place. “Why the hell couldn’t I have told a story about something nice? Like a goddamned brownie?” He muttered under his breath, wincing as he slipped on a damp rock, barely catching himself before he wiped out completely. Stupid entity with her stupid sneaky ability!

Okay, he might be more than a little salty at this point... He’d been out here for a while, though, and hadn’t seen the creature yet. One would think a large beast wouldn’t be so hard to track down! He just... Needed to see it for himself, to get an idea of how it moved and if it might have a weakness so he could figure out how to keep it from hurting anyone else. Stepping carefully towards more stable footing, Waver stopped short as he felt an unsettling chill run up his spine and the sound of something heavy trampling upon a branch behind him... It was probably a deer, or maybe a wayward chocobo. Nothing more.

Then there was a low growl and Waver cast a tense glance over his shoulder. Yup. That was the beast, partly obscured by some long grass and cat-tails waving in the breeze. It sure was big... Bigger than he expected, actually. From what could be seen, it was covered in matted, dark fur and had a snout full of decidedly sharp teeth. Definitely not a bear or a dog, but Waver supposed he could see why they were the theorized answers. If Waver had to guess, it was some kind of hybrid... Or maybe just looked like that because it was pulled out of the recesses of his mind when the story was shared earlier, created from a mental image born of his imagination as a child. Great, another reason to not like his younger self.

No time to really dwell on that though, as it reared up on its hind legs to get a better look at him with another growl and then fell back to all fours to start stalking forward slowly. “Well, damn...” escaped under his breath as he turned slightly. The mage braced his wrist and fired a warning magic shot at the creature’s feet to try to slow its rather confident approach. Once it faltered, taking a moment re-evaluate it’s current prey, the mage started moving quickly to get some space. Waver had wanted to observe it from a safe distance first, not walk up to it and say hello without a plan!

And that was how the professor ended up being stalked by the very thing he was trying to track, attempting to come up with a plan on the fly.

Comments

video sorry not sorry couldn't help it

[soulsword]

1891? Wow, you are old. [ Is that her only contribution to this? Yes, it most certainly is. ]

Video; Never be sorry for Illyana, I laughed so hard

[ask_whydunit]

[ Waver bristles on the other end of the video, clearly mentally asking himself why he puts up with this if his expression is anything to go by… But he already knows the answer, so it goes unvoiced. ]

I’m not old enough yet to have gone senile and need the reminder, you know!

[ A cantankerous old man of 29 years, yup. Checks out. ]

[soulsword]

[ She dramatically tilts her head to one side then slowly to the other. ] Are you sure about that?

[ask_whydunit]

YES!

[ And yet he knows, deep down, she’s just having fun with him. Does that make it better? Who knows… ]

And we both know you’re smart enough to know that, you absolute menace.

[soulsword]

Thank you, I always appreciate such generous compliments. [ She smirks. ] Particularly from my elders.

[ask_whydunit]

Of course you would take it that way. [ He groused quietly, propping the phone up against a stack of books. Rolling his eye at the continued comment and smirk… Yes, she clearly knew what she was doing. ] As your elder, am I not owed some respect? Or is terrorizing my last nerve how you show it?

[soulsword]

I didn't think you were the type to want fake respect just because you're old. I guess I was mistaken...

[ask_whydunit]

Can’t argue with that. [ A very long, annoyed sigh escaped. ] Are you bloody well done having fun yet??

[soulsword]

Do you not want people to have fun? That seems in bad spirit. [ Clearly the answer is no. ]

log - forward dated to late august

[cetrary]

Aerith had made it through this little adventure so far with only a few irritating things having gone on. Okay, maybe more than a few and maybe it was more than irritating, but...she was being positive about it at all. Why you may ask? Because at least her flowers had been spared from any of this nonsense. Her shop? Not so much, but her flower garden? It had mercifully been spared, which she was very pleased with. Her poor flowers had suffered so much, both here and back home. The fact that two people had fallen down onto her little flower patch in her church had been two people too many. At least nobody could fall down on them here, right?

Of course not, her garden would be safe through this silly whatever it was.

Which brought us straight to today, where she sat in her garden tending to some of the new blossoms while having a very lovely conversation with them all. Whether or not the flowers understood what she was saying or she understood what they were saying, well, that was up for quite a lot of debate. Either way she found a considerable amount of joy and comfort from being here and talking.

"You know, everyone just keeps telling these stories and then the strangest things start happening..." she shook her head as she pruned a few browning leaves off of a bright Marigold. The fact that the flower looked like it had a little face made their 'conversation' seem all the more like an actual conversation. She hummed thoughtfully only to freeze as she heard something off in the distance. "Did you hear that? It sounds like some sort of rumbling..." Said rumbling was only getting getting louder until she saw some sort of beast breaking through the brushes.

"Oh...oh no..." she scrambled up and tried to roll out of the way. In her mind she tried to picture how Zack would handle something like this or Cloud. They'd have definitely moved out of the way with a lot more grace than Aerith had. On the bright side, she did get out of the creatures path. On the not so bright side, the flowers had not. Quite a few of them were now squashed under it's mighty paws. It wasn't a total disaster, far from it, but it was enough for her to be pretty upset.

"Hey! You! Come back here!!" as if yelling at the beast was a good idea. Or would work to get it to come back. "You owe me an apology!"

I am so sorry for your flowers, Aerith ;;

[ask_whydunit]

Poor Aerith and her poor flowers, for their troubles aren’t over yet…

It’s not long after the beast rumbles on by that another creature stomps into the clearing looking a bit bedraggled but otherwise okay for someone who’d been playing a very unwanted game of tag with a beast all afternoon. He’d just managed to pull a trick with a smokescreen a few miles away that allowed him to get out of its direct path and circle around to resume tracking it instead of being stalked by it… But was still working out the details of what to actually do.

Admittedly, he’d been a bit panicked at the noise of someone else near, which was why he had rushed the garden the way he had. Waver had quite ignored where he was walking, in favour of making sure no one was hurt. Following Aerith’s yelling, he stumbled to a halt at the sight of her looking anry, but otherwise alright. So… A small relief, even with the confusion at her demeanor that went with it.

“Don’t call it back this way! I just spent an hour trying to get out of its direct path. It would be best if you don’t bring yourself to its attention if it didn’t go after you already.” He commented, picking a stray leaf out of his hair and casting it aside with a small sigh. Frankly, Waver figured, if anyone should be harmed in this whole fiasco? He believed it should be him since it was his damn story… Yes, he will disagree if someone tells him that wasn’t how these things worked.

Was he now standing on some flowers himself? Yes, but he hadn’t even known there was a garden here to begin with! He knew about a flower shop in the city… But not a garden out this way, though he was vaguely aware of the lodge nearby. To be honest, the mage was also a bit focused on trying to figure out a better way to keep track of the beast without running around so much, so forgive him for his mistakes, Aerith!

why must they suffer

[cetrary]

"Move! Move, move, move!" She moved over to him with a shooing motion of her hands gesturing dramatically for him to get off the flowers. Sure they were already crushed, but he didn't have to make them worse, right? "You're crushing the flowers and they were already crushed enough by that thing!"

She put her hands on her hips as she looked him over. He definitely seemed like he'd seen better days, but then again so had her flowers. They'd seen much better days...and she couldn't help but have a tiny frown on her face. Why did her flowers always end up as the victim of someone or something's crushing?

"I intend to bring myself directly to it's attention! It's not getting away with this." She would have her revenge for this atrocity that had been committed. "Where did that thing come from?"

The universe is cruel ;;

[ask_whydunit]

“Huh, what??” escaped rather eloquently as she started to shoo him back, making the young Lord feel a little like a chicken being herded or something (chickens were his best form of reference, anyway). Waver quickly stumbled back instinctively at the request, at least moving off of the trampled flowers by a few paces… Not that it helped them now.

It wasn’t until he glanced down rather belatedly at his feet to see what she was even trying to warn him away from, only to spot the damage done to what was probably a very nice patch of garden before the beast and he had arrived. Uh-oh... Looking up to see him being scrutinized by the young woman with her hands on hips made him awkwardly hold up his own hands in a defensive, albeit apologetic gesture. It weirdly called back to a time he and a certain large oaf had barged into the home of another mage, to which he also received a rather stern look until he panicked then, too. Scary. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he finally responded more coherently. “I didn’t know there was a garden here, I uh- I’m terribly sorry, my lady. That thing’s been terrorizing the area all day. I’m just trying to stop it!”

Excuses, excuses, Velvet.

Didn’t help when he realized just how riled up about this she was, nor did it help when she asked the question that would firmly put the blame for this fiasco back on his shoulders. “I really would be cautious. It’s already attacked a few people.” Where did it come from… Where indeed… “Broadly speaking, the Hackney Marshes from my world? More specifically…” Waver, your wordiness will not save you this time. Just be out with it. “I believe the creature was pulled from my own mind and manifested in a physical form when I shared a story about it the network recently.”

[cetrary]

"The flowers," she reiterated with an exasperated tone to her voice. Aerith was far too nice of a person to sound truly mad, but exasperation for her hard work and the poor innocent flowers wasn't off the table. At least it'd managed to miss the main part of her garden, instead just hitting the main path leading up and the entrance. It was still enough damage that she'd have to employ certain people to come out here to help her fix it.

Or perhaps she'd just have to make this man do it since he was the one that did it.

Either way she kept that stern look on her face, still judging him even after he made his own awkward glance. No, sir, mister, he was not getting off that easy. "My garden's been here for as long as I have." Which, at this point was a pretty long time! Therefore he should have known it was here.

"It attacked my garden, so it has to be dealt with." Before it caused any further problems than just this. It wasn't about revenge (yes it was). "Your world...OH!" She frowned deeply at that and then wagged her finger at him. "Well, at least that means you should know a good way to stop it right?"

[ask_whydunit]

The carnage done to the patch of flowers both the creature and he had caused was fairly… bad. There was no sugar coating that, and the mage did have the decency to feel bad about it! Frankly, he was both earnest and bullyable enough to be convinced to help if she decided to make him help. Waver Velvet, as a personal rule, always tried to clean up his own messes. Especially when they were brought to his attention. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be in the position he was back in his own world. Reines could attest to it. Not that he knew the first thing about gardening, of course, beyond the uses of some plants in magecraft… Well, she could just order him around if it came down to it.

Looking quite chastised, he dipped his head apologetically with an awkward tone. “I don’t exactly leave the city aside from going to the academy and maybe the tower… But I will remember that this is here in the future, I assure you I wouldn’t have lead the thing this way if I had been aware.” Hopefully, he thought, they could move past this and he could resume hunting the beast! As if he were qualified to hunt anything, really. That was beside the point, though. He just needed to come up with a good idea to stop it properly.

Waver’s eyes followed the finger waggling at him and the awkwardness increased. Because, uh… “Well, about that… Usually that would be correct.” Usually… But, sadly, not in this case. “And while I have some vague ideas to it’s original origins, unfortunately I wasn’t really a part of any formal investigation at the time…? I was only six when it happened.” He is not making an excuse!!! Not exactly!! Just… explaining why he isn’t entirely sure yet what to do! “But I assure you that I’m working on it.”

[cetrary]

"Really? That's a shame, there's such a variety of things to see here other than the academy and the tower." Clearly! Like her garden right here. "I think it's ice to have access to so much nature around. Back home we didn't really have the luxury." Well, she did, but only around her house. The rest of the slums and Midgar itself? It was all steel sky and mechanical everything. A part of her did miss that, missed the familiarity of it, but this place had it's nice parts to.

Or it had until it was rudely run through by some giant beast!

"Hmm," she tilted her head to the side and then shook her head. "I guess you're lucky that you didn't lead it into anything worse than my garden. You really should be more careful where you lead things like that." What if he'd lead it to someone's home that he hadn't known about? Clearly he hadn't exactly had the greatest of plans for dealing with this.

"Working on it, huh?" She moved her hands back to her hips. "And what have you worked up so far?" Not that she didn't believe that he was working on it, but she definitely didn't believe that he was working on it.

[ask_whydunit]

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time. I have some free time.” He responded with a clumsy frown, knowing he could probably stand to get out more… But it’s not really something he’s good at. “As far as I knew there was only the hunting lodge out near this part of the woods, I managed to lead it around that… If I had I known about your garden I would have tried to redirect it’s course before we got this close.” He responded with an apologetic tone. This was a mistake that he wouldn’t make again if he could help it. It wasn’t as though he was in the habit of leading things into the yards of innocent bystanders, if possible. “You have my apologies, Lady.”

Clearing his throat, he reached into a pocket in his coat for a vial, trying to regain a semblance of professionalism (not easy right now). “Well… After getting a little too close, I’d say it’s some kind of engineered hybrid. It appears to be composed of a wolf, a bear and potentially something more feline like a lynx...” He responded, checking the vial and uncorking it, pouring some of the powder into the palm of his hand and carefully crossing the space to avoid tramping anything else. He learns!! “I believe it’s elemental alignment to be a dual. Earth and water. It seems to favour the cover of the woods and marshland terrain aside from the odd time it’s hunt takes it a little off course, if the fact that it didn’t stop here is anything to go by.” Stopping where the beast had crashed through the other side and back into the forest, he threw the dust down on the ground outside the garden and large tracks lit up faintly showing its current path for him to follow more easily. It would fade in time, but for now, it was glowing faintly in the shade of the trees. “I believe it can be contained and taken down. I just need to get it somewhere that I can trap it first.”

It was the second step that he needed to figure out. What to do after it was cornered and no longer wandering freely? He didn’t have his usual crew to help with these things, so he was flying solo for now.

Audio hilarious mirror of Illyana I guess

[unbreakable_king]

[Man, someone from so many years in Rhy's future really is impressive!]

No one determined just what the thing was? And what is a 'Familiar'?

Audio; LOL it's true, I love that XD

[ask_whydunit]

[ Waver’s still a touch grumpy from having someone digging around in his head like it was a treat basket, but hey Rhy was at least being genuinely curious instead of being a little menace like some people! ]

No, at least not to my knowledge at the moment. There may be some records of it buried by the policy department, of course, if my theory is correct. Just never really thought about looking into it until now, I suppose. [ Ah, that’s right, Rhy’s world was a little different where magic was concerned. ] I suppose you must not have them in your own world...? Familiars would be a being that acts as an assistant of sort to mages with various tasks or in guarding their workshop. There are different kinds, of course, ranging from animals, phantasmals, things in-between, and artificial beings created from various materials.

Re: Audio; LOL it's true, I love that XD

[unbreakable_king]

I see. That's very interesting. Like a guard dog but for spells?

[That sounds strange indeed and he didn't know what to do with that concept.]

[ask_whydunit]

That’s right, among other things, like gathering materials, sharing their sight for reconnaissance, to name a couple.

[ Waver’s experience was more with the latter, and that could still be a challenge in the long term if he was in the middle of other things, given his lesser capabilities than other mages. ]

But the kind I’m thinking falls in line with your idea. A beast either changed by magic or summoned to assist a mage with keeping an eye on the place or gathering materials. I once dealt with a mage that had summoned phantasmals to do his bidding. They were like large blue rabbit monsters that gathered electricity and people who got close to the area.

[unbreakable_king]

That sounds horrid actually. Can't they just put up... wards? We use wards.

[ask_whydunit]

Generally, that’s set up as well… I have a bounded field set around my workshop here, for instance. [ He frowned lightly, familiars used for less pleasant means were never his cup of tea. ] Some mages have different plans and priorities... What that one was doing was against the laws in the first place, but he got away with it for a while before I stumbled on it while looking into something. Which is why I wouldn’t be surprised if the creature in my story was similar.

[ The problem is, as with any world, there were often people who got away with things they shouldn’t. ]

[unbreakable_king]

Do your people not just take magic away from those who have committed great crimes with it? That’s what we do back home.

[ask_whydunit]

Not exactly… Once they’ve been found out, it depends on what they’ve done and how valuable the knowledge born of the mage’s results might be. In that case, they generally have a sealing designation placed on them in order to preserve it as well as put an end to that mage’s activities.

[ That said, it could also happen to mages who have followed the rules, if their discoveries were seen as that important. It’s both said to be an honor, in a sense, to be seen as that valuable… but also a terrible curse. Waver’s tone indicates it’s not a good thing regardless, without going into the details of what a ‘sealing designation’ entails. Most mages go on the run if they know it’s coming. ]

Other than that, punishments vary if the mage is taken into custody. There are a few ways to ensure a mage doesn’t resume breaking the law or listens.